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Cyber security threat: Is Australia's power grid safe from hackers?

Cyber attacks have labelled the number one threat to power and utility companies worldwide, a new EY report has found.




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Should doctors boycott working in Australia’s immigration detention centres?

However well intentioned, working in detention centres amounts to complicity in torture, says David Berger, a district medical officer in emergency medicine at Broome Hospital in Australia. However, Steven Miles, chair in bioethics at the University of Minnesota thinks that they play an important role in telling the world about conditions in...




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Fighting bad science in Austria

Cochrane Austria have been asking the public what they'd like to know about health. Not whether the latest drug is more efficacious, but whether glacier stone power cures hangovers. Gerald Gartlehner, director of the Cochrane Austria Centre joins us to explain what they do, and how their evidence has been received. Read more about the project...




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Big Tan - Is the sunbed industry targeting research?

In 2012, Eleni Linos, professor of dermatology at Stanford university, published a systematic review and meta-analysis of the link between non-melanoma cancer and sun-beds. That bit of pretty standard research, and a particular rapid response to it, has kicked of years of work - and in this podcast I talk to Eleni and her colleagues Stanton...




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Votto aims to improve after 'frustrating' 2018

Even before the Reds underscored their determination to improve by making major offseason acquisitions for the club, first baseman Joey Votto was already working to improve his hitting and his overall game.




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Importance of creative industries

In 2020, when information is literally glued to our fingertips, technological innovations fill the stratosphere, the economy is reeling. Under the catastrophic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, one has no choice but to be creative – be creative...




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Climate Change, Energy Transition, and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)

Invitation Only Research Event

17 January 2020 - 9:30am to 5:00pm

Chatham House | 10 St James's Square | London | SW1Y 4LE

Climate change and energy transition are re-shaping the extractive sectors, and the opportunities and risks they present for governments, companies and civil society. As the central governance standard in the extractives sector, the EITI has a critical role in supporting transparency in producer countries.

This workshop will bring together experts from the energy and extractives sectors, governance and transparency, and climate risk and financial disclosure initiatives to discuss the role of governance and transparency through the transition. It will consider the appropriate role for the EITI and potential entry points for policy and practice, and the potential for coordination with related transparency and disclosure initiatives. 

Please note attendance is by invitation only.




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Will a Devastating Bushfire Season Change Australia’s Climate Stance?

23 January 2020

Madeleine Forster

Richard and Susan Hayden Academy Fellow, International Law Programme

Professor Tim Benton

Research Director, Emerging Risks; Director, Energy, Environment and Resources Programme
With Australians experiencing first-hand the risks of climate change, Madeleine Forster and Tim Benton examine the influencers, at home or abroad, that could push the government towards more action.

2020-01-23-FireNSW.jpg

Residents look on as flames burn through bush on 4 January 2020 in Lake Tabourie, NSW. Photo: Getty Images.

The 2019–20 fire season in Australia has been unprecedented. To date, an estimated 18 million hectares of fire has cut swathes through the bush – an area greater than that of the average European country and over five times the size of blazes in the Amazon.

This reflects previous predictions of Australian science. Since 2008 and as recently as 2018, scientific bodies have warned that climate change will exacerbate existing conditions for fires and other climatic disasters in Australia. What used to be once-in-a-generation fires now re-appear within 10–15 years with increased ferocity, over longer seasons.

In a country known for climate denial and division, debate has erupted around bushfire management and climate change. One of these is whether controlled burns are the answer to Australia’s climate-affected fire conditions.

There is no single risk reduction strategy. Controlled burning remains key, if adapted to the environment and climate

But when three out of four seasons in a year can support destructive bushfires, there are clear limits to what controlled burning and other fire management techniques can achieve. Other ‘adaptation’ measures are also likely to provoke intense debate – including bush clearance. As one Australian expert offered to highlight where Australia has got to, families should probably not go on holiday to bush and beach during the height of summer when temperatures and fire risk peaks. 

So, unless Australia is prepared to debate radical changes to where people live and how land is used, the limits to adaptation imply the need for mitigation. This means supporting ambitious global greenhouse emissions reductions targets. As research from Victoria, one fire-prone state in Australia, highlights, ‘the emissions pathway we follow is the largest determinant of change to many variables [such as temperature] beyond the next few decades.’

Can Australia become a more active global partner on emissions?

Australia accounts for just over one per cent of global emissions, so reducing domestic emissions – even though on a per capita basis they are the highest in the world – will not reduce Australia’s climate risk. Showing international leadership and supporting a powerful coalition of the willing to tackle climate change is the only way ahead. By showing a willingness to adopt climate ambition, Australia can help more constructive worldwide action, and thereby reduce its own risk exposure. 

Leading by example is a politically difficult issue for Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison was re-elected in May 2019 on an economic stability platform, and a promise not to imperil employment growth through climate action. Australia has contested UN estimates that it will not meet its existing modest goals for domestic emissions, by seeking to rely on carryover credits from action under the Kyoto Protocol as proof of progress.

It has also distanced itself from concerns over global supply and demand in fossil fuels. Australia remains a global supplier for fossil fuels, including coal – the nation’s coal exports accounted for $67 billion in revenues in 2019 in an expanding but changing Asian market, supplying ‘some of the cheapest electricity in the world’.

Possible influencers of change

With Australians experiencing first-hand the risks of climate change, there is already pressure to do more. Many are sceptical this will translate into domestic targets or export policies that give Australia the moral authority to ask for more action on the global stage.

Here, diverse groups who share a common interest in seeing Australia recover from the bushfires and address future climate risks could be key.

Importantly this includes rural and urban-fringe communities affected by the bushfires. They were part of Morrison’s traditional supporter-base but are angry at the government’s handling of the crisis and increasingly see how tiptoeing around emissions (including exports) has also ‘buried’ open discussion at home on climate-readiness.

Australian states could also find themselves taking a lead role. Virtually all jurisdictions have now committed to their own goals, most based on zero-carbon goals by 2050 (as has New Zealand). These can support modelling for Australia’s energy transition from coal, through gas, to market competitive renewables, while also help to ensure this reflects community expectations on jobs, electricity prices and other costs. 

Other emerging voices include the insurance and banking sectors (the Reserve Bank of Australia warned of the long-term financial stability risks of climate change before the fires) and indigenous Australians (one group of Torres Strait Islanders have filed a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee which, if heard, will place Australia’s emissions record under the spotlight again). Their challenge now is finding a common language on what a cohesive approach to addressing climate change risk looks like. 

The international picture is mixed. The United States’ poor federal climate policy is a buffer for Australia. French President Emmanuel Macron has tried to raise the cost of inaction for Australia in current EU–Australia trade negotiations, but many large emitters in the Indo-Pacific region remain key Australian trading partners, investors and buyers of Australian coal. 

In the meantime, the United Kingdom is preparing for the meeting of parties to the Paris Agreement in Glasgow in November. A key global event following Brexit, the UK will no doubt be hoping to encourage a leadership circle with national commitments that meet global need to make the Glasgow meeting a success.

The UK public has expressed enormous sympathy for Australia in the bushfires and outrage over ‘climate denialism.’ Australia’s experience will be a cautionary tale of the effects of climate change at the meeting. Could the UK also support Australia to become a less reluctant partner in global climate action?




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State and Local Labor Standards Enforcement in Immigrant-Dense Industries

Marking the release of an MPI report, this discussion focuses on the dynamics in low-wage workplaces and immigration law that have contributed to systematic violations of labor standards and explores new and effective enforcement strategies that state and local governments across the United States are utilizing.




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State and Local Labor Standards Enforcement in Immigrant-Dense Industries

This discussion, featuring California's Labor Commissioner and the head of the Tennessee Bureau of Workers' Compensation, launched a report that examines state innovations in labor standards enforcement in low-wage, immigrant-dense industries. With wage underpayment, payroll fraud, and other violations widespread in industries such as construction and car-washing, the discussion focused on how targeted enforcement can deter practices that hurt native-born and immigrant workers alike, cost state tax revenue, and disadvantage law-abiding employers. 




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Australia: A Welcoming Destination for Some

Immigration has driven economic and social development in Australia for more than two centuries. Even as more than one-fourth of the country’s population is foreign born and Australia ranks third among top refugee resettlement countries worldwide, controversy surrounding its hardline treatment of asylum seekers arriving by boat has cast a shadow on its reputation as a welcoming country, as this article explores.




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Australian Cardinal George Pell knew of child abuse, report says

Pell, a former Vatican treasurer, was aware of child abuse being committed by clergy by 1973, contrary to his long-held assertions that he knew nothing about the accusations.




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Boeing presents first Loyal Wingman drone aircraft to Australia

Boeing announced Tuesday has presented its first unmanned aircraft to the Royal Australian Air Force.




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Dental schools, industry team up to create innovation centers

The Center for Research & Education in Technology is encouraging dental schools to find out how to participate in its program and learn about the benefits to the school and its students.




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New HPI Industry Report now available

Dental spending reached $136 billion in 2018 — 3.7% of all health spending — and what the ADA Health Policy Institute is calling a “historic high” in the new HPI Industry Report released Feb. 4.




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A Profile of Current DACA Recipients by Education, Industry, and Occupation

An average of 915 DACA recipients every day will lose their work authorization and protection from deportation once the phaseout of the program moves into full force in spring 2018, MPI estimates. This fact sheet also offers U.S. and state estimates of the school enrollment and educational attainment, workforce participation, and industries and occupations of employment for the nearly 690,000 current DACA holders.




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[ Politics ] Open Question : Why are other countries like New Zealand and Australia destroying the virus while America is killing people off to restart the economy?




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[ Other - Australia ] Open Question : Where is the to go menu for Outback?




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The Evolution of the Australian System for Selecting Economic Immigrants

Since the mid-1990s, Australia has moved away from a focus on family reunification to place greater emphasis on workers coming via temporary and permanent channels. The evolution of the country's points-based model for selecting economic migrants and move to a predominately employer-driven system offer lessons for other countries that seek to develop a tailored and targeted immigration selection system.





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Heavy Response to Nebraska Restraint Bill Illuminates Teachers' Frustrations

A Nebraska senator introduced a bill that would give teachers legal cover to physically restraint disruptive students, prompting a strong positive response from members of the state teachers' union.




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Connecticut Supreme Court OKs Part of Newtown Parents' Gun Industry Lawsuit

The state's highest court allowed some claims brought on behalf of relatives of victims of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School to proceed against the firearms industry.




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Safe and well : supporting families, protecting children : the Government of South Australia's strategy for keeping families and children safe and well / Department for Child Protection.

'"Safe and well" outlines the actions the Government of South Australia is taking to support families at risk of entering the child protection system, protect children from harm when they come into care, and invest in young people to leave care with opportunities for a bright future.




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Intervention orders : their impact in country towns, what to do and still have access to firearms / presented by Bob Harrap, SM, Magistrates Court of South Australia.




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“There but for the grace of God” : review of recent lawyer misconduct cases / presented by: Anna Jackson, Magistrates Court of South Australia, Alex Ward, Edmund Barton Chambers.




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South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal significant decisions / presented by the Hon. Justice Greg Parker PSM.




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Confiscation of assets : forfeiture, foreclosure and forlorn : a review of recent decisions under the Criminal Assets Confiscation Act 2005 (SA) / presented by His Honour Judge Tilmouth, District Court of South Australia.




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Australian banknote errors / Michael P. Vort-Ronald.




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To make terms of compromise a rule of Court or not? That is the question : an analysis of the options available to settle estate matters / presended by Christina Flourentzou, Supreme Court of South Australia..




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My Australian Bird Obsession Volume Five: South Australia & Western Victoria.




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Our housing future 2020-2030 / Government of South Australia.




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A survey of the orange-bellied parrot Neophema chrysogaster in Tasmania, Victoria & South Australia : a report prepared for World Wildlife Fund (Australia) / P. B. Brown & R. I. Wilson.




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A climate guide for agriculture : Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.




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A climate guide for agriculture : Arid Lands, South Australia.




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A climate guide for agriculture : Adelaide and Mount Lofty, South Australia.




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A climate guide for agriculture : Kangaroo Island, South Australia.




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A climate guide for agriculture : Northern and Yorke, South Australia.




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A climate guide for agriculture : Murray Darling Basin, South Australia.




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A climate guide for agriculture : South East, South Australia.




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A climate guide for agriculture : Alinytjara Wilurara, South Australia.




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Whit : Piecing Together the life and Death of South Australian Police Inspector Geoff Whitford.




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Costs and persons under a disability : the potential for a conflict of interest / presented by Master Norman, District Court of South Australia.




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Tom's holiday / Michelle McLaughlin ; illustrated by Morgan Todonai.

"Tom's Holiday is all about road safety for young children. Tom and his family park the car and head for the beach at a little beachside village. The beachside village is different from home in the city - there are no footpaths. Mum and Dad teach Tom that we must be careful because holiday towns don't have kerbs and gutters. The roads can be thin and there aren't white lines. It's very important that children hold their parent's hand" -- From the Internet.




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Recommendation on the accreditation of the proposed South Australian River Murray Water Resource Plan.




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Water resource plan assessment report : proposed South Australian River Murray Water Resource Plan.




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Mistletoes of Southern Australia.

The definitive illustrated guide to all 47 mistletoe species found in southern Australia.




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SACAT's new jurisdiction and emerging jurisprudence : slides / presented by Her Honour Justice Judy Hughes, Supreme Court of South Australioa.




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Forum 2019 : 4B Privacy law panel : recent developments and isues : slides / presented by Laura Butler, Australian Government Soliciter.




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Forum 2019 : 5C Competition and consumer law in the digital age / slides presented by Thyme Burdon and Johanna Croser, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.




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Australian Commercial Law Conference : ethics in commercial practice : dealing with conflicts / paper presented by John Goldberg, Cowell Clarke.