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Australia to introduce new "gold standard" in ID verification

The Australian government is set to introduce a new "gold standard" in ID verification that will protect valuable information from potential data leaks. Government Services Minister Bill Shorten will is set to use his address to the National Press Club on Tuesday to announce the national Trust Exchange, or TEx program, which is currently at the “proof-of-concept stage”, and is slated to be rolled out at the end of the year. The program will connect to a user's MyGov Wallet or digital ID without the need to hand over any documents, allowing businesses to verify your identity using a government-issued QR code. The QR codes could be used for job applications, hotel bookings, or entry into a pub or RSL clubs, eliminating the need to hand over physical driver's licenses or passports. The technology will store information such as someone’s date-of-birth, address, citizenship, visa status, qualifications, occupational licences or working with children check, and other information already held by the government. "Services Australia is partnering with other government systems to develop TEx which would give Australians the ability to verify their identity and credentials based on official information already held by the Australian Government," Shorten is set to say in his National Press Club speech. "That means sharing only the personal information to get the job done, and in some cases, not handing over any personal information at all." “You control what details are exchanged. You then have in your wallet a record of sharing, say, your passport and trade certificate with your employer.” Shorten will say codes "digitally shake hands with your myGov wallet," leaving you with a record in your account of what you shared, and who you shared it with. "All that has been exchanged has been a digital 'thumbs up' from the Government that you are who you say you are," Shorten will say. Image credits: Shutterstock

Legal

Extreme Hollywood body transformations have become standard preparations for film actors – but we need to consider the consequences

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gemma-sharp-314703">Gemma Sharp</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bronwyn-dwyer-1453560">Bronwyn Dwyer</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a> “…when you’re shooting a film like Magic Mike, and you’re doing dance routines for two weeks at a time, you have to peak every day. So that became kind of crazy. We had a gym in the parking lot, and we’d all be lifting weights on set all day,” <a href="https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/interview-channing-tatum-joe-manganiello-magic-mike/">explained actor Joe Manganiello</a>, about performing in the film Magic Mike. It is not unusual for actors to undergo drastic changes in preparation for a role, including gaining muscle and losing body fat for that shredded look. In fact, this is becoming the norm in Hollywood. <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a43945188/jake-gyllenhaals-road-house-transformation/">Jake Gyllenhaal</a> in Road House, <a href="https://www.insider.com/michelle-rodriguez-rege-jean-page-workout-dungeons-and-dragons-sdcc-2022-7">Michelle Rodriguez</a> in Dungeons & Dragons, and <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a42532547/paul-rudd-marvel-ant-man-interview/">Paul Rudd</a> in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, have all undertaken body modifications for roles this year. As the audience, we readily accept these body modifications to be part of the preparation for the role without necessarily considering the potentially long-term physical and mental health consequences. <h2>So how do they do it?</h2> From what Hollywood shares with the general public about these body modifications, which is generally very limited, it appears these transformations occur through excessive exercise and highly restrictive diets. Nevertheless, these Hollywood workouts are highly popular with ordinary people, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Chris Hemsworth’s workouts <a href="https://sustainhealth.fit/lifestyle/most-searched-hollywood-actor-workouts/">particularly sought after</a>. These regimens resemble those of competitive bodybuilders, <a href="https://journals.lww.com/hrpjournal/Abstract/2019/07000/Competitive_Bodybuilding__Fitness,_Pathology,_or.3.aspx">whose success also relies on appearance</a>. The <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-200434050-00004">typical process for bodybuilders</a> involves two phases: a “bulking” phase, during which the goal is to have enough energy for muscle growth, and a “cutting” phase, when the aim is to lose weight but not muscle. The end result of such a process is usually highly applauded, even though drastic measures have been taken to achieve such a look. Actors of all genders are undergoing these body transformations for <a href="https://www.sportskeeda.com/comics/10-marvel-actors-whose-body-transformation-shocked-world">various roles</a> such as superheroes, athletes, or the portrayal of real-life people. <h2>What are the consequences?</h2> “I’ve become a little bit more boring now, because I’m older and I feel like if I keep doing what I’ve done in the past I’m going to die. So, I’d prefer not to die,” <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/uk/fitness/lifestyle/a29725245/christian-bale-no-more-body-transformation-roles/">said Christian Bale</a>, who has undertaken multiple extreme transformations for roles. To achieve what is needed for a particular role, extreme measures are often taken. However, the consequences of these measures, such as use of substances, exercise dependence, and an increased risk of developing muscle dysmorphia and/or an eating disorder, is seemingly not common knowledge. A concern for the bodybuilding community is the widespread use of drugs, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4026349/">often multiple drugs at a time not obtained through prescription</a>. Androgenic-anabolic steroids are commonly used which can have extensive negative effects on the human body, including on the cardiovascular system, hormones, metabolism and even psychiatric wellbeing. Exercise dependence can also occur when an individual engages in an extreme amount of exercise, to the point at which <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11936-018-0674-3">physical, psychological or emotional harm</a> can occur. We are not sure exactly why exercise dependence happens, but it could potentially be a form of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19585969.2023.2164841">behavioural addiction</a>. Another risk is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4977020/">muscle dysmorphia</a>, a subtype of body dysmorphic disorder characterised by the individual being preoccupied with the idea their physique is not muscular enough, even if they have a high degree of muscle. <h2>What about the dieting impacts?</h2> There are many similarities between the requirements of bodybuilding and eating disorders. Both are characterised by restrictive diets, high levels of exercise, potential social isolation, and adherence to a <a href="https://journals.lww.com/hrpjournal/Abstract/2019/07000/Competitive_Bodybuilding__Fitness,_Pathology,_or.3.aspx">rigid schedule</a>. The seminal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002231662210249X?via%3Dihub">Minnesota Starvation Experiment</a> fundamentally shaped our understanding of the changes a person can experience when they are consuming less than their daily nutrition energy needs, such as during the “cutting” phase for bodybuilders. This research showed that people who are experiencing starvation for a period of time will experience devastating impacts in the physical, psychological, behavioural and social aspects of their lives. Some of the many documented changes included reductions in heart muscle mass, heart rate and blood pressure, dizziness, fatigue, increased feelings of depression and anxiety, obsessive thoughts about food, and withdrawal from social activities and relationships. Concerningly, even once a person is renourished, the psychological issues around body size and food <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/eat.23095">can persist</a>. Therefore, even after an actor has returned to their pre-modification weight and size, it does not mean they have recovered from the consequences that came with that body modification. <h2>What are the impacts on the general public?</h2> Rapid changes in physical appearance are not realistically achievable for most people. So seeing actors doing this seemingly easily with the assistance of their professional teams sets an <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40894-022-00179-4">unrealistic standard</a>. For people without the same income or access to resources to achieve these body modifications in a safe way, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8872588/">more extreme means</a> would be undertaken and consequent damage to mental and physical wellbeing can ensue. These body modifications are definitely a case of “do not try this at home”. There are many risks when undertaking dramatic body modifications, most of which are not talked about in public. Actors are just as vulnerable to these risks, despite us rarely seeing what exactly they go through to achieve these dramatic transformations. Hollywood is a highly competitive environment, and being honest about body modification and its consequences could stop an actor landing their next gig. We don’t recommend body modifications in any way, but if someone does want to make a change to their lifestyle, we strongly recommend consulting with a team of health professionals to ensure physical and psychological safety during the process and beyond. –– If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, do not hesitate to reach out for support. For concerns around eating, exercise, or body image visit the <a href="https://butterfly.org.au/">Butterfly Foundation</a> or call the national helpline on 1800 33 4673. For concerns around drug use visit <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/drug-help">Drug Help</a> or call the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015.<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/207722/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/gemma-sharp-314703">Gemma Sharp</a>, Associate Professor, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow & Senior Clinical Psychologist, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bronwyn-dwyer-1453560">Bronwyn Dwyer</a>, , <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/monash-university-1065">Monash University</a> Image credits: 20th Century Fox 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/extreme-hollywood-body-transformations-have-become-standard-preparations-for-film-actors-but-we-need-to-consider-the-consequences-207722">original article</a>.

Body

Beauty ideals were as tough in the middle ages as they are now

After turning up at this year’s Grammys, Madonna was subjected to a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/madonna-now-grammys-facelift-recent-b2279848.html">vitriolic online attack</a> over her appearance, particularly what was deemed her excessive use of plastic surgery. The irrepressible 64-year-old instantly hit back, saying, Once again I am caught in the glare of ageism and misogyny that permeates the world we live in. I look forward to many more years of subversive behaviour pushing boundaries." It’s a familiar story. Standards of beauty have been embedded in different cultures, in varying forms, from time immemorial. The standards that women and, increasingly, all people are expected to meet to embody a certain level of beauty, are often based on binary notions of idealised forms of femininity or masculinity, or both. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Look how cute i am now that swelling from surgery has gone down. Lol 😂 <a href="https://t.co/jd8hQyi2Az">pic.twitter.com/jd8hQyi2Az</a> — Madonna (@Madonna) <a href="https://twitter.com/Madonna/status/1627713003238965248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2023</a></blockquote> Women’s bodies have been pathologised throughout history, from Plato’s notion of the “<a href="https://www.rcn.org.uk/library-exhibitions/Womens-health-wandering-womb">wandering womb</a>” which was used to account for every female physical and emotional ailment. In medieval <a href="https://juliamartins.co.uk/what-is-the-humoral-theory">humoral theory</a>, women were considered <a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2011/08/the-female-body-in-medieval-europe-theories-of-physicality-versus-practical-gynecology/">cold and wet in constitution</a>, and more prone to certain afflictions. The association of beauty with health, and ugliness with disease, has been taken up in more recent feminist debate over the modern cultural obsession with women’s appearance as an <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/beauty-sick/renee-engeln/9780062469786">epidemic</a>. It’s no wonder that instances of anxiety, depression, eating disorders and dysmorphia can all be connected to modern – and indeed, pre-modern – people’s experience of beauty standards. In her 1991 book <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/oct/18/classics.shopping">The Beauty Myth</a>, Naomi Wolf argued that the standards of western female beauty were used as a weapon to stagnate the progress of women. But in medieval culture, such pressures were doubly weighted, since beauty was closely aligned with morality: beauty was associated with goodness and ugliness with evil. Such cultural associations are addressed by Eleanor Janega in her book <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-once-and-future-sex-eleanor-janega-in-conversation-with-cat-jarman/london-gower-street">The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society</a>. In her lively exploration of medieval women’s social roles, Janega shows how beauty “was a key to power”, crucially connected to wealth, privilege, youth and maidenhood – to create “a ‘perfect’ sort of femininity”. Janega explores medieval gender norms to consider the ways that women’s roles have – and haven’t – changed. Focusing on female beauty standards and contradictions, sex and female sexuality, and women’s roles as workers, wives and mothers, Janega reflects on what this study of women in the middle ages means now, "Turns out that the way we think about and treat women is socially malleable, and while some of our constructs have changed, we continue to treat women as inferior to men." <h2>Weaponising beauty</h2> I’ve recently been examining a type of weaponised beauty that some religious women in the middle ages appeared to practise to emphasise the more superior beauty of their inner selves. In BBC Radio Wales’s <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001l1rl">The Idea</a>, I explored how some medieval saints subverted standards of “traditional” female beauty to avoid living lives that would hinder their chastity and spiritual goals: in other words, taint the beauty of their souls. Some of their tactics were extreme. In a female monastery in the Scottish borders, the abbess was a woman known as Æbbe the Younger, daughter of Æthelred, King of Northumbria. As marauding Vikings attacked the monastery, and terrified of being defiled, Æbbe attempted to repel them by disfiguring her face, "The abbess, with an heroic spirit… took a razor, and with it cut off her nose, together with her upper lip unto the teeth, presenting herself a horrible spectacle to those who stood by. Filled with admiration at this admirable deed, the whole assembly followed her maternal example." From Roger of Wendover’s Flowers of History, Comprising the History of England Though the nuns’ mutilated faces did cause the Vikings to flee, they later returned to set fire to the monastery, burning the women alive. But in their martyrdom, the nuns’ souls remained beautiful and untainted, which was what they had desired. In 15th-century legend, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilgefortis">Wilgefortis</a>, a young Christian Portuguese princess determined to live in perpetual virginity, was commanded by her parents to marry a pagan Sicilian king. At her refusal, her father had her imprisoned and tortured. Wilgefortis starved herself in penance and prayed to God that she should be disfigured. Her prayers were answered and she miraculously grew a moustache and a beard. Horrified at the loss of her beauty the suitor rejected her, and her furious father ordered that she be crucified. As she died on the cross, Wilgefortis beseeched other women to pray through her to be delivered from vanity and erotic desire. Wilgefortis’s metamorphosis from female-coded standards of medieval beauty to a type of <a href="https://www.health.com/mind-body/transmasculine">transmasculinity</a> offered by her beard and moustache, is, like Æbbe’s self-mutilation, an act of physiological resistance. Wilgefortis prays for deformity and God bestows her with the facial hair that repulses her suitor and secures the beauty of her soul. <h2>Eternal beauty?</h2> Today’s cosmetic surgeons, in supplying women like Madonna with surgical answers to their supposed aesthetic problems, might also serve as God-like figures in the continuing quest to adhere more closely to the standards of beauty that medieval saints like Æbbe and Wilgefortis harnessed in order to subvert. In fact, the “gods” of cosmetic surgery, like the God of medieval Christianity, somehow enable their worshippers to match their outward appearance with their inner feelings – the states of their souls – allowing them to make peace with the variants of beauty that they desire. As in the medieval past, women today negotiate the parameters of beauty in which they have been historically confined, embracing change and letting their souls spill out as they decide what beauty means for them and their bodies. The pursuit of youth and beauty – and beauty within – is rarely without pain, but as we know, that makes for a powerful weapon. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/beauty-ideals-were-as-tough-in-the-middle-ages-as-they-are-now-203751" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Beauty & Style

We studied the ‘bibles’ of jazz standards – and found sexism lurking in the strangest place

We are two female jazz singers, jazz researchers and lovers of jazz. And we have discovered jazz gave us another shared experience – sexism. We’d both experienced garden variety sexism. Wendy was asked by a male school principal if her recent marriage meant she would resign from teaching to start a family. Melissa received passionate advice from a male audience member to swap her comfortable outfit with a “glamorous dress” when she sang jazz. But as university music students, neither of us imagined something as innocent as a key signature in a textbook might be a symptom of gender discrimination. A <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/key-music">key</a> tells musicians which set of notes a song uses. In singing, a key affects whether the notes will be sung in the low, middle or high part of the voice. But when we looked at what keys the “bibles” of jazz standards used, we found a hidden form of sexism. <h2>The Real books</h2> This unusual story begins in 1975 at the Berklee College of Music in the United States. Two music students, tired of reading shoddy, error-filled song sheets, created The Real Book to accurately notate jazz songs. Sold illegally to avoid copyright fees, it was a phenomenal success. After years in surreptitious worldwide circulation, publisher Hal Leonard transformed The Real Book into a <a href="https://officialrealbook.com/history/">legal edition</a>. In 1988, Sher Music joined the act and produced The New Real Book. Despite similar titles, Sher’s book was unrelated but mimicked the idea of clearly notating jazz songs. Together the two books cornered the market. The real books remain the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/10/arts/pop-music-flying-below-the-radar-of-copyrights.html">bibles of jazz musicians</a> everywhere because they contain hundreds of songs called <a href="https://www.jazzstandards.com/overview.definition.htm">standards</a>. Standards are common jazz songs jazz musicians are expected to know. Knowing them is your ticket to participating in jazz ensembles, and so universities use these books to train students. However, few educators realise one decision in 1975 about notating standards cemented a practice excluding women. Jazz is valued as a “conversational” style of music where musicians express personal ideas and real stories. “Authentic” jazz singing is associated with the lower voice we use when speaking. The human voice is a <a href="https://soundbridge.io/human-voice-instruments/">biological musical instrument</a> coming in a variety of sizes, with the male larynx (or voice box) generally larger than the female. This means men generally sing (and talk) in lower pitches, and keys that sit in the middle of the male voice are usually too low for women to sing. When our Berklee students and Sher Music notated songs, they chose keys used by jazz musicians. And during that era, male instrumentalists and male singers dominated the jazz community. So, when the real books were being developed, the editors didn’t choose keys that suited female voices. <h2>What’s in a key?</h2> <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Jazz-and-Gender/Reddan-Herzig-Kahr/p/book/9780367534141">Our research</a> examined the recordings of 16 renowned female jazz vocalists, including <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ella-Fitzgerald">Ella Fitzgerald</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/search?query=sarah+vaughan">Sarah Vaughan</a>. We sampled 20 songs from The Real Book and 20 songs from The New Real Book and compared the keys in the books with the keys of the female recordings. Less than 5% of 248 recordings fully matched the printed key. If women sing songs straight from The Real Book or The New Real Book, they are likely to be singing too low for their voices. And if they shift the male key up one <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/octave-music">octave</a>, it will be too high. Consequently, female jazz vocal students are disadvantaged. If they comply with the keys of the iconic texts, they won’t sound as “authentically jazz” as male students. The male voice will produce the conversational tone we have come to expect from jazz; the female voice will be too low or too high for this conversational style. The female professional singers we studied <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposition_(music)">transposed</a> the standards to keys that suited a jazz style. But this skill takes time for students to learn. Transposing requires understanding music theory and having confidence to advocate for your needs as a singer. Experienced jazz singers inevitably acquire these skills, but what about novice female singers? For many young female singers, their introduction to jazz is coloured by keys ill-suited to their voices. Place them in a band where the instrumentalists are predominantly male with little understanding of voice production, and it is an uncomfortable situation for aspiring singers. Fortunately, technology has advanced to a point where many standards are available on phones and can be transposed instantly. But this won’t happen until music teachers and jazz musicians understand and respect female singers by using the appropriate keys. So, can a key signature be sexist? Yes, it can when it’s presented as the only choice of key for female students learning jazz standards. It’s time to update our jazz bibles with sources including keys used by Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, and acknowledge sexism has been hiding in the strangest place. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-studied-the-bibles-of-jazz-standards-and-found-sexism-lurking-in-the-strangest-place-189553" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Music

“I have standards”: Woman’s dating request rejected for bizarre reason

A woman was left shocked after her date cancelled their first meeting – all because she asked to meet at Starbucks. Taking to Twitter, the woman named Colleen shared the odd exchange she’d had with the man whom she’d matched with on a dating app. In the screenshots of their text conversation, Colleen begins by asking the man named Matt if he is free to grab a coffee at the chain on Thursday, The Sun reported. Well, the invite was enough to put Matt off entirely. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/Screenshots.jpg" alt="" width="648" height="433" /> He replies saying: “Starbucks? … “Yeah I’m not sure this is going to work. You seem nice and all, but I have standards – obviously you don’t. “I’m trying to build a vision and work towards the finer things in life, and that starts with people on my own wavelength. Starbucks just f**ks up the vibe.” Dumbfounded, Colleen captioned her tweet: “I literally cannot take online dating anymore how is a guy going to be insane about a Starbucks date ?????” It has since gone viral, amassing over 71,000 likes on Twitter, but there was one person who didn’t see the funny side. Matt then screenshotted Colleen’s tweet and sent it back to her, writing “Is this you? How embarrassing.” Colleen reports she has now blocked the man’s number and hopefully his dating profile too. Images: Getty / Twitter

Relationships

Why telling Grace Tame to “smile more” is a double standard

A 2019 photo of the man who led the royal commission into the banking sector posing with Josh Frydenberg has <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/national/why-kenneth-hayne-photo-exposes-grace-tame-critics-double-standards/news-story/bbb7115bb935cd9d0d2905af686cfc6c" target="_blank">re-emerged</a> following widespread discussion of Grace Tame’s most recent photo with Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Former High Court judge Kenneth Haye refused to shake Frydenberg’s hand and refused to smile during a photo opportunity with the Treasurer as he prepared to release a damning report. At best, the interaction was described as “brutal” and “awkward” in a handful of media reports. Meanwhile, the 2021 Australian of the Year sparked national debate following her unsmiling photo with Mr Morrison, with conservative MP’s and male journalists describing her behaviour as “ungracious and rude” and “childish and embarrassing”. Journalist Julia Baird quickly pointed out the double standard on Twitter. “A quiet reminder that when Justice Kenneth Hayne, head of (the) royal commission into banking misconduct, refused to smile or even shake the hand of the Treasurer during a photo op in 2019, it was considered the stuff of national calamity,” the host of ABC’s The Drum wrote. “Grace Tame is making a similar point.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Such a clear example of when men are considered principled and women are called petulant - for the same behaviour. And yet Tame shook the PM’s hand, stood quietly and in place for the photos. <a href="https://t.co/h2dINgsTCO">https://t.co/h2dINgsTCO</a> — 💥Dr💥 Julia Baird (@bairdjulia) <a href="https://twitter.com/bairdjulia/status/1485908652095864832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2022</a></blockquote> The Project’s Lisa Wilkinson agreed, sharing Baird’s post and adding commentary of her own. “True @bairdjulia,” she wrote. “Not was there uproar when Scott Morrison turned his back on Tanya Plibersek & played with his phone as she addressed him in fed parliament. “Nor when he refused to shake Bill Shorten’s hand at Bob Hawke’s funeral. “Not sure why the rules are different. Oh wait…” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Man, that Grace Tame chick was outta line, right?... 🧵 <a href="https://t.co/HEAi5I8yBb">pic.twitter.com/HEAi5I8yBb</a> — Brent Hodgson (@BrentHodgson) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentHodgson/status/1485956821722759168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2022</a></blockquote> Wheelchair racer and Paralympian Kurt Fearnley spelled it out even more clearly while sharing a 2017 photo of an unsmiling Pope Francis alongside former US President Donald Trump. “Not one bloke, from me to the Pope would’ve been told to ‘smile more’. #justsayin,” he added. The debate even spilled onto Wednesday night’s episode of The Project, with Carrie Bickmore asking co-host Peter van Onsolen about his own column criticising Ms Tame’s behaviour and claiming she was “acting like a child”. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> If you missed it, here is THAT moment from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheProjectTV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheProjectTV</a> tonight. <a href="https://t.co/9D0lac85Vt">pic.twitter.com/9D0lac85Vt</a> — The Project (@theprojecttv) <a href="https://twitter.com/theprojecttv/status/1485892588058312704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2022</a></blockquote> “Why do you feel the need to tell Grace how she should have behaved?” Bickmore asked. “But second of all, why should she stand there and smile and pretend it’s all okay when there is an absolute catastrophe on the cards here?” “I don’t think she should stand there and smile and pretend it’s all OK, I just thought she shouldn’t go. If you can’t be polite in some form, then don’t go,” van Onsolen replied. “But why should she have to be silenced and quiet? Why can’t she go and make a statement in her behaviour about how she feels over what has happened in the past year?” Bickmore shot back. Ms Tame received the national honour for fighting to legally tell her story as a victim of child sexual abuse and grooming and in overturning a Tasmanian law preventing victims from identifying themselves in the media. During her tenure she pushed the topic of child sexual abuse into the national spotlight and conversations around the country. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> What exactly did they think would happen when they organised this photo op? Grace Tame is not the type to lie about how she feels. And nor should we ever put her in a position where she is expected to. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LetHerSpeak?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LetHerSpeak</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/aoty2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#aoty2021</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AOTY2022?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AOTY2022</a> <a href="https://t.co/8wde7Vye2n">pic.twitter.com/8wde7Vye2n</a> — Nina Funnell, journalist & #LetUsSpeak manager (@ninafunnell) <a href="https://twitter.com/ninafunnell/status/1485774656116527104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2022</a></blockquote> Nina Funnell, the journalist behind the #LetHerSpeak campaign that allowed Ms Tame to speak out, asked on Twitter, “What exactly did they think would happen when they organised this photo op?” “Grace Tame is not the type to lie about how she feels. And nor should we ever put her in a position where she is expected to.” Image: @bairdjulie (Twitter)

News

“Absolutely double standards”: Hillsong accused of breaching Health Order

Australian artists have <a rel="noopener" href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/outrage-over-hillsong-video-showing-crowds-singing-dancing-nsw-085606215.html" target="_blank">expressed their outrage</a> after footage of people singing and dancing at a Hillsong event emerged online, despite new restrictions banning these activities from happening in NSW. Some have pointed out that Hillsong’s Wildlife Summer Camp, a three-day “summer camp” held near Newcastle, looks similar to a music festival - where singing and dancing have been prohibited. <img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7846808/hillsong2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/8b1806a689dd4ef182e72a7825f6258c" /> Hillsong has been accused of breaching the Public Health Order banning singing and dancing at recreational facilities. Image: @hillsongyouth (Instagram) Images and videos from the event show teenagers dancing to religious music - with many appearing to be unmasked - sparking outrage from the entertainment industry, which has seen many scheduled events cancelled in wake of the state’s rules. Music festivals across the country have also been forced to be cancelled or postponed, prompting claims that Hillsong being allowed to hold such an event is a “double standard”. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Seeing all the artists, promoters, staff and vendors in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NSW?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NSW</a> suffer after having outdoor events cancelled and then seeing THIS happening right now in NSW for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hillsong?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hillsong</a> is disgusting, a huge gut punch to the already suffering industry. Absolute double standards. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NswPol?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NswPol</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nswcovid?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nswcovid</a> <a href="https://t.co/fi5pyQZnrr">pic.twitter.com/fi5pyQZnrr</a> — Leon Sjogren (@Leonsjogren) <a href="https://twitter.com/Leonsjogren/status/1481460688032010241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2022</a></blockquote> Music producer Leon Sjogren wrote on Twitter: “Seeing all the artists, promoters, staff and vendors in NSW suffer after having outdoor events cancelled and then seeing THIS happening right now in NSW for Hillsong is disgusting, a huge gut punch to the already suffering industry. “Absolutely double standards.” NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced the new restrictions on singing and dancing last week, telling reporters the activities would be prohibited in indoor venues from January 8 until January 27. According to the Public Health Order, singing and dancing aren’t allowed at places such as music festivals, nightclubs, major recreation facilities, hospitality venues, and entertainment facilities. However, weddings, music classes, and churches are exempt. Although Hillsong defended the event, telling the ABC it was “not similar to a music festival in any way”, NSW Health has requested that the organisation “stop singing and dancing”. “Our camps involve primarily outdoor recreational activities including sports and games,” Hillsong said in a statement to the national broadcaster. <img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7846809/hillsong1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/ddd8f167cd714df785dde4fc56b5a6e6" /> Despite footage showing unmasked teens singing and dancing, the religious organisation says it was not breaching the Public Health Order banning those activities. Image: @hillsongyouth (Instagram) The organisation added that they “follow strict Covid procedures” and “adhere to government guidelines”. But, a statement from NSW Health accused the organisation of breaching the Public Health Order, as “singing and dancing at a major recreation facility” is prohibited. Health Minister Brad Hazzard said: “While the Order does not apply to religious services, it does apply to major recreational facilities and this event is clearly in breach of both the spirit and intent of the Order, which is in place to keep the community safe.” Other Australian artists have also taken aim at the event, with rapper Illy criticising the banning of singing and dancing at festivals but not in churches. “You can postpone all our festivals and gigs, you can say no to dancing in clubs for the next 50 years, and you can make singing and shouting in public illegal except in sermons and the cricket for some reason,” he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> I can handle the singing, the dancing, and the no mask wearing at this Hillsong festival last night, even though it’s illegal for the entire arts industry to do the same. But playing“turn down for what” in 2022?! Too far. <a href="https://t.co/byOWufUaWa">pic.twitter.com/byOWufUaWa</a> — Illy (@illyal) <a href="https://twitter.com/illyal/status/1481461459368701960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2022</a></blockquote> “FYI I’m for everyone’s religious beliefs. The post is a joke, aimed at the latest horse s*** double standard the music industry is ONCE AGAIN having to face. Not attacking religion at all.” Others said the rules should apply to everyone, religious or not. “The double standard applied to this Hillsong event vs other indoor or outdoor music festivals makes NO sense at all,” one critic shared on Twitter. “You risk a big increase in Covid infections & prolonging this pandemic for all of us. The same rules need to apply to everyone.” Image: Getty Images / @hillsongyouth (Instagram)

Music

NATIONAL RECALL: Aldi issues Listeria alert for popular cheese

Image: News.com.au Aldi has issued an urgent national recall on two of its popular cheese products amid a suspected disease outbreak that could lead to illness in pregnant women. The popular supermarket chain announced a recall on Snackers Market Little Pickers Cubed Tasty Cheese and Mini Crackers (35g), and Little Pickers Cubed Tasty Cheese and Pretzels (40g) due to a suspected Listeria infection. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand said the cheese had been sold at Aldi stores nationwide, with the recall applying to all products marked with the use by dates up to the 3rd of February 2022. “Any consumers concerned about their health should seek medical advice and should return the products to the place of purchase for a full refund,” Aldi said in its recall notice. This is the second cheese recall this week announced by FSA, with consumers being urged to avoid eating the Good To Go brand Tasty Cheese Salami and Cabanossi products from a range of IGA and Woolworths supermarkets and featuring certain use-by dates. A suspected Listeria infection is also at fault. Manassen Foods Australia said the Mild Salami Bite use-by dates of concern are December 21, 24, and January 13, while the Cabanossi dates are December 15 and 23. The products have been available for sale at Woolworths and independent grocery stores including IGAs in NSW, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, SA and WA. Monta Foods last week recalled its YBC Picola Strawberry 58.8g product because of an undeclared egg allergen.

Food & Wine

Dan Andrews calls out double standard for Aussie Open players

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has made his stance clear regarding whether unvaccinated tennis players should be allowed to compete in the Australian Open this year. The Premier <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/daniel-andrews-blunt-message-amid-australian-open-vaccination-storm/news-story/5e5ba25dae7632d5d4b6c44b9e61efbe" target="_blank">has said</a> he doesn’t believe vaccinated players should be allowed to compete after a leaked email to Women’s Tennis Association players detailed the rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated players. The email claimed that unvaccinated players could compete after completing 14 days of hotel quarantine upon arrival. As for vaccinated players, the email said there would be no quarantine requirements and “will have complete freedom of movement”. In the email, which was shared online by tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg, the tennis authority also said unvaccinated stars would need to “submit to regular testing”. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> 🐨Update on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AusOpen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AusOpen</a>🐨 Per email sent to WTA players just now, Tennis Australia has told WTA PC that fully vaccinated players won’t be required to quarantine or bubble at all. Unvaccinated players will be allowed to enter, TA tells WTA, but must do 14 days of hotel quarantine. <a href="https://t.co/cu4NV8abYB">pic.twitter.com/cu4NV8abYB</a> — Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenRothenberg/status/1452352307316895747?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 24, 2021</a></blockquote> Mr Andrews came out against the rules, saying that if those attending the event at Melbourne Park need to be fully vaccinated, the players should be too. “You try getting into the US … most of Europe, really, so many different parts of Asia if you haven’t been vaccinated,” he told ABC Radio. “Like, you’re just not getting a visa - why would that be different here? “I don’t think it’s too much to say, if you want one of those visas and you want to come here, then you need to be double-vaxxed. “All the people who are watching the tennis at the Australian Open, they’re going to be double-vaxxed, all the people that work there are going to be double-vaxxed. It stands to reason that if you want to get into the country to be part of that tournament, then you should be double-vaxxed as well.” In response to the commotion caused by the leaked email, Victorian Sports and Major Events Minister Martin Pakula told 3AW radio that it will ultimately be up to the federal government to decide. “We are still resolving with Tennis Australia and the Commonwealth whether unvaccinated foreign nationals will be allowed into Australia at all, and if so, under what circumstances they will be allowed,” Mr Pakula said. “Unvaccinated, we are still talking to the Commonwealth about whether the rule for international unvaccinated arrivals is either 14 days quarantine, or they are not coming into the country at all. We don’t expect that to be settled for another couple of weeks. “In the end, it’s a federal decision about who gets into the country and the circumstances in which they get in. We are still having that conversation with them. And we’re obviously talking to Tennis Australia who is also talking to the Commonwealth.” Mr Pakula said that the decision would be made with “plenty of time for every player on tour to be very clear about what the rules will be”, stressing that vaccinated players would be treated in the same way as any other vaccinated arrival. The email sent to tennis players from the sport’s governing body came after Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said any sports stars hoping to compete in Australian competitions would need to have two doses of a TGA-approved vaccine. Image: Getty Images

Legal

RECALL: Serious illness fears over tainted ham

A number of gourmet ham products sold across Australia have been recalled due to contamination fears. The recall has specifically affected Barossa Fine Foods "No Added Nitrite Ham" in the 100 gram size carrying a use-by date of 03/11/2021 and the "Double Smoked Ham" in the 100 gram with the use-by date of 10/11/2021. The "No Added Nitrite Ham" was sold in IGA stores in the ACT, South Australia and Western Australia, and in Woolworths in NSW only. <div class="block-content"> <div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa">The "Double Smoked Ham" was sold in IGA stores in NSW, the ACT, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.</div> </div> <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7845080/ham-recall-2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/d07694a226004611a0f00388ecb7886a" /> Image credit: Food Standards Australia and New Zealand <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">Food Standards Australia and New Zealand</a> have warned against eating these products has they could be at risk of causing serious illness. "Food products contaminated with (listeria monocytogenes) may cause illness if consumed. Listeria may cause illness in pregnant women and their unborn babies, the elderly and people with low immune systems," Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) warns. "Consumers should not eat this product. Any consumers concerned about their health should seek medical advice and should return the products to the place of purchase for a full refund." Listeria is a bacteria that can be found in contaminated foods, with people with lower immune systems that most at risk from getting sick. Symptoms of listeriosis include fever, muscle aches, nausea and sometimes diarrhea. Symptoms start on average 21 days after a person has eaten a food contaminated with the bacteria. Image credits: Channel Nine

Food & Wine

UK bakery under fire over using “illegal” sprinkles

A bakery in the north of England has come under fire after using sprinkles that are illegal in the UK. Richie Myers, owner of Get Baked in Leeds, was infuriated when an unknown customer reported him to trading standards over the use of the confectionery. In the UK, the sprinkles contain an additive known as Erythrosine, which is not banned in the UK but is reserved solely for use in processed cherries, according to the International Association of Colour Manufacturers. West Yorkshire Trading Standards confirmed to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-58896391">BBC</a> it has taken action to ensure the usage of the sprinkles is stopped. Richie dubbed the issue “Sprinklegate”, and shared a recount of the issue to Facebook, which has garnered worldwide attention. The baker who is “passionate about sprinkles” called out the customer that reported him, saying he “hopes they fail”. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844935/get-baked-fb1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/300d0a19e7034e87bc56d943c1ab3ca8" /> Image credits: Facebook - Get Baked As an investigation began into the elusive sprinkles, Richie said this hurt his small business, as they were a key ingredient in many sweet treats. He told the BBC that it had been a “horrendous ordeal” and that he had “genuinely lost sleep” over it. As Richie provided an update on “sprinklegate”, he said he had no choice but to stop using the sprinkles and was trying to think of a suitable replacement. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844936/get-baked-fb2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/1821d891cbed49eaba6d0cb5d3ae8a6c" /> Image credit: Facebook - Get Baked Despite having to change their famous recipe, Richie and the Get Backed team have kept their signature sense of humour through the whole “sprinklegate” ordeal. <blockquote 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);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CVD0_wdMlpb/?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> <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;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CVD0_wdMlpb/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by GET BAKED® (@getbakeduk)</a> </div> </blockquote> By posting their hilarious updates online, Richie said he has been presented with “opportunities he could only have ever dreamed of”. In a recent Instagram post, Richie addressed the person who reported them to the trading standards, saying, “I honestly cannot thank you enough. You have inadvertently flung us forward 5 years and saved me a f** load in marketing budget, not that I ever have a marketing budget, but you’ve still done a sensational deed.” “I owe you a pint.” Image credits: Instagram @getbakeduk

Food & Wine

“One gets arrested, the other gets to sunbake”: Fury over Sydney double standard

Canterbury-Bankstown mayor Khal Asfour has spoken out about the way members of his community are feeling as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions placed on the area. Canterbury-Bankstown is one of 12 local government areas in Sydney that has been under tougher COVID-19 restrictions than the rest of the city, and Asfour says his community is “angry” and “frustrated” over what they see as the double standards these differing restrictions have caused. Speaking on ABC’s QandA on Thursday night, Asfour expressed concern that moving forward, Sydney would have “two classes” of people, the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, and that their rights and freedoms would differ accordingly. He also expressed concern about small business owners in his area and their ability to police who visits their store and whether they’re vaccinated or not. Asfour said that when he raised these concerns with Premier Gladys Berejiklian, her response was that business owners should call the police. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Mayor of Canterbury Bankstown Khal Asfour discusses the impact different restrictions for people based on their vaccination status or place of residence have had on communities like his. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/QandA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#QandA</a> <a href="https://t.co/Gy00mRmJSb">pic.twitter.com/Gy00mRmJSb</a> — QandA (@QandA) <a href="https://twitter.com/QandA/status/1438626236197064706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 16, 2021</a></blockquote> Asfour went on to discuss how many residents of Canterbury-Bankstown felt upon seeing photos of Eastern Suburbs residents enjoying their designated recreational time in outdoor locations. “I don’t begrudge anyone that lives close to the beach to be able to go there. “But when we’re stuck at home and we don’t have any hours of recreation, it makes my community angry, frustrated. We’re fatigued after 11, 12 weeks of lockdown now. Not being able to go outside. It really does hurt, and it shows you a double standard. A double standard in policing, people there weren’t wearing masks, weren’t social distancing. Yet when someone in my community attends a funeral yesterday, wearing a mask, social distancing, they get arrested and taken by police.” Asfour is most likely referring to the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-16/four-arrests-at-rookwood-cemetery-over-covid-19-breach/100468404">arrest of four mourners</a> at Rockwood Cemetery on Thursday as the result of a funeral that had more than 10 mourners in attendance, in breach of the current restrictions. Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services and MP for Barton in Sydney’s inner and south west, agreed. “I am absolutely seeing two cities. “And what I’m hearing from people — and I’ve had a lot of interaction with individuals, including Khal over the last week or so — there is an absolute feeling of two cities.”

News

Scott Morrison hits back at “double standards” accusations

Scott Morrison has been accused of using a diplomatic trip to the UK to take a holiday to explore his ancestry. It was reported on Monday that Mr Morrison’s office spent weeks planning a side trip to explore his convict family roots, despite suggestions from the Prime Minister that it was too dangerous for Australian travellers to head to the UK. Mr Morrison reportedly travelled to St Keverne, a small village south of Cornwall, where his fifth great-grandfather was born. The latest claims have come after he made a stop at the Jamaica Inn in Cornwall while he was in the area as an observer to world leaders at the G7 summit. A photo of Mr Morrison and his staff was shared by the pub on its Facebook page, with hundreds of annoyed Australians commenting on how they weren’t able to travel. Mr Morrison hit back against the claims on Monday on 2GB and said both visits were purely on the way to and from airports. “I wouldn’t describe it like that at all; we had to land in north of London, as opposed to landing down there in Cornwall, because of the fog we stopped off along the way, we had some lunch and [then] stopped off in another location on the way,” he told the radio station. “After the G7, on the way to the airport we stopped in another place, which just happens to be where my fifth great-grandfather was from, so I think that was pretty innocent. I think [the visit being labelled as double standards] is massively overstating it.” Mr Morrison has since returned to Australia and is conducting meetings via web conference while self-isolating in The Lodge. He said he hoped Australians would be able to travel by Christmas of 2022, after the target of June 2022 has become less likely due to recent border closures and delays in the vaccine rollout. “I would certainly hope so be it in 2022 and I would hope that we can do it as soon as we safely can,” he said. Image: news.com.au

News

Outrage over COVID travel double standards

Critics have accused the government of leaving stranded Aussies “in the lurch” after it was revealed that people can travel overseas to attend weddings and return to take a spot in quarantine. Australians hoping to travel to India for weddings and funerals are not included in this rule, as the government has fully restricted travel to the country as it combats one of the world’s worst current COVID-19 outbreaks. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke confirmed on Wednesday, April 28 that these restrictions would not be extended to other countries. Kristina Keneally, Labor home affairs spokeswoman, said the government had left the 34,500 Australians hoping to return home “in the lurch, confused and left behind.” “Seriously, this tired old Liberal government doesn’t know if it’s coming or going. What a mess,” she said. “Let’s remember, if Scott Morrison kept his promises - like bringing all the stranded Aussies home by Christmas last year or rolling out a vaccine this year - we wouldn’t be in this mess right now.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> .<a href="https://twitter.com/ScottMorrisonMP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ScottMorrisonMP</a> is leaving Australians at home & overseas in the lurch, confused & left behind Let’s remember, if the PM kept his promises - like bringing all of the stranded Aussies home by Christmas, or rolling out a vaccine this year - we wouldn’t be in this mess right now — Kristina Keneally (@KKeneally) <a href="https://twitter.com/KKeneally/status/1387299962531160072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2021</a></blockquote> Appearing on Sky News earlier, Mr Hawke said Australians could still be granted exemptions for overseas travel, which could include attending a wedding. Host Tom Connell asked Mr Hawke, “So next week someone could still go overseas, go to a wedding and come back through quarantine?” “Yes. There can be situations, but maybe not to India at this moment,” Mr Hawke answered. Approving overseas travel for weddings has become contentious, particularly following the revelation that a recent COVID-19 outbreak in Western Australia originated from an individual who had been allowed to attend a wedding in India. Though the Australian Border Force’s operational directive for outbound travel exemptions does not mention weddings, individuals applying for exemptions to attend a family member’s funeral overseas were “generally” approved. Last week, WA Premier Mark McGowan said it was “just nuts” to allow guests to risk bringing the virus home to Australia. Every returning traveller also takes one of the limited spaces in hotel quarantine, adding to the long list of Australians registered with DFAT waiting to return home. “Why (can) that person go off to a wedding when someone else is wanting to get home because they need to get home, because they can’t earn money anymore?” Connell asked. Despite the cap on places in hotel quarantine, Mr Hawke rejected claims it was a “zero sum game” and that the issue was more complex. “It’s never about exactly one place versus another. It’s flight availability. Affordability has changed several times during the pandemic,” he said. Mr Hawke also said that though the government had ramped up charter flights, many overseas Australians had “changed their minds” about returning. A DFAT spokesperson confirmed 512,000 Australians have returned since the government released recommendations to reconsider overseas travel. Following the suspension of all flights from India on Tuesday, April 27, until mid-May, roughly 9000 Australians have been stranded in India, including up to 650 people listed as vulnerable. Australian cricketers, including Steve Smith, are also stuck after travelling to compete in the Indian Premier League. Their return would not be expedited, according to Mr Hawke. “That’s a difficult situation, everyone’s in a difficult situation,” he said. “(But) the government’s put a priority on vulnerable Australians … I think Australians would expect us to have that priority.”

Travel Trouble

“It doesn’t make sense”: Lisa Wilkinson slams COVID-19 “double standard"

Australia has begun to reach a major turning point in the fight against coronavirus, as cases drop in Melbourne. However, Lisa Wilkinson is not impressed with one aspect of coronavirus, and that is the “crazy” double standard that exists when it comes to business and contact tracing. NSW health on Sunday confirmed that a taxi driver had been diagnosed with the deadly virus after working for nine days. Health authorities are now scrambling to contact as many of the 13 Cabs driver’s passengers as possible since taxi drivers are not required to collect their customer’s details. The Project Wilkinson said it “makes sense” that taxis should be required to record all passenger details the same way cafes and restaurants were. Hospitality venues are required to record the names and contact details of all dine-in customers, with hefty penalties for those who don’t follow the rules. “It doesn't make sense that they don’t,” co-host Peter Van Olsen echoed in agreement. “Yeah, you can sit in the cafe for 10 minutes and you’ve punched in the QR code and given them your number,” Wilkinson said. “You can sit in a taxi for an hour in even closer proximity and there’s no accountability, which is crazy. On Sunday NSW Health’s Dr Jeremy McAnulty said that “early investigations indicate” the infection was likely transmitted at Liverpool Hospital. The driver had reportedly worn a mask and also had the COVID-Safe app on while working. Dr McAnulty said the app was “being used to help identify contacts”. The driver worked shifts on September 7 to 10 as well as September 14 to 18 in suburbs Moorebank, Bankstown, Chipping Norton, Liverpool, Lidcombe, Warwick Farm and Milperra. “People who may have taken taxis in western, south western Sydney must be alert for symptoms,” Dr McAnulty said. Earlier this month, the Prime Minister praised New South Wales’ response to the pandemic as the “gold standard” for Australia.

Slim and skinny: how access to TV is changing beauty ideals in rural Nicaragua

Think about the last time you watched a film or picked up a magazine. Chances are the majority of models and actresses were young, beautiful and slim – or even underweight. Research shows that in films and TV programmes heavier characters are more likely to be lower status, the target of jokes and are less likely to be <a href="https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/276547">lead or romantic characters</a>. This sends a very clear message: that thinness is normal and desirable. For many young people, this emphasis on extreme thinness in women seems normal. But it’s actually relatively new and seems to have arisen in parallel with the growing cultural dominance of mass media – films, television and magazines. Models, for instance, became <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pr0.1980.47.2.483">thinner across the latter half of the 20th century</a>, and are now <a href="https://onlinedoctor.superdrug.com/evolution-miss-universe/">considerably slimmer</a> than depictions of female beauty in preceding eras. Just as in the past when the development of shape-altering garments <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0123284">changed ideas about body shape</a>, the mass media now seems to have changed ideas about body size. Current body ideals in Western Europe and North America are also significantly slimmer than in other cultural groups, such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513899000070">Tanzanian hunter-gatherers</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513806000584">black South Africans</a> or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144507000769">rural Malaysians</a>. And it’s been argued this large gap between the ideal female figure and most women’s own bodies is a key factor in the endemic levels of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders in countries such as <a href="https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/jscp.2009.28.1.9">the UK</a>. Body dissatisfaction and <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wk/yco/2016/00000029/00000006/art00006">rates of disordered eating are increasing globally</a>, and the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11013-004-1067-5">spread of mass media may be one reason why</a>. But it’s a challenge to link increasing media access with changing body ideals – because as populations gain more access to media, they also change in other ways. They may become more urbanised, wealthier and have better access to nutrition – all of which can lead to <a href="http://www.mysmu.edu/faculty/normanli/Swamietal2010.pdf">differences in body ideals</a>. The Nicaragua project This is why we have spent three years running a <a href="http://www.dur.ac.uk/l.g.boothroyd/NEBP/">research project</a> in an area of rural Nicaragua – where access to mass media is often unrelated to urbanisation or nutrition. The government in Nicaragua has been increasing electrification of the rural Caribbean coast. This has led to a region where very similar neighbouring villages differ in whether or not the residents have access to mains electricity – and whether they can run televisions. There are no magazines in this region. And at the time of our research, very few residents had access to smart phones, making television viewing a good measure of total media access. We recruited 300 participants from seven villages around the region. Some villages had regular electricity supplies, others did not. Because the region is very ethnically diverse, we also balanced our sample across four main ethnic groups. Generally among our participants, those of Mestizo ethnicity – who have the highest levels of European heritage – tend to prefer slimmer figures than those of more indigenous or Afro-Caribbean heritage, such as the Miskitu, Garifuna and Creoles. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000224">Our research found</a> that above and beyond ethnicity, those who watched more television preferred slimmer bodies. Specifically, our analysis suggested that people who watched approximately three hours of TV a week preferred a body one full point slimmer on the <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/bmi-calculator/">Body Mass Index</a> than someone who didn’t watch TV. On a woman of average height, that’s about a difference of three kilos. We also found the more people watched TV, the slimmer their preferred female body size became. This was true for both men and women. Changing ideals Over the three years, we also collected data from a small village without electricity. For a short period of time, one house in this village had a small TV powered by a solar panel. Residents were also able to watch TV for short periods of time if they travelled to other communities. We found that over the three years, villagers tended to favour thinner figures when they had been able to watch more TV, suggesting that real-time change may be happening in these communities. When we showed residents of two villages without TV images of typical or plus size media models, their preferences shifted in the immediate aftermath of viewing these images towards thinner figures. Again this was true for both men and women. By studying one population in depth, and by also having previously ruled out evidence for <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-08653-z">impacts of nutrition in this population</a>, we have been able to give the strongest evidence to date that visual media really does change people’s perception of the ideal female body. Our findings also support the argument that increasing global rates of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders are driven at least in part <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11013-004-1067-5">by the expansion of globalised mass media</a>. Of course, television is in many respects a valuable and important source of information. Our participants considered that besides entertainment, television gave them a vital link to the rest of Nicaragua, to political news, and lifesaving services such as storm warnings. But while it’s important that such benefits be maximised, threats to women’s body image must be minimised. Body positive education can help here, and this is something <a href="http://community.dur.ac.uk/l.g.boothroyd/NEBP/wellcome_body.html">we are working on with local groups</a>. But ultimately, media producers and commissioners must do a better job of diversifying their content to reflect a range of sizes and body types. Written by Lynda Boothroyd. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/slim-and-skinny-how-access-to-tv-is-changing-beauty-ideals-in-rural-nicaragua-128717">The Conversation.</a>

Beauty & Style

Dame Maggie Smith is named best actress for a shocking fifth time at Evening Standard Theatre Awards

Dame Maggie Smith, 84, has surprised many after winning for a record-breaking fifth time for the Best Actress Prize at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. She kept things simple and classy in a black satin blazer and showed off her trophy. The win comes 57 years after her first best actress prize at the event back in 1962. Smith won the award on Sunday for her portrayal of the secretary to Joseph Goebbels, who was a minister for propaganda in Nazi Germany in the play A German Life. It was her first time returning to the stage in 12 years. She took to the stage after winning the award and recalled when she won her first award. “It was just so long ago that I got one when I started. “I got it because they couldn’t think of anybody else to give it to.” Smith won her first Evening Standard theatre acting award for her role in The Private Ear and The Public Eye in 1962. She then won awards in 1970 for Hedda Gabler, 1984 with The Way of the World and in Three Tall Women in 1994. Scroll through the gallery to see Dame Maggie Smith with her award on the night.

Movies

Nursing home nightmare: Why the food being served is worse than prison

The <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/aged-care-royal-commission-59847">Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety</a> this week turned its attention to food and nutrition. The <a href="https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/hearings/Documents/transcripts-2019/transcript-16-july-2019.pdf">testimony of maggots in bins</a> and rotting food in refrigerators was horrific. When so much of a resident’s waking hours is spent either at a meal, or thinking of a meal, the meal can either make or break an elderly person’s day. So why are some aged care providers still offering residents meals they can’t stomach? It comes down to three key factors: cost-cutting, aged care funding structures that don’t reward good food and mealtime experiences, and residents not being given a voice. And it has a devastating impact on nutrition. How much are we spending on residents’ food? Our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1747-0080.12368">research from 2017</a> found the average food spend in Australian aged care homes was A$6.08 per resident per day. This is the raw food cost for meals and drinks over breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and supper. This A$6.08 is almost one-third of the average for older coupled adults living in the community (A$17.25), and less than the average in Australian prisons (A$8.25 per prisoner per day). Over the time of the study, food spend reduced by A$0.31 per resident per day. Meanwhile the expenditure on commercial nutrition supplements increased by A$0.50 per resident per day. Commercial nutrition supplements may be in the form of a powder or liquid to offer additional nutrients. But they can never replace the value of a good meal and mealtime experience. Cutting food budgets, poor staff training and insufficient staff time preparing food on-site inevitably impacts the quality of food provided. At the royal commission, chefs spoke about using more frozen and processed meals, choosing poorer quality of meats and serving leftover meals in response to budget cuts. Malnutrition is common, but we can address it One in two aged care residents <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1741-6612.2008.00324.x">are malnourished</a> and this figure has remained largely the same for <a href="http://www.jnursinghomeresearch.com/784-poor-nutritional-status-is-associated-with-worse-oral-health-and-poorer-quality-of-life-in-aged-care-residents.html">the last 20 years</a>. Malnutrition has many causes – many of which are preventable or can be ameliorated. These include: <ul> <li>Dental issues or <a href="http://www.jnursinghomeresearch.com/784-poor-nutritional-status-is-associated-with-worse-oral-health-and-poorer-quality-of-life-in-aged-care-residents.html">ill-fitting dentures</a></li> <li><a href="https://journalofdementiacare.com/the-lantern-project-shining-a-light-on-food-in-aged-care/">Dementia</a>(because of difficulty swallowing and sensory sensitivities)</li> <li>A poorly designed dining environment (such as poor acoustics, uncomfortable furniture, inappropriate crockery and table settings)</li> <li>Having too few staff members to help residents eat and drink and/or poor staff training</li> <li>Not supplying modified cutlery and crockery for those who need extra help</li> <li>Not offering residents food they want to eat or offering inadequate food choices.</li> </ul> My soon-to-be-published research shows disatisfaction with the food service significantly influences how much and what residents eat, and therefore contributes to the risk of malnutrition. Malnutrition impacts all aspects of care and <a href="https://www.thelanternproject.com.au/">quality of life</a>. It directly contributes to muscle wasting, reduced strength, heart and lung problems, pressure ulcers, delayed wound healing, increased falls risk and poor response to medications, to name a few. Food supplements, funding and quality control Reduced food budgets increase the risk of malnutrition but it’s not the only aged care funding issue related to mealtimes. Aged care providers are increasingly giving oral nutrition supplements to residents with unplanned weight loss. This is a substandard solution that neglects fundamental aspects of malnutrition and quality of life. For instance, if a resident has lost weight as a result of ill-fitting dentures, offering a supplement will not identify and address the initial cause. And it ends up <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article/47/3/356/4791131">costing more</a> than improving the quality of food and the residents’ mealtime experience. Our other soon-to-be-published research shows the benefits of replacing supplements with staff training and offering high-quality food in the right mealtime environment. This approach significantly reduced malnutrition (44% over three months), saved money and improved the overall quality of life of residents. However, aged care funding does not reward quality in food, nutrition and mealtime experience. If a provider does well in these areas, they don’t attract more government funding. It’s not surprising that organisations under financial pressure naturally focus on aspects that attract funding and often in turn, reduce investment in food. A research team commissioned by the health department <a href="https://agedcare.health.gov.au/reform/resource-utilisation-and-classification-study">has been investigating</a> how best to change aged care funding. So hopefully we’ll see changes in the future. Aged care residents are unlikely to voice their opinions – they either won’t or can’t speak out. Unhappy residents often fear retribution about complaining – often choosing to accept current care despite feeling unhappy with it. We lived in an aged care home. This is what we learned New <a href="https://agedcare.health.gov.au/quality/aged-care-quality-standards">Aged Care Quality Standards</a> came into effect on July 1 (I was involved in developing the guidelines to help aged care providers meet these standards). However, they provide limited guidance for organisations to interpret and make meaningful change when it comes to food, nutrition and mealtime experience. Aged care providers will need extra support to make this happen. We’ve developed an evidence-based solution, designed with the aged care industry, to address key areas currently holding aged care back. The solution offers tools and identified key areas essential for a happier and more nourishing mealtime. At the end of 2018, our team lived as residents in an aged care home on and off for three months. As a result of this, and earlier work, we developed three key solutions as part of the <a href="https://www.thelanternproject.com.au/">Lantern Project</a>: <ul> <li>A food, nutrition and mealtime experience guide for industry with a feedback mechanism for facilities to improve their performance</li> <li>Free monthly meetings for aged care providers and staff to discuss areas affecting food provision</li> <li>An app that gives staff, residents and providers the chance to share their food experiences. This can be everything from residents rating a meal to staff talking about the dining room or menu. For residents, in particular, this allows them to freely share their experience.</li> </ul> We have built, refined and researched these aspects over the past seven years and are ready to roll them out nationally to help all homes improve aged care food, nutrition and mealtime experience. Written by Cherie Hugo. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-nursing-home-food-so-bad-some-spend-just-6-08-per-person-a-day-thats-lower-than-prison-120421">The Conversation</a>.

Food & Wine

How 19th century ideas influenced today’s attitudes to women’s beauty

In the 19th century, a range of thinkers attempted to pinpoint exactly what it was that made a woman beautiful. Newly popular women’s magazines began to promote ideas about the right behaviours, attitudes, and daily routines required to produce and maintain beauty. The scientific classification of plants and animals - influenced by Charles Darwin - also shaped thinking about beauty. It was seen to be definable, like a plant type or animal species. Increasingly, sophisticated knowledge of medicine and anatomy and the association of beauty with health also saw physicians weigh into the debate. A look at three significant books that focused on beauty shows several influential ideas. These include the classification of distinct beauty types, the perception of “natural” beauty as superior to the “artificial”, and the eventual acceptance of beauty as something that each woman should try to cultivate through a daily regimen of self-care. Classifying beauty types Alexander Walker, a Scottish physiologist, wrote three books on the subject of “woman”. The first was <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011616485">Beauty; Illustrated Chiefly by an Analysis and Classification of Beauty in Women</a>. Here, Walker focuses on women’s beauty because he suggests it is “best calculated to ensure attention from men”. He assumes that men have the power to choose sexual partners in a way that women do not, therefore men have a crucial responsibility “to ameliorate the species”. Given that one of its key functions is to signal fertility, a woman’s appearance is therefore not a frivolous topic. It is linked to the development of humanity. Walker defines three types or “species” of female beauty: locomotive, nutritive, and thinking. These types derive from a knowledge of anatomy and each is related to one of the bodily “systems”. The locomotive or mechanical system is highly developed in women with “precise, striking, and brilliant” bodies. The nutritive or vital system is evident in the “soft and voluptuous”. The thinking or mental system is conducive to a figure “characterised by intellectuality and grace”. Walker’s ideal is the mental or thinking beauty. She has less pronounced breasts and curves and admirable inner qualities that are evident in her “intensely expressive eye”. Not coincidentally, he understands intelligence to predominate in men. Walker’s ideal thinking beauty is effectively most like his idea of a man in contrast to the locomotive beauty (connected with the lower classes) and the nutritive beauty (primed to have children). “Firm and elastic” breasts Daniel Garrison Brinton was an army surgeon in the American Civil War. He later became a professor of ethnology and archaeology and edited The Medical and Surgical Reporter. In 1870, he and medical editor George Henry Napheys published <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011601289">Personal Beauty: How to Cultivate and Preserve it in Accordance with the Laws of Health</a>. The book proposes ideal measurements for areas such as the forehead and the most distinctive features of the female body. Breasts are viewed as essential to beauty and the ideal they describe is youthful, with “firm and elastic” tissue that forms “true hemispheres in shape”. Very specific distances between nipples, the collar bone, and between the breasts themselves are specified, setting out perfect proportions. Brinton and Napheys claim that few European and American women meet these requirements, owing to the “artificial life” adopted in both locations. Controversially, they remark that such breasts do not exist in America, apart from in “some vigorous young country girl, who has grown up in ignorance of the arts which thwart nature”. The idea that beauty was more often destroyed by “artificial” beauty methods than improved by it was predominant. Personal Beauty promotes a device for improving the shape of the breast through suction because it meets the criteria for “natural” improvement. It is described similarly to <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Lovely-Exercise-Muscle-Massager-nl-argement/dp/B07PQQSPWV">breast enlargement pumps</a> that are sold today as an alternative to breast augmentation. Brinton and Napheys’ reference to the potential of such a device to “restore the organs in great measure to their proper shape, size, and function” suggests they are referring to breasts that may have lost their fullness and symmetry after breastfeeding. It is unclear how such a device would not only improve the shapeliness of breasts, but also render them “better adapted to fulfil their functions”. However, the notion that function, which is reliant on health, is essential to beauty helps to support a medicalised understanding of the topic. Beauty destroyed This emphasis on health contributes to a tendency to focus on the ways that women destroy their own beauty through clothing, cosmetics, or certain types of exercise. A specific target in this book is the wearing of garters below the knee, which the authors claim is the reason why a “handsome leg is a rarity, we had almost said an impossibility, among American women”. Tightly-laced corsets, sucked-upon lips, and white face powders are frowned upon for potential harms to health. Yet, as doctors, Brinton and Napheys embrace early manifestations of cosmetic surgery, such as the removal of skin that might hang over the eyes. A significant point in guiding the acceptability of cosmetic usage is whether such a practice appears natural and undetectable. Imitation itself is not described as distasteful, if it can be achieved convincingly, but “the failure in the attempt at imitation” does inspire revulsion. As such, a wig that meshes with a women’s age and appearance can be acceptable. In contrast, it is “contrary to all good taste” to “give to the top of the head an air of juvenility which is flatly contradicted by all other parts of the person”. Personal Beauty focuses on preventative measures for retaining beauty and delaying the visible onset of ageing, rather than remedying flaws once they have taken hold. The book ultimately concludes that if all the measures recommended are undertaken, “there will be little need for the purely venal cosmetic arts, such as paint, powder, patches, or rouge”. Embracing beauty culture This understanding of cosmetics as pure reflections of vanity and as separate from beauty practices related to health was gradually challenged by women writers towards the end of the 19th century. Eliza Haweis wrote about the decoration and stylistic adornment of the home and body in British magazines and a series of books, the first of which was <a href="https://archive.org/details/artofbeauty00hawe/page/n10">The Art of Beauty </a>(1878). Its premise is that personal beauty and adornment of the body is of “the first interest and importance” for women. Many beauty manuals warned against any significant attempts to alter the face or body beyond basic health and hygiene. Such practices, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/663140/summary">as academic Sarah Lennox suggests</a>, were seen as “objectionable — as a hiding of inner truth”. Haweis, however, encourages young women to enhance their beauty and older women to continue to use methods that “conceal its fading away”. The methods that Haweis advocates reproduce prevalent ideas found in women’s magazines and beauty manuals that discouraged any visible sign of artifice and which championed the “natural”. Hygienic and cosmetic intervention are framed as exposing or fostering physical qualities as they ought to be seen, or providing a delicate “veil” for flaws, rather than attempting to entirely transform them. However, Haweis goes further than many beauty advisors at the time. Unlike many male writers, she is not opposed to cosmetics. She likens their use in “hiding defects of complexion, or touching the face with pink or white” to adding padding to a dress, piercing ears, or undergoing cosmetic dentistry. Part of the reason Haweis supports cosmetics and other methods of improving the appearance is because she observes that ugly people are treated differently. Walker sees beauty as a sign of higher intelligence. Many publications at the time presented a similar line of reasoning in suggesting that mean-spirited and nasty individuals would age horribly. Haweis, however, is unique in her entertainment of the possibility of ugliness negatively influencing character. She proposes that “an immense number of ill-tempered ugly women are ill-tempered because they are ugly”. She acknowledges that ugliness is in fact an “impediment” and a “burden”, which thereby supports her call to all women to work to improve their appearance. Beauty today Our understanding of what makes a woman beautiful is influenced by dominant cultural beliefs and hierarchies. Though Walker’s physiological beauty types were replaced by acceptance of the idea that women can retain beauty into older age or remedy unappealing features, many historic precepts about beauty continue to influence modern beauty culture. Ideas about “natural” beauty as superior to “artificial” beauty are reflected in cosmetic advertisements and plastic surgery procedures, with a “natural” or “undetectable” look to any product, facelift, or implant being the desired outcome for many women. Most of all, the idea that beauty is of prime importance to girls and women remains predominant, even as the cultural conditions surrounding marriage, employment, and family have substantially transformed since the 19th century. Haweis’ ideas about the significance of self-care resonate with contemporary feminists who point to women’s pleasure and empowered use of cosmetics. We have recently seen the emergence of male beauty bloggers and YouTubers. However, the continued sense that beauty is largely women’s preserve and a unique form of power that requires a continual fight to keep shows how an emphasis on women’s physical appearance is still entwined with gender inequality. Written by Michelle Smith. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-19th-century-ideas-influenced-todays-attitudes-to-womens-beauty-111529">The Conversation</a>.

Beauty & Style

"Nothing can forgive that": Maggie Beer's disgust at aged care food standards

Maggie Beer has slammed the quality of the food served in aged care homes, saying the $7 budget for each resident was inadequate. It is “impossible” to prepare quality meals for the residents with such a limited budget, the celebrity chef told the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety on Tuesday. “They would have to use processed food, frozen food, frozen vegetables, fish that is usually frozen and imported, not even Australian,” she said. Some aged care facilities spend as little as $6.50-$7 a day on food per resident to cut costs, the royal commission has been told. Chef Nicholas Hall said he had to “cut corners” at one home he worked at, which had a food budget of $7.20 per resident. “[The food] wasn’t great, that’s for sure,” said Hall. “You’re having to use frozen foods, you’re having to use processed foods just to feed the residents. “At the end of the meal if the resident was still hungry and they wanted more food, there was no more food to give them.” Hall said some aged care providers and third-party caterers are focused solely on saving costs. “They're just racing to the bottom to see who can feed for the lowest amount of cost.” Beer recalled seeing the food her aunt would eat when she was in aged care in Sydney 50 years ago. “My aunt didn’t want to eat anything, lost all the weight because the food was without a smell. It was institutionalised food in its most basic form,” she said. Beer said she feels terrible when she reads complaints about the food from residents and their relatives. “It just breaks your heart because it doesn’t have to be like that. It should never be like that,” she said. Beer said she is “shocked” at the evidence presented at the commission. “Nothing can forgive that and nothing can accept that. “We have a responsibility to give a good way of life for those in aged care and in the community.” Beer said while the minimum food budget should be increased to $10.50, “you can do really good food” with $14. “Every bite of sustenance should be of goodness, but flavour first: flavour, goodness and pleasure,” she said. “Without those things in equal measure they don’t have enough to look forward to to get up in the morning.”

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"Nothing can forgive that": Maggie Beer's disgust at aged care food standards

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