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How should Australian media cover the next federal election? Lessons from the US presidential race

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/denis-muller-1865">Denis Muller</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a></em></p> <p>Media coverage in Australia of the US presidential election and of the Voice referendum in October 2023 offer some pointers to what we might expect during next year’s federal election campaign.</p> <p>They also suggest some ways in which the professional mass media might better respond to the challenges thrown up by the combination of disinformation, harmful speech and hyper-partisanship that disfigured those two campaigns.</p> <p>The ideological contours of the Australian professional media, in particular its newspapers, have become delineated with increasing clarity over the past 15 years. In part this is a response to the polarising effects of social media, and in part it is a reflection of the increased stridency of political debate.</p> <p>The right is dominated by News Corporation, with commercial radio shock jocks playing a supporting role. The left is more diffuse and less given to propagandising. It includes the old Fairfax papers, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, now owned by the Nine Entertainment Company, and Guardian Australia.</p> <p>These contours are unlikely to change much, if at all, between now and the 2025 election.</p> <h2>Impartiality versus ‘bothsidesism’</h2> <p>Under these conditions, how might Australian journalism practice be adapted to better serve democracy under the pressures of an election campaign? The objective would be to contribute to the creation of a political culture in which people can argue constructively, disagree respectfully and work towards consensus.</p> <p>In pursuing that objective, a central issue is whether and how the media are committed to the principle of impartiality in news reports. This principle is under sustained pressure, as was seen in both the presidential election and the Voice referendum.</p> <p>We know from the words of its own editorial code of conduct that News Corp Australia does not accept the principle of impartiality in news reports. Paragraph 1.3 of that code states:</p> <blockquote> <p>Publications should ensure factual material in news reports is distinguishable from other material such as commentary and opinion. Comment, conjecture and opinion are acceptable as part of coverage to provide perspective on an issue, or explain the significance of an issue, or to allow readers to recognise what the publication’s or author’s standpoint is on a matter.</p> </blockquote> <p>This policy authorises journalists to write their news reports in ways that promote the newspaper’s or the journalist’s own views. This runs directly counter to the conventional separation of news from opinion accepted by most major media companies. This is exemplified by <a href="https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2023/07/27/GNM_editorial_code_of_practice_and_guidance_2023.pdf">the policy</a> of The Guardian, including Guardian Australia:</p> <blockquote> <p>While free to editorialise and campaign, a publication must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.</p> </blockquote> <p>Appended to The Guardian’s code is the essay written in 1921 by C. P. Scott, first the editor and then the owner-editor of the Manchester Guardian, to mark the newspaper’s centenary. It includes these words: “Comment is free, but facts are sacred”. Referring to a newspaper’s public duty, he added: “Propaganda […] is hateful.”</p> <p>In the present overheated atmosphere of public debate, impartiality has come to be confused with a discredited type of journalism known as “bothsidesism”.</p> <p>“Bothsidesism” presents “both sides” of an issue without any regard for their relative evidentiary merits. It allows for the ventilation of lies, hate speech and conspiracy theories on the spurious ground that these represent another, equally valid, side of the story.</p> <p>Impartiality is emphatically not “bothsidesism”. What particularly distinguishes impartiality is that it follows the weight of evidence. However, a recurring problem in the current environment is that the fair and sober presentation of evidence can be obliterated by the force of political rhetoric. As a result, impartiality can fall victim to its own detached passivity.</p> <p>Yet impartiality does not have to be passive: it can be proactive.</p> <p>During the presidential campaign, in the face of Trump’s egregious lying, some media organisations took this proactive approach.</p> <p>When Trump claimed during his televised debate with Kamala Harris that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s pets in the town of Springfield, Ohio, the host broadcaster, the American Broadcasting Company, fact-checked him in real time. It found, during the broadcast, that there was no evidence to support his claim.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nlCe8iOCJlQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <p>And for four years before that, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/24/trumps-false-or-misleading-claims-total-30573-over-four-years/">chronicled</a> Trump’s lies while in office, arriving at a total of 30,573.</p> <h2>Challenging misinformation</h2> <p>During the Voice referendum, many lies were told about what the Voice to Parliament would be empowered to do: advise on the date of Anzac Day, change the flag, set interest rates, and introduce a race-based element into the Constitution, advantaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over others.</p> <p>These were rebutted by the relevant authorities but by then the lies had been swept up in the daily tide of mis- or disinformation that was a feature of the campaign. At that point, rebuttals merely oxygenate the original falsehoods.</p> <p>More damaging still to the democratic process was the baseless allegation by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton that the Australian Electoral Commission had “rigged” the vote by accepting a tick as indicating “yes” but not accepting a cross as indicating “no”.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y_4H1IQID_M?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <p>Opposition Senate leader, Simon Birmingham, also said allowing ticks but not crosses undermined the integrity of the process.</p> <p>The electoral commissioner, Tom Rogers, was reported as repudiating these claims, but by then these lies had acquired currency and momentum.</p> <p>A proactive approach to impartiality requires establishing the truthful position before or at the time of initial publication, then calling out falsehoods for what they are and providing supporting evidence. Neither the principle of impartiality nor any other ethical principle in journalism requires journalists to publish lies as if they might be true.</p> <p>It would not have been a failure of impartiality to say in a news report that Dutton’s claims about a rigged referendum were baseless, with the supporting evidence.</p> <p>That evidence, set out in an <a href="https://antonygreen.com.au/how-many-voters-mark-referendum-ballot-papers-with-a-cross-not-many-based-on-evidence/">excellent example</a> of proactive impartiality by the ABC’s election analyst Antony Green at the time, was that the ticks and crosses rule had been in place since 1988.</p> <h2>‘Proactive impartiality’ is the key to reporting the 2025 election</h2> <p>The question is, do Australia’s main media organisations as a whole have the resources and the will to invest in real-time fact-checking? The record is not encouraging.</p> <p>In March 2024, the ABC dissolved its fact-checking arrangement with RMIT University, replacing it with an in-house fact-checking unit called ABC News Verify.</p> <p>In 2023, a team led by Andrea Carson of La Trobe University published a <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/21078">study</a> tracking the fate of fact-checking operations in Australia. Its findings were summarised by her in The Conversation.</p> <p>In the absence of a fact-checking capability, it is hard to see how journalists can perform the kind of proactive impartiality that current circumstances demand.</p> <p>On top of that, the shift from advertising-based mass media to subscription-based niche media is creating its own logic, which is antithetical to impartiality.</p> <p>Mass-directed advertising was generally aimed at as broad an audience as possible. It encouraged impartiality in the accompanying editorial content as part of an appeal to the broad middle of society.</p> <p>Since a lot of this advertising has gone online, the media have begun to rely increasingly on subscriptions. In a hyper-partisan world, ideological branding, or alternatively freedom from ideological branding, has become part of the sales pitch.</p> <p>Where subscribers do expect to find ideological comfort, readership and ratings are at put risk when their expectations are disappointed.</p> <p>Rupert Murdoch <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fox-news-dominion-lawsuit-trial-trump-2020-0ac71f75acfacc52ea80b3e747fb0afe">learned this</a> when his Fox News channel in the US called the 2020 election for Joe Biden, driving down ratings and causing him to reverse that position in order to claw back the losses.</p> <p>These are unpalatable developments for those who believe that fair, accurate news reporting untainted by the ideological preferences of proprietors or journalists is a vital ingredient in making a healthy democracy work. But that is the world we live in as we approach the federal election of 2025.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/243267/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/denis-muller-1865">Denis Muller</a>, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: DEAN LEWINS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Editorial - LUKAS COCH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Editorial </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-should-australian-media-cover-the-next-federal-election-lessons-from-the-us-presidential-race-243267">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Legal

Medicare is covering less of specialist visits. But why are doctors’ fees so high in the first place?

<div class="theconversation-article-body"> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/susan-j-mendez-2219444">Susan J. Méndez</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a></em></p> <p>Fees for medical specialists are going up faster than <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-25/medicare-rebates-only-covering-half-of-specialist-costs/104389360">Medicare rebates</a>, leading to a bigger gap for patients to pay.</p> <p>Recent data from the <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/medicare/mbs-funded-services-data/contents/summary">Australian Institute of Health and Welfare</a> shows that in the first quarter of this year, Medicare rebates covered just over half (52%) of the total fees. This is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-25/medicare-rebates-only-covering-half-of-specialist-costs/104389360">down from 72%</a> two decades ago, and the lowest proportion on record.</p> <p>Doctors can charge what they like, while the government determines the Medicare rebate. The difference between the two, or the gap, is what impacts patients. For GPs, the government provides an incentive for doctors to <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/increases-to-bulk-billing-incentive-payments#1-november-2023-changes">bulk bill</a>, but there’s no such incentive for other specialists.</p> <p>Doctors blame large gap payments on rebates being too low, and they’re partly right. After adjusting for inflation and increasing demand, the average dollar amount one person receives in Medicare rebates annually dropped from <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/medical-specialists/referred-medical-specialist-attendances">A$349 to $341</a> over the past decade.</p> <p>But this is only a part of the problem. When many people can’t afford hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars for essential specialist care, we need to look at why fees are so high.</p> <h2>How do specialists set their fees?</h2> <p>Although general practice is technically a speciality, when we talk about medical specialists in this article, we’re talking about non-GP specialists. These might include paediatricians, oncologists, psychiatrists and dermatologists, among many others.</p> <p>In determining fees, specialists consider a combination of patient-level, doctor-level and system-level factors.</p> <p>Patient characteristics, such as the complexity of the patient’s medical condition, may increase the price. This is because more complex patients may require more time and resources.</p> <p>Specialists, based on their experience, perceived skill level, or ethical considerations, may charge more or less. For example, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953623007104?via%3Dihub">some specialists report</a> they offer discounts to certain groups, such as children or pensioners.</p> <p>System-level factors including the cost of running a practice (such as employing staff) and practice location also play a role.</p> <p>Problems arise when prices vary considerably, as this often signals limited competition or excessive market power. This holds true for medical services, where patients have little control over prices and rely heavily on their doctors’ recommendations.</p> <p>In <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4909881">recent research</a>, my colleagues and I found fees varied significantly between specialists in the same field. In some cases the most expensive specialist charged more than double what the cheapest one did.</p> <h2>Doctor characteristics influence fee-setting</h2> <p>My colleagues and I <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105119">recently analysed</a> millions of private hospital claims from 2012 to 2019 in Australia. We found the wide variation in fees was largely due to differences between individual doctors, rather than factors such as patient complexity or the differences we’d expect to see between specialties.</p> <p>Up to 65% of the variance in total fees and 72% in out-of-pocket payments could be attributed to differences between doctors in the same field.</p> <p>To understand what doctor-level factors drive high fees, <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4909881">we looked at</a> data from a representative survey of specialists. We found older specialists have lower fees and higher rates of bulk billing. Practice owners tended to charge higher fees.</p> <p>We also found doctors’ personalities affect how much they charge and how often they bulk bill patients. Doctors who scored more highly on the personality trait of agreeableness were more likely to bulk bill patients, while those who scored more highly on neuroticism tended to charge higher fees.</p> <p>What we couldn’t show is any evidence fees were associated with competition.</p> <h2>Effects on patients</h2> <p>This is not a competitive market. On the contrary, it has high entry restrictions (long training requirements) and a limited supply of specialists, particularly in <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/workforce/health-workforce">rural and remote areas</a>. Meanwhile, patients’ access is controlled by the need for referrals which expire, generally after a year.</p> <p>Patients are often unable to shop around or make informed decisions about their care due to a lack of information about the true cost and quality of services.</p> <p>For private hospital services, the fee structure is complicated by the fact that several providers (for example, surgeon, anaesthetist, assistant surgeon) bill separately, making it difficult for patients to know the total cost upfront.</p> <p>Despite efforts to introduce price transparency in recent years, such as through the government’s <a href="https://medicalcostsfinder.health.gov.au/">Medical Costs Finder</a> website, the system remains far from clear. Reporting is voluntary and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2020.06.001">evidence is mixed</a> on whether these tools effectively reduce prices or increase competition.</p> <p>All of this contributes to high and unpredictable out-of-pocket costs, which can lead to financial strain for patients. About <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-services/patient-experiences/latest-release#barriers-to-health-service-use">10.5% of Australians</a> reported cost was a reason for delaying or avoiding a specialist visit in 2022–23.</p> <p>This raises important questions about equity and the sustainability of Australia’s universal health-care system, which is built on the principle of equitable access to care for all citizens.</p> <h2>What can be done?</h2> <p>Patients can take steps to minimise their costs by proactively seeking information. This includes asking your GP for a range of options when you’re referred to a specialist. Note the referral from your GP can be used for any other doctor in the same specialty.</p> <p>Similarly, ask the specialist’s receptionist what the fee and rebate will be before making an appointment, or for a <a href="https://www.ama.com.au/articles/informed-financial-consent#Two">detailed quote</a> before going to hospital. Shop around if it’s too high.</p> <p>But responsibility doesn’t only lie with patients. For example, the government could seek to address this issue by increasing investment in public hospital outpatient care, which could boost competition for specialists. It could also publish the range of fees compared to the rebate for all Medicare-billed consultations, rather than relying on voluntary reporting by doctors.</p> <p>Price transparency alone is not enough. Patients also need quality information and better guidance to navigate the health-care system. So continued investment in improving health literacy and care coordination is important.</p> <p>If things don’t change, the financial burden on patients is likely to continue growing, undermining both individual health outcomes and the broader goals of equitable health-care access.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/239827/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/susan-j-mendez-2219444">Susan J. Méndez</a>, Senior Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/medicare-is-covering-less-of-specialist-visits-but-why-are-doctors-fees-so-high-in-the-first-place-239827">original article</a>.</em></p> </div>

Money & Banking

Tasmania to cover travel costs in exchange for these "odd jobs"

<p>Tasmania has just opened applications for 10 "odd jobs" that you could do in exchange for a free trip to the state. </p> <p>As part of Tourism Tasmania's latest campaign to entice winter visitors, they are offering to cover travel and accommodation costs in exchange for a few odd jobs. </p> <p>While the work is unpaid and only lasts a day or two, the chosen Aussies will also get a hire car and a hamper worth up to $500 of local Tasmania produce and memorabilia. </p> <p>One of the jobs on offer is a wombat walker at East Coast Natureworld in Bicheno.</p> <p>The wildlife park is looking for an animal and nature lover, who loves going out for walks to lead the furry animals on their morning waddles as part of their rehabilitation program. </p> <p>Another job on offer is a “paranormal investigator” who will help Tasmania’s Most Haunted in New Norfolk capture and document any disturbances, spectral figures or unexplained phenomena at Willow Court Asylum.</p> <p>They are looking for someone who is “attuned into interactions with the otherworldly” and respects the controversial history of Willow Court. </p> <p>Other jobs include a “truffle snuffler” at The Truffledore, which involves truffle hunting with a canine companion, a “wine whisperer” at Clover Hill, a “puffer nut” at West Coast Wilderness Railway and “soaksmith” at Little Things Farm. </p> <p>They are also looking for an “oyster organiser”, a “star seeker” and “sauna stoker”. </p> <p>Anyone interested in taking these odd jobs must explain in 50 words or less why they want to swap their day job for the odd job in Tasmania. </p> <p>Applications are open from now until July 8 this year. </p> <p>The total value of the prize pool is up to $25,000. </p> <p>“More and more, we’re all looking for remedies through experience that make life feel simpler and less stressful," Tourism Tasmania chief marketing officer Lindene Cleary said. </p> <p>“Watching ‘cottagecore’ videos of people gardening and building cabins in the woods. Hobbies like cooking and reading are even trumping digital hobbies like gaming.</p> <p>"So, we extend a warm invite to Australians to apply for an odd job in Tasmania and wake up from their cool weather coma.”</p> <p><em>Images: Tourism Tasmania</em></p>

Domestic Travel

Who really benefits from private health insurance rebates? Not people who need cover the most

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/yuting-zhang-1144393">Yuting Zhang</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/judith-liu-1467052">Judith Liu</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-oklahoma-1896">University of Oklahoma</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nathan-kettlewell-903866">Nathan Kettlewell</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a></em></p> <p>The Australian government spends <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-greg-hunt-mp/media/delivering-australias-lowest-private-health-insurance-premium-change-in-21-years">A$6.7 billion a year</a> on private health insurance rebates. These <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Medicare-and-private-health-insurance/Private-health-insurance-rebate/">rebates</a> are the government’s contribution towards the costs of individuals’ premiums.</p> <p>But our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4751">analysis</a> shows higher rebates for people aged 65 and older are not doing much to encourage them to sign up for private hospital cover, the very group who may benefit the most from it.</p> <p>This and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2017.1299094">other research</a> point to these rebates largely going to people on higher incomes, ones who’d be more likely to buy private health insurance anyway.</p> <h2>Remind me, what are these rebates?</h2> <p>In <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/0aaf3311ebcd3646ca2570ec000c46e4!OpenDocument#:%7E:text=The%20Federal%20Government%2030%25%20Rebate,the%20means%2Dtested%20PHIIS%20rebate.">1999</a>, the Australian government introduced the private health insurance rebate. Initially, the rebate meant the government paid 30% of the cost of private health insurance for everyone, regardless of income or age. Then in 2005, the Howard government increased the rebate rate to 35% for those aged 65-69 and to 40% for those aged 70 and older, regardless of how much they earned.</p> <p>Over time, the rebate rates have decreased slightly and now depend on both income and age. However, the higher discount for older people has always remained.</p> <p>We wanted to understand whether the higher rebates for older people actually encourage them to buy private health insurance.</p> <p>So we looked at data from more than 300,000 people who filed tax returns over more than a decade (2001-2012). We then compared the trends in insurance coverage of people younger than 65 and older than 65, before and after the 2005 rebate policy change.</p> <h2>What we found</h2> <p>We found higher rebates led to a modest and short-term increase in private health insurance take-up. We estimated that lowering premium prices by 10% through higher rebates would only result in 1-2% more people aged 65 and older buying private health insurance in the next two years.</p> <p>This means higher rebates for older people are a very expensive way to get them to insure.</p> <p>People aged 65-74 with income in the bottom 25% of earners were the most likely to buy insurance in response to higher rebates that reduced premium prices. That’s an income under $21,848 in today’s money (income increased to 2023 dollar amount, in line with the <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/rates/consumer-price-index">consumer price index</a>).</p> <h2>What do we propose?</h2> <p>Our findings suggest a more targeted subsidy program would be a more effective way to increase private health insurance. To achieve this, we recommend lowering income thresholds for rebates to target people of all ages on genuinely low incomes.</p> <p>Currently, people earning as much as $144,000 (singles) or $288,000 (families) can receive rebates.</p> <p>Other evidence to back our proposal comes from <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/publications/working-papers/search/result?paper=4682822">research</a> released earlier this year. This suggests higher income earners are likely to buy private insurance regardless of rebates.</p> <p>A recent <a href="https://consultations.health.gov.au/medical-benefits-division/consultation-on-phi-studies">consultation report</a> commissioned by the federal health department reviewed a range of health insurance incentives.</p> <p>The <a href="https://consultations.health.gov.au/medical-benefits-division/consultation-on-phi-studies/supporting_documents/Finity%20Consulting%20MLS%20and%20PHI%20Rebate%20Final%20Report.pdf">report</a> recommends removing rebates for those with income higher than $108,000 for singles and $216,000 for families (we recommend removing them at $93,000 for singles and $186,000 for families). The report also recommends increasing rebates for those older than 65 (we believe income, rather than age, is a better marker of someone’s means).</p> <h2>Are rebates good value for money?</h2> <p>We also need to look at whether rebates provide value for money more broadly, and across all ages.</p> <p><a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/926-Saving-Health-2.pdf">Existing evidence</a> shows a 10% decrease in premiums due to rebates only leads to a 3.5-5% increase in private health insurance take-up among all Australians. We show this is only <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4751">1-2%</a> for people over 65.</p> <p>So rebates are likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2013.11.007">cost taxpayers more</a> than they generate in savings, and are largely windfalls to those who would privately insure anyway, often those who are financially better off.</p> <h2>What happens if we scrapped the rebates?</h2> <p>It is uncertain how many people would drop private cover if the rebate was removed.</p> <p>But based on research from when the rebate was introduced, the rebate might account for a maximum <a href="https://escholarship.org/content/qt6j47s8kq/qt6j47s8kq_noSplash_be059196ed2d70b94486039f64452494.pdf">10-15 percentage points</a> of the overall take-up rate. Other research suggests it might be much less than this, closer to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016762961300163X?casa_token=C-SdG98Jc2UAAAAA:KJLHBZ2BJhq9wRQQKUbEWPiqoeza1DEi3mZ9Y6O2GereVX1L1x0cJumVgrqBeMGa1ygDjFrPG7T5">2 percentage points</a>.</p> <p>In other words, the rebate only appears to influence a small percentage of people to buy private health insurance. So scrapping it would likely have a similarly small effect.</p> <p>Then there’s the impact of scrapping the rebate, people dropping their cover and putting more pressure on the public system. Earlier this year, we found private health insurance had <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-private-health-insurance-cut-public-hospital-waiting-lists-we-found-it-barely-makes-a-dent-211680">minimal impact</a> on reducing waiting times for surgery in Victorian public hospitals. So scrapping the rebate might have minimal impact on waiting lists.</p> <p>Taken together, the billions of dollars a year the government spends to subsidise private health insurance via rebates might be better directed to public hospitals and other high-value care, including primary care and preventive care.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212611/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/yuting-zhang-1144393">Yuting Zhang</a>, Professor of Health Economics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/judith-liu-1467052">Judith Liu</a>, Assistant Professor of Economics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-oklahoma-1896">University of Oklahoma</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nathan-kettlewell-903866">Nathan Kettlewell</a>, Chancellor's Research Fellow, Economics Discipline Group, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-really-benefits-from-private-health-insurance-rebates-not-people-who-need-cover-the-most-212611">original article</a>.</em></p>

Legal

DIY fabric-covered notebooks

<p>This DIY fabric-covered notebook makes a lovely gift idea for friends and family. Using scraps of fabric (or even old items of clothing) and cheap plain notebooks, these customised notebooks cost next to nothing and will take you no time to make.</p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">What you will need:</span></strong></p> <ul> <li>Notebook</li> <li>Fabric of your choice </li> <li>Scissors</li> <li>Sharpie and ruler</li> <li>Mod podge</li> <li>Paint brush</li> </ul> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">How to:</span></strong></p> <p>1. Open your notebook flat over the fabric. Trace around notebook leaving a three centimetre border. Cut fabric.</p> <p>2. Paint the outside of notebook with a layer of mod podge. Carefully press fabric onto notebook and smooth so there are no wrinkles.</p> <p>3. Glue overhanging fabric edges on inside of the cover. Stick the first and last pages of notebook to covers so the fabric won’t show. Let dry.</p> <p>Top tip: Embellish your notebook with ribbons or twine. You can even use a few different materials to create a pattern on your notebook. Your imagination is your only limit! </p> <p><em>Images: Shutterstock</em></p>

Art

Are you sure your life cover's the best?

<p>Life insurance protects your loved ones and your way of life - but it’s not supposed to be a ‘set and forget’ exercise.</p> <p>If it’s been more than five years since you’ve reviewed your life cover, there’s a good chance you’re likely paying too much in premiums, especially if:</p> <ul> <li><em><strong>You’ve paid off your home loan, or your repayments are substantially lower than they once were.</strong></em></li> <li><em><strong>Your children have moved out of your family home.</strong></em></li> <li><em><strong>You’ve stopped smoking</strong></em></li> <li><em><strong>You’ve downsized your home.</strong></em></li> <li><em><strong>You’ve retired, or plan to do so in the near future.</strong></em></li> </ul> <p>All of the above scenarios can make a difference to the level of life cover you need - and the premium you’re currently paying. </p> <p>It’s worth a phone call to find out where you might find some savings. Income protection cover, for example, isn’t applicable once you’ve retired - so make sure you’re not paying for it.</p> <p>Going over the required paperwork can seem daunting, and life insurance policies can be confusing - that’s why <a href="https://lp.compareclub.com.au/life-oversixty/?utm_medium=partner&utm_source=over60&utm_campaign=life&utm_content=nativearticle&category=life" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>OverSixty works with Compare Club</strong></a> to make this process as easy as possible.</p> <p>Compare Club have been helping Aussies save money - and make sense of - insurance policies since 2010. They look at policies from Australia's leading life insurers<sup>#</sup>. </p> <p>Their expert life cover brokers don’t leave you to work it all out on your own. They ask questions, listen, and help complete your paperwork.</p> <p>Talk to one of our experts about your life cover today.</p> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; font-family: -apple-system, 'system-ui', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; line-height: 1.2; color: #212529; font-size: 1.5rem; background-color: #ffffff;">Call 1300 863 204 now, or <a style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #258440; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;" href="https://lp.compareclub.com.au/life-oversixty/?utm_medium=partner&utm_source=over60&utm_campaign=life&utm_content=nativearticle&category=life" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a> to save today!</h4> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, 'system-ui', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;"> </p> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, 'system-ui', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;"> </p> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, 'system-ui', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji';"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The information contained in this guide is of general nature only and has been prepared without taking into consideration your objectives, needs and financial situation. As such, it is important that you consider the appropriateness of any advice and the relevant product disclosure statement (PDS) before proceeding. Check with a financial professional before making any decisions.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></em></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji';"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">#Compare Club compares selected products from a panel of trusted insurers. We do not compare all products in the market.</em></span></p> <p> </p>

Caring

Million dollar baby! Video of newborn covered in money sparks outrage

<p>The bizarre moment a new father covered his newborn child in $100 bills has gone viral, sending social media into a frenzy over the strange act. </p> <p>The video shows a sleeping newborn in a crib in a hospital's nursery, while an adult covers the baby boy in $100 bills. </p> <p>Despite a blanket covering the baby's body, many were quick to point out just how many germs and bacteria live on cash notes, with many worried about the child picking up an infection from the dirty money. </p> <p>According to <a href="https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1914560_1914558_1914544,00.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">TIME</a>, paper money can reportedly carry more germs than a household toilet - and hundreds of species of microorganisms can live on the cash for days. </p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Man covers his new born baby with hundreds 😳 <a href="https://t.co/AFEYajIY6N">pic.twitter.com/AFEYajIY6N</a></p> <p>— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) <a href="https://twitter.com/DailyLoud/status/1650660162930196485?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p>People took to Twitter to show their outrage at the germs, with one person saying, "Bro just created a bacteria blanket for a newborn."</p> <p>Another shared the same sentiment, writing, "Unless those are brand new bills straight from the bank, he just covered his baby in a blanket of germs."</p> <p>Another person said, "Very very unhygienic I hope baby doesn't get sick..." while a fourth added, "Money is full of pathogens, I wouldn't compromise the baby's health."</p> <p>Others cut the happy parent some slack, saying it was a strange decision to shower the baby with money, but said they could understand the person's excitement over the bundle of joy. </p> <p>One person said, "Probably a proud first-time father and isn't thinking about how ridiculous this is. Down the line he'll show his baby the picture and they'll have a good laugh out of it."</p> <p>Another wrote, "An unusual way to wish prosperity to the newborn but again different stroke for different folks!"</p> <p><em>Image credits: Twitter</em></p>

Family & Pets

Readers respond: What's a cover song that's better than the original?

<p>Just because a particular version of a song came first, doesn't necessarily mean it's better than a cover.</p> <p>We asked our readers what their favourite cover tracks are, and the response was overwhelming. </p> <p>Here's what they said. </p> <p><strong>Moses Serugo</strong> - All Whitney Houston covers!</p> <p><strong>Glen Crawford</strong> - Johnny Cash’s cover of Trent Reznor’s ‘Hurt’. It was one of the last songs Johnny recorded, and is awesome!</p> <p><strong>Vicki Hunt</strong> - Torn by Natalie Imbruglia. Apparently someone recorded it before she did, although I've only heard her version, which was a major hit for her. </p> <p><strong>Bruce Winther</strong> - Fields of Gold by Eva Cassidy.</p> <p><strong>Sheila Schmidt</strong> - Bette Midler’s version of Beast of Burden is better than the Rolling Stones.</p> <p><strong>Ken Jacob</strong> - Simply the Best by Tina Turner better than the original by Bonnie Tyler.</p> <p><strong>Harold Hanlon</strong> - Elton John doing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.</p> <p><strong>Judi Nicholls</strong> - U2 doing Unchained Melody. </p> <p><strong>Michael Zoellner</strong> - Blinded By The Light by Manfred Mann. Much better than Bruce Springsteen who originally did the song.</p> <p><strong>Jennifer Mitchell</strong> - Hallelujah by Lucy Thomas is absolutely beautiful.</p> <p><strong>Leanne Guthrie</strong> - We've gotta get out of this place, The Angels. Best version ever!!</p> <p><strong>Weeze Aitch</strong> - Horses by Darryl Braithwaite. Originally by Ricki Lee Jones. </p> <p><strong>Noelene Braidwood</strong> - The Wonder Of You, by Elvis Presley. </p> <p><strong>Michael Pemberton</strong> - All Along the Watchtower (Dylan) cover by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.</p> <p><strong>Rick Graham</strong> - The Sound of Silence by Disturbed.</p> <p><strong>Steve Pullan</strong> - Smooth Criminal by Alien Ant Farm. </p> <p><strong>Deirdre Dee O'Hanlon McGregor</strong> - Dear Prudence Beatles song covered by Doug Parkinson, he does a great job, better than the Beatles.</p> <p><strong>Graham Anderson</strong> - Can't think of one. The originals are the best. </p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p>

Music

106-year-old tattoo artist becomes Vogue’s oldest cover star

<p>Apo Maria ‘Whang-Od’ Oggay has made history as the oldest woman to have featured on the cover of <em>Vogue</em>. </p> <p>Regarded as the last mambabatok of her generation, Whang-Od was born in the remote village of Buscalan in the northern Philippines’ province of Kalinga in 1918, and entered the world of tattooing at just 16 years old. </p> <p>As <em>Vogue Philippines</em>’s editor-in-chief Bea Valdes explained of their decision to feature her on the cover, “we felt she represented our ideals of what is beautiful about our Filipino culture.</p> <p>"We believe that the concept of beauty needs to evolve, and include diverse and inclusive faces and forms. What we hope to speak about is the beauty of humanity.”</p> <p>And Whang-Od was the perfect choice. <em>Vogue Philippines</em>’ demonstrated as much when they wrote on Twitter that “the symbols of the Kalinga tribe signifying strength, bravery & beauty” are imprinted on her skin, and that Whang-Od embodies the “strength and beauty of the Filipino spirit”.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Apo Maria “Whang-Od” Oggay symbolizes the strength and beauty of the Filipino spirit. </p> <p>Heralded as the last mambabatok of her generation, she has imprinted the symbols of the Kalinga tribe signifying strength, bravery & beauty on the skin. </p> <p>Read more on <a href="https://t.co/2F1mJ5iQWG">https://t.co/2F1mJ5iQWG</a>. <a href="https://t.co/urVcA3g2Ek">pic.twitter.com/urVcA3g2Ek</a></p> <p>— Vogue Philippines (@vogueph) <a href="https://twitter.com/vogueph/status/1641276503433572353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p>As tattoo anthropologist Dr Lars Krutak found out for <em>Vogue</em>, it was through Whang-Od’s father’s mentorship that she launched her career in tattooing. She was the first - and only - mambabatok of her time, and would spend her time visiting neighbouring villages - and beyond - to “to imprint the sacred symbols of their ancestors on individuals who have crossed or about to cross a threshold in their lives.”</p> <p>Her own life story can be found on her skin - featuring everything from her accomplishments to her ailments, and even the names of past lovers - in a story of beauty, bravery, and the heritage of the Kalinga tribe. </p> <p>For men, tattoos reflected them as “a headhunting warrior”, while women were typically tattooed for “fertility and beautification”. As <em>Vogue</em> reported, the elder women of Kalinga say that “when they die, they can’t take their beads and gold with them to the afterlife. They only have the markings on their body.” </p> <p>As <em>Vogue</em> went on to cover, decades of colonial erasure had a significant impact on batok - in Kalinga, village girls had to cover their arms, while many others abandoned the art. </p> <p>But through Whang-Od and her descendants, the ancient art of batok will continue - both in Buscalan and the rest of the world. </p> <p>Batok itself, as explained by the <em>Vogue</em> team who had the honour of receiving a tattoo from Whang-Od, involves “an unused gisi, a bamboo stick with a thorn attached to one end” and a pattern traced “using a length of grass dipped in the soot and charcoal mixture”. </p> <p>The process then sees Whang-Od hold the inked gisi in one hand, while she “uses a larger stick to whack it with her right hand, driving it over a hundred times per minute into the flesh until the three dots are filled and oozing with blood and ink. She dabs at them with a wet wipe before deciding to go over the freshly wounded spots again for good measure.”</p> <p>And now, Whang-Od has been teaching her craft to her grand-niece, Grace Palicas. </p> <p>Under Whang-Od’s mentorship, the thousand-year-old tradition will live on, as the next generation of stick-and-thorn artists strive to preserve their craft, and share it with the world. </p> <p>As for Whang-Od herself? Her plans are quite simple, with the artist explaining that “when visitors come from far away, I will give them the tatak Buscalan, tatak Kalinga for as long as my eyes can see.”</p> <p><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

Beauty & Style

Getting life cover can mean a 15% rebate for you

<p>We all have loved ones who rely on us. Life insurance offers security, but so many of us are doing it tough at the moment that another outgoing seems scary.</p> <p><a href="https://lp.compareclub.com.au/life-oversixty/?utm_medium=partner&utm_source=over60&utm_campaign=life&utm_content=nativearticle&category=life" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>OverSixty is partnering with Compare Club</strong></a> to find ways you can still protect your family, without breaking your retirement budget.</p> <p>For example: Did you know you’re able to split your life insurance so some of it’s paid in your super fund? </p> <p>It’s true! Accessing your life cover like this gives you a way to:</p> <ul> <li>Keep your out-of-pocket expenses low.</li> <li>Access discounted premiums: your 15% rebate makes dollars and good sense.</li> <li>Afford better cover with more benefits for you - and your family.</li> </ul> <p><strong><a href="https://lp.compareclub.com.au/life-oversixty/?utm_medium=partner&utm_source=over60&utm_campaign=life&utm_content=nativearticle&category=life" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Compare Club’s life cover experts</a></strong> have this knowledge at their fingertips. They’re experts who have been helping Aussies save money on insurance policies since 2010.</p> <p>You don’t need to puzzle it all out on your own either. Compare Club’s brokers match policies to people’s real-life circumstances - and handle your paperwork.</p> <p>Compare Club looks at policies from Australia's leading life insurers#, so <span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">talk to an expert today about your future, and your family.</span><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> </span></p> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; font-family: -apple-system, 'system-ui', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; line-height: 1.2; color: #212529; font-size: 1.5rem; background-color: #ffffff;">Call 1300 863 204 now, or <a href="https://lp.compareclub.com.au/life-oversixty/?utm_medium=partner&utm_source=over60&utm_campaign=life&utm_content=nativearticle&category=life" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a> to save today!</h4> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; background-color: #ffffff;"><span style="color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, Arial, sans-serif, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol, Noto Color Emoji;"><em>The information contained in this guide is of general nature only and has been prepared without taking into consideration your objectives, needs and financial situation. As such, it is important that you consider the appropriateness of any advice and the relevant product disclosure statement (PDS) before proceeding. Check with a financial professional before making any decisions.<br /></em></span><span style="color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica Neue, Arial, sans-serif, Apple Color Emoji, Segoe UI Emoji, Segoe UI Symbol, Noto Color Emoji;"><em>#Compare Club compares selected products from a panel of trusted insurers. We do not compare all products in the market.</em></span></p>

Money & Banking

What does your health fund know about living costs? Because health cover premiums are on the rise this year too!

<p>Have you noticed more scary headlines about ballooning inflation and climbing interest rates out there lately? While the media love their dramatic headlines, there’s more truth than usual in their scary stats.</p> <p>It’s no secret that a lot of us are feeling squeezed financially at the moment. The cost of living has shot up in recent months - from interest rates, to groceries, and new energy and fuel price hikes, it’s getting harder to make ends meet. </p> <p>Health cover is no exception.</p> <p>In fact, in 2023, health insurance premiums are set to rise by an average of 2.9%...</p> <p><strong>…but did you know that your fund can put your premium up by a lot more than that?</strong></p> <p>It’s true. </p> <p>Don't be fooled by any ‘average’ messaging. An ‘average increase’ is just that - an average. Your premium may be going up by a lot more.</p> <p><strong>OverSixty has partnered with </strong><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"><strong>Compare Club,</strong> </span><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Australia’s most trusted team of health insurance experts,* who spend every day talking to Aussie families – and they’ve recently shared with us two examples:</span></p> <p>1. Kevin's policy has gone up by <strong>20% in 2 years</strong> - that’s a LOT more than the current rate of inflation it’s being blamed on.</p> <p>2. Cassie's family combined cover policy is <strong>going up by 13.67%</strong> or $33.60 a month - that’s over $400 a year on top of her current premium.</p> <p>We know how much households are hurting right now, so Compare Club talked to us about three smart ways to keep your health insurance premiums in check - without compromising your cover:</p> <p><strong>1.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Downsize your policy - only pay for what you need:<br /></strong>Are you on a top tier policy you’re not fully using? You might find you can get a Silver Plus or Bronze Plus tier policy with a lower premium, and stay covered for what you need. </p> <p><strong>2.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Split policies - health funds’ best kept secret: <br /></strong>If you and your partner have different health needs, splitting your cover across two different policies - or even two different funds - could save your family several hundred dollars in annual premiums. </p> <p><strong>3.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Pay in advance - before your premium rises:<br /></strong>You may have noticed that a lot of health funds have delayed their premium increase this year. If yours is one of these, and you can afford to pay your full annual premium before the date of increase, you’ll lock in a full year’s worth of savings for yourself.</p> <p><strong>Know your options:</strong></p> <p><em>“Health funds are a competitive bunch, so you don’t have to take what your fund dishes out. If you've not reviewed your health cover recently, you could be paying an average of $785^ more than you need.” <strong>– Compare Club CEO, Andrew Davis.</strong></em></p> <p><strong>OverSixty has partnered with Compare Club’s experts</strong> who have saved over 136,500 customers an average of $300 on health cover premiums over the last five years^. </p> <p>We’re quite sure you have better things to do with your money than overpaying for health cover.</p> <p>Compare Club have been helping Aussies switch and save on health cover since 2010<sup>#</sup>, so get in touch and see how much their experts could save you.</p> <h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; font-family: -apple-system, 'system-ui', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; line-height: 1.2; color: #212529; font-size: 1.5rem; background-color: #ffffff;">Call 1300 863 204 now, or visit <a style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #258440; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;" href="https://lp.compareclub.com.au/over60/?utm_medium=partner&utm_source=over60&utm_campaign=raterise&utm_content=nativearticle&category=health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">compare.oversixty.com.au</a> to save today!</h4> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, 'system-ui', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;"> </p> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, 'system-ui', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;"> </p> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, 'system-ui', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;"> </p> <p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; color: #212529; font-family: -apple-system, 'system-ui', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif, 'Apple Color Emoji', 'Segoe UI Emoji', 'Segoe UI Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji'; font-size: 16px; background-color: #ffffff;"><em><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">*Based on Trustpilot reviews, correct as of 04/01/23<br /></span>^Savings based on 136,746 customers between 1 Jan 2018 - 23 December 2022.</em><br /><em>#Compare Club compares selected products from a panel of trusted insurers. We do not compare all products in the market.</em></p>

Caring

Two journalists die in Qatar while covering FIFA World Cup

<p>Two journalists have died within days of each other while covering the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. </p> <p><em>The Gulf Times</em> reported Qatari photojournalist Khalid al-Misslam passed away “suddenly” on the weekend.</p> <p>The Qatar news outlet wrote, “Al-Misslam, a Qatari, died suddenly while covering the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. We believe in Allah’s mercy and forgiveness for him, and send our deepest condolences to his family.”</p> <p>Al-Misslam had been covering the World Cup since it began in Doha at the end of November. </p> <p>The circumstances around his death are unclear.</p> <p>Al-Misslam's death comes just days after influential American soccer journalist Grant Wahl died at the age of 48 while also covering the games in Qatar.</p> <p>While covering Argentina’s quarter-final win over the Netherlands, Wahl collapsed at the Lusail Iconic Stadium and was rushed to a nearby hospital before his death.</p> <p>It’s unclear whether he died at the hospital or in transport.</p> <p>While there is yet to be a clear cause of death determined, Grant's brother Eric believes foul play from the Qatari government may have been involved.</p> <p>Prior to the American team’s game against Wales, Wahl was initially not allowed into Ahmad bin Ali Stadium and detained for 30 minutes for wearing a shirt depicting a soccer ball surrounded by a rainbow.</p> <p>He was eventually let into the stadium, despite the Qatari government's crackdown on pro-LGBTQ demonstrations at the tournament.</p> <p>Wahl had been struggling with minor health issues while covering the games and had been to a medical centre in Qatar twice.</p> <p>Grant's brother Eric said he is in "complete shock" over the sudden death of his brother and is pleading for answers. </p> <p>“My name is Eric Wahl. I live in Seattle, Washington. I am Grant Wahl’s brother. I’m gay,” he said in a video posted to his Instagram account.</p> <p>“I’m the reason he wore the rainbow shirt to the World Cup. My brother was healthy. He told me he received death threats. I do not believe my brother just died. I believe he was killed. And I just beg for any help."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Twitter</em></p>

News

Artist spends two years covering his home in doodles

<p>A UK artist has spent two years covering his multi-million dollar mansion in his distinctive style of drawings. </p> <p>Sam Cox, who is lovingly known as Mr Doodle, worked his way through 900 litres of emulsion, 401 cans of spray paint, 286 bottles of drawing paint, and 2,296 pens to transform his home into a work of art.</p> <p>Sam has spent the last two years plastering the walls of his six-bedroom, neo-Georgian mansion that he bought for $2.3million (AUD) in Kent, England, with the signature black-and-white drawings that earned him his name. </p> <p>The 28-year-old artist said it has always been his lifelong dream to buy a house to transform into a "doodle-verse".</p> <p>Sam's adventurous project began in the main bedroom - which he decorated with "dream" themed drawings - and the 2,000-tile en-suite bathroom, which has a sea theme.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjLla7wA0zI/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjLla7wA0zI/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Mr Doodle (@mrdoodle)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>The first stage took a gruelling two months to complete, but Mr Cox was determined to finish it on his own.</p> <p>He said, "It's the longest project I've done. I wanted to say I'd done it all myself."</p> <p>Sam has left no surface untouched, with every wall and ceiling and all amenities, including the television, stovetop and bath, covered in monochromatic doodles.</p> <p>Despite admitting he did not plan any of his drawings, Mr Cox has given every room its own theme.</p> <p>For example, the hallway is covered with Noah's Ark creations, while the stairs are decorated with Heaven and Hell drawings.</p> <p>He said, "I had a rough idea of the theme but the individual doodles are spontaneous."</p> <p>"My main inspiration still goes back to when I was kid watching Tom and Jerry, Wacky Races and SpongeBob SquarePants, and video games like Crash Bandicoot. I always wanted to draw characters for video games."</p> <p>While already thinking about his next project, Sam said he would be hesitant to let go of the doodle mansion. </p> <p>He said, "I'm unlikely to be persuaded to move, even if it was amazing money."</p> <p>"I'd feel sad leaving this house, because it's my first one."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Instagram </em></p>

Real Estate

Nat Barr and Kochie share behind-the-scenes look at covering the Queen’s funeral

<p dir="ltr">During their 12 days in London covering the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, <em>Sunrise </em>hosts David Koch and Nat Barr have shown behind-the-scenes looks at the less glamorous aspects of being on the ground.</p> <p dir="ltr">Taking to Instagram, Nat shared several clips of the “media city” that had been set up to house journalists, film crews, and other media workers from outlets across the world.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-3234ebc3-7fff-1a47-3058-c9bb1a0fe6d6">In one clip, Nat gave a tour of the <em>Sunrise </em>tent and setup, including a glimpse at the “key to entry” on her wrist.</span></p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cie5QRhgnHx/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cie5QRhgnHx/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Natalie Barr (@natalie_barr7)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“You go nowhere without these two little wristbands,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This is backstage,” she continued over footage of a sea of tents, before arriving “home” at their tent, where Kochie was spotted getting his makeup done and crew members set up for the next live cross.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-35233be7-7fff-ee8e-7471-deaf457ca4ac">The <em>Sunrise </em>co-host revealed that the simple black chairs they were using were from “a camping store in central London” and were “really uncomfortable”.</span></p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cin503NhZem/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cin503NhZem/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Natalie Barr (@natalie_barr7)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Meanwhile, Kochie shared a suite of behind-the-scenes photos of life reporting from London, which he called a “highlight of my career” and an “extraordinary 12 days of filming”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“But life on the road is NOT as glamorous as you may think,” he added.</p> <p dir="ltr">The photos he shared included a camera operator who was caught asleep on several eskies while another slept on the ground with a jumper covering his eyes, which Kochie captioned, “Sleep when you can”.</p> <p dir="ltr">In another, Nat was seen performing a back and neck stretch, with her head tilted up to the sky, in front of Buckingham Palace, with Kochie revealing that the black chairs they were using had “stuffed” her neck and back.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The best co-host - smart, witty, normal,” he said of Nat.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-85d7651c-7fff-7257-823f-686f85fd135e"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“Sitting on stools for so long stuffed Nat’s back and neck, and this was an exercise from the osteo.”</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CivglFzBWWf/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CivglFzBWWf/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Natalie Barr (@natalie_barr7)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Kochie went on to credit the show’s royal editor, Rob Johnson, who juggled working for Sunrise with US commentating and writing for UK newspapers and was photographed asleep on a chair in the tent.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Rob Jobson’s schedule was unbelievable ... an absolute professional,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Nat also shared her appreciation for the work the team put in to cover the Queen’s passing, describing it as “such a privilege” and sharing photos of herself getting her hair done, performing back stretches, and the crew filming her.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-8234511b-7fff-8d50-2038-af3ddacdd9e5"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @natalie_barr7 (Instagram)</em></p>

Coins covered in coded clues will test your spy skills

<p dir="ltr">A new, limited edition 50-cent coin covered in coded messages is more than just a mental puzzle for coin collectors - its creators hope it can help identify some of Australia’s next foreign intelligence recruits.</p> <p dir="ltr">The commemorative coin was released on Thursday to mark the 75th anniversary of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), the country’s foreign intelligence cybersecurity agency.</p> <p dir="ltr">Though they won’t be available for circulation, 50,00 of the unique coins will be available to purchase from the Royal Australian Mint.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-91d5a6fc-7fff-bb93-5d60-cff3220f11f5"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Each coin features four levels of coded messages that become more difficult to solve - though clues can be found on either side of the coin.</p> <p><iframe style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FRoyalAustralianMint%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0NUz7VxNyNToHFmQzbPFTNi2rYo4Vvngztz8nmQssosevJzo2ExGpxdp5fumXeXcol&show_text=false&width=500" width="500" height="498" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p dir="ltr">ASD Director General Rachel Noble said the coin celebrated the work of the members of the agency and the evolution of code-breaking over the past seven-and-a-half decades.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Back in World War II, our people, military and civilian, and mostly women … used pencil and paper to decode Japanese military codes, and then re-encode them to send them out to the allies to let them know where Japanese war fighters were," she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"We have used that part of our history in different layers, which represent the progress of encryption and technology through our 75 years."</p> <p dir="ltr">The puzzling currency also serves another purpose, with Ms Noble adding that those who can crack the codes could be "pretty well-placed" to work at the ASD.</p> <p dir="ltr">"We thought this was a really fun way to engage people in code-breaking with the hope that, if they make it through all four levels of coding on the coin, maybe they'll apply for a job at the Australian Signals Directorate," she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Royal Mint chief executive Leugh Gordon said the coin was created with the help of cryptography experts, but that even with their help it still proved a challenge to get the codes onto the coin.</p> <p dir="ltr">"While the 50-cent piece is Australia's biggest coin, it still doesn't have a lot of surface area," he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Ensuring people could see the code to decrypt it was one of the challenges our people were able to solve with ASD, to create a unique and special product."</p> <p dir="ltr">It's not the first time secretive workplaces have used unusual recruiting drives, with the Australian Secret Intelligence Service releasing an online test targeting Australia's next generation of spies in 2017, while ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) took to Instagram last year to show the secrecy surrounding the lives of modern spies.</p> <p dir="ltr">Ms Noble said those who crack the code won't get their hands on any top secret information, but instead will find "some wonderful, uplifting messages".</p> <p dir="ltr">"Like the early code breakers in ASD, you can get through some of the layers with but a pencil and paper but, right towards the end, you may need a computer to solve the last level," she said.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-73e50ae0-7fff-e141-a245-39a4ce9b8192"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Royal Australian Mint</em></p>

Money & Banking

"Icon" Nicole Kidman flexes down for new mag cover

<p dir="ltr">Nicole Kidman has caused a stir with her latest photoshoot after she appeared on the front cover of a magazine with incredibly muscled arms, a copper wig, and an outfit that’s a far cry from her previous looks.</p> <p dir="ltr">Kidman will feature on the front cover of Perfect magazine’s third edition as the winner of the publication’s Icon award in recognition of her impact on contemporary culture.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-efeb7a25-7fff-ae76-96ba-79a98edecc76">The <em>Nine Perfect Strangers</em> star was styled in a tight-fitting halter-neck crop top, a textured mini skirt, and a copper wig that had bangs at the front and waist-long hair at the back, with the wig appearing in several other photos from the shoot, taken by photographer Zhong Lin.</span></p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/ChlUXjRpiN5/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/ChlUXjRpiN5/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Nicole Kidman (@nicolekidman)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Kidman was the inaugural winner from a list of 23 potential candidates for the Icon award, which serves to recognise those who are “shaping contemporary culture”. </p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Perfect </em>launched the annual awards this year, with additional categories including Self Expression, Image, and Moment, as well as several for fragrances, designers, performers and brands, two years after the content agency turned magazine was founded by British stylised Katie Grand.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6c2ffa26-7fff-d8be-f8f0-0c522d970619">“At a time when the validity of awards ceremonies is in question, and the red carpet spectacle of presentations is dominated by the awarding bodies and the presenters, we wanted to shift the focus back on those who we think deserve to be rewarded,” <em>Perfect </em>said in a statement.</span></p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/ChkxbK3NiEZ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/ChkxbK3NiEZ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by PERFECT (@theperfectmagazine)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Kidman’s latest magazine spread comes just months after her shoot for the February issue of <em>Vanity Fair</em> <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/vanity-fair-slammed-for-distorted-nicole-kidman-cover" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sparked controversy</a>, with some fans accusing the magazine of excessive use of Photoshop.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4f27add5-7fff-f162-4e8b-0f9eae978f6c">The Oscar-winning actress later addressed the accusations in a conversation with director Baz Luhrmann, published in <em>Vogue Australia</em>, confessing she had second thoughts after initially “begging” to wear the Miu Miu outfit featured on the cover.</span></p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CaGOnGXvfjV/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CaGOnGXvfjV/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Nicole Kidman (@nicolekidman)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“I did walk away thinking, ‘What was I thinking?! That was ridiculous! What were you doing, Nicole?!’ And then I went, ‘Eh, oh well!’” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Cause you know that part about me where I’m like, ‘I’m just going to do what I want to do, ultimately!’ And just have some fun. And just commit, like really commit when I show up, do it. But there’s got to be some fun. And sometimes it’s going to work, and sometimes it isn’t. But I love the idea of being bold and not fitting into a box.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Aside from appearing in unusual magazine photoshoots, Kidman has been working on various projects in Hollywood, including gearing up for the upcoming <em>Aquaman </em>sequel and being in production for AppleTV+ animation <em>Spellbound</em>, Amazon series <em>Expats</em>, and an untitled Netflix rom-com.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1c003679-7fff-0ceb-80c8-9df49efa13e0"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: @ThePerfectMagazine (Instagram)</em></p>

Beauty & Style

Ash Barty’s memoir cover revealed

<p dir="ltr">Ash Barty has revealed the cover of the memoir titled <em>My Dream Time</em> due for release later in the year. </p> <p dir="ltr">The retired athlete used her Indigenous heritage in naming her autobiography <em>My Dream Time </em>which will be published by HarperCollins.</p> <p dir="ltr">The stunning cover shows a smiling Ash with the beautiful Queensland sunset in the background.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’m so happy to share the cover for My Dream Time,” Ash wrote on Instagram.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This is the story of my journey to be the best I could be, not just as a tennis player but as a person. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I’m now working on the final manuscript and selecting photos, I’m excited to share the finished book with you soon!</p> <p dir="ltr">“We shot the cover at sunset in Queensland with the talented @nics_mindset. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I hope you like it.”</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/tv/ChJl1i4BqWW/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/tv/ChJl1i4BqWW/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Ash Barty (@ashbarty)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">The book is ready for pre-order from <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781460762820/my-dream-time-a-memoir-of-tennis-and-teamwork/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> but will be released in Australia and New Zealand on November 3, in the UK on November 10 this year.</p> <p dir="ltr">Fans in the USA and Canada will have to wait a while longer for its release on January 10, 2023.</p> <p dir="ltr">Ash already has a series of children’s books titled <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/entertainment/books/ash-barty-s-books-released" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Little Ash</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: HarperCollins/Instagram</em></p>

Books

With cost of living skyrocketing, is it time to find cheaper health cover?

<p>When was the last time you checked your health cover? If it’s been a while since you last checked your policy, you could be paying more than you need to. Despite the rising cost of living, there are still big savings to be made if you know where to look.</p> <p><a href="https://compareclub.com.au/health-insurance/quote/cover-type-location/?utm_source=impact&utm_medium=affiliate&tm_campaign=raterise&utm_content=article&utm_term=getaquote&category=health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Compare Club</a>’s experts can help you compare health policies from a panel of leading insurers<sup>#</sup> and take care of the switching process – possibly saving you hundreds in just a few minutes.</p> <p>Over the last five years, Compare Club has saved customers an average of $320* on their annual health insurance costs when they switched policies through them. Their experts will help you squeeze out every last cent of savings and value from your policy.</p> <p><strong>Rising cost of premiums<br /></strong>Most health funds in Australia raise their premiums every year. While this helps the funds offset any rising healthcare costs, it can also add hundreds onto the cost of health insurance for many policyholders.</p> <p>The average premium increase this year will be 2.70%. Based on federal government estimates, this means that the average policyholder could see an increase of $125.84 if you’re on a family or couples policy, or $58.24 for singles policy holders.</p> <p>So if you normally pay $100 a month for private health insurance, a 2.70% rate rise would see your monthly premium increase to $102.70.</p> <p>That might not sound like much, but when you add up the costs over the course of a year, it can make a huge difference to how much of your income you're spending on health insurance.</p> <p><strong>Why do health insurance premiums increase each year?<br /></strong>The most common reasons why private health insurance funds increase their premiums annually include:</p> <ul> <li>More people accessing health services each year.</li> <li>An ageing population and higher rates of conditions like cancer or heart attacks places a bigger strain on health services.</li> <li>Improved treatments are often more expensive for our healthcare system.</li> </ul> <p>These factors help explain why health funds increase their premiums – and the cost of providing insurance to you gets more expensive each year. They don't always pass on the additional costs to you, their customers, but this is generally why you can expect your premiums to go up.</p> <p><strong>Can you avoid the impact of health insurance premium increases in 2022?<br /></strong>The short answer is yes, if you switch to a different, lower cost fund. The experts at <a href="https://compareclub.com.au/health-insurance/quote/cover-type-location/?utm_source=impact&utm_medium=affiliate&tm_campaign=raterise&utm_content=article&utm_term=getaquote&category=health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Compare Club</a> can help with this. They can compare policies and provide you with options that fit within your budget, saving you time jumping from insurer to insurer and comparing policies yourself.</p> <p><strong>Will you have to serve new waiting periods if you switch policies?<br /></strong>Not necessarily. You can switch to an equivalent or lower level of cover without serving new <a href="https://compareclub.com.au/health-insurance/waiting-periods/?utm_source=impact&utm_medium=affiliate&tm_campaign=raterise&utm_content=article&utm_term=getaquote&category=health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">waiting periods</a> on your health insurance. You’ll only need to serve new waiting periods if you have upgraded to a higher level of cover. Also, remember that any unserved waiting periods will transfer to your new health fund. So if you end up switching health insurance to an equivalent cover, you may need to finish these unserved waiting periods before you can make a claim.</p> <p><strong>How do you know if I’m getting value for money from my health fund?<br /></strong>If you haven't changed funds or policies in a few years, there’s a good chance you could be getting better value for money elsewhere. And if you’ve moved to a different state or out to regional Australia, your current health fund may not have agreements with your local hospital or dentist. One of the fastest and easiest ways to see how your current premiums stack up – and how much you could save by switching – is to <a href="https://compareclub.com.au/health-insurance/quote/cover-type-location/?utm_source=impact&utm_medium=affiliate&tm_campaign=raterise&utm_content=article&utm_term=getaquote&category=health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">compare health insurance quotes</a>.</p> <p><strong>Why trust Compare Club?<br /></strong>Here’s why you should compare health insurance with Compare Club:</p> <ol> <li><strong>They’re independently owned:</strong> Unlike some of their competitors, Compare Club isn’t owned by any insurers (or vice versa).</li> <li><strong>They make switching easy:</strong> Compare Club has been helping Aussies save on their health insurance for over 10 years.</li> <li><strong>They are 100% Australian owned:</strong> Compare Club’s entire health insurance team is based in Australia and comprehensively trained.</li> </ol> <p><em>* Based on 111,658 policies sold Jan 2017–Nov 2021<br /></em><em># Compare Club compares selected products from a panel of trusted insurers. They do not compare all products in the market.</em></p> <p><em>This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with <a href="https://compareclub.com.au/health-insurance/quote/cover-type-location/?utm_source=impact&utm_medium=affiliate&tm_campaign=raterise&utm_content=article&utm_term=getaquote&category=health" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Compare Club</a>.</em></p> <p><a id="1191393" href="https://compareclub.sjv.io/c/3546413/1191393/14962"> . </a><img style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;" src="https://imp.pxf.io/i/3546413/1191393/14962" width="0" height="0" border="0" /></p>

Caring

Record coral cover doesn’t necessarily mean the Great Barrier Reef is in good health (despite what you may have heard)

<p>In what seems like excellent news, coral cover in parts of the Great Barrier Reef is at a record high, according to <a href="https://www.aims.gov.au/information-centre/news-and-stories/highest-coral-cover-central-northern-reef-36-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new data</a> from the Australian Institute of Marine Science. But this doesn’t necessarily mean our beloved reef is in good health.</p> <p>In the north of the reef, coral cover usually fluctuates between 20% and 30%. Currently, it’s at 36%, the highest level recorded since monitoring began more than three decades ago.</p> <p>This level of coral cover comes hot off the back of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/another-mass-bleaching-event-is-devastating-the-great-barrier-reef-what-will-it-take-for-coral-to-survive-180180" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disturbing decade</a> that saw the reef endure six mass coral bleaching events, four severe tropical cyclones, active outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish, and water quality impacts following floods. So what’s going on?</p> <p>High coral cover findings <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-lot-of-coral-doesnt-always-mean-high-biodiversity-10548" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can be deceptive</a> because they can result from only a few dominant species that grow rapidly after disturbance (such as mass bleaching). These same corals, however, are extremely susceptible to disturbance and are likely to die out within a few years.</p> <h2>The data are robust</h2> <p>The <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/4747/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Great Barrier Reef spans</a> 2,300 kilometres, comprising more than 3,000 individual reefs. It is an exceptionally diverse ecosystem that features more than 12,000 animal species, plus many thousand more species of plankton and marine flora.</p> <p>The reef has been teetering on the edge of receiving an “in-danger” <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-declaring-the-great-barrier-reef-as-in-danger-only-postpones-the-inevitable-164867" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listing</a> from the World Heritage Committee. And it was <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-australias-most-important-report-on-the-environments-deteriorating-health-we-present-its-grim-findings-186131" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently described</a> in the State of the Environment Report as being in a poor and deteriorating state.</p> <p>To protect the Great Barrier Reef, we need to routinely monitor and report on its condition. The Australian Institute of Marine Science’s long-term monitoring program has been collating and delivering this information since 1985.</p> <p>Its approach involves surveying a selection of reefs that represent different habitat types (inshore, midshelf, offshore) and management zones. The <a href="https://www.aims.gov.au/monitoring-great-barrier-reef/gbr-condition-summary-2021-22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latest report</a> provides a robust and valuable synopsis of how coral cover has changed at 87 reefs across three sectors (north, central and south) over the past 36 years.</p> <h2>The results</h2> <p>Overall, the long-term monitoring team found coral cover has increased on most reefs. The level of coral cover on reefs near Cape Grenville and Princess Charlotte Bay in the northern sector has bounced back from bleaching, with two reefs having <a href="https://www.aims.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-08/AIMS_LTMP_Report_on%20GBR_coral_status_2021_2022_040822F3.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than 75% cover</a>.</p> <p>In the central sector, where coral cover has historically been lower than in the north and south, coral cover is now at a region-wide high, at 33%.</p> <p>The southern sector has a dynamic coral cover record. In the late 1980s coral cover surpassed 40%, before dropping to a region-wide low of 12% in 2011 after Cyclone Hamish.</p> <p>The region is currently experiencing outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish. And yet, coral cover in this area is still relatively high at 34%.</p> <p>Based on this robust data set, which shows increases in coral cover indicative of region-wide recovery, things must be looking up for the Great Barrier Reef – right?</p> <h2>Are we being catfished by coral cover?</h2> <p>In the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s report, reef recovery relates solely to an increase in coral cover, so let’s unpack this term.</p> <p>Coral cover is a broad proxy metric that indicates habitat condition. It’s relatively easy data to collect and report on, and is the most widely used monitoring metric on coral reefs.</p> <p>The finding of high coral cover may signify a reef in good condition, and an increase in coral cover after disturbance may signify a recovering reef.</p> <p>But in this instance, it’s more likely the reef is being dominated by only few species, as the report states that branching and plating Acropora species have driven the recovery of coral cover.</p> <p>Acropora coral are renowned for a “boom and bust” life cycle. After disturbances such as a cyclone, Acropora species function as pioneers. They quickly recruit and colonise bare space, and the laterally growing plate-like species can rapidly cover large areas.</p> <p>Fast-growing Acropora corals tend to dominate during the early phase of recovery after disturbances such as the recent series of mass bleaching events. However, these same corals are often susceptible to wave damage, disease or coral bleaching and tend to go bust within a few years.</p> <p>Inferring that a reef has recovered by a person being towed behind a boat to obtain a rapid visual estimate of coral cover is like flying in a helicopter and saying a bushfire-hit forest has recovered because the canopy has grown back.</p> <p>It provides no information about diversity, or the abundance and health of other animals and plants that live in and among the trees, or coral.</p> <h2>Cautious optimism</h2> <p>My <a href="https://theconversation.com/almost-60-coral-species-around-lizard-island-are-missing-and-a-great-barrier-reef-extinction-crisis-could-be-next-163714" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a>, published last year, examined 44 years of coral distribution records around Jiigurru, Lizard Island, at the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef.</p> <p>It suggested that 28 of 368 species of hard coral recorded at that location haven’t been seen for at least a decade, and are at risk of local extinction.</p> <p>Lizard Island is one location where coral cover has rapidly increased since the devastating 2016-17 bleaching event. Yet, there is still a real risk local extinctions of coral species have occurred.</p> <p>While there’s no data to prove or disprove it, it’s also probable that extinctions or local declines of coral-affiliated marine life, such as coral-eating fishes, crustaceans and molluscs have also occurred.</p> <p>Without more information at the level of individual species, it is impossible to understand how much of the Great Barrier Reef has been lost, or recovered, since the last mass bleaching event.</p> <p>Based on the coral cover data, it’s tempting to be optimistic. But given more frequent and severe heatwaves and cyclones are predicted in the future, it’s wise to be cautious about the reef’s perceived recovery or resilience.</p> <p><strong>This article originally appeared on The Conversation.</strong></p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Travel Trouble

Ukraine’s first lady sparks controversy with Vogue cover

<p dir="ltr">Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s First Lady, has sparked backlash after she appeared on a new ‘digital cover’ of <em><a href="http://v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vogue</a></em> with her husband, President Volodymyr Zelensky, amid the ongoing war with Russia.</p> <p dir="ltr">The accompanying article, titled ‘Portrait of Bravery’, was created in collaboration between <em>Ukrainian Vogue</em> and the <em>Conde Nast Vogues</em>, featuring moody, graceful portraits of the First Lady taken by Annie Leibovitz, including one where she stands next to female soldiers at Antonov Airport.</p> <p dir="ltr">Unlike her 2019 debut on the magazine’s cover, where she was styled in brands such as Prada, Lemaire and Jimmy Choo, this year’s feature sees her exclusively wear Ukrainian designers and a focus on the pain and trauma her country is currently experiencing.</p> <p dir="ltr">With <em>Vogue</em>’s historical connections to elitism, wealth and frivolity, the sombre tone and focus on the realities of war in Ms Zelenska’s latest feature has prompted backlash from some who have labelled it as tasteless.</p> <p dir="ltr">“While Ukraine is going through hell, Vogue is doing a photoshoot for the President & his wife,” columnist Amrita Bhinder wrote on <a href="https://twitter.com/amritabhinder/status/1552215355288088577" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-60e80651-7fff-c53c-865e-54e32704ef34"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">US Republican <a href="https://twitter.com/MayraFlores2022/status/1552267933501489152" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mayra Flores</a>, a representative from Texas, was among a number of conservatives who jumped on the opportunity to attack the Biden administration for supporting Ukraine financially, insinuating it was funding vanity, as reported by <em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/style/olena-zelenska-vogue.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a></em>.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">wartime vogue photo shoots. very serious. let’s keep sending ukraine weekly billion dollar aid packages to protect “democracy.” don’t question it. <a href="https://t.co/MXVaW16K0y">pic.twitter.com/MXVaW16K0y</a></p> <p>— Logan Hall (@loganclarkhall) <a href="https://twitter.com/loganclarkhall/status/1552009719509925888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 26, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Others defended Ms Zelenska, arguing the photoshoot was a symbol for national pride and a means of raising awareness of the struggles facing Ukraine to audiences that might otherwise not be reached.</p> <p dir="ltr">Supporters included Lesia Vasylenko, a Ukrainian MP, who tweeted that Ms Zelenska’s interview with <em>Vogue </em>was “about duty, keeping sane and staying together”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s about personal strength. It’s about what being Ukrainian is really like,” she continued.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-723af7bd-7fff-f677-2ce9-31586b385290"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s about what #Ukraine needs.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">The Zelensky <a href="https://twitter.com/voguemagazine?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@voguemagazine</a> interview is a true story of one family, of a couple who woke up in war 150 days ago. It’s about duty, keeping sane and staying together. It’s about personal strength. It’s about what being Ukrainian is really like. It’s about what <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ukraine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Ukraine</a> needs <a href="https://t.co/lr2rgx4UOd">pic.twitter.com/lr2rgx4UOd</a></p> <p>— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) <a href="https://twitter.com/lesiavasylenko/status/1552402194707746817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">When asked about why she decided to appear on Vogue, Ms Zelenska told the <em><a href="https://twitter.com/LucyHockingsBBC/status/1552711694790557702" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC</a></em> it was about speaking to people directly.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Millions read <em>Vogue</em>, and to be able to speak to them direct, that was my duty,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I believe it is more important to do something and be criticised for it than to do nothing.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-f3fbcc95-7fff-0e5f-a214-6f786a7e370d"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: British Vogue (Instagram)</em></p>

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