Latest news with #BlackSummer
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Government all at sea on toxic algae bloom
The Albanese government's refusal to declare South Australia's algae bloom a natural disaster is a curious echo of Scott Morrison's feeble excuse that he did not hold the hose during the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, a comment that both captured federal inaction in the face of catastrophe and helped torch his career. Four months ago, an algal bloom primarily caused by the microalgae Karenia mikimotoi was spotted in the waters off the Fleurieu Peninsula south of Adelaide, and has spread west to the Yorke Peninsula and east into the environmentally sensitive Coorong and across the mouth of the Murray River. Thousands of kilometres of South Australian beaches have been littered with dead sharks, rays, fish, dolphins and seals. Tourism has been devastated and the fishing industry is reeling. There are concerns, too, that prevailing currents could carry the bloom into Victorian or West Australian waters. Going down 20 metres beneath the waves, the algae bloom is already almost double the size of the ACT and may be the biggest to hit Australia's coast. The South Australian government, scientists and environmental groups called for help early, but Canberra remained distracted by the federal election until this week, when federal Environment Minister Murray Watt announced a $14 million assistance package, but resisted calls to declare a natural disaster. Watt admitted the bloom was a 'very serious environmental event' but it was wholly within South Australian-controlled waters and therefore did not meet the definition of a natural disaster. 'The Commonwealth natural disaster framework considers events like floods, cyclones and bushfires to be natural disasters, and if they are declared as such, they attract a range of funding,' Watt said. These are nearly always land-based natural disasters, and while past governments thought the sea out of bounds, climate change and pollution suggest the definition needs updating. Such blinkered vision no longer passes the pub test. Imagine the uproar if a similar-sized toxic algal bloom hit Sydney's beaches, with the carcasses of fish and marine animals lining the sand and people prevented from going into the water. Scientists believe the bloom may have resulted from a combination of nutrient-rich water from 2022 floods that flowed through the Murray-Darling system, the current SA drought, and a marine heatwave last September that pushed sea temperatures 2.5 degrees above normal. Loading While the funding announced by Watt is welcome, most of it will probably go towards helping fishers and tourist operators, with money for research a distant afterthought. While coral reefs attract attention and funding, researching the algae bloom in the Great Southern Reef system along the bottom of Australia is expensive science, not least because of the depth of the water.
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Could Melbourne survive as a megacity? Play this game to find out
The year is 2050. You're strolling around Melbourne's CBD, now a sprawling megacity filled with 8 million people. This metropolis, once intact and packed with promise, has been battered by flash floods and extreme heat. Familiar places like the Metro Tunnel have become submerged in water, eels swimming to and fro. This isn't the plot of the latest dystopian blockbuster, rather it's the premise of Open House Melbourne's first ever citywide urban role-playing event. Conceptualised by urban play scholar Troy Innocent, Reworlding Naarm will invite groups of 16 people to tour Victoria's capital city alongside experienced game-masters who will describe a future city in need. Combining augmented reality, immersive sound and storytelling, each group will grapple with the question: when one world collapses, how do we build the next? 'It's a matter of learning from place,' Innocent says. 'It's about accepting there is a crisis, but rather than thinking 'every person for themselves', or waiting for somebody to come along and save the day, it's about thinking, 'how can we collectively respond to this? How could we bring people together to explore ways to reimagine and remake our cities over the next decade – to be responsive and adaptive to change?'' Reworlding Naarm came from the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Summer bushfires. While play-testing another project, Innocent says he began to smell the smoke, and suddenly the crises around him felt incredibly real. But instead of catastrophising, Innocent says he invested his energy into creating an event in which the core mechanics are possibility and hope. Players – who can either play their future selves or someone else entirely – will be given a handful of marbles to represent this hope, which they can lose over time as extreme heat, flash floods and other events occur along the way. If you lose all your marbles, and therefore all hope, the group will leave you behind and your game ends. Innocent began smaller-scale, creating Reworlding: Cardigan Commons, which physically transformed Cardigan Street in Carlton into a future Melbourne. Now, Reworlding has expanded to encapsulate the entire inner-city. For many of the participants, Innocent says this could be the first time they have engaged with place in a multisensory, complex way since they were children. This kind of urban role-playing – which blends familiar, contemporary urban settings with fantastical elements – offers an opportunity to bring imaginative play into adulthood, something that has proven to be regenerative and joyful rather than anxiety-inducing. For example, a dilapidated building could be reimagined as an urban garden, or a submerged shopping centre could become regenerated wetlands.
The Age
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Could Melbourne survive as a megacity? Play this game to find out
The year is 2050. You're strolling around Melbourne's CBD, now a sprawling megacity filled with 8 million people. This metropolis, once intact and packed with promise, has been battered by flash floods and extreme heat. Familiar places like the Metro Tunnel have become submerged in water, eels swimming to and fro. This isn't the plot of the latest dystopian blockbuster, rather it's the premise of Open House Melbourne's first ever citywide urban role-playing event. Conceptualised by urban play scholar Troy Innocent, Reworlding Naarm will invite groups of 16 people to tour Victoria's capital city alongside experienced game-masters who will describe a future city in need. Combining augmented reality, immersive sound and storytelling, each group will grapple with the question: when one world collapses, how do we build the next? 'It's a matter of learning from place,' Innocent says. 'It's about accepting there is a crisis, but rather than thinking 'every person for themselves', or waiting for somebody to come along and save the day, it's about thinking, 'how can we collectively respond to this? How could we bring people together to explore ways to reimagine and remake our cities over the next decade – to be responsive and adaptive to change?'' Reworlding Naarm came from the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Summer bushfires. While play-testing another project, Innocent says he began to smell the smoke, and suddenly the crises around him felt incredibly real. But instead of catastrophising, Innocent says he invested his energy into creating an event in which the core mechanics are possibility and hope. Players – who can either play their future selves or someone else entirely – will be given a handful of marbles to represent this hope, which they can lose over time as extreme heat, flash floods and other events occur along the way. If you lose all your marbles, and therefore all hope, the group will leave you behind and your game ends. Innocent began smaller-scale, creating Reworlding: Cardigan Commons, which physically transformed Cardigan Street in Carlton into a future Melbourne. Now, Reworlding has expanded to encapsulate the entire inner-city. For many of the participants, Innocent says this could be the first time they have engaged with place in a multisensory, complex way since they were children. This kind of urban role-playing – which blends familiar, contemporary urban settings with fantastical elements – offers an opportunity to bring imaginative play into adulthood, something that has proven to be regenerative and joyful rather than anxiety-inducing. For example, a dilapidated building could be reimagined as an urban garden, or a submerged shopping centre could become regenerated wetlands.
West Australian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Anthony Albanese receives light-hearted dressing down for Contiki-tour look during Great Wall of China visit
Anthony Albanese has received a light-hearted dressing down for dressing down on his visit to the Great Wall of China on Wednesday. Some media commented that he looked more like a Contiki-tour traveller than a Prime Minister, in stark contrast to his fiance Jodie Haydon who received plaudits for her costume choices throughout the six day trip. She made a fashion nod to her hosts at the Great Wall by wearing a $599 short-sleeve midi-dress with a floral print and mandarin collar by Leo Lin. 'As an Australian-Chinese brand, we are thrilled to see Jodie Haydon wearing Leo Lin in Leo's home country,' said Laura Good, head of brand at Leo Lin. Walking alongside her, Mr Albanese opted for a light blue polo shirt and baseball cap of his beloved South Sydney Rabbitohs. There were also comments on social media deriding his casual attire as unstatesman-like. But others pointed out it would be too stuffy climbing the steps in anything more formal, especially on a hot day. There were negative comments about him looking even more blokey — wearing a Hawthorn Football Club shirt — when visiting visited a panda conservation centre in Chengdu on Thursday. But what is an Australian PM meant to wear to the zoo? Mr Albanese, who was similarly chided for wearing an Akubra to Pope Leo XIV's inauguration mass, will no doubt care more about whether his trip achieved its delicately navigated political aims. Some commentators pointed out his casual style, akin to many other Australian men in their 60s, and approachable ordinary-bloke persona was part of his political appeal and a factor in his stunning election victory in May. His predecessor Scott Morrison endured his own fashion critics and was accused of having a 'daggy dad' dress sense, when not in a suit. He also never lived down the loud tropical shirt he wore while holidaying in Hawaii during the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires. Like Mr Albanese, Mr Morrison was fond of polo shirts and baseball caps, albeit for the Cronulla Sharks. Another former Liberal PM Tony Abbott had an excuse for his frequent over-exposure in budgie smugglers and lycra — it was an authentic accoutrement of his sporting hobbies. Former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was a leader in fashion diplomacy on the international stage. The Perth politician and social queen made a point of supporting Australian designers at home and abroad. On the male side, few Australian leaders have looked as effortlessly stylish as former US president Barack Obama, who frequently appeared in GQ, Esquire and Vanity Affair. Paul Keating and Malcolm Turnbull and Paul Keating came closest, with their bespoke suits giving them extra presence when representing their country.
ABC News
12-07-2025
- General
- ABC News
Heritage huts remain in ruins after bushfires despite government promises
More than five years after being destroyed by the Black Summer bushfires, Demandering Hut and Max and Bert Oldfields Hut in the ACT's Namadgi National Park remain burnt-out, fenced-off ruins, despite government promises to build two new structures in remembrance of them.
