Video Clip of the Week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04kHa-XOZ3c

Tweet of the Week

Fun Australian fact for you – An episode of the English show Peppa Pig has twice been pulled off air in Australia after being deemed inappropriate for Aussie children. The episode’s main message... "spiders can’t hurt you" pic.twitter.com/6nP0Ji1jVJ

— Adam Sharp (@AdamCSharp) August 23, 2024

On 27 August 2024 the World Meteorological Organisation released its "State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2023": in meteorological terms the far northern section and much of eastern Australia along with its islands are situated in the this region

 

In meteorological terms the far northern section and much of eastern Australia along with its islands are situated in the South-West Pacific.

Along with the Maritime Continent (the region between the Indian and Pacific Oceans including the archipelagos of Indonesia, Borneo, New Guinea, the Philippine Islands, the Malay Peninsula, and the surrounding seas), Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tuvalu, Nauru, Samoa, Micronesia, Kiribati and New Zealand.

On 27 August 2024 the World Meteorological Organisation released its "State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2023".

By way a brief look at some of the key issues in the report it is worth noting that:

> Atmospheric concentrations of the three major greenhouse gases reached new record observed highs in 2022, the latest year for which consolidated global figures are available. Real-time data from specific locations, including Mauna Loa (Hawaii, United States of America) and Kennaook/Cape Grim (Tasmania, Australia) indicate that levels of CO2 (carbon dioxide), CH4 (methane) and N2O (nitrous oxide) continued to increase in 2023;

> Over the past two decades, the ocean warming rate has increased; the ocean heat content in 2023 was the highest on record;

> Temperatures in 2023 were higher than normal in many areas of the region. The most significant warmth was over an area extending from south-east Australia to east of New Zealand. The most prominent and persistent marine heatwave in 2023 occurred in a large area around New Zealand. This heatwave was categorized as extreme and lasted approximately six months;

> Ocean warming and accelerated loss of ice mass from the ice sheets contributed to the rise of the global mean sea level by 4.77 mm per year between 2014 and 2023, reaching a new record high in 2023.

> In 2023, the sea level continued to rise globally and regionally as shown by high precision satellite altimetry measurements. The average global mean sea level rise (GMSL) was 3.4 mm +/- 0.3 mm/year over the January 1993 to May 2023 period. Sea levels continued to rise at rates higher than the global mean in several parts of the South West Pacific;

Click on image to enlarge

Figure 7 shows the sea-level trend over the January 1993–May 2023 period as measured by satellite altimeters. In the South-West Pacific region, the sea-level rise of the last three decades exceeds the global mean sea-level rise. Altimetry-based sea-level time series from January 1993 to May 2023 have been averaged over two areas within the region (Figure 7, bottom left and bottom right). The mean rate of sea-level rise in both areas is significantly higher than the global mean (4.52 mm +/-0.25 mm/year in area 1 and 4.13 mm +/-0.08 mm/year in area 2). The sea-level time series in area 1 (Figure 7,bottom left) displays strong inter-annual variability, mostly driven by ENSO (see the strong sea-level drops in 1997/1998 and 2015/2016). Sea-level rise is more regular in area 2 except for a steep increase around 1998.

NOTE: Regional sea-level trends are based on gridded C3S altimetry data, averaged from 50 km

offshore to the coast, by the Laboratory of Space Geophysical and Oceanographic Studies (LEGOS);

> The South-West Pacific region is extremely prone to disasters associated with hydrometeorological hazards, especially storms and floods. In 2023, a total of 34 hydrometeorological hazard events were reported in the region according to the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT), of which over 90% were flood and storm events. These reported hydrometeorological hazard events resulted in over 200 fatalities, most of which were associated with floods, storms, and landslides.

Over 25 million people were directly affected by these hazards, and they caused total economic damage of close to US$ 4.4 billion. Floods were the leading cause of death, whereas drought was the natural hazard type that affected the greatest number of people.

Storms were the hazard type that caused the greatest economic damage, followed by floods.

Click on image to enlarge

In March, a landslide triggered by flooding in north-western Indonesia resulted in 54 fatalities, more than 2,800 displaced people and 27 buried houses. This disaster event caused the greatest number of fatalities in the South-West Pacific in 2023, highlighting the importance of understanding the multiple and cascading impacts of natural hazard events;

> Precipitation is a key climate parameter, closely related to indispensable resources for human activities such as water for drinking and domestic purposes, agriculture, and hydropower. It also drives major climatic events such as droughts and floods.

In 2023, the largest precipitation deficits (measured as a percentage of the average) were observed in the Hawaiian Islands and south-western Australia. Other areas with below-average rainfall amounts were New Caledonia, Tuvalu, parts of Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands, parts of northern Australia, Tasmania, the southern South Island of New Zealand, some areas in the Greater Sunda Islands (Indonesia) and parts of Luzon (Philippines). Based on time series analyses (not shown), it was unusually dry (below the 10th percentile) in southern Borneo, south-west and East Australia (around Brisbane) and some central Pacific islands.

Above-normal precipitation amounts were recorded around the Solomon Sea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, Niue, the Line Islands, the southern Philippines, northern Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, large parts of New Zealand, and northern Central Australia.

Download full report at:

https://library.wmo.int/records/item/68995-state-of-the-climate-in-south-west-pacific-2023

Between Monday 19 August and Friday 23 August 2024 police across Australia seized illicit drugs with estimated street value of $93 million - $14 million of which was seized in NSW

 

From time to time there are media articles that catch the eye because there is mention of north-east New South Wales and information about drug activity in the region which in 2024 revealed that:

• In March 2024 during a search of a Kingscliff property in northern NSW police and Australian Border Force officers reportedly found and dismantled a large drug lab and seized over 1,000 litres of precursors for MDMA and methamphetamine.

• On Saturday, 20 July, 2024, officers from Tweed/Byron Police District stopped a vehicle in Brunswick Heads for the purpose of a random breath test. He was arrested after police searched the vehicle and allegedly located about 38 grams of MDMA, 91 grams of ketamine, 55 grams of cocaine, five grams of cannabis resin, five grams of LSD, 40 grams of cannabis leaf and 32 prescription pills - as well as a small quantity of cannabis leaf, 113 grams of cocaine, 33 grams of MDMA powder, $13,500 in cash, a sling shot, a number of prescription pills and two mobile telephones at his residence.

• Then on Wednesday, 31 July 2024 police from the Northern Rivers Region Enforcement Squad, assisted by the Tactical Operations Unit, stopped a vehicle at a service station in Chinderah. Three people in the vehicle – a 37-year-old woman, and two men aged 28 and 51 – were arrested at the scene as part of a drug investigation. 

• And again on Thursday, 1 August 2024 six people are behind bars after a major drug bust in the Northern Rivers. Arrests occurred at Chinderah, Tweed and Evans Heads. Three search warrants simultaneously in Evans Head and Tweed Heads uncovering seven pistols, one shotgun, one rifle, nine gel blasters, three electronic stun devices, knuckle dusters, flick knives, batons, handcuffs, cocaine, more than a litre of GBL, steroids, almost 1.5kg of methamphetamine, fireworks, and almost $40,000 in cash.

It seems that some areas of the Northern Rivers region are definitely part of a much wider problem which again came to public notice with this report.

NSW Police News, 27 August 2024:

Officers from across the NSW Police Force have seized over $14 million worth of prohibited drugs across the state, disrupting significant sources of large-scale drug supply and organised crime activity as part of Operation Vitreus national week of action.

Operation Vitreus is a joint initiative between all Australian state and territory police agencies, the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force, AUSTRAC, Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and New Zealand Police, which ran between Monday 19 August 2024 and Friday 23 August 2024.

During the operation, 1611 people were arrested, resulting in 2962 charges and the seizure of over 7kg of heroine, 107kg of methylamphetamine, 42kg of cocaine, 12kg of MDMA, 2.5kg of ketamine, 2512 cannabis plants and 247kg of cannabis, as well as 71 firearms and over $2.2 million in cash.

The estimated combined street value of all drugs seized during the operation is $93 million. [my yellow highlighting]

The NSW Police operation – led by State Crime Command’s Organised Crime Squad – saw over 311 arrests, resulting in 456 charges, and the seizure of over 1.4kg of heroine, 18.6kg of methylamphetamine, 3.6kg of cocaine, 287g of MDMA, 132 Cannabis plants and 4.8kg of cannabis and 23 firearms.

The estimated combined street value of all drugs seized in NSW is over $14 million....... [my yellow highlighting]

Police would also like to remind the public about the health issues of these drugs targeted during Operation Vitreus.

General health risks/harms associated with illicit drugs

Illicit drug use carries inherent risks and taking even a known substance can result in unintended harm.

The consumption of alcohol and other drugs is a major cause of preventable disease and illness in Australia.

The harms from drug use impact – directly and indirectly – on all Australian communities, families and individuals. Impacts range across the spectrum of health, social and economic harms. Health harms include injuries, chronic conditions and diseases, mental health problems, road trauma, and overdose.

Methamphetamine

The health harms associated with the use of methamphetamine and other stimulants include mental illness, cognitive impairment, cardiovascular problems and overdose.

People who inject methamphetamine and share needles are at increased risk of contracting hepatitis C, hepatitis B, HIV/AIDS as well as infection and vein damage.

Methamphetamine production often relies on unknown and/or harmful ingredients. This can further increase the health risks associated with consumption.

GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate)

Consumption of GHB can cause drowsiness, vomiting, mood swings and dependence. GHB use carries a high risk of unconsciousness, respiratory collapse and overdose because there is very little difference between the amount that it is typically consumed and the amount that will cause overdose.

The risk of GHB overdose increases when its use is combined with other drugs such as alcohol, benzodiazepines and opioids.

Synthetic opioids including fentanyl and nitazenes

The negative health consequences of opioids, including synthetic opioids includes dependence, infectious disease transmission (primarily through risky injecting practice) and death from overdose.

Synthetic opioids can be extremely potent which increases the risk of health harms including overdose.

People who use other drugs such as heroin and cocaine may inadvertently consume synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and nitazenes when it is used as an adulterant. Synthetic opioids have also be found in counterfeit pharmaceutical drugs. Inherently this kind of exposure increases the risk of overdose.

The Take Home Naloxone (THN) Program makes naloxone, a medicine that temporarily reverse the effects of opioids (including synthetic opioids), available for free, without the need for a prescription, to people who may experience, or witness an opioid overdose. Further details at: https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/take-home-naloxone-program

Alcohol and drug treatment hotline

The National Alcohol and Other Drug hotline provides free and confidential advice about alcohol and other drugs treatment services on 1800 250 015. Further information on treatment and supports is available from: https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/drug-help/how-to-find-help

Overdose

> Drugs are unpredictable and they can affect people in different ways.

> Call 000 for an ambulance immediately if there is even the slightest risk that someone is having an unusual reaction to a drug.

> Emergency services will only notify police if there is a risk to their own personal safety or if someone dies.

Same masthead, two different perspectives - but what they both agree on is that Coles & Woolworths are garnering billions in profit from their metropolitan & regional supermarkets

Same masthead, two different perspectives - but what both agree on is that Coles Group Ltd & Woolworths Group Ltd are garnering billions in profit.

The Guardian, 27 August 2024:

Politicians will declare war on ‘cost of living’ and pundits will argue about inflation. The real point is the profits come at workers’ expenses

The latest massive $1.1bn profit reported by Coles will doubtless produce a new round of hand-wringing about the “cost of living”. Governments will produce initiatives aimed at capping or reducing prices. Pundits will use a variety of measures to argue as to whether such measures are inflationary. Then there will be debates about whether splitting up Coles and Woolworths into smaller chains would enhance competition. And the Reserve Bank will be encouraged to pusheven harder to return inflation to its target range.

But these responses, focused on the cost of goods, miss the point. Coles and Woolworths have increased their margins, yes – but prices for groceries have increased broadly in line with other goods. The real driver of supermarket profits is their ability to drive down the prices they pay to suppliers.

But the input that matters here is labour and it is here that the supermarkets are making big gains at the expense of their workers. Across the board, wages have failed to keep pace with prices over the last five years or more.

At least for the supermarkets, this won’t change any time soon......

TheGuardian, 27 August 2024:

Greens accuse company of price-gouging, as supermarket attributes sales boost to seasonal campaigns and rising digital revenue

Coles has posted a surge in revenue from its groceries business and expanded supermarket profit margins to the highest level recorded in the pandemic era, even as shoppers grapple with fast-rising household costs.

The revenue bump underpinned a robust rise in annual profit to $1.1bn. It threatens to draw Australia’s second largest chain back into the public limelight as cost-of-livingpressures become a central political issue for the next federal election.

Coles chief executive, Leah Weckert, said on Tuesday the supermarkets business was enjoying strong momentum, driven by “a lot of Australians choosing to eat out less and eating at home more”.....

Coles $1.1 billion annual profit came off the back of a $10.5 billion gross profit for the 2023-24 financial year.

Woolworths is set to announce its annual financial results today, Wednesday 28 August. Last year at 30 June 2023 it recorded a gross profit of $17.1 billion and a net profit of $1.7 billion.

What I am sure the majority of ordinary households in both metropolitan and rural & regional areas of the country will agree upon, is that putting food on the table, toiletries in the bathroom, detergent in the kitchen & laundry or petrol in the car is an unenviable task these days.

 

NSW becomes the first state to introduce up to 16 weeks parental leave for foster, kinship, and relative carers employed in the public service

 

Helping more families care for vulnerable kids with nation-leading parental leave entitlements

Published: 25 August 2024

Released by: Minister for Families and Communities, Minister for Industrial Relations

The NSW Government has enacted major improvements to the parental leave arrangements for NSW Public Sector employees. These changes extend paid parental leave to include all foster, kinship, and relative carers, ensuring those carers can access leave entitlements that give them the time to help vulnerable children settle into a new home and family.

The NSW Government is Australia’s largest employer, with around 450,000 employees, and is leading by example when it comes to encouraging more people to become carers.

The policy allows carers to access up to 16 weeks of paid leave, giving them the necessary time to help a vulnerable child adjust to their new environment. This could include arranging schooling, enrolments, medical appointments, and other critical aspects of settling into a new home.

This leave was previously only provided where certain court orders were in place but is now available for all court orders where a child is placed in the ongoing care of an employee.

The amendments also allow eligible employees to access their paid parental leave entitlements earlier. This will enable carers to take leave closer to the time of placement while legal orders are being finalised.

Paid parental leave is often associated with the birth of a child, but for foster, kinship, and relative carers, this leave time is just as crucial. The extension of this leave to carers will help them manage the significant responsibilities that come with welcoming a child into their care, ensuring the child has the best possible start in their new family.

The NSW Government remains committed to supporting all families and ensuring that every child in the state has the opportunity to thrive in a stable and nurturing environment.

These landmark amendments are part of a broader strategy to address the significant need for foster, kinship, and relative carers across the state. By offering these improved entitlements, the Government hopes to encourage more NSW public servants to consider becoming carers themselves, providing much-needed stability and support for children in need.

Relative or kinship care is a type of care that places a child or young person with a relative or someone they already know. This helps children avoid the trauma of being placed in unfamiliar environments. Unfortunately, not all children or young people have family or kin who can care for them, so foster carers from the wider community are vitally important.

For more information on the new parental leave arrangements, visit the Administrative Requirements Portal.

Minister for Industrial Relations Sophie Cotsis said:

“These changes reflect our commitment to working closely with the community and stakeholders to deliver policies that truly meet the needs of our workforce.

“Foster, kinship, and relative carers are essential to our society, and it is only right that they have access to the same parental leave entitlements as others.

“We recognise the challenges that carers face and in delivering these reforms we are helping to ease the burden, allowing carers to focus on what matters most – the wellbeing of a child.

“We’re urging more public servants to think about becoming carers – your support could change a child’s life.”

Minister for Families and Communities Kate Washington said:

“This nation-leading reform will truly make a difference to foster carers and vulnerable children.

“We are backing up the critical work of foster carers by extending paid parental leave entitlements for public servants.

“Foster and kinship carers play a critical role in our community. They open their hearts and their homes to vulnerable children and provide them with the love and the care they need and deserve.

“We desperately need more foster carers across the state so more children have a safe place to call home. We’re hoping these entitlements will see more public servants putting up their hands to become foster carers.”

Have you perhaps been wondering to what degree the health and wellbeing of women & girls will be valued as the global patriarchal structure shudders under the ongoing environmental, geopolitical, economic, and social shocks flowing from climate change? You are not the only one.

The Lancet

Vol 404 August 24, 2024

Many crises, one call to action: advancing gender equality in health in response to polycrises

Rajat Khosla, Gita Sen,

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,

Winnie Byanyima, Sima Bahous,

Debora Diniz, et al.

Published: July 24, 2024

The state of polycrises linked to concurrent conflict, climate catastrophe, the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing HIV epidemic, and geopolitical, economic, and social shocks is a cause of deep concern for the global health community. Polycrises, including the ongoing atrocities in Gaza, Sudan, and Myanmar, political movements in different countries that threaten to over-turn human rights and climate laws, or the flash floods in Bangladesh, Brazil, and Tanzania, have led to a new era likely to worsen gender inequalities and health challenges in terms of scale, severity, and complexity. Not only have these crises laid bare injustices and entrenched gender-based intersectional inequalities that exist in health, but they have also deepened and widened health disparities within and across countries, with differences starkly marked along lines of income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, and geographical location, among other factors.1

Taking stock of the gendered impact of polycrises is the first step towards forging a collective response from governments and the global health community. Globally, women make up the majority of extreme poor among people aged 15 years and older, with the gender poverty gap forecast to widen by 2030.2 Disproportionate job losses and limited access to financial resources in a climate of economic insecurity have pushed women into precarious work environments, jeopardising their health, integrity, and safety.3 The responsibilities of caregiving also intensifies during polycrises, with women and girls taking on greater responsibilities, including childcare, care of ill or dependent persons, and older persons care, and frequently neglecting their own health needs.4, 5 Clinic closures, resource shortages, and displacement due to crises disproportionately affect women's access to health services, such as reproductive health care, prenatal care, and safe childbirth.6 Even some high-income nations are among the 19 countries that had a higher maternal mortality ratio in 2020 compared with 1990. 7 Furthermore, conflict, climate displacement, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are contributing to concerning increases in gender-based violence and harmful practices such as child, early, and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and son preference.7

The adverse impacts of polycrises on women's and girls' rights and health extend to their crucial roles as health workers. Women, who make up almost 70% of the global health workforce and 90% of nurses and midwives, are the front line of the health system; they deliver vital health services during crises and are often exposed to violence, especially in places affected by conflict.8, 9 Yet women in the health workforce are usually inadequately paid, insufficiently valued, and under-represented in leadership and decision-making positions.10

Alongside polycrises, there have been unprecedented attacks on the bodily autonomy, choices, and human rights of women and girls.7 Globally organised movements have mobilised against laws related to access to safe abortion and contraception, LGBTQI+ rights, and comprehensive sexuality education.7 This is visible in different forms, ranging from increasing levels of violence, hate speech, and misinformation campaigns to difficulties accessing funding for health and human rights organisations and the introduction of regressive laws or failure to eliminate discriminatory laws and policies.11

In this climate of competing priorities and recurrent crises, governments, UN agencies, donors, and civil society groups collectively hold immense power to ensure action is taken to advance and prioritise women's rights, gender equality, and human rights, including the right to health. This approach is paramount for mitigating and preventing the deepening of future crises.12 Evidence indicates that narrowing the gap in women's health would avoid 24 million life-years lost due to disability, add more than US$1 trillion to the global economy, and increase economic productivity by up to $400 billion.13 However, these investments need to be combined with enabling legislation and support for gender equality in health, including bodily autonomy and integrity more broadly. In this context, it is only through true collective action that we can bring about the changes that are direly needed. In particular, our joint efforts need to focus on three key areas.

First, funding and increased support are needed to strengthen investments, partnerships, and research led by grass-roots communities and feminist and women-led civil society organisations. Communities, notably, feminist and women-led civil society groups, hold a rich understanding of how crises play out and affect gender disparities, health, and rights of communities. They are well placed to document and deepen our understanding of this impact and identify contextually relevant solutions to advance gender equality and rights. During a crisis feminist and women-led organisations are also often directly involved in the provision of health services, including sexual and reproductive health services and information, in contexts where public goods and services are limited or no longer available.14, 15 Despite widespread evidence of the essential roles of feminist civil society and movements, investments in community-led research and partnerships are shrinking and being deprioritised in the context of polycrises.16, 17 Governments, UN agencies, and donors must act now and reverse this trend.

Second, policies are needed to support alignment across institutions and struggles for equality and rights. Fragmentation is happening at multiple levels and includes disjointed systems that promote siloes, competition, or polarisation between movements striving for gender equality and women's rights.18, 19 These challenges can manifest as the frequent exclusion of ministries of finance in discussions to ensure the right to health and wellbeing of women and girls, or as hostile attacks between gender equality and rights-based movements that unfold on social media platforms, quickly degenerating into the use of stigmatising labels and exclusionary language. Irrespective of how this fragmentation develops, it is fuelling mistrust and creating restrictive environments that hinder meaningful collaboration and collective action. It is imperative that collective efforts better integrate systems and processes and build links across struggles, particularly the multiple intersections of inequalities.

Third, financial responses at global, regional, and national levels need to be formulated so that they support gender equality and women's rights. Current financial responses during crises frequently impede the upholding of human rights and in turn deepen income inequalities.20 For instance, immense pressure on governments to focus on austerity policies and debt repayments during and after crises detracts from investments in essential public services and in communities that have been most impacted.20 The global financial architecture, right down to national budgets and ministries of health and finance, needs to have a more deliberate approach to investing in gender-related issues and women's rights to ensure support is provided to the communities and groups most affected by crises. Learning from and with feminist financing models offers a strong baseline to build from.21, 22 Not only will this approach support short-term stabilisation during crises, but it will also build long-term resilience and equity in resource mobilisation and allocation.

Global overlapping crises are worsening gender equality and health disparities. Addressing these issues requires us to unite political, health, and civil society leadership efforts towards reinforcing community-driven partnerships, reforming financial and health strategies to support equality, and integrating systems to create cohesive responses. Now is the crucial moment to act.

1 World Economic Forum. The global risks report 2023. 2023. https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-risks-report-2023/ (accessed July 8, 2024).

2 UN Women. From insights to action: gender equality in the wake of COVID-19. 2020. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2020/09/gender-equality-in-the-wake-of-covid-19 (accessed July 8, 2024).

3 International Labour Organization. Policy brief: a gender-responsive employment recovery: building back fairer. 2020. https://www.ilo.org/publications/gender-responsive-employment-recovery-building-back-fairer (accessed July 8, 2024).

4 UN Women. Gender alert: the gendered impact of the crisis in Gaza.2024. https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/202401/Gender%20Alert%20The%20Gendered%20Impact%20of%20the%20Crisis%20in%20 Gaza.pdf (accessed July 8, 2024).

5 Power K. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the care burden of women and families. Sustainability Sci Pract Policy 2020; 16: 67–73.

6 World Economic Forum. Why we need more female voices while addressing humanitarian crises. 2022. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/05/listening-to-female-voices-can-stop-humanitarian-crises-harmingwomen-s-and-girls-health/ (accessed July 8, 2024).

7 UNFPA. Interwoven lives, threads of hope: ending inequalities in sexual and reproductive health and rights. 2024. https://www.unfpa.org/ swp2024 (accessed July 8, 2024).

8 Ignacio AR, Sales K, Tamayo RL. Seeking gender equality in the global health workforce. Think Global Health. March 8, 2024. https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/seeking-gender-equality-global-healthworkforce (accessed July 8, 2024).

9 WHO, Global Health Workforce Network, Women in Global Health. Closing the leadership gap: gender equity and leadership in the global health and care workforce. 2021. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240025905 (accessed July 8, 2024).

10 Phillips G, Kendino M, Brolan CE, et al. Women on the frontline: exploring the gendered experience for Pacific healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet Reg Health West Pac 2023; 42: 100961.

11 Petersen MJ. Religion, gender, and sexuality: three points on freedom of religion or belief. BYU Law International Center for Law and Religion Studies. Nov 21, 2022. https://talkabout.iclrs.org/2022/11/21/religiongender-and-sexuality/ (accessed July 8, 2024).

12 Percival V, Thoms OT, Oppenheim B, et al. The Lancet Commission on peaceful societies through health equity and gender equality. Lancet 2023; 402: 1661–722.

13 World Economic Forum. Closing the women’s health gap: a $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies. 2024. https://www.weforum.org/publications/closing-the-women-s-health-gap-a-1-trillionopportunity-to-improve-lives-and-economies/ (accessed July 8, 2024).

14 UN. Human Rights Council. A/HRC/47/38: women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health rights in crisis. Report of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls. April 28, 2021. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc4738-womens-and-girlssexual-and-reproductive-health-rights-crisis (accessed July 8, 2024).

15 UN Women. Gender alert: voices of strength: contributions of Palestinian women-led organizations to the humanitarian response in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 2024. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/06/gender-alert-voices-of-strength-contributions-ofpalestinian-women-led-organizations-to-the-humanitarian-response-inthe-occupied-palestinian-territory (accessed July 8, 2024).

16 The Young Feminist Fund, The Association for Women’s Rights in Development’s Young Feminist Activism Program. The global state of young feminist organizing. 2016. https://youngfeministfund.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/05/Global-State-of-Young-Feminist-Organizing.pdf (accessed July 8, 2024).

17 Aho E, Grinde J. Shrinking space for civil society—challenges in implementing the 2030 Agenda. Forum SYD. 2017. https://www.forumciv.org/sites/ default/files/2018-03/Shrinking-Space%20%20Challenges%20in%20implementing%20the%202030%20agenda.pdf (accessed July 8, 2024).

18 UN Women. Discussion paper. Democratic backsliding and the backlash against women’s rights: understanding the current challenges for feminist politics. 2020. https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/Library/Publications/2020/Discussion-paper-Democratic-backsliding-and-the-backlash-againstwomens-rights-en.pdf (accessed July 8, 2024).

19 Touimi-Benjelloun Z, Sandler J. Collective power for gender equality: an unfinished agenda for the UN. 2022. United Nations University International Institute for Global Health. August, 2022. http://collections.unu.edu/eserv/UNU:8897/Collective_Power_for_Gender_Equality.pdf (accessed July 8, 2024).

20 UN. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. A world of debt report 2024: a growing burden to global prosperity. 2024. https://unctad.org/publication/world-of-debt (accessed July 8, 2024).

21 International Labour Organization, UN Women. Financing social protection: feminist alternatives to austerity. 2023. https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2024-01/financing_social_protection_en.pdf (accessed July 8, 2024).

22 Hessini L. Financing for gender equality and women’s rights: the role of feminist funds. Gender Development 2020; 28: 357–76.

 

STATE OF PLAY NSW NORTHERN RIVERS 2024: The risk of property uninsurability continues to concern the region

 

When record flood events hit south-east Queensland and Northern New South Wales in the first quarter of 2022 the Australian insurance industry was already dealing with est. 85,953 open insurance claims, driven by six declared insurance events that occurred in 2021 [Insurance Council of Australia, November 2023].

In September 2022 the Insurance Council of Australia observed:

The south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales flood has so far cost the insurance industry $5.28 billion – almost triple the cost of the 2011 Brisbane floods and now the second most costly extreme weather event in Australia’s history.

At that point in time the Insurance Council was asserting that:

At present no region in Australia is uninsurable, however worsening extreme weather events are driving up premiums in parts of the country most exposed to extreme weather risk and rendering insurance unaffordable for some.

A neat piece of hair splitting made despite the fact that three months before, the Climate Council had issued a media release highlighting an analysis indicating that:

One in 25 Australian properties will be effectively uninsurable by 2030, due to rising risks of extreme weather and climate change.

An analysis which, in breaking the Northern Rivers region into the two federal electorates which encompass its land mass, predicted that in the Richmond electorate 20% or 22,274 properties were at "high risk" while up to 11% or 11,691 properties were at "high risk" in the Page electorate.

In Yamba alone, in the Clarence Valley section of the Page electorate, in a worst case scenario 5,237 properties are likely to become progressively uninsurable across a 70 year span commencing in 2030. A number that would contain all residential dwellings and other buildings in present day Yamba. 

While the Lismore City section of the Richmond electorate, in a worst case scenario is likely to see 5,711 properties become uninsurable over the same time period.

In the two years since the Insurance Council's statement the word "uninsurable" has continued to crop up in discussions concerning flood prone land and existing homes that had been built on such land - and as a region we have continued to twist this way and that trying to comes to terms with a grim reality.

The National Insurance Brokers Association in its October 2023 short submission to the federal parliamentary Inquiry into insurers’ responses to 2022 major floods claims was frank it its assessment of the insurance situation for so many households:

Increasing insurance losses due to more frequent natural disasters, as well as changes to actuarial and underwriting models and underlying risk profiles, have resulted in significant increases in insurance premiums in many parts of the country.....

The paradox of insurance is that those who are most impacted by natural perils, i.e. low socioeconomic households, are least likely to be able to afford to protect themselves from the effects of such events. Uninsurability has the potential to exacerbate existing inequalities by trapping vulnerable populations in high-risk areas and exposing them to greater social harm. Low socioeconomic households are less likely to be able to recover from natural disasters due to lower household incomes and less secure work. Low socioeconomic households are also more likely to be engaged in part-time or casual work. This demonstrates that the impacts of uninsurability will disproportionately affect those who are least able to protect themselves against these impacts.

The issue continues to be problematic for the NSW Northern Rivers region.......

Echo, 23 August 2024:

Insurance isn’t something that you necessarily have front of your mind most of the time but when you lose your house in a flood it suddenly takes on a whole new importance.

Insurance means that you have the opportunity to rebuild, to try to put your life back together – but flood insurance is not available to everyone, particularly those in flood risk areas and leaves them extremely vulnerable following natural disasters such as the 2022 flood.

Flood rubbish around You Are Here sign in Lismore, 7 March 2022. Photo David Lowe.

For a town like Lismore, and many others around the world, this lack of insurance means that they are unable to effectively rebuild following floods. The Inquiry into insurers’ responses to 2022 major floods claims has highlighted that ‘areas with low insurance cover have significantly worse post-disaster outcomes that negatively impact households, local businesses, and local economies’.

This Inquiry was commissioned by the then NRRC for the Community Leaders Forum that was led by Lismore MP Janelle Saffin, NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Disaster Recovery and made up of State MPs Tamara Smith (Ballina), Geoff Provest (Tweed), and Richie Williamson (Clarence); Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan; and mayors Cr Steve Krieg (Lismore City), Cr Chris Cherry (Tweed Shire), Cr Kylie Webster (Kyogle), Cr Michael Lyon (Byron Shire), Cr Sharon Cadwallader (Ballina Shire), Cr Robert Mustow (Richmond Valley) and Cr Peter Johnstone (Clarence Valley).

‘I thank its authors, academics from the University of Queensland’s Business School – Professor Paula Jarzabkowski, Dr Katie Meissner and Dr Matthew Mason – who are very learned in this area,’ Ms Saffin said.

‘They have made a case study of Lismore that can be extrapolated across the Northern Rivers region, New South Wales, and indeed, other places in Australia....

...Whatever is done, government needs to be very involved in the response, and we must require mitigation and adaptation to be in the mix,’ she said.

Ms Saffin has made a submission, on behalf of the Community Leaders Forum to the Federal inquiry into insurers’ responses to the 2022 major floods claims utilising this report as the basis for that submission.

‘This analysis shows that the current problem of insurability will remain a wicked problem for Lismore, with no foreseeable reduction in the pricing of private sector flood insurance,’ states the report.

‘Without access to affordable insurance:

• Lismore property owners will struggle to attain or maintain mortgages;

• Lismore landlords will struggle to provide a robust residential or commercial rental market;

• Lismore businesses are likely to have their credit and growth compromised;

• The commercial attractiveness of Lismore is likely to suffer.’

Mitigation, relocation and adaptation key

Ms Saffin noted that the submission found that there is no single, per-existing solution for the complex problem of uninsurability in Lismore.

It makes four recommendations about the potential of a new insurance ecosystem for Lismore:

1. A national risk pool is a tested solution that, when well-designed, could support affordable insurance in Lismore for residents and small businesses providing it is accompanied by a medium and long-term program of risk reduction including relocation.

2. Small parametric products, which can be spent flexibly by policyholders, have potential to provide economic benefit to Lismore business owners supporting them with rapid response to business interruptions, particularly from small-scale events.

3. Parts of Lismore fall within the uninsurable zone and could be considered for insurance innovations to support planned migration and provide insurance cover during any transitionary period.

4. Lismore residents and business owners will benefit from a sustained program of embedding risk management capabilities throughout the community to support them in reducing their risk and increasing their financial ability to respond to hazards.

Cartoons of the Week

 

This month in the Australian Parliament.....

Glen LeLievre

Cathy Wilcox

David Pope

By May 2025 will this particular Australian House of Representatives near, match or exceed the standing order suspension records of the parliaments which went before it?

 

On Wednesday, 21 August 2024 the Albanese Labor Government introduced a Bill to Parliament to establish the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission (IPSC) as, in the words of the Minister, an independent workplace investigation and sanctions framework that will enforce behaviour codes for Parliamentarians, MOPS staff and other people who work in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces.

On a first reading, the bill does not appear to intend to capture the type of disruptive behaviour common in the House of Representatives' Questions Without Notice (Question Time). Perhaps intending to leave it to The Speaker's discretion to decide if a referral to the IPSC is warranted.

According to The Guardian on Wednesday, 21 August 2024 new research shows that in the Australian House of Representatives elected members of parliament have been ejected from the Chamber by The Speaker a total of 198 times in the 47th Federal Parliament, as of 20 August.

It appears that:

• 161 of theses instances were as a result of bad behaviour on the part of Opposition Coalition MPs (103 being identified as Liberals, 9 as Nationals, 43 as Liberal-National, with another 51 not differentiated in published media articles);

• 36 instances were the result of Government Labor MPs behaving in similar fashion; and

• in a single instance one Greens MP also lost the plot and was sent out.

There are another nine months left before this parliament ends and, one suspects that the Coalition Opposition will become more vocal & disruptive as the 2025 federal general election draws nearer.

Will this particular House of Representatives near, match or exceed the standing order suspension records of the House during the eight of the nine parliaments between 1996 and 2022?

Recent history in the House of Representatives

Across four terms of the Australian Parliament beginning in 1996 with the 38th Parliament followed by the 39th, 40th & 41st (Howard Coalition Government), there was total of 513 instances where The Speaker named & suspended or sin binned members of the House of Representatives. Beginning with double digit numbers which grew into the hundreds by the third & fourth terms. [personal research]

During the 42nd Parliament (Rudd & Gillard Labor Government) there appears to have been 168 instances in which The Speaker named & suspended or sin binned members of the House of Representatives. [personal research]

During the 43rd Parliament (Gillard & Rudd Government) there were three Speakers, Harry Jenkins from 14.09.2010 to 24.11.2011 Peter Slipper from 24.11.2011 to 9.10.2012 and Anna Burke from 9.10.2012 to 5.8.2013.

In the period of their collective speakerships there appears to have been 278 instances where MPs were named & suspended or sin binned [personal research based on available data].

During the 44th Parliament  (Abbott & Turnbull Coalition Government) the Speaker ordered members to leave the House of Representatives on 524 occasions, an increase of 88.5 per cent from the 43rd Parliament when 278 members were ejected. On eight occasions members were named and suspended, 515 were ‘sin binned’ (ordered to leave the Chamber under SO 94) for one hour, and one was ordered from the Federation Chamber for 15 minutes. The 44th Parliament saw a record of 18 members ejected on a single day (Thursday 27 November 2014) and the ejection from the Federation Chamber was the first on record.....

The vast proportion of disciplinary actions were ‘sin binnings’, accounting for over 98 per cent in both the 43rd and 44th parliaments. Most disciplinary actions occurred during and after Question Time in the period from 2 pm to 4 pm...

Opposition members, irrespective of which party they belonged to, have always accounted for the largest proportion of disciplinary actions across all parliaments since Federation, at a rate of about 92.5 per cent.....

The 44th Parliament was presided over by Speakers Bishop and Smith. Under Mrs Bishop’s speakership, 402 members were ejected at a rate of about three per day, the highest of any speakership.

During the 45th Parliament (Turnbull & Morrison Coalition Government) the Speaker imposed sanctions against disorderly behaviour by directing members to leave the HoR on 415 occasions under SO 94(a). This is a decrease of 20 per cent from the 44th Parliament, when members were ejected from the House 515 times for one hour.

The 415 ejections involved disorderly members being ‘sin binned,’ or ordered to leave the Chamber for one hour but no members were named and suspended for 24 hours under SO 94(b). On two occasions members were directed to leave the Federation Chamber for 15 minutes under SO 187(b).....

the majority of suspensions (sanctions against disorderly conduct) occurred during Question Time.

During the 46th Parliament (Morrison Coalition Government) the format was changed to 28 periodic review reports produced between 10 July 2019 and 1 April 2022. These reports no longer included a section titled "Suspensions".

NOTE: My yellow highlighting throughout this post.