Pittwater Online News

26 March, 2015: Nature Conservation Council NSW

Conservation groups are appalled by the Coalition’s announcement today that it will seek to repeal the Native Vegetation Act if returned to government this Saturday.

“This is a black day for the state’s threatened wildlife and fragile soils,” Nature Conservation Council CEO Kate Smolski said. “The Native Vegetation Act is among the most important nature conservation laws in NSW because it protects so much of the state’s wildlife like koalas and gliders from indiscriminate destruction. If new laws weaken protections for land and wildlife, Mike Baird will be remembered as the Premier who took us back to the dark days of broadscale land clearing.”

WWF National Manager of Science Policy and Government Partnerships Paul Toni said: “This law prevents uncontrolled land clearing, and has been credited with saving the lives of more than 250,000 native animals in its first five years of operation. [1] At the same time as the government is establishing a $100 million survival fund to stop a ‘race to extinction’, it is re-igniting the single biggest threat to native species – the broadscale clearing of native vegetation. The decision also risks wasting the $600 million plus that has been spent to protect native vegetation since 1997.”

Total Environment Centre Executive Director Jeff Angel said: “By leaving it so late in the campaign to announce this major policy shift, the Coalition cannot legitimately claim an electoral mandate for trashing the state’s most important nature conservation laws. The Coalition proposes the most significant overhaul of the state’s conservation laws in more than a generation, so the community requires time to understand the full implications of scrapping these laws. Detail proposals should be presented to the people so they can vote on them at the 2019 election.”

Nationals Leader Troy Grant and Environment Minister Rob Stokes announced today the Coalition would implement all the recommendations of the Biodiversity Legislation Review Panel [2], including: 

• Repealing the Native Vegetation Act 2003;

• Removing the requirement that land clearing only be allowed if it improves or maintains environmental outcomes;

• Placing greater reliance on biodiversity offsets; and

• Shifting approval for vegetation clearing to the planning system.

NSW National Parks Association CEO Kevin Evans said: “There is widespread concern within the environment movement about the Coalition’s plans to draft new conservation laws to replace the Native Vegetation Act, the Threatened Species Conservation Act, and parts of the National Parks and Wildlife Act. The Coalition’s has had a poor record on nature conservation over the past four years, so the community has little faith that protections will be maintained or improved in the new law.”

Humane Society International Campaign Director Michael Kennedy said: “The Coalition partners have been highly susceptible to pressure from developers and extreme elements in the farming community. We are concerned these elements will use their influence during the drafting of new laws to further unwind protections the community has fought decades to achieve.”

The Wilderness Society Acting NSW Campaign Manager Charlotte Richardson said: “Scrapping the Native Vegetation Act would undermine the $100 million commitment to threatened species recovery that Environment Minister Rob Stokes announced during the election campaign. The Native Vegetation Act was implemented in 2005 after a sustained campaign by The Wilderness Society and other conservation organisations, and since the law was introduced land clearing has declined by about 60 per cent a year. With almost 1000 plants and animals threatened with extinction in NSW, we cannot afford to go backwards on environmental protection.”

REFERENCES

[1] www.wwf.org.au/?9520/NSW-land-clearing-law-saves-265000-native-mammals

[2] www.environment.nsw.gov.au/biodiversitylegislation/review.htm

SPOKESPERSONS

Humane Society International | Campaign Director Michael Kennedy | 

NSW National Parks Association | CEO Kevin Evans | 

NSW Nature Conservation Council  | CEO Kate Smolski  | 

The Wilderness Society | Acting NSW Campaign Manager Charlotte Richardson | 

Total Environment Centre | Executive Director Jeff Angel | 

WWF Australia | National Manager of Science Policy and Government Partnerships Paul Toni |

______________________

Documents pertaining to at:www.environment.nsw.gov.au/biodiversitylegislation/review.htm

Report A review of biodiversity legislation in NSW(1.5 MB - PDF) at:www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/biodiversity/BiodivLawReview.pdf

 Blue Star Sustainability Awards - Keep NSW Beautiful

March 27th, 2015

Calling all people dedicated to our environmental future - Our Blue Star Sustainability Awards are now open! These annual awards aim to reward both individuals and group projects in NSW which are committed to promoting responsible environmental practices in their local areas. There are 10 different award categories, each with a regional and metropolitan winner. To enter, all you have to do is submit a short form online - it couldn't be easier!

Entries close on Wednesday the 20th of May 2015, so if this sounds like you, someone you know, or a project currently underway in your local area, head to our page and get entering! See:http://ow.ly/KO0vE

 Independent report brings together knowledge on dredging and disposal

Published: 25/03/2015

An independent compilation of knowledge about the effects of dredging and sediment disposal on the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area has found the impacts will differ, depending on the location, timing, size and type of dredging and disposal activity.

The Dredge Synthesis Report was produced by a 19-member panel of experts, brought together through a joint initiative of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS).

The technical and scientific experts — with a range of skills from oceanographic modelling to coral ecology — were asked to review and synthesise existing studies and data on the biophysical effects of dredging and disposal, while also identifying key knowledge gaps.

The outcome is an overview of the potential impacts of dredging and disposal on habitats such as coral reefs and seagrass meadows, and on fish and species of conservation concern such as dugong or marine turtles.

Among its key findings, the panel concluded:

• In terms of direct effects, dredging and burial of seafloor habitats during disposal can have substantial impacts at a local level, but have only a small impact on the broader Great Barrier Reef and its biodiversity as a whole.

• In terms of indirect effects, sediments released by dredging and disposal have the potential to stay suspended in the water and move. This may be contributing significantly to the long-term chronic increase in fine suspended sediments in inshore areas, however there wasn’t consensus among the panelists on the extent to which this happens and its impact on biodiversity.

• Dredging and disposal may be a significant source of fine sediments in the World Heritage Area, in addition to other sources, such as land run-off. A general comparison shows past large dredging projects produced amounts of fine sediment similar in magnitude to natural loads coming from land run-off in the same region.

• The recent policy commitments to ban disposal of capital dredge material in marine environments will mean future disposal, which will be limited to maintenance dredging, will contribute much less fine sediment. This reduced amount will still need to be considered in the context of other cumulative impacts on the Great Barrier Reef.

Project leader Dr Laurence McCook said the report acknowledged the challenges in assessing effects.

“Understanding the significance of dredging impacts compared to other natural and human pressures remains difficult,” Dr McCook said.

“For example, it’s difficult to compare sediment from dredging and the amount of sediment that flows off the land and into the ocean because there’s limited data and many differences in the physical and chemical make-up of different types of sediments.

“In many locations, the extent to which sediments are resuspended and transported by waves and ocean currents, or are stable in the long-term, is also poorly understood.”

Australian Institute of Marine Science research program leader Dr Britta Schaffelke said the panel proposed a number of ways to reduce the knowledge gap.

“A better understanding of how sediment moves, settles or disperses over the long term in the Great Barrier Reef can be achieved through more extensive, long-term monitoring and better integration of current monitoring and data,” Dr Schaffelke said.

“Further efforts are also needed to understand how increased turbidity and suspended sediments affect a wide range of marine species.

“The report also found the disposal of dredge material on land involves a different set of challenges to be considered, ranging from technical feasibility to the assessment of environmental impacts.”

The publication is part of ongoing efforts by GBRMPA and the Australian Institute of Marine Science to improve

understanding of the effects of dredging and dredge disposal, enabling better management of the risks associated with these activities.

The work of the panel will help in updating best practice guidelines, and in assessing proposed developments that involve dredging and disposal in the World Heritage Area.

The full report of the independent panel of experts is available atwww.gbrmpa.gov.au and www.aims.gov.au. 

Report Synthesis of biophysical impacts from dredging and disposal in the Great Barrier Reef scheduled for release on 25 March 2015. (9.97 MB PDF)

 The South West Marine Debris Cleanup c/- Surfrider Foundation Australia

Great to see one of our Surfrider volunteers, Ula, taking part in the South West Marine Debris Cleanup run by environmental scientist Matt Dell in Tasmania. The volunteer team collected a record amount of rubbish with 37,000 items picked up in one day and a total of just over 79,000 items for the week. The data is recorded so a pattern of pollution can be mapped and trends in plastic identified. The information is used by researchers at the CSIRO and other institutions.

Ula summed up her journey: "When you are standing on these wild beaches and seeing the amount of rubbish that's washed up on them, it sometimes can be really heartbreaking and you can feel like it perhaps is a losing battle."

"But I think what we all take from that is a lot of inspiration to keep cleaning our beaches, and also really push for that systemic change that really needs to happen."

Take action in your local community and help shine a light on the global issue of plastics and other debris choking our oceans. Join your local Surfrider branch or one of the multitude of wonderful local groups trying to tackle this issue. Take Action.

See ABC report on – first run in Landline March 22nd, 2015

 More big storms increase tropical rainfall totals

March 25, 2015 - University of New South Wales

Increasing rainfall in certain parts of the tropics, colloquially described as the wet get wetter and warm get wetter, has long been a projection of climate change. Now observations have shown that an increase in large thunderstorms is the primary reason for this phenomenon.

Joint research from the Monash branch of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science (ARCCSS) and NASA published in Nature found even though other types of rainfall has decreased in frequency and the total number of thunderstorms remained the same, the increase in big storms had elevated total rainfall.

"The observations showed the increase in rainfall is directly caused by the change in the character of thunderstorms in the tropics rather than a change in the total number of thunderstorms," said lead author from ARCCSS Dr Jackson Tan.

"What we are seeing is more big and organised storms and fewer small and disorganised storms."

Thunderstorms play an important role in rainfall in the tropics. Despite organised deep convective storms only occurring 5% of the time in the world's equatorial regions, they deliver almost 50% of all its rainfall.

The research has also contributed to answering the important question whether the increase in rainfall observed in the tropics was simply caused by the fact of a warmer atmosphere or whether the underlying circulation in that region had changed.

The changes to the deep convection discovered in the study suggested a dynamic change in the climate system was responsible for the change in rainfall.

"If this rainfall change was caused simply by a warmer atmosphere holding more moisture, we would have expected an increase in the average rainfall when each system, organised or disorganised, occurs," said Dr Tan

"Instead, the number of organised storms, which is largely controlled by the dynamics of the atmosphere, have increased in frequency, suggesting that the increase in rainfall is related to more than a simple warming of the atmosphere."

Climate model results have long suggested that we would see increased precipitation in the tropics as a result of climate change. However, the exact nature of this change remained unclear.

The revelation that large thunderstorms appear to be the source of increased precipitation in the tropics explains why climate models may have difficulties in accurately representing the details of tropical rainfall.

The small-scale processes giving rise to thunderstorms make their direct simulation in climate models impossible given current computing power.

"This limitation, which is a well-known issue in global climate models, might well be a contributing factor to the precipitation errors and the bias towards light rain," said another author from Monash University, Prof Christian Jakob.

"Given how important these large storms are to rainfall in the tropics, it is vital that there is a renewed effort to represent convective organisation in global climate models if we are to fully understand precipitation changes in the future."

1. Jackson Tan, Christian Jakob, William B. Rossow, George Tselioudis. Increases in tropical rainfall driven by changes in frequency of organized deep convection. Nature, 2015; 519 (7544): 451 DOI: 10.1038/nature14339

Photo; Large thunderstoms are becoming more common in the tropics increasing total rainfall. Credit: Image courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center.

 BOM's stormchasers keeping the world safe

Joint media release: 23 March 2015

Today is World Meteorological Day, a day that recognises the valuable contribution meteorology makes to the safety and prosperity of all Australians.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment, Bob Baldwin, said World Meteorological Day offers an opportunity to celebrate the extraordinary contribution meteorological science makes to the decisions people make each day and the contribution Australia makes to the world's meteorological knowledge.

"In Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology provides round-the-clock analysis and prediction to produce weather forecasts and warnings that help people to fly, work and live safely, and indeed prosper, within our vast and varied landscape," Mr Baldwin said.

"But I expect few would understand the extent and breadth of that work: the 450,000 forecasts, 18,500 weather and ocean warnings, 420,000 aviation weather products and 250 long-term outlooks on weather, climate and water that the Bureau issues each year.

"And even fewer would know of the extent and benefits of the Bureau's highly valued collaboration internationally.

"Australia's specialist satellite research, analysis, and technical skills have led to a strong collaborative arrangement with European, Chinese, Japanese and American agencies, that allows Australia access to their satellite data. In turn the Bureau not only produces a wide range of satellite products that help with Australian forecasts and research but it then packages that into formats suitable for on-sending to Pacific and neighbouring nations.

"Australia is surrounded by a highly active volcanic region often known as the ring of fire. Earthquakes and volcanoes occur almost daily and the Bureau contributes significantly to international tsunami warning systems in the Indian and Pacific oceans; and produces volcanic ash advisory information for all aircraft flying through the region, one of only nine such advisory centres in the world.

"Last week the skills of meteorologists in the Pacific came to the fore when they tracked and warned of the impending destruction from Tropical Cyclone Pam. Many of those forecasters would have benefited from the specialist skills they gained from training courses run by the Bureau, both in Australia and in the Pacific.

All of this has been greatly enabled by the World Meteorological Organization that was established 65 years ago today, and the collaborative culture it has created.

"The Australian Government is committed to ensuring the Bureau is able to further improve on that science and service, and is providing funding for the purchase, installation and operation of a new supercomputer," Mr Baldwin said.

"Announced in the 2014-15 Federal Budget, the tender process is well underway, with the successful tenderer expected to sign a contract mid-year and the supercomputer to be fully operational from mid-2016.

"The new supercomputer will ensure the continued delivery of high quality forecasts and warnings and enable the Bureau to meet the increasing needs of a wide range of stakeholders into the future.

"As we recognise World Meteorological Day, I encourage all Australians to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the contribution of meteorology on their daily lives."

World Meteorological Day is celebrated on 23 March each year to recognise the anniversary of the establishment of the World Meteorological Organization, which first met on that day in 1950.

 A mile deep, ocean fish facing health impacts from human pollution

March 25, 2015 - Deep-water marine fish living on the continental slopes at depths from 2,000 feet to one mile have liver pathologies, tumors and other health problems that may be linked to human-caused pollution, one of the first studies of its type has found. The research, conducted in the Bay of Biscay west of France, also discovered the first case of a deep water fish species with an "intersex" condition, a blend of male and female sex organs. The sampling was done in an area with no apparent point-source pollution, and appears to reflect general ocean conditions.

The findings have been published in Marine Environmental Research, by scientists from Oregon State University; the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science in the United Kingdom; and other agencies. It was supported by the European Union.

The research is of particular interest, OSU researchers said, when contrasted to other studies done several years ago in national parks of the American West, which also found significant pollution and fish health impacts, including male fish that had been "feminized" and developed eggs.

"In areas ranging from pristine, high mountain lakes of the United States to ocean waters off the coasts of France and Spain, we've now found evidence of possible human-caused pollution that's bad enough to have pathological impacts on fish," said Michael Kent, a professor of microbiology in the OSU College of Science, co-author on both these research projects and an international expert on fish disease.

"Deep in the ocean one might have thought that the level of contamination and its biological impact would be less," Kent said. "That may not be the case. The pathological changes we're seeing are clearly the type associated with exposure to toxins and carcinogens."

However, linking these changes in the deep water fish to pollution is preliminary at this time, the researchers said, because these same changes may also be caused by naturally-occurring compounds. Follow up chemical analyses would provide more conclusive links with the pathological changes and man's activity, they said.

Few, if any health surveys of this type have been done on the fish living on the continental slopes, the researchers said. Most past studies have looked only at their parasite fauna, not more internal biological problems such as liver damage. The issues are important, however, since there's growing interest in these areas as a fisheries resource, as other fisheries on the shallower continental shelf become depleted.

As the sea deepens along these continental slopes, it's been known that it can act as a sink for heavy metal contaminants such as mercury, cadmium and lead, and organic contaminants such as PCBs and pesticides. Some of the "intersex" fish that have been discovered elsewhere are also believed to have mutated sex organs caused by "endocrine disrupting chemicals" that can mimic estrogens.

In this study, the health concerns identified were found in black scabbardfish, orange roughy, greater forkbeard and other less-well-known species, and included a wide range of degenerative and inflammatory lesions that indicate a host response to pathogens, as well as natural cell turnover. The fish that live in these deep water, sloping regions usually grow slowly, live near the seafloor, and mature at a relatively old age. Some can live to be 100 years old.

Partly because of that longevity, the fish have the capacity to bioaccumulate toxicants, which the researchers said in their report "may be a significant human health issue if those species are destined for human consumption." Organic pollutants in such species may be 10-17 times higher than those found in fish from the continental shelf, the study noted, with the highest level of contaminants in the deepest-dwelling fish.

However, most of those contaminants migrate to the liver and gonads of such fish, which would make their muscle tissue comparatively less toxic, and "generally not high enough for human health concern," the researchers wrote.

The corresponding author on this study was Stephen Feist at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science in Weymouth, England.

In the previous research done in the American West, scientists found toxic contamination from pesticides, the burning of fossil fuels, agriculture, industrial operations and other sources, which primarily found their way into high mountain lakes through air pollution. Pesticide pollution, in particular, was pervasive.

Together, the two studies suggest that fish from some of the most remote parts of the planet, from high mountains to deep ocean, may be impacted by toxicants, Kent said.

1. S.W. Feist , G.D. Stentiford, M.L. Kent, A. Ribeiro Santos, P. Lorance.Histopathological assessment of liver and gonad pathology in continental slope fish from the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Marine Environmental Research, 2015 [link]

photo; The testicle from a male trout which contains a developing egg is an example of "intersex" conditions that can result from pollution. Credit: Image courtesy of Oregon State University

 Public consultation on national parks establishment - HAVE YOUR SAY

Comment is sought on the proposed directions, socio-economic considerations and community involvement in creating new national parks and reserves in NSW.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) acquires land for the establishment of new national parks through various means such as the transfer of other public land, the voluntary sale or transfer of private land, bequests and donations, or through biodiversity offsets, in order to achieve the objectives of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.

NPWS is considering whether opportunities exist to improve the national parks establishment process.

Two documents, a directions statement and a socio-economic report on land acquisition, have been prepared to form the basis of a consultation with the community.

This consultation is occurring in response to a Parliamentary Inquiry into Management of Public Land Management in NSW(External link). As a consequence of the inquiry, the NSW Government has committed to publicly consult on:

• updating the NSW National Parks Establishment Plan

• the social and economic implications of new park proposals

• how to improve community involvement in the reserve establishment process.

Directions Statement for National Park Establishment

In response to Recommendation 3 of the Management of Public Land in NSW Inquiry, the NSW Government made a commitment to:

“Review and update the NSW National Parks Establishment Plan to take account of recent information and current and future conservation priorities.

This will reinforce the scientific basis for building the national parks system, consistent with international best practice and nationally agreed frameworks.”

A Directions Statement for National Park Establishment(External link) has been prepared to reframe the NSW National Parks Establishment Plan(External link) that has guided land acquisition since 2008. The purpose of the directions statement is to:

• convey the types of conservation priorities that are important to the expansion and enhancement of the National Park Estate

• present the NSW Government’s focus for effort and investment in reserve establishment over the next five years (2015-2020)

Consultation period 19 January 2015 to 12 April 2015

See relevant documents and Have Your Say at:engage.environment.nsw.gov.au/establishing-national-parks

by CSIRO - Published on 23 Mar 2015

Innovation is critical in providing better public services to all Australians. As governments the world over commit to digital services agendas, the Australian Government Department of Human Services has taken a leading position in digitally transforming its services. However, the health and welfare payments system is extremely complex and critical. With more than a third of Federal expenditure under its management, the challenge for the department is to improve the customer experience and at the same time improve efficiency and service levels. In 2009, the department and CSIRO formed the Human Services Delivery Research Alliance to inform digital transformation with hard evidence and multidisciplinary research. Learn about some of the outcomes of the Alliance in this animation or visit our website:

www.csiro.au/en/Research/The-digital-economy/Digital-service-delivery

 Blood test may shed new light on Fragile X related disorders

March 26, 2015 - A blood test may shed new light on Fragile X syndrome related disorders in women, according to a new study published in the March 25, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Fragile X is the most common inherited form of intellectual disability and the most frequent genetic cause of autism.

Fragile X, which is caused by a mutation in a single gene on the X chromosome, affects about 1 in 4,000 men and 1 in 6,000 women. Even more common are Fragile X carriers of a lesser change in the Fragile X gene called a premutation, occurring in 1 in 450 men and 1 in 150 women. Fragile X premutation carriers have normal intellect, but some can develop physical symptoms over time. They are also more likely to develop social anxiety and depression.

In the study, researchers compared 35 women who had the premutation to 35 women who did not have this genetic change. The participants took tests of their brains' executive functioning skills, such as inhibition and selective attention, and rated themselves on scales for depression and social anxiety. They also had blood tests to measure the amount of methylation in the Fragile X gene. Methylation adds methyl groups to some of the DNA, which inactivates that part of the X chromosome. Methylation is one type of so-called epigenetic changes, alterations in genes during the lifetime that affect their expression.

The researchers found that the women with the premutation who had high methylation levels were more likely to have depression, social anxiety and problems with executive functioning skills. In this group, worse scores on the executive function skills were correlated with having increased symptoms of anxiety and depression; this relationship was not seen in the women who did not have the premutation.

"These results are exciting, because it means we could use an easily accessible blood test to help diagnose people who have the premutation genetic abnormality and identify who is more likely to have problems and begin early treatment," said study author Kim M. Cornish, PhD, of Monash University in Victoria, Australia. "This finding could also help us better understand the Fragile X premutation, as we can develop studies based on whether women are likely to develop these disorders."

K. M. Cornish, C. M. Kraan, Q. M. Bui, M. A. Bellgrove, S. A. Metcalfe, J. N. Trollor, D. R. Hocking, H. R. Slater, Y. Inaba, X. Li, A. D. Archibald, E. Turbitt, J. Cohen, D. E. Godler. Novel methylation markers of the dysexecutive-psychiatric phenotype in FMR1 premutation women. Neurology, 2015; DOI:10.1212/WNL.0000000000001496

 How our DNA may prevent bowel cancer

March 24, 2015 - University of Melbourne

The link between taking aspirin, and similar medications called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (or NSAIDS), and bowel (colorectal) cancer prevention is well established.

However, the mechanisms behind the protective effect have not been understood and it is not known why some people appear to benefit while others do not.

Conducted by investigators from four countries, including Professors Mark Jenkins and John Hopper from the University of Melbourne, the findings suggest this protection differs according to variations in DNA.

"We've known for a long time that aspirin lowers the risk of bowel cancer, but we also know that not everyone gets the same degree of protection," said Professor Mark Jenkins, a co-author of the paper and Director of the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population and Global Health.

"The aim of this study was to investigate if genetic variation can be used to determine who will benefit from taking aspirin and who will not," he said.

For the study, Professors Jenkins, Hopper and collaborators analysed the combined data from ten large studies conducted in Australia, USA, Canada and Germany.

They compared genetic and lifestyle data from 8,624 people who developed bowel cancer with that of 8,553 people who did not.

An important component of this data included 1,085 participants from Australia who enrolled in the Australasian Colorectal Cancer Family Study.

"This study confirmed that for most people, taking regular aspirin and NSAIDs lowered their risk of bowel cancer, but it also showed that the benefit from taking these medicines was not the same for everyone, and one of the differences was in their DNA" said Professor Jenkins.

"While most people benefit from aspirin, there was DNA evidence that about 1 in 25 people do not, and in fact may increase their risk of bowel cancer if they take aspirin," Professor Jenkins said.

The above story is based on materials provided by University of Melbourne

 NHMRC funds better targeted cancer imaging and radiotherapy

25 March 2015

The National Health and Medical Research Council has funded clinical trials of a medical device that delivers better targeted radiotherapy for people with lung, breast and abdominal cancers.

Developed by a team from the University of Sydney, the 'Breathe Well' biofeedback device improves medical imaging and the pinpoint delivery of radiotherapy.

"Every breath we take is different and unpredictable," says Paul Keall, Director of the Radiation Physics Laboratory at the University of Sydney.

"When we're imaging cancers that are moving due to breathing, then this irregularity causes … errors in the images that we are using to target the cancer with radiation."

The biofeedback device helps patients breathe more regularly while undergoing imaging and radiotherapy - see video.

It does this by producing two images on a screen - a graphical representation of their usual, regular breathing pattern, and an image of their real-time breathing.

The patient watches the screen during imaging and radiotherapy and tries to match their breathing to their observed breathing profile.

"They essentially play a game to match their current breathing signal to the target wave form which has been selected for them," Professor Keall says.

Nine times out of ten, the mere act of breathing normally leads to significant imaging errors in the diagnosis and treatment planning for thoracic and abdominal cancers.

Dangerously, this often leads to imprecise radiation treatment because the beam will miss part of the tumour and hit surrounding healthy tissue instead.

Imprecise radiation treatment due to unpredictable breathing affects 5,000 lung cancer patients in Australia and an estimated 650,000 million lung cancer patients globally every year.

Helping patients breathe in a more predictable pattern improves the accuracy of imaging and the effectiveness of radiotherapy by increasing the amount of radiation that hits a tumour. It also reduces side effects because less radiation reached healthy tissue.

The new NHMRC grant will help the University of Sydney team led by professor Keall to conduct trials of the device in Australia, Europe, Asia and the United States over the next three years. It will also support further product development with a view to making the device widely available.

The device is expected to improve treatment of lung, breast, liver, pancreas and kidney cancers.

The team's grant is one of 18 NHMRC grants worth $12.9M awarded to University of Sydney researchers. These grants provided in the latest funding round are intended to help translate treatments from an idea in the lab to commercially viable products.

The grants are part of $123.5M in total NHMRC funding that will also support early career researchers and a range of collaborative projects.

 University of Sydney supports Human Rights Commission campaign

24 March 2015

The University of Sydney today renewed its pledge to support the Human Rights Commission's Racism. It stops with me campaign, which is designed to encourage Australians to reflect on their own role in countering racism.

Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner and University alumnus, Tim Soutphommasane, spoke at an event held on campus today to celebrate the University's commitment to the campaign and to promote respect and tolerance on campus.

The Vice-Chancellor Dr Michael Spence said the University was committed to strengthening inclusion and celebrating diversity.

"The University of Sydney values and respects the social, cultural and linguistic diversity of our academic and student community," Dr Spence said.

"Our campuses reflect Australia's vibrant multicultural communities, with students from more than 134 different countries studying at the University."

Dr Spence said the University's support of the Human Rights Commission's Racism. It stops with me campaign was part of a suite of initiatives to strengthen access and equity policies at the University.

"Racism damages individuals and communities and it is important that we join with others to take a stand against it," Dr Spence said.

"At the University of Sydney our shared purpose is to support researchers and students from all different backgrounds to thrive and realise their full potential. This binding purpose is clearly enshrined in the University's Strategic Plan 2011-15 and is a guiding goal of our institution."

The University of Sydney has demonstrated a strong commitment to promoting inclusion and is working to improve the representation of equity groups across the University's professional and academic positions.

"A strong equity and diversity policy is critical to ensure the University is globally competitive and in a strategic position to leverage the benefits of our diversity," Dr Spence said.

"As an institution we must continue to focus on how we as a community can continue to promote inclusion."

 Trauma and hope combine in Redlands art prize

25 MAR 2015 BY  FRAN STRACHAN

The Tampa incident and post-Cold War culture have provided rich inspiration for an academic-student pairing in the Redlands Art prize.

Scientia Professor Dennis Del Favero is one of 21 respected Australian artists selected to The Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize, which provides the opportunity for finalists to nominate an emerging contemporary artist to participate in the exhibition.

Master of Fine Arts candidate Tanya Dyhin was nominated by Professor Del Favero because of “her poetic and powerful approach to contemporary issues”.

“Tanya’s work engages with post-Cold War culture and society, which is rarely tackled in the Australian arts scene,” Del Favero said.

Dyhin said she was “absolutely delighted” to be nominated by Del Favero, whose work has been exhibited in major international museums and galleries, the Sydney Film Festival, Biennale of Architecture Rotterdam and the Biennial of Seville.

“It’s a great honour to be nominated by such an accomplished artist – I feel like I need to pinch myself,” she said.

Dyhin’s work Rebirth explores the feminine aspects of her Ukrainian culture and its impact on her identity.

Rebirth is a 162cm female skeleton covered in synthetic flowers similar to those used in the vinok – a floral wreath integral to the traditional Ukrainian costume.

“I used different coloured flowers to bring out the contours of the bones – I wanted to use a skeleton, such an obvious symbol of death, and transform it into something beautiful,” said Dyhin. “I’m hoping viewers will be reminded of themselves and their own mortality.”

Dyhin said the violent riots in the Ukrainian capital Kiev in November 2013 helped inform Rebirth.

“It struck a chord with me, people banding together so powerfully to drive social change – at the same time my Ukrainian grandfather died so it was a very emotional period.”

Del Favero’s Tampa, 2001 also deals with politics, memory and trauma.

The computer graphic installation explores the Howard Government's refusal to permit the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa, carrying 438 rescued refugees, to enter Australian waters in 2001.

The four-minute installation, which combines an original music score with archival audio from the battlefields of Afghanistan, gives a birds-eye view of a violent ocean through a circular, porthole projection.

“I’m trying to give viewers a sense of what the refugees would have experienced without being didactic or dogmatic,” said Del Favero, who said the installation is emblematic of the culture of fear Australians are now living in.

“People fleeing persecution are assumed to be guilty until proven innocent. My hope is to change the conversation from questions of legitimate border entry to questions of hospitality.”

UNSW Art & Design alumni Shaun Gladwell, Claire Healy and Sean Cordiero joined the strong contingent of Redlands finalists, along with 2014 Archibald Prize winner and Art & Design student Fiona Lowry.

The Redlands Prize runs from 26 March–23 May at the National Art School in Darlinghurst, with all works available for purchase except the two winning works.

Top: Tanya Dyhin - Rebirth (2015). 

 Admission Impossible by NFSA

Published on 25 Mar 2015

From the Film Australia Collection. Made by Film Australia 1992. Directed by Alec Morgan. For much of the 20th century, successive Australian governments pursued a policy of deporting and barring entry to any race of people they considered undesirable. This was known as the White Australia policy. Admission Impossible is the true story of the behind-the-scenes political forces and the propaganda campaigns that attempted to populate Australia with “pure white” migrants.

 Men and suicide: Know the warning signs

MAR 2015- BY  DAN WHEELAHAN

Men who feel suicidal often display distinctive warning signs, offering those closest to them significant opportunities to intervene, a study by UNSW researchers at the Black Dog Institute has found.

Men who feel suicidal often display distinctive warning signs, offering those closest to them significant opportunities to intervene, a study by UNSW researchers at the Black Dog Institute has found.

The Men’s Experiences with Suicidal Behaviour and Depression Project (PDF – 1.04 MB)  found there was an urgent need for more and better campaigns to educate the public about the warning signs and how to respond.

Funded by beyondblue and The Movember Foundation, the study was led by UNSW Associate Professor Judy Proudfoot and UNSW Scientia Professor Helen Christensen, chief scientist and director of the Black Dog Institute.

The research was based on face-to-face interviews and online surveys with more than 200 men across Australia who had recently attempted suicide, and 165 friends and families of men who had recently attempted to take their life.

It found four common characteristics among suicidal men: stoic beliefs about masculinity, depressed or disrupted mood, the presence of stressful situations, and a tendency to isolate socially and use coping mechanisms that avoid, prolong or worsen the issues.

“This important research and the four factors for men that it identifies adds to our knowledge and shows that suicidal distress can be observed and identified,” said beyondblue chief executive Georgie Harman.

“These factors interact and lead men to think they are a burden and imposing on others and ‘unmanly’ if they seek help from family and friends when, usually, nothing could be further from the truth.”

The research identified actions family members and friends could take to stop at-risk men attempting suicide, including ‘male bonding’ that prevents a downward spiral happening, and not leaving a man’s side when he is ‘acutely suicidal’.

Almost all of the surveyed men said support from someone they trusted and respected was important in interrupting a suicide attempt. Eight out of ten men said having someone listen with an open mind, rather than simply saying that everything would be OK, had also helped.

Professor Christensen said the results demonstrated that a diverse set of solutions is needed to ensure all people experiencing poor mental health are identified and received help.

“Building on health promotion programs such as beyondblue’s Man Therapy campaign and Movember, we now need to develop and deliver clinical solutions that are accessible to Australian men of all ages and backgrounds,” she said.

More than five men die by suicide every day in Australia, almost double the number killed in road accidents. Australian men are three times more likely to die by suicide than women.

If you think you or someone you care about may be suicidal, you can talk to trained mental health professionals 24/7 via the beyondblue Support Service on 1300 22 4636, via web chat from 3pm to midnight every night at www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support.