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Judge rules against Pauline Hanson

A judge has ruled that Pauline Hanson's <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/pattern-of-bigotry-pauline-hanson-being-sued-by-senator-over-tweet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">comment</a> to a Muslin senator constitutes "strong racism". Justice Angus Stewart found that the One Nation leader engaged in "seriously offensive" and intimidating behaviour when told Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi to "piss off back to Pakistan". Hanson made the comments on X, formally Twitter, in September 2022, with Justice Stewart finding that the outburst breached the Racial Discrimination Act. The post was racist, nativist and anti-Muslim, the judge said, explaining, "It is a strong form of racism." Hanson's post was in response to one from Faruqi on the day Queen Elizabeth died, as the Greens deputy leader wrote she could not mourn the passing of the leader of a "racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples". Hanson's claim that she did not know her Greens rival was a Muslim when she sent the tweet was rejected by the court. The One Nation leader also argued that she merely engaged in political discourse by pointing out hypocrisy from the Greens deputy in criticising the monarchy while benefiting from moving to and living in Australia, which was quickly shot down by the judge. "Her tweet was an angry personal attack on Senator Faruqi," Justice Stewart said. Hanson has been ordered to delete the tweet within seven days and to pay the Greens deputy leader's legal costs of running the lawsuit. Image credits: Getty Images / Instagram

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I’m feeling run down. Why am I more likely to get sick? And how can I boost my immune system?

<div class="theconversation-article-body"> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sathana-dushyanthen-1169328">Sathana Dushyanthen</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> It has been a long winter, filled with many viruses and cost-of-living pressures, on top of the usual mix of work, study, life admin and caring responsibilities. Stress is an inevitable part of life. In short bursts, our stress response has evolved as a survival mechanism to help us be more alert in <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-you-cant-blame-all-your-health-issues-on-high-cortisol-heres-how-the-hormone-works-203162">fight or flight situations</a>. But when stress is chronic, it weakens the immune system and makes us more vulnerable to illnesses such as the <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/can-stress-make-you-sick#:%7E:text=The%20common%20cold&text=Inflammation%20has%20been%20linked%20to,to%20the%20cold%2Dcausing%20germs.">common cold</a>, <a href="https://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/abstract/1999/03000/psychological_stress,_cytokine_production,_and.9.aspx">flu</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smi.3017">COVID</a>. <h2>Stress makes it harder to fight off viruses</h2> When the immune system starts to break down, a virus that would normally have been under control starts to flourish. Once you begin to feel sick, the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4465119/">stress response</a> rises, making it harder for the immune system to fight off the disease. You may be sick more often and for longer periods of time, without enough immune cells primed and ready to <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-16996-1_6">fight</a>. In the 1990s, American psychology professor Sheldon Cohen and his colleagues conducted a number of <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/common-cold-project/">studies</a> where healthy people were exposed to an upper respiratory infection, through drops of virus placed directly into their <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199108293250903">nose</a>. These participants were then quarantined in a hotel and monitored closely to determine who became <a href="https://theconversation.com/stress-less-it-might-protect-you-from-covid-153361">ill</a>. One of the most important factors predicting who got sick was prolonged psychological <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691620942516">stress</a>. <h2>Cortisol suppresses immunity</h2> “Short-term stress” is stress that lasts for a period of minutes to hours, while “chronic stress” persists for several hours per day for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5964013/#:%7E:text=Therefore%2C%20a%20major%20distinguishing%20characteristic,weeks%20or%20months%20%5B9%5D.">weeks or months</a>. When faced with a perceived threat, psychological or physical, the hypothalamus region of the brain sets off an alarm system. This signals the release of a surge of hormones, including adrenaline and <a href="https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/msb.20209510">cortisol</a>. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/616892/original/file-20240903-18-blrqoz.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/616892/original/file-20240903-18-blrqoz.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/616892/original/file-20240903-18-blrqoz.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/616892/original/file-20240903-18-blrqoz.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/616892/original/file-20240903-18-blrqoz.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/616892/original/file-20240903-18-blrqoz.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/616892/original/file-20240903-18-blrqoz.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=593&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Human brain illustration" /><figcaption>The hypothalamus sets off an alarm system in response to a real or perceived threat. <a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/hypothalamus-causes-vasoconstriction-illustration-medical-brain-435142264">stefan3andrei/Shutterstock</a></figcaption></figure> In a typical stress response, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S147149060300173X">cortisol levels</a> quickly increase when stress occurs, and then rapidly drop back to normal once the stress has subsided. In the short term, cortisol suppresses inflammation, to ensure the body has enough energy available to respond to an <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2019.00245/full">immediate threat</a>. But in the longer term, chronic stress can be harmful. A Harvard University study <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2796097">from 2022</a> showed that people suffering from psychological distress in the lead up to their COVID infection had a greater chance of experiencing long COVID. They <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2796097">classified</a> this distress as depression, probable anxiety, perceived stress, worry about COVID and loneliness. Those suffering distress had close to a <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2796097">50% greater risk</a> of long COVID compared to other <a href="https://theconversation.com/being-stressed-out-before-you-get-covid-increases-your-chances-of-long-covid-heres-why-190649">participants</a>. Cortisol has been shown to be high in the most severe cases of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7102614/">COVID</a>. <h2>Stress causes inflammation</h2> <a href="https://stories.uq.edu.au/imb/the-edge/inflammation/what-is-inflammation/index.html">Inflammation</a> is a short-term reaction to an injury or infection. It is responsible for trafficking immune cells in your body so the right cells are present in the right locations at the right times and at the right <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12026-014-8517-0">levels</a>. The immune cells also store a memory of that threat to respond faster and more effectively the next <a href="https://theconversation.com/being-stressed-out-before-you-get-covid-increases-your-chances-of-long-covid-heres-why-190649">time</a>. Initially, circulating immune cells detect and flock to the site of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ni1275">infection</a>. Messenger proteins, known as pro-inflammatory cytokines, are released by immune cells, to signal the danger and recruit help, and our immune system responds to neutralise the <a href="https://stories.uq.edu.au/imb/the-edge/inflammation/what-is-inflammation/index.html">threat</a>. During this response to the infection, if the immune system produces too much of these inflammatory chemicals, it can trigger symptoms such as nasal congestion and runny <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691620942516">nose</a>. <h2>What about chronic stress?</h2> Chronic stress causes persistently high cortisol secretion, which remains high even in the absence of an immediate <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-you-cant-blame-all-your-health-issues-on-high-cortisol-heres-how-the-hormone-works-203162">stressor</a>. The immune system becomes desensitised and unresponsive to this <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1043661816307435">cortisol suppression</a>, increasing low-grade “silent” inflammation and the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (the messenger proteins). Immune cells become exhausted and start to <a href="https://www.fxmedicine.com.au/blog-post/adrenal-immune-connection">malfunction</a>. The body loses the ability to turn down the inflammatory <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691620942516">response</a>. Over time, the immune system changes the way it responds by reprogramming to a “<a href="https://www.unimelb.edu.au/newsroom/news/2021/april/how-stress-can-stop-immune-cells-in-their-tracks">low surveillance mode</a>”. The immune system misses early opportunities to destroy threats, and the process of recovery can take <a href="https://theconversation.com/being-stressed-out-before-you-get-covid-increases-your-chances-of-long-covid-heres-why-190649">longer</a>. <h2>So how can you manage your stress?</h2> We can actively strengthen our immunity and natural defences by managing our <a href="https://theconversation.com/stuck-in-fight-or-flight-mode-5-ways-to-complete-the-stress-cycle-and-avoid-burnout-or-depression-218599">stress levels</a>. Rather than letting stress build up, try to address it early and frequently by: 1) Getting enough sleep Getting enough sleep reduces <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3132857/">cortisol levels</a> and inflammation. During sleep, the immune system <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4939-6578-6_12">releases</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/sleep-wont-cure-the-coronavirus-but-it-can-help-our-bodies-fight-it-134674">cytokines</a>, which help fight infections and inflammation. 2) Taking regular exercise Exercising helps the lymphatic system (which balances bodily fluids as part of the immune system) circulate and allows immune cells to monitor for threats, while sweating flushes <a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/does-exercise-boost-immune-system">toxins</a>. Physical activity also lowers stress hormone levels through the release of positive brain <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7387807/">signals</a>. 3) Eating a healthy diet Ensuring your diet contains enough nutrients – such as the B vitamins, and the full breadth of minerals like magnesium, iron and zinc – during times of stress has a positive impact on overall stress <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22782571">levels</a>. Staying hydrated helps the body to flush out <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-strong-immune-system-helps-ward-off-colds-and-flus-but-its-not-the-only-factor-99512">toxins</a>. 4) Socialising and practising meditation or mindfulness These activities increase endorphins and serotonin, which improve mood and have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949834123000351">anti-inflammatory effects</a>. Breathing exercises and meditation stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms down our stress responses so we can “reset” and reduce <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4940234/">cortisol levels</a>.<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/237456/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sathana-dushyanthen-1169328">Sathana Dushyanthen</a>, Academic Specialist & Lecturer in Cancer Sciences & Digital Health| Superstar of STEM| Science Communicator, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> Image credits: Shutterstock 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/im-feeling-run-down-why-am-i-more-likely-to-get-sick-and-how-can-i-boost-my-immune-system-237456">original article</a>. </div>

Body

New support system helps older Aussies who have fallen victim to scams

A new support system has been set up to help vulnerable older Australians who have fallen victim to dangerous scams. With millions of Aussies targeted every year, many of these targets are elderly with 30 percent of victims hesitant to come forward because they are too embarrassed to admit what's happened to them. One such victim, 86-year-old Mary, said she was humiliated after falling for a scam saying she is old enough to know better. "It serves me right, I shouldn't have been so trusting," she said. "You blame yourself and you don't really want to tell people how stupid you are, so you think, 'Well, I'll just have to bear it'." Mary was scammed when she received a call from a man pretending to be a technician, saying he needed access to her computer to resolve a problem in her area. Step by step, the "technician" got Mary to log-in and give him complete access to her entire online identification, completely cleaning her out of $20,000 in savings. This is why <a title="ID Support NSW" href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/id-support-nsw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ID Support NSW</a> is now offering a free service to help older Australians be able to protect themselves online and spot suspicious activity. "The most common scams are romance and impersonation scams, where people pretend to be someone they're not," ID Support NSW's Jacqueline Wilson told <a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/today/scam-awareness-week-id-support-nsw-offering-free-help-for-older-australians/20d3f8d6-fe32-4b1d-af32-294e47f4412d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Today</a>. "Most start with a text or call and once someone responds or engages, they usually end up losing money." Jacqueline said the best thing you could do if you even suspect a scammer was to just hang up the phone, saying, "You don't need to indulge them, you don't need to be polite, you don't need to engage in a long conversation." Image credits: Today

Legal

Indigenous netball player shares "disgusting" hate letter after sponsorship drama

An Indigenous netball star has shared a vile hate letter she received from a netball fan, two years on from the Netball Australia sponsorship drama. Prior to her first game with the Australian Diamonds national team in 2022, Donnell Wallam, a Noongar woman from Western Australia, refused to wear the uniform which featured the logo of Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting. The 30-year-old athlete shared that her reasoning was over racist comments made by Rinehart's late father in the 1980s, when he suggested Aboriginal people should be sterilised. In response to Wallam's boycott, Gina Rinehart dramatically tore up her $15 million sponsorship deal with Netball Australia, which had been set to run until the end of 2025. Now, two years on from the sponsorship drama, Wallam shared a photo on of hate mail she received about the controversy, from a woman named “Mary”. The letter posted to Instagram, which accused Wallam of being "radicalised by the Aboriginal left", includes a mocking imitation of an Indigenous Acknowledgement of Country paying “respects to British and European elders”. “As if the hate online wasn’t enough, Mary thought she’d send me a letter,” the netballer wrote. “I’m beyond disgusted and hurt but I will never stop advocating for my people. Blak, Loud and Proud. ALWAYS.” The letter reads, “I am writing to you to express my sadness that your [sic] cost the Australian Diamonds, of $15,000,000, caused by your radically influenced comments about Gina Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock.” “Mr Hancock’s comments about serialisation [sic] of Aboriginals was disgusting and made by one man. However, at the time his daughter was not yet born as you were not yet born. You were influenced by the nasty activist Aboriginal clique that hates everything Australia. You fell into their spell and caused such loss of donations to Australia Netball. Hang your head in shame girl, for being manipulated by the radical Aboriginal filth.” Mary adds that she went to school in Perth “and had many good Noongar friends that I still love today”. “You are a disgrace to the Noongar Tribe,” she wrote. “I will never watch you play, ever.” Wallam’s supporters slammed the letter as “disgusting”, saying they will always support the inspirational athlete. “You are such an inspiration for so many, I am completely disgusted but sadly not shocked, what an absolute piece of s**t this woman is,” one wrote. “I will defs be watching your next game to support you,” another said. “Sounds like Mary’s loss!” Image credits: DARREN PATEMAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Editorial

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Australia’s tax system is being weaponised against victims of domestic abuse. Here’s how

<div class="theconversation-article-body"> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ann-kayis-kumar-466422">Ann Kayis-Kumar</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414">UNSW Sydney</a> When women seeking financial help from the government-funded UNSW <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/business/our-schools/accounting-auditing-taxation/about-us/unsw-clinic">Tax and Business Advisory Clinic</a> are asked whether they have ever been affected by family or domestic violence, most say they have. In the past year this number has grown from <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3339/sub009.pdf?1718777706">65%</a> to over 80%. And about <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=4746954">14%</a> of the clinic’s clients say their tax debts are a result of intimate partner violence. These debts often arise from business debts, bankruptcy, corporate directorships and director penalty notices. We know that economic abuse is a red flag for other forms of domestic violence. Economic abuse occurs in nearly all Australian domestic and family violence cases, affecting more than <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/personal-safety-australia/latest-release">2.4 million Australians</a> and costing the economy an estimated <a href="https://www.commbank.com.au/content/dam/caas/newsroom/docs/Cost%20of%20financial%20abuse%20in%20Australia.pdf">A$10.9 billion</a> a year. Unfortunately, existing laws fall well short of protecting abuse victim-survivors from financial loss. <h2>How violent partners weaponise tax</h2> The perpetrators of violence can effectively weaponise the tax system by placing tax debts solely in the names of former partners, often because they have made them directors of companies or through family businesses operating through partnerships or trusts. There is a policy assumption that family members benefit from family partnerships. But this does not always hold in practice and can be problematic when there is economic abuse because Australian tax law requires victims report and pay tax on their “share” of the family partnership’s income. The average tax debt at the tax clinic is about $90,000. This can result in debilitating financial burdens, exhausted savings, insecure housing and prolonged economic instability, well after abusive relationships end. <h2>Change is needed</h2> Australia has no specific strategy for relief of tax debts caused by financial abuse. There are “serious hardship” provisions in Australian taxation law, but these are outdated and in need of <a href="https://theconversation.com/sometimes-people-can-do-with-a-break-3-ways-tax-debt-relief-rules-are-too-tough-156948">reform</a>. Usually people do not have the funds up front so the only way the Australian Taxation Office can collect debts from the abused partner is through (generally two-year) payment plans, offsetting future tax refunds, engaging external debt collectors and initiating bankruptcy proceedings. To that end, the decision announced in this year’s budget to give the Tax Commissioner discretion <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/about-ato/new-legislation/in-detail/businesses/changes-to-offsetting-debts-on-hold">not to offset</a> against tax returns debts previously placed “on hold” is welcome. It will provide short-term relief by enabling abuse victims to get their refunds instead of having it used by the Tax Office to reduce their debt. Colleagues Christine Speidel, Leslie Book and I want this power extended to all <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4746954">forms of tax debts</a> not just for tax debts that have been placed “on hold” especially where the taxpayer is known to have experienced financial abuse. But this wouldn’t go far enough – the victim-survivors would still have the perpetrator’s tax debt hanging over them. Where this happens, financial instability can <a href="https://www.commbank.com.au/content/dam/commbank-assets/support/2021-01/unsw-report-key-findings.pdf">drive women back</a> into abusive relationships. <h2>The US shows what can be done</h2> Legislative reform to shift tax liability from abuse survivors to perpetrators is the key to helping solve the problem. <figure class="align-right zoomable"></figure> The United States has offered some form of “<a href="https://www.irs.gov/individuals/innocent-spouse-relief">innocent spouse relief</a>” since 1971. In 2011 it widened eligibility and <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/ir-11-080.pdf">removed a two-year time limit</a> for requesting relief. It is important to understand the US provisions apply because the country offers jointly filed “married” tax returns. In Australia tax returns are filed by individuals. Australia’s laws would need to change to ensure abused women do not find themselves jointly liable. Any changes should also include debts incurred in the name of partnerships and company directors. The US is the first and only country to do this, largely because of the advocacy of US low-income tax clinics over decades. Australia now has such clinics, funded as part of the Tax Office <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/financial-difficulties-and-disasters/support-to-lodge-and-pay/national-tax-clinic-program">National Tax Clinic Program</a>. Australia’s adoption of US-style rules could provide a model for other jurisdictions, increase tax debt collection (as perpetrators are likely to have better capacity to pay than victims) and foster greater confidence in the Tax Office. Most importantly, it would acknowledge that victim-survivors with tax debts should not bear responsibility for debts incurred by perpetrators. <hr /> For information and advice about family and intimate partner violence contact 1800 RESPECT (<a href="https://www.1800respect.org.au/">1800 737 732</a>). If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, contact 000. The Men’s Referral Service (<a href="https://ntv.org.au/get-help/">1300 766 491)</a> offers advice and counselling to men looking to change their behaviour.<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/232609/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ann-kayis-kumar-466422">Ann Kayis-Kumar</a>, Founding Director of UNSW Tax and Business Advisory Clinic, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414">UNSW Sydney</a> Image credits: Shutterstock 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/australias-tax-system-is-being-weaponised-against-victims-of-domestic-abuse-heres-how-232609">original article</a>. </div>

Money & Banking

“I’m sick of it": Boy's heartbreaking plea after racist abuse

An Anawain Gamilaroi woman has demanded change after her nine-year-old nephew was left crushed by racist abuse that he allegedly experienced at AFL training. Shaylee Matthews shared the heartbreaking video of Jarmilles breaking down in a car on LinkedIn. The young boy was still wearing his team jersey and was in tears as he repeated the racist abuse that was allegedly targeted towards him. "I hate it when you call me Black," he said through tears. "I hate when you call me monkey. It's got to stop." "I'm sick of this. I don't want there to be racism. I'm sick of it. It needs to be over." When asked if he was okay, Jarmilles replied: "No. I want to go home and go to bed now." Matthews, who works for the ACT government, said the video exposes the "harsh reality" of racism experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. “This post and videos shared is of my 9 soon to be 10 year old nephew’s experience at AFL training (playing a game he loves) which highlights the harsh reality of racism that persists in our society, especially during National Reconciliation Week (with the theme being Now More Than Ever),” she said. “It’s a call to action for us all to confront privilege, challenge learned racism, and dismantle the systemic issues that perpetuate injustice for Indigenous youth.” "The hurtful comments and behaviours faced by Jarmilles not only reflect individual ignorance but also contribute to larger systemic inequalities," she added. She then called for the public to use Reconciliation Week as an opportunity to fight racism and advocate for change. "We must advocate for change, demand accountability, and ensure that all children, regardless of their background, are treated with dignity and respect," she said. "By standing in solidarity, raising our voices, and actively working towards a more just and inclusive society, we can create a future where every child feels safe, valued, and supported. "Let's turn this moment of pain into a catalyst for meaningful change and a brighter tomorrow for all our children." Image: LinkedIn/ news.com.au

Legal

Laura Tingle shares "regret" over racism comments

Laura Tingle has shared her "regret" over her <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/laura-tingle-under-fire-after-declaring-australia-a-racist-country" target="_blank" rel="noopener">comments</a> that Australia is "a racist country", as the ABC Director of News responded to her claims. Tingle caused outrage after she made the claims about Australia being inherently racist during a panel on Sunday as part of the Sydney Writer's Festival. Now, ABC News director Justin Stevens says her comments did not meet the organisation's editorial standards. “Although the remarks were conversational, and not made in her work capacity, the ABC and its employees have unique obligations in the Australian media,’’ he said in a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/about/media-centre/statements-and-responses/justin-stevens-statement-on-laura-tingle/103909056" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. “Today she has explained her remarks in more detail to ensure there is a factual record of the relevant context and detail." “The ABC’s editorial standards serve a vital role. Laura has been reminded of their application at external events as well as in her work and I have counselled her over the remarks." In response to much nation-wide backlash over her comments, Tingle issued a lengthy statement clarifying her remarks and also sharing her "regret". “I did indeed make the observation on Sunday that we are a racist country, in the context of a discussion about the political prospects ahead,’’ Tingle said. “I wasn’t saying every Australian is a racist. But we clearly have an issue with racism. Without even going into the historic record, there is also ample evidence that racism remains a particular problem in our legal and policing systems." “In my commentary at the ABC, and at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, I expressed my concern at the risks involved in Peter Dutton pressing the hot button of housing and linking it to migration for these reasons," she continued. “Political leaders, by their comments, give licence to others to express opinions they may not otherwise express. That does not make them racist, but it has real world implications for many Australians.” She went on to add a statement of "regret", saying, “I regret that when I was making these observations at the Writers’ Festival the nature of the free-flowing panel discussion means they were not surrounded by every quote substantiating them which would have – and had – been included in what I had said earlier on the ABC." “This has created the opportunity for yet another anti-ABC pile-on. This is not helpful to me or to the ABC. Or to the national debate. I am proud of my work as a journalist at the ABC, on all its platforms, and I let that work speak for itself.” ABC News boss Justin Stevens confirmed on Thursday that Tingle had been “counselled over her remarks” and "reminded of their application at external events as well as in her work." Image credits: ABC News / DANNY CASEY/EPA-EFE / Shutterstock Editorial

Legal

Laura Tingle under fire after declaring Australia "a racist country"

One of the ABC's most senior journalists Laura Tingle has caused outrage after declaring Australia is "a racist country". The political reporter made the claims while speaking on a panel at the Sydney Writer's Festival on Sunday at an event hosted by former ABC TV Insiders host and Labor staffer Barrie Cassidy. Her comments were in response to the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's pledge to slash permanent migration to just 140,000 a year, as well as the ABC's coverage of the war in Gaza. <div> <div>“We are a racist country, let’s face it," she said. We always have been, and it’s very depressing.”</div> </div> “The Opposition Leader has opened the doors to migrants being blamed not just for housing shortages but for all these other problems, too,” she added. On Sunday, Tingle said that after listening to Dutton's pledge, she “had this sudden flash of people turning up to try and rent a property or at an auction and they look a bit different – whatever you define different as – [and] that basically (Dutton) has given them licence to be abused, and in any circumstance where people feel like they’re missing out”. Her comments have prompted outrage among senators, with Indigenous Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price saying she is "really disappointed" by Tingle's comments. “This continued narrative … is being pushed within our country that does not provide any sense of pride for our children,” she said. “It absolutely creates division. We had enough of it during the [Indigenous Voice] referendum and leading journalists, well, supposedly leading journalists, like Laura Tingle should know better than to use that sort of rhetoric.” Price said the comments reflected Tingle’s opinion, rather than being a reflection of the whole country, as she also accused Tingle of political bias against Dutton, saying it reflected poorly on the ABC. “Laura has demonstrated her bias and I think [ABC chair] Kim Williams needs to explain why having someone so blatantly partisan sitting in the top political commentator position is acceptable.” Elsewhere, Albanese government minister Tanya Plibersek also took issue with Tingle’s comments. “I think it’s a fantastic multicultural country but we have to protect against incidents of racism which occur in our community as they do in every community,” Plibersek told Seven’s Sunrise on Monday. Following Tingle's comments, ABC board members have had emergency discussions over their colleague, after the Coalition on Monday demanded the public broadcaster explain Tingle’s weekend claims. Image credits: LUKAS COCH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Editorial

Legal

Pauline Hanson sued over racially insensitive tweet

Pauline Hanson has been taken to court over a racially insensitive tweet aimed at Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, with Hanson's lawyers claiming she was merely responding to Faruqi's "provocative" comments. In 2022, Hanson sent a public message on Twitter to Ms Faruqi, telling her to "pack (her) bags and piss off back to Pakistan". Hanson's outburst was prompted by a post by Faruqi following the Queen's death, in which she wrote she could not mourn the passing of the leader of a "racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples". Senator Mehreen Faruqi is suing the One Nation leader in the Federal Court over alleged racist discrimination, with the trial beginning on Monday. Faruqi's barrister Saul Holt KC said the "demeaning and insulting" tweet was targeted towards his client as a Muslim woman of colour who had migrated to Australia, adding that such language from a public figure was extremely damaging to Faruqi and other migrants. Holt went on to say that the tweet was part of a pattern of racially insensitive behaviour from Hanson, saying the public message was "pernicious and deeply harmful". "A tweet of this kind in the Twittersphere, the dogwhistle doesn't just stand on its own," Holt said. Faruqi is seeking court orders that the One Nation leader donate $150,000 to a charity of the Greens senator's choice. Hanson's barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC called the lawsuit "unmeritorious", arguing her client had responded to an offensive tweet by the Greens senator which was designed to provoke a response. "The wording used by my client ... is directed to Senator Faruqi and Senator Faruqi alone," Chrysanthou said. Chrysanthou went on to say Faruqi's comments were hypocritical, given that she had previously sworn an oath of allegiance to the former monarch when she became an Australian senator. Ms Faruqi is due to appear in the witness box as the trial continues. Image credits: Getty Images

Legal

Our housing system is broken and the poorest Australians are being hardest hit

<div class="theconversation-article-body"> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rachel-ong-viforj-113482">Rachel Ong ViforJ</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/curtin-university-873">Curtin University</a> Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s <a href="https://www.anglicare.asn.au/publications/2023-rental-affordability-snapshot/">Rental Affordability Snapshot</a> by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like never before. In fact, if you rely on the <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/youth-allowance">Youth Allowance</a>, there is not a single rental property across Australia you can afford this week. <h2>How did rental affordability get this bad?</h2> Several post-COVID factors have been blamed, including our preference for <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2023/jun/new-insights-into-the-rental-market.html">more space, the return of international migrants</a>, and <a href="https://www.corelogic.com.au/news-research/news/2023/could-the-peak-in-interest-rates-signal-an-end-to-rising-rents">rising interest rates</a>. However, the rental affordability crisis pre-dates COVID. Affordability has been steadily declining for decades, as successive governments have failed to make shelter more affordable for low-to-moderate income Australians. <h2>The market is getting squeezed at both ends</h2> At the lower end of the rental sector, the growth in the supply of social housing persistently lags behind demand, trending at under <a href="https://povertyandinequality.acoss.org.au/data/annual-growth-rates-social-housing-stock-and-population-2011-2020/">one-third</a> the rate of population growth. <hr /> <iframe id="OA0cS" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/OA0cS/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> This has forced growing numbers of low-income Australians to seek shelter in the private rental sector, where they face intense competition from higher-income renters. At the upper end, more and more aspiring home buyers are getting <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03085147.2021.2003086">locked out</a> of home ownership. A recent <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/sites/default/files/documents/2024-02/AHURI-Final-Report-416-Affordable-private-rental-supply-and-demand-short-term-disruption.pdf">study</a> found more households with higher incomes are now renting. Households earning <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/sites/default/files/documents/2024-02/AHURI-Final-Report-416-Affordable-private-rental-supply-and-demand-short-term-disruption.pdf">$140,000</a> a year or more (in 2021 dollars) accounted for just 8% of private renters in 1996. By 2021, this tripled to 24%. No doubt, this crowds out lower-income households who are now facing a shortage of affordable homes to rent. <h2>Why current policies are not working</h2> Worsening affordability in the private rental sector highlights a housing system that is broken. Current policies just aren’t working. While current policies focus on supply, more work is needed including fixing <a href="https://theconversation.com/governments-are-pouring-money-into-housing-but-materials-land-and-labour-are-still-in-short-supply-205471">labour shortages</a> and providing greater <a href="https://theconversation.com/people-want-and-need-more-housing-choice-its-about-time-governments-stood-up-to-deliver-it-122390">stock diversity</a>. The planning system plays a critical role and <a href="https://theconversation.com/confusing-and-not-delivering-enough-developers-and-councils-want-new-affordable-housing-rules-139762">zoning rules</a> can be reformed to support the supply of more affordable options. However, the housing affordability challenge is not solely a supply problem. There is also a need to respond to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/home-prices-are-climbing-alright-but-not-for-the-reason-you-might-think-158776">super-charged demand</a> in the property market. An overheated market will undoubtedly place intense pressure on the rental sector because aspiring first home buyers are forced to rent for longer, as house prices soar at a rate unmatched by their wages. Yet, governments continue to resist calls for winding back the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-15/ken-henry-australias-tax-system-in-worse-position-after-15-years/103465044">generous tax concessions</a> enjoyed by multi-property owners. The main help available to low-income private renters - the Commonwealth Rent Assistance scheme - is <a href="https://theconversation.com/1-billion-per-year-or-less-could-halve-rental-housing-stress-146397">poorly targeted</a> with nearly one in five low-income renters who are in rental stress deemed ineligible, while another one in four receive it despite not being in rental stress. <h2>Can affordable housing occur naturally?</h2> Some commentators support the theory of <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/sites/default/files/documents/2022-09/Executive-Summary-FR387-Filtering-as-a-source-of-low-income-housing-in-Australia-conceptualisation-and-testing.pdf">filtering</a> - a market-based process by which the supply of new dwellings in more expensive segments creates additional supply of dwellings for low-income households as high-income earners vacate their former dwellings. Proponents of filtering argue building more housing anywhere - even in wealthier ends of the property market - will eventually improve affordability across the board because lower priced housing will trickle down to the poorest households. However, the persistent affordability crisis low-income households face and the rise in homelessness are crucial signs filtering <a href="https://cloud.3dissue.com/122325/122578/143598/WhyNewSupplyisnotExpandingHousingOptionsfortheHomeless/html5/index.html?page=1&noflash">does not work well</a> and <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/sites/default/files/documents/2022-09/AHURI-Final-Report-387-Filtering-as-a-source-of-low-income-housing-in-Australia-conceptualisation-and-testing.pdf">cannot be relied upon</a> to produce lower cost housing. <h2>Location, location, location</h2> Location does matter, if we expect building new housing to work for low-income individuals. What is needed is a steady increase of affordable, quality housing in areas offering low-income renters the same access to jobs and amenities as higher-income households. The <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/housing-policy/accord#:%7E:text=The%20Accord%20includes%20an%20initial,5%20years%20from%20mid%E2%80%912024.">National Housing Accord</a> aims to deliver 1.2 million new dwellings over five years from mid-2024. But it must ensure these are “well-located” for people who need affordable housing, as suggested in the accord. Recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673037.2023.229051">modelling</a> shows unaffordable housing and poor neighbourhoods both negatively affect mental health, reinforcing the need to provide both affordable and well-located housing. <h2>The upcoming budget</h2> While the <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2023/payments-cra_budget_fact_sheet_fa_0.pdf">15% increase</a> in the maximum rent assistance rate was welcomed in the last budget, the program is long overdue for a major restructure to target those in rental stress. Also, tax concessions on second properties should be wound back to reduce competition for those struggling to buy their first home. This would eventually help ease affordability pressures on low-income renters as more higher-income renters <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8454.12335">shift into homeownership</a>. The potential negative impacts on rental supply can be mitigated by careful design of tax and other changes that guard against market destabilisation concerns. Overall, housing affordability solutions have to be multi-faceted. The housing system is badly broken and meaningful repair cannot be achieved unless policymakers are willing to confront both supply and demand challenges.<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/228511/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rachel-ong-viforj-113482">Rachel Ong ViforJ</a>, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/curtin-university-873">Curtin University</a> Image credits: Getty Images 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/our-housing-system-is-broken-and-the-poorest-australians-are-being-hardest-hit-228511">original article</a>. </div>

Money & Banking

Sam Kerr’s alleged comments may have had a racial element, but they were not ‘racist’

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mario-peucker-192086">Mario Peucker</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/victoria-university-1175">Victoria University</a> Footballer Sam Kerr has been charged with “racially aggravated harassment” over a January 2023 incident in which she allegedly insulted a London police officer. According to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/06/sam-kerr-allegedly-called-police-officer-a-stupid-white-bastard-source-says">widespread media reports</a>, she is said to have called the officer a “stupid white bastard”. Kerr has pleaded not guilty to the charge and has <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/sam-kerr-legal-team-reportedly-challenge-allegations-of-police-harassment/744598ef-75f9-4e03-acb5-7b37aecde8d1">reportedly denied</a> using the word “bastard”. According to section 33 of the British Crime and Disorder Act, to be found guilty of such an offence, the conduct would have had to cause – or have intended to cause – alarm or distress. Regardless of the court’s ultimate verdict, one big question seems to occupy the minds of many: does the phrase attributed to Kerr constitute racism? Kerr was born in Western Australia, and has Indian ancestry on her father’s side. Can she be racist towards a white person, and more specifically to a white police officer? Assuming it is true Kerr used the term “white”, there is a racial element. But “racial” is not the same as “racist”. <h2>Definitions of racism</h2> It is important to note here that “race” is not a biological category (there is only one human race). Race is a <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/race-is-a-social-construct-scientists-argue/">social construct</a>, invented and cemented centuries ago to legitimise colonial atrocities, oppression and forms of subjugation including slavery. There are many definitions of racism, but there has been a broad consensus for decades that racism is more than “just” prejudice and discriminatory behaviour. It is not simply a matter of less favourable treatment of an individual or group of people based on their actual or ascribed ethnic background, skin colour, origin or related characteristics. Racism also reflects and manifests as systemic exclusion and marginalisation based on historically rooted power imbalances and racial hierarchies that put white people at the top. To put it very simply, the scholarly (if not the legal) definition is that “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1998-07453-002">racism equals power plus prejudice</a>”. In a vicious cycle, everyday racism and discrimination are shaped and justified by racial hierarchies, while they operate continuously in a way that cements power imbalances and racial marginalisation. This may sound a bit abstract, but if we do not recognise this power dynamic, we trivialise racism as little more than name-calling. We will fail to understand how racism operates and how it continues to affect people from racially marginalised groups in their daily lives. One way to illustrate the systemic nature of racism is to look at the persistent lack of representation of people of colour in leadership positions in the corporate sector, the media and governments in Australia and elsewhere. In the United Kingdom, where the alleged incident occurred, institutional racism – including within the police force – has been recognised since the release of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-stephen-lawrence-inquiry">Macpherson report</a> in 1999. It was reaffirmed in 2023 by the <a href="https://www.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/downloads/met/about-us/baroness-casey-review/update-march-2023/baroness-casey-review-march-2023a.pdf">Baroness Casey Review</a>, despite some political pushback. The review found “Met officers are 82% White and 71% male, and the majority do not live in the city they police. As such, the Met does not look like the majority of Londoners.” <h2>Reverse racism?</h2> Anti-discrimination legislation in the UK and Australia usually does not speak explicitly of “racism”. It outlaws certain acts that are motivated, partially or wholly, by a person’s race (or other personal identity markers). Legislators introduced these laws with the intention of enhancing the legal protections for those who were considered vulnerable to racism. In Australia, for example, the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A00274/latest/text">Racial Discrimination Act</a> (1975) is often celebrated as a legal cornerstone in the country’s journey away from its racist “White Australia” history towards a modern multicultural society. The United Nations’ <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-convention-elimination-all-forms-racial">International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination</a> (1965), ratified by Australia in 1975 and the UK in 1969, makes its intention explicit when it calls on all state parties to make it an offence to disseminate “ideas based on racial superiority”. The issue of power structures should also be seen through an institutional lens. It is difficult to imagine a person on the streets of London with more institutional power than a white police officer. Being called a “stupid bastard” might hurt someone’s feelings. But while I’m in no position to judge whether Sam Kerr’s alleged actions have caused “distress” to the officer – as the law would require – labelling the incident as racist is clearly not in line with what racism means. Such a definition would not align with the concept’s institutional and systemic dimensions. It is not what anti-discrimination laws were intended to outlaw. Claims of anti-white or “reverse” racism are based on a shallow, misguided and inaccurate understanding of what racism really constitutes. If Kerr’s court case fails to acknowledge the deeper purpose of anti-racism legislation by equating “racial” with “racist”, it risks setting a highly problematic precedent that would undermine efforts to acknowledge and tackle racism in all its forms. What would be the message to those millions of people in the UK, Australia and elsewhere who have to face racism every day without recognition of the harm it causes and without the support and capacity to sue the perpetrators? What would they think about their right to equality and their place in society?<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/225267/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mario-peucker-192086">Mario Peucker</a>, Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow, Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/victoria-university-1175">Victoria University</a> 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/sam-kerrs-alleged-comments-may-have-had-a-racial-element-but-they-were-not-racist-225267">original article</a>.

Legal

“The system is too soft”: Ally Langdon fires up over stabbing death of Vyleen White

Ally Langdon has called for an overhaul of the youth crime system in the wake of the violent death of Queensland grandmother Vyleen White. The A Current Affair host was discussing the death of the 70-year-old, as she became visibly frustrated while talking about the rising rates of youth crime. Langdon hinted at a nationwide issue, citing the recent stabbing death of young doctor Ash Gordon in Melbourne, who was also allegedly murdered by a teenager less than a month ago. “Whatever we’re doing to deal with youth crime, it’s failing,” she said. “The police do everything they can, but the system is too soft on serious crime, and we have lost faith in it and our politicians.” <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/C29TB0HvWGj/?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/C29TB0HvWGj/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by A Current Affair (@acurrentaffair9)</a> </div> </blockquote> Ms White’s daughter and widowed husband echoed Ally's sentiment thoughts on the program, saying, “Justice has to be done, not for my sake, for the memory of Vyleen.” “People want action and harsher laws for crimes they are committing,” her husband Victor said. “For several years (politicians) have been promising a lot, a lot of rubbish talk to the public out there, and nothing happens." “All you hear is increase of violence, car stealing … This is due to slackness in the law." “The law is weak as water.” Ms White’s daughter, Cindy Micallef said harsher penalties for youth crimes are needed. “Youth crime, I hate to say it, it’s like having a koala, it’s a protected species, there’s no action,” she said. “They do heinous crimes and it’s getting worse, I don’t care what nationality or race. “If we let people get away with this, it’s going to increase.” A 16-year-old boy was <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/update-on-tragic-stabbing-of-queensland-grandmother" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> with Ms White’s murder on Tuesday morning, and is also facing charges of unlawful use of a motor vehicle and stealing. Vyleen was <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/health/caring/grandmother-fatally-stabbed-in-front-of-granddaughter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fatally stabbed</a> in the chest in Town Square Redbank Plains Shopping Centre’s underground carpark around 6pm on Saturday, while she was shopping with her granddaughter. Image credits: Facebook / A Current Affair

Legal

How does Australia’s health system stack up internationally? Not bad, if you’re willing to wait for it

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/stephen-duckett-10730">Stephen Duckett</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> When things are going bad in the health system, we are reassured we’ve got one of the best health systems in the world. But we’re rarely told where we actually stand relative to others. A <a href="https://www.oecd.org/health/health-at-a-glance/">new report</a> from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows where Australia is doing relatively well – and not so well. The report is more than 200 pages with dozens of charts and tables. Here we highlight five charts showing Australia’s relative performance. Overall, Australia’s health system performs well, but can come after long waits. And our use of antibiotics is trending in the wrong direction. <h2>1. We spend less than average but live longer than average</h2> Despite the rhetoric about the unsustainability of the health system, Australia performs well. When mapping health expenditure against life expectancy, Australia (marked by the red dot) sits in the best performing quadrant – and has done so for the past decade. <iframe id="tc-infographic-996" class="tc-infographic" style="border: none;" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/996/32f7548791bf05b7559d74976bfa0b955319adc5/site/index.html" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> In contrast, the United States is stuck in the worst performing quadrant for the whole period – significantly higher spending than other countries with worse life expectancy. The life expectancy measure is used here but it involves an implicit assumption that the principal impact on life expectancy is from the health system, which is not really the case. Nevertheless, it is a good measure of overall system performance and combined with spending provides a good measure. <h2>2. Most Australians rate their health as good or very good</h2> The vast majority of Australians (about 85%) rate their health as good or very good, with Australia performing better on this metric than most other similar countries. Often good health is conflated with good health care, and the data show that Australia also has more doctors per head than other countries. <iframe id="Ygo7Z" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Ygo7Z/1/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> The founding charter of the World Health Organization (WHO) recognised that health is not just the absence of disease, but a “<a href="https://www.who.int/about/accountability/governance/constitution">state of complete physical, mental and social well-being</a>”. This points to a flaw in the nexus between good health and more health professionals. The WHO focus on well-being helps to explain why it is not surprising that, looking across countries, the number of doctors doesn’t appear to be a key determinant of performance on self-rated health. <h2>3. It’s harder to get a bed in aged care</h2> About 30% of people in OECD countries are over 65, while the Australian proportion is about 20%. The proportion of over-65s is rising everywhere. A minority of older Australians (14%) use aged care, with most of these using home care. However, monitoring access to residential aged care (represented here by the number of long-term care beds per thousand population over 65) might act as a “canary in the coal mine”, highlighting where access problems exist. <iframe id="lBe4O" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/lBe4O/1/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> In Australia, access to aged care beds is falling, by about 27% between 2011 and 2021. We started in the middle of the pack so this is a concern and probably contributes to more Australians being stuck in acute hospitals, rather than being in more appropriate accommodation in residential aged care. This “<a href="https://www.ama.com.au/articles/hospital-exit-block-symptom-sick-system">exit block</a>” in turn leads to problems of ambulance ramping. <h2>4. Australians wait too long for public hospital hip replacements</h2> Most publicly funded health systems are characterised by long waiting times for access to planned procedures such as hip replacements. Some waiting is to be expected as part of efficient management of operating theatre scheduling. But long waits, especially when the person is in pain, reflect poorly on management of the public hospital system. <iframe id="LNntD" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/LNntD/2/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> The data shows that almost two-thirds of people waiting for hip replacement surgery in Australia waited more than three months. This is marginally worse than the OECD average. Unfortunately, our performance is deteriorating. A number of states, such as <a href="https://www.health.vic.gov.au/planned-surgery-reform-blueprint">Victoria</a>, have developed strategies to improve the performance of the planned procedure system, or have identified opportunities for <a href="https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/about+us/about+sa+health/reporting+and+advisory+groups/health+performance+council/health+performance+council+reports">efficiency improvements in public hospitals</a> which would help address this issue. Although it’s understandable that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2049080122011554">planned procedures were affected</a> by the first few years of the COVID pandemic, governments should have adapted their funding and provision systems to bring waiting times back to the pre-pandemic levels. <h2>5. Our use of antibiotics is going in the wrong direction</h2> Antibiotics have saved millions of lives. But public health experts have long recognised the emerging <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance">problem of antimicrobial resistance</a>, where inappropriate use of these drugs can lead to their reduced effectiveness over time. Worldwide campaigns to promote appropriate use of antibiotics are bearing fruit and across the OECD, use of antibiotics is going down. Unfortunately, Australia’s trend is in the reverse direction. <iframe id="AK4GO" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/AK4GO/1/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe><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/218031/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/stephen-duckett-10730">Stephen Duckett</a>, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> Image credits: Getty Images 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-does-australias-health-system-stack-up-internationally-not-bad-if-youre-willing-to-wait-for-it-218031">original article</a>.

Caring

Women and low-income earners miss out in a superannuation system most Australians think is unfair

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/antonia-settle-1019551">Antonia Settle</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> Most Australians think the superannuation system is unfair, with only one in three agreeing the retirement savings scheme is fair for most Australians, according to a survey conducted for the University of Melbourne. In fact, only about half of those <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/publications/research-insights/search/result?paper=4630688">surveyed</a> agreed superannuation works well for them. These results contradict a conventional view based on earlier studies and held by academics and many in the personal finance sector, that Australians give little thought to superannuation. A 2013 survey found Australians have <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/INFORMIT.285049750322819">poor knowledge</a> of how the superannuation system works, while another study in 2022 highlighted <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/4382057/HILDA_Statistical_Report_2022.pdf">low financial literacy</a> in general. Australians also showed <a href="https://behaviouraleconomics.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/projects/retirement-planning-saving-attitudes_0_0.pdf">little interest in superannuation</a>, according to a 2020 Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet survey, with few Australians showing interest in reading their superannuation statements, choosing their fund or making voluntary contributions. With Australian households seen as uninformed and uninterested, their opinions tend to be left out of the public debate. We hear much about the gender pension gap, for example, but little about what women actually think about superannuation. Similarly, the distribution of tax advantage in superannuation is hotly debated by economists but survey data tends to refrain from asking households what they think about equity in the superannuation system. The University of Melbourne survey of 1,003 Australians was undertaken by Roy Morgan Research in April. Its results show women and low-income households are widely seen as disadvantaged in the superannuation system. In fact, only one in five Australians see the superannuation system as well suited to the needs of women and of low-income households, while 70% believe super favours wealthy households. <iframe id="5VX3K" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/5VX3K/1/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> This suggests although Australians may show little interest in the management of their super accounts and may report they find the system confusing or even <a href="https://www.professionalplanner.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Attitudes-to-Super-Report-May-2016.pdf">boring</a>, they are surprisingly aware of how superannuation is distributed. <h2>Women, singles and low-income earners miss out</h2> The federal government’s 2020 <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/publication/p2020-100554">Retirement Income Review</a> documents these gaps. Renters, women, uncoupled households and those on low-incomes fare poorly in the retirement income system. With little super to supplement the public pension, these groups are vastly over-represented in elderly poverty statistics, which are among the <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/d76e4fad-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/d76e4fad-en">highest in the OECD</a>. Mirroring the gaps in the superannuation system reported by the review, the University of Melbourne survey shows that it is outright homeowners and those who are married who believe the superannuation system works well. Concerns the system works poorly for women and low-income households are strongest among women and low-income households. Only one in three renters believe the superannuation system meets their needs. <iframe id="N9GO6" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/N9GO6/1/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe> This suggests individuals’ concerns about fairness in the superannuation system are driven by their own experiences of disadvantage, regardless of financial literacy. This is consistent with my own <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2023.2195159">research</a> into household attitudes to superannuation, which showed some resentment among women who were well aware their male partners had substantially higher superannuation balances than them. This all matters for policymakers. <h2>Why public perceptions are important</h2> In the short term, these results suggest public support for making super fairer is likely to be stronger than previously thought. Recent government changes to tax concessions on large balances, for example, could have gone much further without losing support from the 70% of households that think the system favours the wealthy. But it matters for the longer term too. Public perceptions of fairness, effectiveness and efficiency are crucial to policy sustainability. This is well established in the academic literature from <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/spol.12683">B Ebbinghaus</a>, 2021 and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1911-3838.12171">H Chung et al.</a>, and accepted by the Retirement Income Review. The review assessed the public’s confidence in the system to both “deliver an adequate retirement income for them(selves) and (to) generate adequate outcomes across society”. As the review makes clear, the system must avoid a loss of public confidence from perceptions of unfairness. Yet perceptions of unfairness are exactly what the University of Melbourne results suggest. This would have been clearer to policymakers if they asked earlier.<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/207633/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/antonia-settle-1019551">Antonia Settle</a>, Academic (McKenzie Postdoctoral Research Fellow), <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> Image credits: Getty Images 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/women-and-low-income-earners-miss-out-in-a-superannuation-system-most-australians-think-is-unfair-207633">original article</a>.

Retirement Income

The $500 million ATO fraud highlights flaws in the myGov ID system. Here’s how to keep your data safe

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rob-nicholls-91073">Rob Nicholls</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414">UNSW Sydney</a> The Australian Tax Office (ATO) paid out more than half a billion dollars to cyber criminals between July 2021 and February 2023, according to an <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-26/ato-reveals-cost-of-mygov-tax-identity-crime-fraud/102632572">ABC report</a>. Most of the payments were for small amounts (less than A$5,000) and were not flagged by the ATO’s own monitoring systems. The fraudsters exploited a weakness in the identification system used by the myGov online portal to redirect other people’s tax refunds to their own bank accounts. The good news is there’s plenty the federal government can do to crack down on this kind of fraud – and that you can do to keep your own payments secure. <h2>How these scams work</h2> Setting up a myGov account or a myGov ID requires proof of identity in the form of “<a href="https://www.afp.gov.au/sites/default/files/PDF/NPC-100PointChecklist-18042019.pdf">100 points of ID</a>”. It usually means either a passport and a driver’s licence or a driver’s licence, a Medicare card, and a bank statement. Once a myGov account is created, linking it to your tax records requires two of the following: an ATO assessment, bank account details, a payslip, a Centrelink payment, or a super account. These documents were precisely the ones targeted in three large data breaches in the past year: at <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-the-optus-data-breach-mean-for-you-and-how-can-you-protect-yourself-a-step-by-step-guide-191332">Optus</a>, at <a href="https://theconversation.com/medibank-hackers-are-now-releasing-stolen-data-on-the-dark-web-if-youre-affected-heres-what-you-need-to-know-194340">Medibank</a>, and at <a href="https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/news-items/guidance-for-consumers-impacted-by-the-latitude-financial-services-data-breach/">Latitude Financial</a>. In this scam, the cyber criminal creates a fake myGov account using the stolen documents. If they can also get enough information to link to the ATO or your Tax File Number, they can then change bank account details to have your tax rebate paid to their account. It is a sadly simple scam. <h2>How government can improve</h2> One of the issues here is quite astounding. The ATO knows where salaries are paid, via the “<a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/business/single-touch-payroll/what-is-stp-/">single touch</a>” payroll system. This ensures salaries, tax and superannuation contributions are all paid at once. Most people who have received a tax refund will have provided bank account details where that payment can be made. Indeed, many people use precisely those bank account details to identify themselves to myGov. At present, those bank details can be changed within myGov without any further ado. If the ATO simply checked with the individual via another channel when bank account details are changed, this fraud could be prevented. It might be sensible to check with the individual’s employer as well. Part of the problem is the ATO has not been very transparent about the risks. If these risks were clearly set out, then calls for changes to ATO procedures would have been loud and clear from the cyber security community. The ATO is usually good at identifying when a cyber security incident may lead to fraud. For example, when the recruitment software company <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-06/australian-data-may-be-compromised-in-pageup-security-breach/9840048?itm_campaign=newsapp">PageUp was hacked in 2018</a>, the ATO required people who may have been affected to reconfirm their identities. This was done without public commentary and represents sound practice. Sadly, the millions of records stolen in the Optus, Medibank and Latitude Financial breaches have not led to a similar level of vigilance. Another action the ATO could take would be to check when a single set of bank account details is associated with more than one myGov account. A national digital identity would also help. However, this system has been in development for years, is not universally popular, and may well be <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/226280-gallagher-warns-community-support-for-digital-identity-not-ubiquitous/">delayed</a> until after the federal election due in 2024. <h2>Protecting yourself</h2> The most important thing to do is make sure the ATO does not use a bank account number other than yours. As long as the ATO only has your bank account number to transfer your tax rebate, this scam does not work. It also helps to protect your Tax File Number. There are only four groups that ever need this number. The first is the ATO itself. The second is your employer. However, remember you do not need to give your TFN to a prospective employer, and your employer only needs your TFN after you have started work. Your super fund and your bank may ask for your TFN. However, providing your TFN to your super fund or bank is optional – it just makes things easier, as otherwise they will withhold tax which you will need to claim back later. Of course, all the usual data safety issues still apply. Don’t share your driver’s licence details without good reason. Take similar care with your passport. Your Medicare card is for health services and does not need to be shared widely. Don’t open emails from people you do not know. Never click links in messages unless you are sure they are safe. Most importantly, know your bank will not send you emails containing links, nor will the ATO.<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/210459/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rob-nicholls-91073">Rob Nicholls</a>, Associate professor of regulation and governance, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414">UNSW Sydney</a> Image credits: Shutterstock 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/the-500-million-ato-fraud-highlights-flaws-in-the-mygov-id-system-heres-how-to-keep-your-data-safe-210459">original article</a>.

Technology

What is ‘reverse racism’ – and what’s wrong with the term?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mario-peucker-192086">Mario Peucker</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/victoria-university-1175">Victoria University</a> “Reverse racism” is sometimes used to describe situations where white people believe they are negatively stereotyped or discriminated against because of their whiteness – or treated less favourably than people of colour. “Reverse racism” claims have surfaced in the current debate around the <a href="https://theconversation.com/10-questions-about-the-voice-to-parliament-answered-by-the-experts-207014">Voice to Parliament</a> referendum. “The concept looks racist to me,” <a href="https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/building-a-voice-to-parliament-into-our-constitution-would-divide-us-along-racial-lines-and-do-nothing-to-change-the-past/news-story/794a86f16d664e6a4ebfbed589b27a01">wrote Sky News commentator Kel Richards</a> last August. Such views misrepresent the Voice as preferential treatment of First Nations peoples, falsely suggesting it would somehow weaken the political say of non-Indigenous Australians. Complaints of reverse racism can be found in the community more generally, too. “I think average, working-class, white Australian males have it the hardest out of anyone in society,” said one 23-year-old man in a <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2673-995X/3/1/19">2023 study</a> of Australian men, “we are the victims of reverse racism”. “Reverse racism” is an idea that focuses on prejudiced attitudes towards a certain (racialised) group, or unequal personal treatment – namely, discrimination. But it ignores one of racism’s central markers: power. “Prejudice plus (institutional) power” is the widely accepted basic definition of racism. Or, as <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1998-07453-002">two researchers defined it</a> in 1988: “Racism equals power plus prejudice.” In a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/jun/04/aamer-rahman-reverse-racism-comedy-tour">famous 2013 sketch</a>, comedian Ahmer Rahman said, yes, reverse racism is possible … if you go back in a time machine and convince the leaders of Africa, Asia and the Middle East to invade and dominate Europe hundreds of years ago, leading to systemic inequality across every facet of social and economic life, “so all their descendants would want to migrate [to] where black and brown people come from”. Put simply, the concept of “reverse racism” – or “anti-white racism” – just doesn’t work, because racism is more than just prejudice. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dw_mRaIHb-M?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption>Comedian Ahmer Rahman unpacks ‘reverse racism’, and why making it real would need a time machine.</figcaption></figure> <h2>Why ‘reverse racism’ is a myth</h2> Prejudice and discrimination are inherently tied to historically rooted and entrenched, institutionalised forms of systemic racism and racial hierarchies, injustices and power imbalance. The continuing lack of diverse representation in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/25/the-47th-parliament-is-the-most-diverse-ever-but-still-doesnt-reflect-australia">political</a>, social and economic positions of influence is just one of many indicators that we’re still a long way from living in a post-racial society. White people may be called a derogatory name with a reference to their whiteness. They may be discriminated against: for example, by an ethnic business owner who prefers to employ someone from their community background. This may sometimes be unlawful. At other times, it may be a lawful form of “positive action” or “affirmative action”, aimed at reducing historically entrenched, intergenerational and systemic inequalities. But in all these instances – and regardless of whether it’s lawful or not – the term racism, or “reverse racism”, would not apply. <h2>How common are reverse racism claims?</h2> A representative US survey, conducted by PEW in <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/04/09/race-in-america-2019/">2019</a>, found that around 12% of respondents believed “being white hurts people’s ability to get ahead in the country nowadays”. Among white Republicans, the proportion was 22%. It was only 3% among white Democrats. A more recent US survey, in <a href="https://theconversation.com/poll-reveals-white-americans-see-an-increase-in-discrimination-against-other-white-people-and-less-against-other-racial-groups-185278">2022</a>, concluded that 30% of white respondents saw “a lot more discrimination against white Americans”. Representative data on these issues is lacking in Australia. But there is evidence a significant minority of Australians seem convinced anti-white racism is a thing. A 2018 <a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/128799/4/Reverse%20racism%20and%20white%20victimhood%20in%20Australia%20JIS%20March%202018%20clean.pdf">Australian survey</a> found that around 10% of respondents who stated they had witnessed racism as bystanders said the victim of the allegedly “racist” incident was a white person. Another recent (non-representative) <a href="https://periscopekasaustralia.com.au/papers/volume-10-2-2023/demarcating-australias-far-right-political-fringe-but-social-mainstream/">survey</a> of 335 Australian men in 2021 showed that one in three respondents agreed with the statement: “white people are the victims these days”. Australian senator <a href="https://theconversation.com/pauline-hanson-built-a-political-career-on-white-victimhood-and-brought-far-right-rhetoric-to-the-mainstream-134661">Pauline Hanson</a> has been complaining about “reverse racism” since her maiden speech to parliament in 1996, when she described “the privileges Aboriginals enjoy over other Australians”. <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pauline-hansons-1996-maiden-speech-to-parliament-full-transcript-20160915-grgjv3.html">She said</a>: "We now have a situation where a type of reverse racism is applied to mainstream Australians by those who promote political correctness […]" Gamilaraay man <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2020/mar/12/its-time-to-put-an-end-to-the-gaslighting-that-occurs-every-day-in-australia">Joshua Waters says</a> most First Nations Australians have heard this kind of sentiment, and statements like: “Uh, I’m not racist. You’re racist for calling me racist. Actually, that’s reverse racism!” But as he has argued, “To be called racist for identifying actual racist behaviours and rhetoric is not OK.” <h2>Backlash against racial justice</h2> “Reverse racism” sometimes reflects a naïve but profound lack of racial literacy. But more often, it’s a defensive backlash against societal reckoning with racial injustices, both past and present. And it’s often an expression of “<a href="https://libjournal.uncg.edu/ijcp/article/viewFile/249/116">white fragility</a>” in the face of an <a href="https://scanloninstitute.org.au/mapping-social-cohesion-2022">increasing awareness</a> of racism in Australia – as epitomised by Hanson’s political career. “Reverse racism” claims are often strategically adopted by right-wing populist political actors and far-right fringe movements, to garner support and recruit new sympathisers and members. This can manifest in political stunts such as the infamous “<a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/15/australia/pauline-hanson-white-australia-intl/index.html">ok to be white</a>” motion Hanson put to the Australian Senate in 2018, which claimed to condemn alleged “anti-white racism”. The phrase “it’s OK to be white” had <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-17/origins-of-its-ok-to-be-white-slogan-supremacists-united-states/10385716">previously been used</a> by white supremacists in the US. Anti-white racism claims have also been expressed in more explicit, aggressive and extreme ways: as threats of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-believers-in-white-genocide-are-spreading-their-hate-filled-message-in-australia-106605">white genocide</a>”, a core neo-Nazi belief. In far-right extremist movements, in Australia and globally, these conspiratorial narratives are commonly used to mobilise – and in some cases, have become crucial drivers for – white supremacy terror attacks, like the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand, which killed 51 people and injured 49. “Reverse racism” is a skewed, reductionist and ultimately inaccurate understanding of racism.<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/208009/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mario-peucker-192086">Mario Peucker</a>, Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/victoria-university-1175">Victoria University</a> Image credits: Getty Images 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/what-is-reverse-racism-and-whats-wrong-with-the-term-208009">original article</a>.

Caring

Outrage after renters confronted with cleaning “scoring system”

An Australian real estate agent has come under fire for their “demoralising” scoring system for tenants during routine inspections. One fired up renter said they were shocked to receive a scorecard from the agent after they complied with an inspection, and shared their feedback on Reddit. The scorecard rated the tenant’s efforts cleaning the property in 17 different rooms and areas, marking them on cleanliness, and if the areas were damaged or required maintenance. The renter was then also given an overall rating out of five stars, based on the upkeep of their rental home. The Reddit user showed that they received just three and half stars, despite being marked down in only one area due to a light globe not working. In their post, the tenant said they had made every effort to clean the home, adding that the rating was “demoralising”. “I’ve been renting a long time, and my deep cleaning routine is based around inspections,” they explained. “I go all out - every room in my little 3x2 villa is given a spring clean, every surface is washed including walls, doors, lights, windows, carpets etc.” “Had my latest inspection a few weeks ago and just received the report. Despite the agent commenting once again that she never sees houses as clean as mine, and taking 112 (!) photos of every single thing that shows how great the condition of the house is - having one light globe not working is so terrible that I’m scored three and a half out of five.” The renter went on to say that they had only recently discovered that the broken light globe was the real estate’s responsibility to replace, and does not warrant such a severe marking down in their “score”. “The globe in question is a downlight fitting. We have so many downlights that I don’t even use this particular one,” they continued. “I can’t replace the globe itself, I need to get into the roof to replace the whole unit. Thanks to people here I’ve learned this isn’t even my responsibility to fix!” The renter’s post sparked a huge outrage online, with many up in arms over the current state of the rental market and unrealistic expectations of estate agents. One person said, “I fully believe that the average renter keeps a home to a higher standard than an owner, and it seems deliberately demoralising that someone could be marked down for having a light out.” Another added, “This is ridiculously petty, and more importantly, totally irrelevant to the purpose of a periodic inspection. Which is to identify whether any maintenance is needed.” A third person took their anger out on the entire system, summing it up by writing, “I sort of wonder what little lightbulb clicks in your mind and you wake up one day and ask yourself, ‘How can I be a massive c*** who offers no value to society? I know! I will get into real estate.’” Image credits: Getty Images / Reddit

Real Estate

An El Niño looms over Australia’s stressed electricity system – and we must plan for the worst

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dylan-mcconnell-1602">Dylan McConnell</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414">UNSW Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/iain-macgill-576">Iain MacGill</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414">UNSW Sydney</a> The Bureau of Meteorology this week declared a 70% chance of an <a href="https://media.bom.gov.au/releases/1170/the-bureau-of-meteorology-issues-an-el-nino-alert/">El Niño</a> developing this year. It’s bad timing for the electricity sector, and means Australians may face supply disruptions and volatile prices. <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/updates/articles/a008-el-nino-and-australia.shtml">El Niño events</a> are <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-floods-to-fire-a-climate-scientist-on-the-chances-el-nino-will-hit-australia-this-year-197408">associated with</a> increased temperatures and heatwaves. These conditions drive demand for electricity, especially in summer. These same conditions can also mean some generators don’t produce at full capacity. And unfortunately, the likely El Niño comes as the electricity sector grapples with other significant headwinds. Australia’s electricity grid may be fine this summer. But given what’s on the horizon, it would be prudent to plan for the worst. <h2>How does hot weather affect energy supplies?</h2> Increased air conditioning use in summer can cause <a href="https://aemo.com.au/-/media/files/electricity/nem/planning_and_forecasting/nem_esoo/2022/forecasting-approach-electricity-demand-forecasting-methodology.pdf">demand to peak</a>, particularly during heatwaves, as the below graph shows. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530604/original/file-20230607-27-m1kddg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530604/original/file-20230607-27-m1kddg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=208&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530604/original/file-20230607-27-m1kddg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=208&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530604/original/file-20230607-27-m1kddg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=208&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530604/original/file-20230607-27-m1kddg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=262&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530604/original/file-20230607-27-m1kddg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=262&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530604/original/file-20230607-27-m1kddg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=262&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Scatterplot of New South Wales demand and temperature, example based on 2017 calendar year" /><figcaption>Scatterplot of New South Wales demand and temperature, example based on 2017 calendar year. AEMO</figcaption></figure> At the same time, electricity generators – including coal, gas, <a href="https://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au/en/projects/esci/esci-case-studies/case-study-heat/">solar and wind</a> – can become less efficient in hot temperatures, and so provide less energy to the system. And the hotter transmission lines get, the less electrical current they can safely carry. This lowers their capacity to transport energy. When the electricity grid is under stress, this can lead to “load shedding” or blackouts – when power companies deliberately switch off the power supply to groups of customers to prevent the overall system from becoming dangerously unstable. This happened in Victoria in early 2019, when more than <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-26/victorian-blackouts-what-caused-them-and-is-this-the-new-normal/10751412">200,000 customers</a> lost power during a period of extreme heat. El Niño events are also associated with reduced rainfall. Among other effects on the electricity grid, this can reduce output from hydroelectricity generators (which produce electricity by pumping water through turbines). This <a href="https://theconversation.com/praying-for-rain-50085">occurred</a> in Tasmania in 2016, and contributed to an energy crisis in that state. <h2>Other headwinds are blowing</h2> Aside from facing a likely El Niño, the electricity sector faces other headaches. Earlier this year, the Australian Energy Market Operator <a href="https://aemo.com.au/newsroom/media-release/aemo-issues-nem-reliability-update">warned</a> electricity demand “may exceed supply” at times over the next decade due to factors such as weather conditions or generator outages. The market operator pointed to delays to the Snowy 2.0 hydro project and the gas-fired <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/new-snowy-ceo-can-t-rule-out-further-delays-at-projects-20230213-p5cjzr">Kurri Kurri Power Station</a>, both in New South Wales. The Kurri Kurri project has been delayed for a year. It was scheduled to begin operating in December this year – in time for the first summer since the Liddell coal-fired power station closed. The Australian Energy Market Operator said the electricity system was expected to meet the “reliability standard” in all regions for the next five years. The <a href="https://www.aemc.gov.au/energy-system/electricity/electricity-system/reliability#:%7E:text=What%20is%20the%20Reliability%20Standard,to%20be%20met%20each%20year.">standard requires</a> at least 99.998% of forecast demand be met each year. Unmet demand can lead to interrupted supply, or blackouts. But the operator also said delays to the Kurri Kurri project posed risks to reliability in NSW this summer. Adding to the pressures on the system, Queensland’s Callide C coal-fired power station is still not back to capacity more than two years after an explosion at the site. The station’s owners last week <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/energy-grid-fears-as-callide-c-return-delayed-until-mid-2024-20230529-p5dc90">announced</a> the plant would not be fully operational until mid-2024. Combine all this with a likely El Niño, and the electricity sector may be facing a challenging summer. <h2>El Niño years are not normal</h2> In August, the Australian Energy Market Operator is due to publish a new <a href="https://aemo.com.au/-/media/files/electricity/nem/planning_and_forecasting/nem_esoo/2022/esoo-and-reliability-forecast-methodology-document-2022.pdf">assessment</a> of the grid’s expected reliability over the next decade. It may well show reliability standards will be achieved. On first blush, that sounds like good news. However, the way the assessment is derived may mask the real risk during El Niño periods. The assessment combines a number of scenarios, which are based on different <a href="https://aemo.com.au/en/energy-systems/electricity/national-electricity-market-nem/nem-forecasting-and-planning/forecasting-and-reliability/projected-assessment-of-system-adequacy">forecasts</a> of electricity demand. The scenarios based on average weather conditions are given the most weight. But if an El Niño arrives, this summer will not be average. We’re likely to experience very hot and dry conditions. This may lead to higher demands on the energy system, and a greater likelihood of blackouts. This won’t be properly reflected in the assessment. So the grid may be deemed reliable even though electricity supplies are under immense pressure. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530771/original/file-20230608-30-lb28wc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530771/original/file-20230608-30-lb28wc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530771/original/file-20230608-30-lb28wc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530771/original/file-20230608-30-lb28wc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530771/original/file-20230608-30-lb28wc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530771/original/file-20230608-30-lb28wc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530771/original/file-20230608-30-lb28wc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="repair person climbs power pole" /><figcaption>The grid may be deemed reliable even though it’s under pressure. Shutterstock</figcaption></figure> <h2>What can be done?</h2> You might find all this news worrying. But there are measures and technologies in place to help reduce the risks. <a href="https://aemo.com.au/en/energy-systems/electricity/emergency-management/reliability-and-emergency-reserve-trader-rert">A mechanism</a> exists that allows the market operator to secure emergency energy reserves. It could mean, for example, calling on a large industrial plant to pause operations to reduce its electricity use, or starting up a standby diesel generator. The operator can start procuring this months ahead of time, and will no doubt be monitoring the situation closely. In the medium term, the uptake of so-called “consumer energy resources” such as rooftop solar farms and small-scale battery storage shows promise. These technologies are located at homes and businesses. They can reduce demand on the grid at peak times and can potentially be built faster than big projects. Longer term, we need to build more “stuff”. This includes renewable energy and other “dispatchable” resources – which can provide energy when it’s needed – as well as more transmission infrastructure. Several federal funding measures – the <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/government-priorities/energy-supply/capacity-investment-scheme">Capacity Investment Scheme</a> and <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/news-media/news/rewiring-nation-supports-its-first-two-transmission-projects">Rewiring the Nation</a> – might help realise these projects. The reality is that ageing coal plants are closing – and while they remain open, they’re contributing to reliability challenges in the energy system. Unchecked climate change will also add considerable strain, through natural disasters and more extreme weather. Unfortunately, investment in renewable and other low-emission technology has been <a href="https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/news/clean-energy-construction-peaks-as-investment-pipeline-battles-headwinds">slower than necessary</a>. This has slowed Australia’s emissions reduction efforts and cast questions over the reliability of our energy supplies as an El Niño looms.<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/207210/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dylan-mcconnell-1602">Dylan McConnell</a>, Senior Research Associate, Renewable Energy & Energy Systems Analyst, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414">UNSW Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/iain-macgill-576">Iain MacGill</a>, Joint director, Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets, and Professor, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414">UNSW Sydney</a> 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/an-el-nino-looms-over-australias-stressed-electricity-system-and-we-must-plan-for-the-worst-207210">original article</a>. Images: Getty

Technology

"Are you coming back?" ABC loses another host

ABC News Breakfast host Michael Rowland has announced he’s “taking a break” one day after criticising the public broadcaster for failing Stan Grant. Rowland made the announcement live on air that he will be “off on a break” and hosting had been “a real honour”. He later took to Twitter, writing, “Take care and see you soon”. ABC bosses have insisted Rowland is going on a “long-planned holiday” and will return to the show in a month's time. Rowland urged the public broadcaster to call out racism more quickly and effectively after Grant revealed he was leaving Q+A. Grant announced he was taking an indefinite break as host of Q+A on May 19 after he received “racial filth” on social media. Rowland said in response to Grant’s racial abuse, “It hasn't just been weeks and months, it's been years that Stan's been copping this. Racism is a scourge. “We all need to do better and that includes the ABC in calling it out and calling it out more quickly than we have in this country,” he added. That same day Rowland posted a video of Grant’s compelling monologue alongside the caption, “Racism is a scourge. We all need to do better in calling it out, and that includes the ABC.” Finance presenter on ABC News Breakfast Madeline Morris is said to join Rowland’s co-host Lisa Miller for the “next little while”. After announcing his departure, Rowland thanked viewers at home. “I just want to use this semi-regular opportunity to thank all of you, our viewers, you have been fabulous for this show in the time that I've been on the show, it's been great presenting to you,” he said. “If it wasn't for you, the viewers, none of us would be here doing what we do, so it's been a real honour.” One of his shocked co-hosts said, “That sounds kinda final. Are you coming back?", to which Rowland just smiled and didn’t respond. Lisa Millar jokingly replied, “Absolutely! And he's bringing presents because that's the rule: wherever you're travelling to, come back with gifts.” A spokesperson for ABC told Daily Mail Australia, “Michael is on a long-planned holiday and will be back on air 26 June.” TV producer Robert McKnight responded to Rowland’s announcement, saying, “Very sorry to hear this. Michael is one of the best! Good luck to you, Michael.” One Twitter user said the news was “very upsetting”. “First I lose Stan Grant on Q&A. Now I loose you getting me through my mornings,” She added, “Very angry reporters and presenters have been abandoned by their employers.” There has been no suggestion Rowland feels “abandoned” by the ABC. Rowland’s criticising of the ABC followed an appearance on the program by Ian Hamm, chair of the First Nations Foundation. “Stan does his job very well. I think he has taken on the role of poking the bear of Australia where it's uncomfortable from time to time,” Hamm said. “There is risk with that. The pushback of those who don't like it and who perhaps want Aboriginal people to be more compliant and pleasant.” He added, “Stan's not walking away. He's just taking a break as anybody should in this circumstance.” Hamm said 2023 in particular, given Australians voting on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in November would raise lingering tensions. “Australia does have race relations problems and all it takes is scratching the surface and some very unpleasant sores can be exposed.” “I have great hope for my nation, but I'm also realistic enough to know that this is not an easy journey. “He's not alone and the rest of us are behind him and like him, we're not walking away. And we intend to pursue the right place for our people in this country.” Rowland’s news led another ABC reporter to comment, “Hope you're OK”. Rowland has presented on ABC News Breakfast since 2010 when he joined Virginia Trioli on the sofa. Following his almost 13-year run as host, he’s become a fan favourite on the program. Image credit: Instagram

“We can be better”: Support flows for outgoing ABC host Stan Grant

Australians have banded together in support of veteran journalist Stan Grant, flocking to social media to rally behind the resigning Q+A host after his final show at the helm. Grant’s final panel discussion saw the likes of Labor member Michelle Ananda-Rajah, Liberal member Zoe McKenzie, Independent Senators David Pocock and Tammy Tyrrell, and Greens member Griffith Max Chandler-Mather. The panel of first-term parliamentarians were there to review the Albanese government’s initial year in charge following their federal election win. It marked Grant’s final discussion in the wake of his decision to step back from the show, an announcement that had come following the host’s experiences with racial abuse. The first audience question of the session cut right to the chase, with one member - Anaru August - raising the matter of the abuse directed at Grant. “I have been disgusted by the hatred and abuse that has been fired at Stan Grant because of his colour and the articulation of his professional essence,” August said, before asking the panel “what needs to happen to stop hate speech?" The question drew immediate praise across social media, from both fans of Grant and the show, to Indigenous advocates, and his colleagues at the ABC. It wasn’t the first show of support from the latter, either, with a group of hundreds gathering outside the ABC’s Sydney headquarters that same day to spread the message that “enough for enough”, and that they stood with Stan. "The line in the sand is here, and we will not tolerate our staff being subjected to racial abuse, or any form of abuse. It must stop," ABC News Director Justin Stevens said of the move. "I would say, other sections of the media that play a part in facilitating, encouraging, or drawing attention to this ... need to take a really good hard look at themselves and the role they play. "We all stand with Stan. The abuse he copped is abhorrent and egregious and needs to stop. I'm incredibly sorry that he felt let down by our organisation, that we could have done better by him in defending him. We will do all we can to make up for it from this moment. "It's important we create a safe space for Indigenous and diverse journalists." It was a message continued in feedback over the episode, with not-for-profit inclusivity advocacy group Media Diversity Australia noting that Grant was “One of Media Diversity Australia's earliest and most high-profile supporters … A mentor to countless young reporters, especially Blak reporters … Stan Grant is a tireless veteran journalist that we admire, support, and respect” along with the hashtag “#IStandWithStan”. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> 📣 One of Media Diversity Australia's earliest and most high-profile supporters. 📣 A mentor to countless young reporters, especially Blak reporters. 📣 Stan Grant is a tireless veteran journalist that we admire, support, and respect.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IStandWithStan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IStandWithStan</a> <a href="https://t.co/rPUSEZ7AfN">https://t.co/rPUSEZ7AfN</a> — Media Diversity AU (@MediaDiverseAU) <a href="https://twitter.com/MediaDiverseAU/status/1660614419859259394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2023</a></blockquote> It was a message that continued through the flood of tweets, with Seven News reporter Christie Cooper writing that racism, and “personal attacks on journalists”, were not okay. “#IStandWithStan,” she said, “and I’m so sorry Stan Grant has been so hurt by racial commentary, both in and out of the media, that it’s forced him to walk away. It’s 2023, it’s not good enough.” “Solidarity to the ABC journalists standing in support of their colleague Stan Grant and to all journalists who face racists and racism for doing their job,” one supporter added. “Look at the replies to their tweets. It's not the exception, it is the rule. “Australians need to reckon with our racism.” As Grant himself said when closing his final episode, “to those who have abused me and my family, I would just say - if your aim was to hurt me, well, you’ve succeeded. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I must have given you so much cause to hate me … I will get back up. And you can come at me again, and I will meet you with the love of my people. "My people can teach the world to love." It was a moment that resonated with viewers, with one taking to social media to share that ”history will remember this moment. A moment when Stan Grant, his passion as palpable as his pain, spoke poignant truths to Australia & bravely faced his racism with power, love & grace. Solidarity.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> "Sometimes, strength is knowing when to say stop." History will remember this moment. A moment when Stan Grant, his passion as palpable as his pain, spoke poignant truths to Australia & bravely faced his racism with power, love & grace. Solidarity. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/QandA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#QandA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IStandWithStan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IStandWithStan</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/auspol?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#auspol</a> <a href="https://t.co/fVjUVvZ9GE">pic.twitter.com/fVjUVvZ9GE</a> — Sahar Adatia (@sahar_adatia) <a href="https://twitter.com/sahar_adatia/status/1660644110770814976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2023</a></blockquote> Images: Q+A / ABC

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