Community Planting Day On Saturday October 27
NSW Grows Its National Park Estate
Littleproud Calls Coles And Aldi’s Weak Responses
Creating Energy From Waste In Western Australia
Celebrating The Achievements Of Our Rural Women Leaders
Humpback Whales Bubble Net Feeding | WWF-Australia
Seeing Double! Two Takhi Foals Born At Dubbo Zoo
October 19, 2018By Taronga ZooTaronga Western Plains Zoo has double the reason to celebrate with the birth of two Takhi (Przewalski’s Horse) foals just one day apart last week.
Keepers are delighted with the arrival of a female Takhi foal to mother Mila on Tuesday 9 October 2018, and a male Takhi foal to mother Tegus on Wednesday 10 October 2018.
The sire of both foals is Nikolai, and both mothers are first time mums, creating further genetic diversity in the herd. The mothers are each being very protective of their foals, a natural maternal behaviour.
“Both foals were born on exhibit during the day time, much to the delight of visitors during the last week of the school holidays,” said Keeper Jacinta Vaughan.
“The foals were standing and suckling quickly and we couldn’t be happier with how both mums are doing given they are first time mothers.” The Takhi foals are yet to be named but are both doing well so far. The foals will stay close to their mothers’ side for some time as they grow and develop, and will start to explore their surrounds over the coming months.
“This year has been very successful for the Takhi breeding program with four foals born to date and potentially another one on the way in the coming few months,” Jacinta said.
“The Zoo has also opened the new Wild Herds precinct which really highlights this species, the Zoo’s successful breeding program and its role in assisting to bring the species back from extinction in the wild,” said Jacinta.
The two new foals bring the total Takhi herd to 14, with four foals in the herd, including Dash born in January and Khan born in May this year.
“It’s so wonderful to see the foals of varying ages in the herd. Khan and Dash are already interacting with each other and enjoy galloping around the paddock, so I am sure the two latest additions will join them once they are a little older and more confident,” said Jacinta.
Takhi are today classified as endangered, but were once extinct in the wild. Prior to reintroduction programs in the early 1990s, Takhi were last seen in the wild in the Gobi Desert, in south Mongolia. Their numbers dwindled as a result of human interference such as poaching and capture. Today, their main threats are habitat loss and low genetic diversity.
Takhi foal and mum - photo by and courtesy Taronga Zoo
October 19, 2018
By Taronga Zoo
Taronga Western Plains Zoo has double the reason to celebrate with the birth of two Takhi (Przewalski’s Horse) foals just one day apart last week.
Keepers are delighted with the arrival of a female Takhi foal to mother Mila on Tuesday 9 October 2018, and a male Takhi foal to mother Tegus on Wednesday 10 October 2018.
The sire of both foals is Nikolai, and both mothers are first time mums, creating further genetic diversity in the herd. The mothers are each being very protective of their foals, a natural maternal behaviour.
“Both foals were born on exhibit during the day time, much to the delight of visitors during the last week of the school holidays,” said Keeper Jacinta Vaughan.
“The foals were standing and suckling quickly and we couldn’t be happier with how both mums are doing given they are first time mothers.”
The Takhi foals are yet to be named but are both doing well so far. The foals will stay close to their mothers’ side for some time as they grow and develop, and will start to explore their surrounds over the coming months.
“This year has been very successful for the Takhi breeding program with four foals born to date and potentially another one on the way in the coming few months,” Jacinta said.
“The Zoo has also opened the new Wild Herds precinct which really highlights this species, the Zoo’s successful breeding program and its role in assisting to bring the species back from extinction in the wild,” said Jacinta.
The two new foals bring the total Takhi herd to 14, with four foals in the herd, including Dash born in January and Khan born in May this year.
“It’s so wonderful to see the foals of varying ages in the herd. Khan and Dash are already interacting with each other and enjoy galloping around the paddock, so I am sure the two latest additions will join them once they are a little older and more confident,” said Jacinta.
Takhi are today classified as endangered, but were once extinct in the wild. Prior to reintroduction programs in the early 1990s, Takhi were last seen in the wild in the Gobi Desert, in south Mongolia. Their numbers dwindled as a result of human interference such as poaching and capture. Today, their main threats are habitat loss and low genetic diversity.
Takhi foal and mum - photo by and courtesy Taronga Zoo
Antarctic Ice Shelf 'Sings' As Winds Whip Across Its Surface
October 16, 2018: American Geophysical UnionWinds blowing across snow dunes on Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf cause the massive ice slab's surface to vibrate, producing a near-constant set of seismic "tones" scientists could potentially use to monitor changes in the ice shelf from afar, according to new research.
The Ross Ice Shelf is Antarctica's largest ice shelf, a Texas-sized plate of glacial ice fed from the icy continent's interior that floats atop the Southern Ocean. The ice shelf buttresses adjacent ice sheets on Antarctica's mainland, impeding ice flow from land into water, like a cork in a bottle.
When ice shelves collapse, ice can flow faster from land into the sea, which can raise sea levels. Ice shelves all over Antarctica have been thinning, and in some cases breaking up or retreating, due to rising ocean and air temperatures. Prior observations have shown that Antarctic ice shelves can collapse suddenly and without obvious warning signs, which happened when the Larsen B ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula abruptly collapsed in 2002.
To better understand the physical properties of the Ross Ice Shelf, researchers buried 34 extremely sensitive seismic sensors under its snowy surface. The sensors allowed the researchers to monitor the ice shelf's vibrations and study its structure and movements for over two years, from late 2014 to early 2017.
.jpg?timestamp=1539802673125)
Photo: Study co-author Rick Aster during a station installation trip on the Ross Ice Shelf, holding a broadband seismometer. These sensitive sensors were buried at depths of two meters (6 feet) to record micro-scale seismic motions of the ice shelf in three dimensions over the course of two years. Credit: Rick Aster.
Ice shelves are covered in thick blankets of snow, often several meters deep, that are topped with massive snow dunes, like sand dunes in a desert. This snow layer acts like a fur coat for the underlying ice, insulating the ice below from heating and even melting when temperatures rise.
When the researchers started analysing seismic data on the Ross Ice Shelf, they noticed something odd: Its fur coat was almost constantly vibrating.
When they looked closer at the data, they discovered winds whipping across the massive snow dunes caused the ice sheet's snow covering to rumble, like the pounding of a colossal drum (see: https://youtu.be/w56RxaX9THY - runs below).
They also noticed the pitch of this seismic hum changed when weather conditions altered the snow layer's surface. They found the ice vibrated at different frequencies when strong storms rearranged the snow dunes or when the air temperatures at the surface went up or down, which changed how fast seismic waves travelled through the snow.
"It's kind of like you're blowing a flute, constantly, on the ice shelf," said Julien Chaput, a geophysicist and mathematician at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and lead author of the new study published today in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.
Just like musicians can change the pitch of a note on a flute by altering which holes air flows through or how fast it flows, weather conditions on the ice shelf can change the frequency of its vibration by altering its dune-like topography, according to Chaput.
"Either you change the velocity of the snow by heating or cooling it, or you change where you blow on the flute, by adding or destroying dunes," he said. "And that's essentially the two forcing effects we can observe."
The hum is too low in frequency to be audible to human ears, but the new findings suggest scientists could use seismic stations to continuously monitor the conditions on ice shelves in near real-time. Studying the vibrations of an ice shelf's insulating snow jacket could give scientists a sense of how it is responding to changing climate conditions, according to Douglas MacAyeal, a glaciologist at the University of Chicago who was not connected to the new study but wrote a commentary about the findings also published today in Geophysical Research Letters.
Changes to the ice shelf's seismic hum could indicate whether melt ponds or cracks in the ice are forming that might indicate whether the ice shelf is susceptible to breaking up.
"The response of the ice shelf tells us that we can track extremely sensitive details about it," Chaput said. "Basically, what we have on our hands is a tool to monitor the environment, really. And its impact on the ice shelf."
J. Chaput, R. C. Aster, D. McGrath, M. Baker, R. E. Anthony, P. Gerstoft, P. Bromirski, A. Nyblade, R. A. Stephen, D. A. Wiens, S. B. Das, L. A. Stevens. Near-Surface Environmentally Forced Changes in the Ross Ice Shelf Observed With Ambient Seismic Noise. Geophysical Research Letters, 2018; DOI: 10.1029/2018GL079665
Winds blowing across snow dunes on Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf cause the massive ice slab's surface to vibrate, producing a near-constant drumroll of seismic 'tones' scientists could potentially use to monitor changes in the ice shelf from afar, according to new research. The ice shelf's 'song' is too low in frequency to be heard by human ears, but it has been made audible here by geophysicist and mathematician Julien Chaput, who sped up a 2015 recording of the ice shelf's vibrations about 1,200 times.Credit: American Geophysical Union, NOAA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.
October 16, 2018: American Geophysical Union
Winds blowing across snow dunes on Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf cause the massive ice slab's surface to vibrate, producing a near-constant set of seismic "tones" scientists could potentially use to monitor changes in the ice shelf from afar, according to new research.
The Ross Ice Shelf is Antarctica's largest ice shelf, a Texas-sized plate of glacial ice fed from the icy continent's interior that floats atop the Southern Ocean. The ice shelf buttresses adjacent ice sheets on Antarctica's mainland, impeding ice flow from land into water, like a cork in a bottle.
When ice shelves collapse, ice can flow faster from land into the sea, which can raise sea levels. Ice shelves all over Antarctica have been thinning, and in some cases breaking up or retreating, due to rising ocean and air temperatures. Prior observations have shown that Antarctic ice shelves can collapse suddenly and without obvious warning signs, which happened when the Larsen B ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula abruptly collapsed in 2002.
To better understand the physical properties of the Ross Ice Shelf, researchers buried 34 extremely sensitive seismic sensors under its snowy surface. The sensors allowed the researchers to monitor the ice shelf's vibrations and study its structure and movements for over two years, from late 2014 to early 2017.
Photo: Study co-author Rick Aster during a station installation trip on the Ross Ice Shelf, holding a broadband seismometer. These sensitive sensors were buried at depths of two meters (6 feet) to record micro-scale seismic motions of the ice shelf in three dimensions over the course of two years. Credit: Rick Aster.
Ice shelves are covered in thick blankets of snow, often several meters deep, that are topped with massive snow dunes, like sand dunes in a desert. This snow layer acts like a fur coat for the underlying ice, insulating the ice below from heating and even melting when temperatures rise.
When the researchers started analysing seismic data on the Ross Ice Shelf, they noticed something odd: Its fur coat was almost constantly vibrating.
When they looked closer at the data, they discovered winds whipping across the massive snow dunes caused the ice sheet's snow covering to rumble, like the pounding of a colossal drum (see: https://youtu.be/w56RxaX9THY - runs below).
They also noticed the pitch of this seismic hum changed when weather conditions altered the snow layer's surface. They found the ice vibrated at different frequencies when strong storms rearranged the snow dunes or when the air temperatures at the surface went up or down, which changed how fast seismic waves travelled through the snow.
"It's kind of like you're blowing a flute, constantly, on the ice shelf," said Julien Chaput, a geophysicist and mathematician at Colorado State University in Fort Collins and lead author of the new study published today in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.
Just like musicians can change the pitch of a note on a flute by altering which holes air flows through or how fast it flows, weather conditions on the ice shelf can change the frequency of its vibration by altering its dune-like topography, according to Chaput.
"Either you change the velocity of the snow by heating or cooling it, or you change where you blow on the flute, by adding or destroying dunes," he said. "And that's essentially the two forcing effects we can observe."
The hum is too low in frequency to be audible to human ears, but the new findings suggest scientists could use seismic stations to continuously monitor the conditions on ice shelves in near real-time. Studying the vibrations of an ice shelf's insulating snow jacket could give scientists a sense of how it is responding to changing climate conditions, according to Douglas MacAyeal, a glaciologist at the University of Chicago who was not connected to the new study but wrote a commentary about the findings also published today in Geophysical Research Letters.
Changes to the ice shelf's seismic hum could indicate whether melt ponds or cracks in the ice are forming that might indicate whether the ice shelf is susceptible to breaking up.
"The response of the ice shelf tells us that we can track extremely sensitive details about it," Chaput said. "Basically, what we have on our hands is a tool to monitor the environment, really. And its impact on the ice shelf."
J. Chaput, R. C. Aster, D. McGrath, M. Baker, R. E. Anthony, P. Gerstoft, P. Bromirski, A. Nyblade, R. A. Stephen, D. A. Wiens, S. B. Das, L. A. Stevens. Near-Surface Environmentally Forced Changes in the Ross Ice Shelf Observed With Ambient Seismic Noise. Geophysical Research Letters, 2018; DOI: 10.1029/2018GL079665
Winds blowing across snow dunes on Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf cause the massive ice slab's surface to vibrate, producing a near-constant drumroll of seismic 'tones' scientists could potentially use to monitor changes in the ice shelf from afar, according to new research. The ice shelf's 'song' is too low in frequency to be heard by human ears, but it has been made audible here by geophysicist and mathematician Julien Chaput, who sped up a 2015 recording of the ice shelf's vibrations about 1,200 times.
Credit: American Geophysical Union, NOAA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.
Queensland’s Krista Watkins Named The 2018 AgriFutures™ Rural Women’s Award National Winner
3m Australians Living In Poverty, New Report From UNSW And ACOSS Shows
October 16, 2018: by Larissa Mavros/UNSW
A new analysis by the UNSW Sydney Social Policy Research Centre and the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) released today shows national poverty rates remain high despite Australia experiencing decades of uninterrupted economic growth.
The Poverty in Australia 2018 Report, launched by ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie at the National Press Club in Canberra to coincide with Anti-Poverty Week, finds there are just more than 3 million people living below the poverty line, including 739,000 children. In Australia, the poverty line is defined as a single adult living on less than $433 a week, or $909 for a couple with two children.
The report finds:
- One-in-eight adults (13%) and more than one-in-six children (17%) are living in poverty.
- Many of those affected are living in deep poverty – on average $135 a week below the poverty line.
- Those experiencing poverty at the highest rates are those unable to find paid work, relying on government allowances – Youth Allowance (64%) and Newstart (55%).
- A major source of child poverty is the high poverty rate (32%) among sole-parent families, who must generally rely on a single income.
Lead researcher, UNSW Professor Peter Saunders, Research Chair in Social Policy at the UNSW Social Policy Research Centre, said though the Australian government has joined other nations in adopting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals – a blueprint for addressing 17 global challenges from poverty to peace and justice – Australia is a long way from achieving them. In Australia, these Goals include reducing poverty rates for men, women and children by half by 2030.
Dr Cassandra Goldie, ACOSS CEO, and Professor Peter Saunders, from the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW.
“Australia lacks a poverty reduction plan and we do not have regular monitoring and reporting by governments on progress to address poverty,” said Professor Saunders. “This report seeks, in part, to fill that data gap and our hope is that, informed by this research, action to reduce poverty becomes a national priority for governments, businesses and the community.”
ACOSS Chief Executive Officer Dr Cassandra Goldie said the evidence released today shows that through social security, housing and employment policies, Australians choose the level of poverty they are prepared to accept.
“The government argues that poverty in Australia is not the problem,” Dr Goldie said. “They are wrong. People on the lowest incomes cannot afford to pay for the very basics of life, housing, food, energy, health and getting their teeth fixed. Poverty is now a consistent feature of Australian life. Are we prepared to accept this?”
Dr Goldie said the solutions are clear:
- lifting the social security safety net for those most acutely affected – people living on Youth Allowance and Newstart
- boosting family payments for the lowest income families
- overhauling social and affordable housing policies
- providing an adequate increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance
- revamping employment services, including a commitment to full employment, and
- guaranteeing at least two days of early childhood education and care for every child, regardless of their background.
“Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world,” said Dr Goldie. “With strong signs in the economy, and an improved federal budget position, the top priority for any prime minister must be to end poverty in all its forms, not deliver another round of tax cuts to corporations. It is time that our politicians stopped talking about themselves and turned their attention to the issues that the community cares about.”
For a copy of the report please go to the UNSW Social Policy Research Centre.
Snapshot of poverty in Australia
In 2015-16:
- The poverty line (50% of median income, before-housing costs) for a single adult is $433 a week. For a couple with two children, it is $909 a week.
- 3.05 million people (13.2% of the population, more than one in eight) are estimated to live below the poverty line, after taking account of their housing costs.
- 739,000 children under the age of 15 (17.3% of all children, more than one in six) are living below the poverty line.
- The average ‘poverty gap’ (the difference between the incomes of people in poverty and the poverty line) is $135 per week.
- 53% of people below the poverty line are in households that rely on social security as their main source of income, while 38% rely on wages as their main income.
- 26% of people in households whose reference person receives an income support payment are living below the poverty line, including 64% of those on Youth Allowance, 55% of those receiving Newstart Allowance, 52% of those on Parenting Payment, 36% of those on Disability Support Pension, 17% of those on Carer Payment, and 12% of those on the Age Pension.
- A major source of child poverty is the high poverty rate (32%) among sole parent families, who must generally rely on a single income.
- The majority (52%) of people below the poverty line were in rental housing, while 15% of people in poverty were home-owners without a mortgage.
- Australia has the 14th highest poverty rate among 34 OECD countries, part of a group of English-speaking wealthy nations with above–average poverty levels.
Japanese Heavyweights Commit To The Western Sydney Aerotropolis
October 16, 2018: The Hon. Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of NSW
In a major coup for the State, the NSW Government has signed two international investment agreements with two of Japan’s biggest multinationals to establish a presence in the Western Sydney Aerotropolis.
Just a year after Premier Gladys Berejiklian visited Japan to drum up investment in NSW, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group have signed two separate agreements with the NSW Government and committed to be a significant part of the Aerotropolis.
“It is so exciting that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group have decided to have such a large footprint in the Aerotropolis and we can’t wait to hear more about their plans,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“It is not every day you get the chance to build a city from the ground up, but we know we are on the right track because, as we can see, international business confidence in the Aerotropolis is sky high.
“The Western Sydney Aerotropolis will be the heart of the Western Sydney Parkland City where there will be 200,000 jobs, the best educational opportunities and the highest quality lifestyle you can imagine.
“Federal, State and Local Governments are working together to make the Aerotropolis the most advanced city on Earth and now we are seeing the biggest companies in the world come on this journey with us.”
The latest investment agreements have been signed a month after the University of Newcastle, University of NSW and University of Wollongong, and Western Sydney University agreed to join forces and create a world-class, higher education institution at the Aerotropolis. It also follows an announcement last year from global defence and aerospace company Northrop Grumman of a $50 million investment in an advanced defence electronics maintenance and sustainment centre.
Minister for Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said the nation building activity of the Aerotropolis and Western Sydney Parkland City is attracting some of the biggest names in the game.
“It’s no wonder companies from NSW’s second biggest trading partner, Japan, are first in line to sign up to the Western Sydney Aerotropolis,” Mr Ayres said.
“The Japanese companies which have committed today will promote investment opportunities in transport, logistics, healthcare, education and renewable energy as well as other commercial, residential and community developments.”
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is a global heavyweight in aircraft, space, defence, transport, energy, maritime, automotive, industrial machinery and infrastructure. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG Group) has a network of global clients across 40 countries and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) is one of Japan’s biggest banks managing a balance sheet in the trillions of dollars – more than the entire Australian economy.
New Maths Strategy Prepares Students For Jobs Of The Future
October 16, 2018: NSW Government
Students will be equipped with important life skills from more specialist teachers and a new maths-based HSC course.
It is important for all students to feel confident with maths and numbers by the time they leave school so they are set up for success in whatever career they choose. A new education strategy will inspire more students to study maths and give them with the skills they need to thrive after leaving school.
The new strategy includes:
- new maths-based HSC course piloted from next year, for students who have not typically chosen to study maths, focusing on numeracy and practical applications for everyday life
- recruitment of 100 specialist primary school maths teachers over five years
- 320 scholarships valued at $50,000 each for STEM undergraduates and career changers to fund a Master’s degree
- work with universities to encourage students to take higher level HSC maths courses
- introduce more Maths Ambassadors to encourage students in developing a love for maths.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that about 82 per cent of students currently take up maths-based subjects in their HSC and with this new strategy, this number may get closer to 100 per cent.
“I am a passionate believer that education is the great enabler – I, like many others, am living proof of that. I am also a passionate believer that we need to do everything we can to prepare our students for a stronger, better future,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“My vision is for every child in NSW to have the necessary maths skills to succeed in life – whether that’s managing home budgets or preparing them for the high tech jobs that will be on offer in coming years.”
Mr Stokes said it is important for all students to feel confident with maths and numbers by the time they leave school so they are set up for success in whatever career they choose.
“Everyone can be good at maths with the right support, encouragement and hard work,” Mr Stokes said. “I want more students to develop an early interest in maths so that they are able to participate in more advanced mathematics subjects in the later years of schooling.
“Our maths teachers all around NSW do a brilliant job of inspiring students to improve their mathematical literacy from kindergarten all the way through to the HSC.”
Award-winning maths teacher Eddie Woo, who was earlier this year appointed a NSW Maths Ambassador, welcomed the announcement.
“I am so delighted that the Premier and Minister share my passion for maths,” Mr Woo said.
“Maths is an integral part of all of our lives and I am confident more students will be inspired to study it with a little bit of encouragement and guidance from passionate ambassadors and teachers.”
Sydney Metro Now Tunnelling Under The City
October 17, 2018: The Hon. Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of NSW
Tunnelling started today to deliver twin new metro railway tunnels below the centre of Sydney and deep under Sydney Harbour as part of Australia’s biggest public transport project, Sydney Metro.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance officially launched tunnel boring machine (TBM) Nancy – one of the five mega borers which will build 31 kilometres of tunnels between Marrickville and Chatswood.
“Sydney Metro is at the centre of the NSW Government’s transformation of public transport which will give people more choice in how they get around Sydney,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“Today marks the start of the huge task of digging twin tunnels under the city, delivering Sydney’s new world-class metro railway and building a stronger, better future for the people of NSW.
“Sydney Metro is an incredible project and it is only possible because of the strong economic management of the NSW Liberals & Nationals.”
The TBM has been named Nancy in honour of transport pioneer Nancy Bird Walton OBE.
Nancy and another TBM will tunnel 8.1 kilometres from Marrickville to the new Sydney Metro station sites at Waterloo, Central, Pitt Street, Martin Place and on to Barangaroo, where they will be removed from deep underground.
The TBMs are about 150 metres long – that’s longer than two Airbus A380s – and specially designed for Sydney’s geology to cut through hard sandstone.
The five TBMs will excavate 5.9 million tonnes of rock – enough to fill about 940 Olympic swimming pools.
This is the first time in Australian history that five TBMs have worked on a transport infrastructure project.
“These machines are underground factories, mechanical worms designed to dig and line the tunnels as they go so that Sydney Metro can be delivered as quickly as possible,” Mr Constance said.
“Nancy is specially designed to cut through our city’s unique sandstone and shale and will tunnel an average of 120 metres a week.”
Two TBMs will also dig 6.2 kilometres from Chatswood to the edge of Sydney Harbour. A fifth machine has been specially designed to deliver the twin tunnels under Sydney Harbour.
It is traditional to give a female name all machines which work underground, because workers look to Saint Barbara for protection.
Nancy Bird Walton OBE was an Australian pioneer aviator, the first female pilot in the Commonwealth to carry passengers and the founder of the Australian Women Pilots' Association. Yesterday (16 October 2018) would have been Nancy Bird-Walton’s 103rd birthday.
Sydney Metro opens in the city’s north west in the second quarter of next year – with 13 metro stations, 4000 commuter car parking spaces and 36 kilometres of new metro rail.
Metro rail is being extended into the Sydney CBD and beyond to Bankstown – in 2024, Sydney will have 31 metro stations and a 66 kilometre metro railway.
UNSW Panel Frames Better Digital Access For People With Disabilities
October 17, 2018: by Diane Nazaroff/UNSW
An increase in digital accessibility for people with disabilities, and a right of redress if it is not forthcoming, was a key message of an event supported by UNSW’s Disability Innovation Institute in Sydney.
The Legislation, Policy and Practice for Digital Inclusion panel discussion heard about the digital divide that happens when digital platforms, the digital economy and digital interfaces are not acceptable for people with disabilities.
Prior to the panel discussion, panelist and Interim Director of the UNSW Disability Innovation Institute, Rosemary Kayess, who was elected to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in June, outlined a number of issues with digital accessibility.
“Options for voice recognition, options for alternative security confirmations, and things like touch screens can be really problematic for people with disabilities,” she said.
“How do you make the digital world accessible for deaf people? How do you balance that access?
“This is a big focus of the UN committee, ensuring that people with disability are not discriminated against in terms of access to the digital world and changing technologies.”
An internationally respected lawyer, researcher and academic, Rosemary Kayess is a Visiting Fellow at UNSW Law, and Senior Research Fellow at UNSW’s Social Policy Research Centre.
She is Chair of the Australian Centre for Disability Law and is one of the driving forces behind UNSW’s Disability Innovation Institute, a ground breaking initiative to help transform the lives of people with disability by harnessing research and innovation across all faculties and disciplines.
Rosemary Kayess
Other panelists included Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Alistair McEwin, and US disability rights lawyer Lainey Feingold.
Ms Feingold works with blind people to improve their access to web and mobile content and works to make technology and other information available to disabled people.
She developed an alternative dispute resolution process called the Structured Negotiation approach, which helps avoid lawsuits by negotiating comprehensive agreements with some of the largest US organisations.
Ms Kayess said it was important there was an appropriate and adequate regulatory framework that both ensured that people with disabilities had digital access, but also gave a right of redress if access wasn’t happening.
“People with disabilities aren’t embedded in design frames,” she said.
“That is the Disability Innovation Institute’s remit here at UNSW, to bring people with disability and bring the experience of people with disability into the research space and to develop new innovative technologies, new innovative solutions to things.”
The panel was a side event to this year’s A11y Camp, Australia’s premier conference on accessibility and inclusion, and was a feature of the Australian Digital Inclusion Alliance’s Digital Accessibility Awareness Week.
“It’s a fabulous opportunity for us to host Lainey Fiengold and have her join us on the panel to be able to look at the US perspective but it’s great that we have been able to align it with the A11y camp that’s happening as well,” Ms Kayess said.
MACA Award Winners 2018
October 15, 2018: NSW Government - NSW Seniors
The MACA Media Awards seek to challenge negative stereotypes towards older people by highlighting examples of balanced and realistic media reporting on older people and ageing.
By holding up media reports that demonstrate that there is more to ageing than becoming old, the Awards program aims to improve public perceptions of older people.
There were over 100 nominations received for this year's awards, hosted by SBS INSIGHT host, Jenny Brockie. The award ceremony, held on Monday the 15th of October at the Australian Museum saw nearly 200 guests enjoy a night of culture, music, high profile and distinguished guests and of course, the winners of the following categories:
• Lifestyle and Health & Gold Award – Ita Buttrose and Bianca Balzer, Ita Buttrose's Healthy Lifestyle Tips, TODAY Extra
• Current Affairs – 7.30 Report Team, Concerns Over the Rise in the Number of Elderly who are Homeless, ABC Australia
• News – Cathy Stubbs, Penisula Village Celebrates Sixth 100 year old Resident, Central Coast Express Advocate
• Images – Tracey Muir, Skydive Australia 'Cheeky' Couple Celebrate 73rd Wedding Anniversary with Wollongong Skydive, Illawarra Mercury
• Regional – Cessnock City Seniors Festival Program Recognised at Local Government Week Awards, The Advertiser Cessnock
• Advertising – Pimp My Ride – Smashing the Stereotypes, Feros Care
• Special Commendation – "The Late Shift" SBS, Are we Entering the Age of No Retirement?, SBS Australia.
The 'Gold Award' went to Ita Buttrose and Bianca Balzer for their TODAY Extra segment, which represented active ageing in a positive light.
MACA Winners 2018 - NSW Seniors photo