Dr Riona Tindal Senior Disability Advisor — DSSP Student Disability and Accessibility, Student Success Student Life, Griffith University
Relying on Auslan interpreters can be empowering and disempowering at the same time. You just must trust they will translate what you are saying correctly, and you are constantly monitoring what the audience is responding to the voice over. When you see an expression on the faces start to happen out of context with what you are signing, you feel that dreaded hot feeling rush over your face, start to sweat, start to feel sick, and quickly you have to decide if you need to stop and ask the interpreter to repeat back to you what they voiced over, or switch over to different signing, and try to gloss over the faux pas.
The Good
Deciding which interpreter best works with you, then the anxiety of waiting for agencies who are booked. The interpreters are the conduit of powerful communication… but, but, but… it only works if they are good, only works if they are talented, only works if they have a great Auslan contextual grasp of the lexicon. Your meetings, your presentations, your comments — it can go in either direction of being awesome or awkward or bigger faux pas.
You struggle to find the appropriate words in Auslan, especially when you are hard wired for English language, not Auslan language, which has its own grammar and structure. It is a very rich evolving sign language, expanding its scope of specific jargonised vocabulary. It means I am bilingual. I think in two languages every day.
The Bad
The costs to access interpreters in the workplace is prohibitive and not adequately funded, as an example:
In the workplace, the Employment Assistant Fund (EAF also known as Job Access) provides a minimal $6k for interpreting support over a calendar year, in comparison to supports provided by the NDIS of $20k-50K a year (for interpreting outside of the work environment).
Working life is 38 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, give or take. Personal life use of NDIS interpreters is average 3-4 hours a week over 52 weeks. When I asked if we could apply to increase funds, Job Access said — use captions or noter takers as this is cheaper — and it was my responsibility to manage the EAF funds — yes, they said that, and I have the email to prove this! The funding level remains unchanged since my first job in 1991 with EAF — I have changed jobs many times and my EAF account travels with me, and the evidence required to prove how deaf I am, has been done already long ago, a humiliating process of measuring your deafness and your speech capacity.
Ok, I don’t mind captions, but how can I participate in a conversation? It is very awkward when I am part of a group conversation, workshop or webinar, and the organiser didn’t factor in any interpreter access, saying captioning is universally accessible.
I can read people talking… then my own whole world comes to a screeching halt when they ask me a question. I must gesture, “look down”… pointing at the chat function and gesture “type” in the chat, and proceed to type. Often, they don’t see this, and they keep talking on, looking confused. Sometimes out of sheer embarrassment, I write on a piece of paper and state: Check the chat function please: but sometimes they are so audio based and do not “see”, and I feel myself shrinking in dismay, as the opportunity for participating is gone. I am often left feeling very annoyed, frustrated with tears, or just quit the whole workshop.
As a Deaf person, you have intelligence, but your speech does not always work well as a conduit of your thoughts, and therefore, bad speech automatically delegates you to dumbness, a low IQ and makes communication awkward, slow, difficult, too hard or too tiring…
You have thousands of words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters, books worth of information, stories to tell in your head… but you can’t get them out.
The Ugly
Auslan Interpreters… I love and resent them, as they present power that we have to rely on — good interpreters never make you feel inferior, but more as allies. There are those who prefer to accept work, only if there is travel time included, and for a minimum 2 hours interpreting, some won’t accept a job because it is too far, too late, too early, too inconvenient, too tiring, “I don’t like that interpreter working with me, I can’t stand him/her”. You see your NDIS drain rather quickly, so you have to find local interpreters, and have to tolerate less satisfactory interpreters if the preferred ones are not available.
If an interpreter is readily available, you instantly become suspicious inwardly, and wonder if this is because this interpreter is not good enough and more available. These awful unhelpful thoughts swirl around your head. In my defence, they are available because they were cancelled by other agencies and had time to be booked.
I become friends with a lot of interpreters, as they do share a rather personal part of your life, which is a privilege to have, yet you must trust them to keep it confidential and hope they do. There is a lot of trust in that. I enjoy the deaf time. When interpreters charge such a high fee, you can’t help but think a few things. They must be good, they must be not getting enough work and must charge higher, they have it easy, and want to ride on our NDIS gravy train, or they are so good and am happy to pay them that much.
Interpreters are extremely valuable, but they are nothing without us, and we can’t voice well without them, so we need to work together as allies. Diversity, flexibility, and support go both ways.
That is a lot of burden. I am tired.
This week, for our very first Inclusive Futures: Reimagining Disability Blog, we are joined by a selection of guests who represent the Deaf and hard of hearing community as part of the National Week of Deaf People (NWDP).
An initiative of Deaf Australia, the National Week of Deaf People is a week-long national celebration of Deaf individuals and the Australian Deaf community, which includes celebrating the International Week of Deaf People (IWDP) and International Day of Sign Languages (IDSL), which are initiatives of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFDEAF).
Deaf Fatigue: The Longest Day
Cathy Easte
Cathy Easte
Manager, Student Disability and Accessibility, Student Success, Griffith University
Some days I go home so exhausted, one would think I was physically lifting boxes all day. I am tired, too tired to chat, to focus or interact with others. I just zone out — which in summer months I might do by gardening late in the afternoon or early evening (something physical), maybe even walking my dogs, or vegging out in front of the TV for an hour or so…
I am not tired from physical work, but tired from trying to fill in the blanks in communication gaps all day long. Listening fatigue, concentration fatigue, Deaf fatigue (whatever the term — they mean the same thing) — listening can be mentally and physically exhausting and not just challenging, if you cannot hear. It takes a lot of energy to be attentive, lipread, process words not heard correctly (words you may never have fully heard in your lifetime) and constructing meaning from what you have heard — filling in the blanks… your mind can be processing a lot — then you must also reply, and participate in meetings, and in a lot of situations also look and sound intelligent. It does not matter how deaf or hard of hearing you are — even with mild hearing losses the fatigue can be as real. It sucks.
Communication and C(r)aptions
I cannot count the number of times I have missed the opportunity to share my expertise or look intelligent to others due to missed communication. Or the number of times I have been misunderstood by my responses, or the times I have said something so late in the communication trail I receive weird looks. The times I have spoken, and someone is still speaking, and I am unaware (embarrassing when it is your superiors you do this with). It can be harder if you are a deaf person with good speech, as it is almost guaranteed that others will often forget you are deaf. The days I have back-to-back meetings and the only access I have all day is auto captions — or none — are the hardest.
As a Deaf person with good speech, my needs can often be overlooked. Many will assume auto captions work well — but some days, for whatever reason the captions just do not work. These past two weeks, there have been four important meetings where I was going to rely on auto-captions, and they just did not work — I logged out and in again and tried everything — no captions at all — that is the worst. If I am in the office, I cannot turn the computer sound up loud enough to enable me to understand some (lipreading and auditory clues) — without captions, as that would disturb others — so I am stuck lip reading alone, gleaning what I can from PowerPoints — turning on captions on my phone or other options, while missing about 10 minutes or more of the meeting, trying to establish access. It is even harder to fill in blanks or know if auto captions are correct or not, when one has missed a significant chunk of a meeting / interaction.
Auto-captions are also not always accurate, which is why many refer to them as craptions (crap captions). You really need to use them regularly to notice the ‘crap’. They have improved significantly in recent years and are a good back up for when there is no other access. Real captions, generated by a real human listening and typing the captions are more accurate — I say more, not fully. Yes, they can be significantly more accurate, but they are typed using a stenotype machine with a phonetic keyboard and special software — they are still behind in time to real time speech, and phonetic typing can still lend itself to errors. A Deaf person is trying to watch the captions and the people speaking at the same time and this is still more mentally taxing — they also still need to fill in the blanks, adjust the errors (typically with workplace jargon the captioner is unaware of). Even with access it is more mentally taxing, than just listening. When there is a meeting with numerous speakers — even more so — as you do not hear changes in voice, do not see the facial expressions only words on a screen. All this makes it so hard to know, if the person is joyful or annoyed or sarcastic or any other emotion — spoken words typed verbatim on a screen do not convey the emotion expressed in tone, and on a face — and you are trying to watch both at the same time.
Auslan, Interpreters, Captioning and the Big Sting $$$
I am much more relaxed when I have Auslan interpreters for access. Auslan interpreting conveys the emotion in the speech and thus one does not have to mentally fill in the blacks as much — still we need to watch who is talking, trying to keep pace with who is saying what — but it is much easier than words on a screen. There is a shortage of Auslan Interpreters in Australia — so this is not always possible in all my meetings. I cannot plan to have such support, captions or Auslan Interpreting, in all my meetings as I am limited to $6,000 in support every calendar year. That does not go far at all. Job Access, the Federal Government Support for workers with disability — caps the amount of Auslan or Captioning support at $6,000 per individual every year. It’s been the same for 18 years — never increased along with Interpreter and captioner wages and CPI, zero increases! All other disabilities and equipment support costs have increased and Job Access has paid these increases — just not with Interpreting or Captioning.
This week alone I have 12 meetings, 14 hours of time in meetings — if I booked captioning for all these meetings, I would be spending over $2,600 in a single week. If I booked Auslan Interpreters, I would be spending up towards $4,000 — as I need book two interpreters for a minimum of two hours each (even for one-hour meetings). I could schedule and shuffle meetings and sometimes, in shorter meetings, try for a single interpreter and lessen that to around $3,000 — but still… you see, my support dollars will be exhausted rather quickly. I can access more hours and dollars in my NDIS plan for Auslan Interpreting for leisure, than I can for work supports (note: just think I am at work more days than I am not in a calendar year) — this is wrong — it really makes the statement (intentionally or unintentionally), that we do not really want people with disability in the workforce, particularly in professional or leadership roles. This is why Deaf staff go to meetings without support or rely on minimal support (craptions for example). We are forced into these situations, or would have to decide to have only three weeks of support if we are in professional careers, three weeks in a 12-month period!
Forging a Career in an Inaccessible World
Dylan Alcott at the Federal Government’s National Jobs Summit recently, made the statement “Some people want a job, for sure, but do you know what else some people want? They want a career. They want a leadership position.” In leadership positions, we want to be supported to showcase our best selves. I can be more than I am — but I do not have the access those with hearing have. Access is more than captioning and Interpreting — it is also understanding and partnership with those with differing needs. Partnership in allowing plenty of notice for arranging supports, partnership in taking things slower at times to allow participation and response. To not speak all at the same time, to watch the auto-captions yourself in some meetings so you know when they are wrong for your colleagues. Pause. Take breaks in meetings, between sentences, between speakers, limit the background noises, use only captioned videos and perhaps ask your deaf colleagues how to help them in meetings. To understand in back-to-back meetings are a nightmare, and Friday late afternoons are the worse in energy levels to follow important meetings.
I can walk out my front door and put up a wall, a persona that allows me to function — hopefully appearing as a successful leader in my field — in an inaccessible world. I will feel uncertain in hearing environments, feel anxious even, and I will not always successfully mask this, such is not a great look in a leadership role, sigh. Just remember it is not always because I can’t — it is because I do not have the access. I am comfortable as a Deaf person — just not always at ease in a hearing environment. Even though I speak very well, I am more comfortable with Auslan Interpreting support, though I use this sparingly as there are limited interpreters available and I choose to leave this for those where this is an only option for access — or for students studying who really do need this support.
Just don’t judge us, we are not lazy, rude, or indifferent. It is just a lifetime of missed social engagements and missed communication gaps that can leave a void (in knowledge and communication) and we are mentally working hard behind the scenes trying to fill the void.
A new smart planter is set to provide a simple and efficient way to green buildings and surfaces where conventional planting is impossible.
Griffith University PhD student Majed Abuseif has just been announced as a finalist in the QBE AcceliCITY Resilience Challenge for his project using artificial intelligence and simulation models to incorporate green infrastructure into building and the urban environment.
The global competition seeks entrepreneurs whose ventures use smart city solutions to address risk, equity and sustainability in our urban environments and has narrowed it down to the ten best solutions.
Working as an architect and landscape architect, Mr Abuseif’s PhD focuses on the implementation of trees on buildings, and building science and environmental simulations.
The smart planter box
“The smart planter box enables us to green buildings and surfaces, indoors or outdoors, in any environment,” he said.
“It is a novel modular system capable of supporting standard plants and trees.”
Scientists have been trying to redress the growing ecological imbalance caused by urban development by incorporating certain types of green infrastructure such as green roofs and walls, but unfortunately the technologies available to date have been limited and need infrastructure to host them.
Putting plants on buildings generally presents risks that hinder their implementation, such as plant roots, wind loads, waterproofing, irrigation requirements and other problems.
Mr Abuseif engaged with industry partners and worldwide experts trying to integrate trees on buildings by incorporating rooftop gardens.
“I found some traditional technologies that could be used on buildings, then started developing a design based on a modular system that can be put on any surface and any location,” he said.
“The planter box can be integrated into existing infrastructure, or act as a stand-alone planter.
“It can calculate anything the green infrastructure needs — from the amount of water the plant needs, to the temperature of the leaves, or even how it will perform inside the built environment.”
The system can even be connected to Smart Cities and Smart Building models, so councils and developers can obtain better insights on climate change and urban heat islands to help with development of mitigation strategies.
Mr Abuseif said the smart planter box is a closed system so it can mimic any environment.
“We could put this system in a forest and develop it to mimic a bushfire situation, so when there is a risk of a bushfire it will give us the alarm and we could act before a disaster happens,” he said
“Because the system has a water compartment, it can harvest water, so it can also help mitigate stormwater flooding issues in the city.
“We can even use this system to predict the energy consumption of buildings, and to validate the environment aspect of a building.
“Architects will be able to use this as a design tool and a research tool, which will help in designing sustainable buildings as well as monitoring them.
“The next step is to deliver my skills and design for people around the world, helping to save our planet and enhancing people’s lifestyles.“
Griffith University has received more than $1.7 million in funding for four Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA) announced by the Federal Minister for Education and Youth,the Hon Jason Clare MP this week.
“This is an outstanding achievement and these researchers are to be congratulated,” Professor Evans said.
“Their diverse projects will produce high-impact research for the betterment of Australia and the world.”
Dr Dominique de Andrade (Griffith Criminology Institute, AEL) awarded $442,723 for the project: Violent offenders in the night-time economy: Building the evidence. Alcohol-related violence in entertainment precincts is a significant community safety problem. This project aims to improve knowledge on individuals that are violent in entertainment precincts. It is expected to be the first study globally to use linked data to develop multi-system informed offending trajectories of violent offenders in these settings, examine the impact of patrons bans on offending trajectories, and apply situational action theory to alcohol-related violence. Results are expected to inform a critical knowledge gap and assist in the development of targeted violence preventive responses which reduce harm and make communities safer.
Dr Christopher Ndehedehe (Australian Rivers Institute, Sciences) awarded $428,000 for the project: Assessing the impacts of droughts and water extraction on groundwater. This project aims to develop a novel framework that uses big data from satellites to assess the impacts of droughts and water extraction on groundwater resources in Australia, currently poorly understood and difficult to monitor. This project expects to generate new insights into the mechanisms driving changes in groundwater availability and identify risks from sustained groundwater extraction. Expected outcomes include a new national capability to assess and monitor groundwater resources from space and providing data for government, farmers, communities and traditional owners to better prepare for future droughts, increase disaster preparedness, and sustainably manage groundwater resources in a changing climate.
Dr Fiona Foley (Creative Arts Research Institute, AEL) awarded $454,705 for the project: Investigating the agency of Aboriginal Frontier War memorials. This project aims to unite conflicting versions of Australian history by investigating the impact and effectiveness of Australian Aboriginal Frontier War memorials. It will expand our understanding of the shared sacrifices by First Nation and settler Australians during the frontier war and demonstrate the reconciliatory potential of memorialising art informed by Indigenous oral history and creative arts research and practice. The social and cultural benefits include developing a new understanding of the historical construction of Australian national identity and the potential of Indigenous art to transform the function ofAustralian military monuments as well as a permanent archive of short documentary films and publication.
Dr Fan Zhang (Cities Research Institute, Sciences)awarded $435,232 for the project: Quantifying thermal environmental impact on office productivity. This project aims to quantify thermal environmental impacts on office productivity. It expects to firmly dismiss the prevailing misbelief that an indoor temperature of 22 °C leads to maximum workplace productivity, and create a paradigm shift in building management practice in commercial buildings. Expected outcomes of this project include a novel productivity metric, a standard measurement protocol for assessing thermal environmental impacts on office productivity, and world first indoor thermal environmental control guidelines tailored to diverse cognitive activities in the workplaces of different industries. This should provide cost-effective solutions to reduce building energy use while maintaining optimum workforce productivity.
Researchers have shed light on the story behind a large sandstone rock art site in Central Queensland that features seven star-like designs, large snake-like designs, six-toed human feet and even a penis.
Case-hardened floor surface with 19 engraved human-like feet with varying numbers of toes. (Image: P. Taçon)
The team estimated the site contained more than 15,000 individual rock art works (known as petroglyphs), which consisted mostly of animal tracks, lines, grooves and drilled holes, as well as 111 hand-related and object stencils.
Unique compositions on the shelter wall featured seven large, engraved star-like designs with central engraved pits and large, engraved snake-like designs running across and through other petroglyphs.
There was also a cluster of human-shaped foot petroglyphs on the floor of the shelter, some with six or more toes.
“Ten clusters of designs spread across the length of the engraved area of Marra Wonga appear to have been placed in a particular order, from south to north, although the designs were likely made at different times, with an accumulation of these clusters and other rock markings over time,” Professor Tacon said.
“However, the order makes sense for contemporary Aboriginal community members as different parts of a Seven Sisters Dreaming story, in the correct sequence.
“This consists of:
an anthropomorph interpreted as an Ancestral Being known as Wattanuri by Iningai and other elders;
a snake-like design;
a cluster of engraved feet on the floor including those with six-toes;
an engraved ‘penis’;
seven star-like design cluster;
a long engraved snake;
two red boomerang stencils one above the other;
a red digging stick stencil, stencilled tips and possible ring pad stencil;
engraved human-like feet and dingo track;
an engraved star-like design.”
The central Marra Wonga panel featuring seven star-like designs clustered in three rows interpreted by Aboriginal community members as representations of the Seven Sisters. (Image: P. Taçon)
Seven Sisters stories the world over share many features including a connection with the Pleiades star cluster and the Orion constellation, the seven sisters being chased by men or a man, and sometimes a hunter and/or clever man associated with Orion, who loved and/or lusted after one or more of the sisters.
For Marra Wonga it is interpreted as being Wattanuri and there is an engraved depiction of him at the southern end of the site.
Some of the Seven Sisters stories have an unpleasant or violent side, but Professor Tacon said this depiction of the actions of the sisters and their pursuer in an ancient era of the Dreamtime led to the creation of landscape features across Australia that remain today.
“All rock art sites have or once had stories associated with particular designs and the sites themselves, as well as the landscapes they are a part of,” Professor Tacon said.
Engraved penis and boomerangs to the immediate left of the seven star-like designs interpreted as the Seven Sisters. (Image: P. Taçon)
“But we know of no other rock art site anywhere in the world with a narrative that runs across the entirety of the site.
“It is very rare in the world today to have detailed ethnographic perspectives to sit alongside archaeological description, although in Australia we are fortunate that some remain strong, as with Marra Wonga.”
The team partnered with Yambangku Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Tourism Development Aboriginal Corporation (YACHATDAC) to perform this research.
The findings ‘Marra Wonga: Archaeological and contemporary First Nations interpretations of one of central Queensland’s largest rock art sites’ have been published in Australian Archaeology.
Griffith University has been named as the only United Nations (UN) Millennium Fellows Campus in the country for 2022.
It is the third year in a row the University has been given the honour and is one of only 200 universities chosen globally.
Griffith Vice Chancellor and President Professor Carolyn Evans
Vice Chancellor and President Professor Carolyn Evans said the fellowship program focused on the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is one of the priorities of Griffith and aligns strongly with Griffith’s values.
“I am proud that Griffith is the only Australian university to be designated as a UN Millennium Fellows Campus for 2022 as the SDGs are front-of-mind with everything we do,” Professor Evans said.
“Sustainability is a core value of Griffith University and a key initiative of the Creating a future for all–Strategic Plan 2020-2025.
“As such, we have a strong commitment to the SDGs and strive to create a robust, equitable and environmentally sustainable society.
“The fellowship program also provides an incredible opportunity for our students to strengthen skills and connections, while working to making the world a better place.”
Bachelor of Business innovation student Wilma Brand and Bachelor of Health Science student Leila Emily Murray have been named at Griffith’s UN Millennium Fellows Class of 2022 Campus Directors.
“I joined the Millennium Fellowship because I want to be an agent of change,” Leila Emily said.
“I hope to bring about tangible impact on campus and in the community by participating in sustainability projects.
“I believe that joining this program creates a path for me to volunteer worldwide and be able to touch lives of people from all walks of life.
“With the common motivation of advancing the SDGs, a series of social movements from students like us can ignite partnerships and therefore collectively address our common need of having climate action breakthroughs.”
Griffith Honours College Program Coordinator Kim Holmes congratulated the 20 Millennium Fellows.
“This international fellowship is an amazing opportunity for students to work across disciplines on social impact projects that are aligned to the UN SDGs,” Ms Holmes said.
“Being recognised internationally for their leadership potential, this program gives Griffith University students the chance to connect with like-minded students from around the world.”
Griffith University’s 2022 Millennium Fellows
Eden Annesley
Wilma Brand
Angus Brawley
Jade Campbell
Bethany Cramb
Kerry Dickson
Margo Doherty
Zali Fisher
Louise Hauser
Lucinta Holmes
Courtney McCreery
Renee Medland
Lauren Midgley
Leon Mojarrabi
Leila Emily Murray
Sophie Nakamura
Brianna Palmer
Isaac Reed
Shayna Spencer
Kirstie Starr
Focusing on the sustainability of ParaSport within the Pacific region and developing the skills of para-athletes will be a key focus of the Oceania Olympic and Paralympic Network being hosted at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus from 17-19 September.
The three-day strategic workshop will see key stakeholders come together including the Vice President and Board Members of the International Paralympic Committee, as well as key representatives from the Oceania Paralympic Committee Board, Paralympics Australia, Paralympics New Zealand, Oceania Olympic Committee.
Dr Caroline Riot
Key partners will present at the Workshop and provide insights including aspirations of the Pacific Games Council, Commonwealth Games Federation, Gold Coast City Council and Gold Coast Performance Centre.
Director of Games Engagement and Partnerships for 2032 Dr Caroline Riot said the focus of the weekend is on the core strategic pillars of Governance, Development and Partnerships, and that the hope is to have 17 Oceania countries represented at the Paralympic Games in 2032.
“We want to see more Oceania countries getting involved in para-sport and building capability in the region by drawing on Griffith experts from the Inclusive Futures Beacon,” Dr Riot said.
“This will be a great opportunity to discuss the development of the next strategy for Paralympic sport in Oceania with the ultimate goal of seeing more athletes from the region competing at an international level.”
The workshop follows a successful Birmingham Commonwealth Games campaign by the Griffith University and Commonwealth Games Federation led-GAPS program (Gather, Adjust, Prepare, Sustain).
Snapped in Birmingham! Dr Caroline Riot Hamish Fejo (Australian High Commission), Julie Heckscher (Deputy High Commissioner) and Griffith’s Dr Clare Minahan.
Griffith Associate Professor Clare Minahan said GAPS offers emerging Pacific athletes and coaches access to additional skills, knowledge and resources.
“The aim is to advance education and support the development of inclusive sport pathways that promotes positive social change in sport and communities,” Associate Professor Minahan said.
“We had 50 athletes competing in 58 events at the Birmingham Games, six of those athletes were appointed flag bearers.
“The GAPS para-athletes had a great games winning nine medals include one gold, four silver and four bronze.
“They achieved 15 personal best times, and smashed one World Record and one Games record, a brilliant result!
“Who knows what talent we could unearth by getting more countries involves in the GAPS program.”
China’s President Xi Jinping was swift to send his condolences to King Charles III on the passing of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II last week. Noting that the Queen was the first member of the Royal family to visit China in 1986, Xi also pointed to his hope for productive bilateral relations in the years ahead.
But with the significant shift in British leadership underway— not only a change in the royal monarch, but also with a new Prime Minister, Liz Truss coming into the role—what are the prospects for the UK-China relationship going forward?
At best, it’s likely that the relationship will continue to follow the unsurprisingly uneven path worn by successive leaders. Britain will no doubt continue some form cautious engagement with the more assertive China on global issues, while seeking to maintain the precarious balance between security interests and economic opportunity, including in the Indo-Pacific.
China, on the other hand, showing signs of re-engaging with the post-Covid world, appears to be shoring up support for its global leadership role in other parts of the world.
A complicated relationship
While Queen Elizabeth’s visit to China was a highlight in the uneasy relationship, other royal visits have been few and far between.
King Charles’ engagement with China over past decades reveals the complexities at play. He has never been to mainland China, though he did attend the handover ceremony for Hong Kong in 1997. Notably, he sidestepped Chinese state visits to Britain, first in 1999 and again in 2015, although on the latter occasion did meet privately with Xi Jinping and his wife. Some suggest his friendship with the Dalai Lama and concerns about human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet, have complicated his view of China’s leadership.
By contrast, his brother Prince Andrew has been a more enthusiastic supporter of the UK’s engagement with China. Though not in a royal capacity. As Britain’s Special Envoy for Trade and Investment (2001-2011) he visited China several times, with the primary focus of building economic ties.
Heir to the throne, Prince William also generated much excitement amongst Chinese audiences during his 2015 visit. With scheduled appointments ranging from an audience with Xi Jinping to attending the Chinese premieré of the movie Paddington, he also took the opportunity, from an elephant sanctuary in Yunnan to call on China to change its stance on ivory trade.
As he takes to the throne, there are signs that Charles—perhaps considering his own legacy—will cultivate engagement. Speaking to influential Chinese government and corporate audiences over the past year—he is actively highlighting China’s role and advocating for its leadership on the big global issues of the day—especially those that are a priority for him: climate change and biodiversity loss. Just how effective this charm offensive will be, is anyone’s guess.
U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss
Political tensions and the domestic agenda
Meanwhile, on the political scene, incoming Prime Minister Liz Truss has signalled that she is prepared to take more hawkish approach in advancing Britain’s relationship with China. It’s an approach that no doubt also reflects increased pressure from Britain’s transatlantic ally, the United States.
But there’s no straightforward path ahead for the conservative Truss. Deepening economic woes, cost of living pressures and a looming energy crisis mean that she will be under pressure to deliver better outcomes for British households as a priority. Maintaining a healthy trade relationship with China—including through lucrative international education and tourism services—is a likely to be critical piece in her agenda.
Amidst the current leadership turbulence, Chinese diplomats remain sanguine. Whether Xi Jinping receives or accepts an invitation to the Queen’s state funeral next week—an event likely to attract some 500 foreign dignitaries from across the glove—is likely to be of little consequence.
Looking ahead however, pressure on the bilateral relationship is set to intensify. As they move past the 50-year anniversary of diplomatic relations, leaders on both sides will be thinking closely about what this milestone now signifies in the context of their shifting domestic narratives and global ambitions.
Author
Professor Caitlin Byrne is Pro Vice Chancellor (Business) at Griffith University. Caitlin began her professional career as a diplomat with the Australian Government and has worked across senior leadership roles in government, industry and community to become recognised as one of Australia’s leading academic-practitioners with a focus on international policy and diplomatic practice.
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Blending science with indigenous knowledge of changing wetlands
Like much of the world, wetlands in Australia face unprecedented challenges due to climate change and other human activities. Invasive species, increase in temperatures, variability in rainfall and water extraction are all negatively affecting wetland health and people’s relationship to the environment.
With the health and expanse of wetlands in decline worldwide, there is an urgent need to improve their management and bolster restoration activities. At a minimum, wetlands deemed of international importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands require baseline assessment of their baseline and ongoing monitoring. Satellite earth observations and drones can be powerful tools for this type of wetlands monitoring; however, they do have limitations when it comes to spatial range and availability over time.
A key way to confront these limitations and help improve the success wetland management and restoration is to bring together a western scientific analysis of changes in wetland water, soil and vegetation, with indigenous long-term knowledge of the landscape that can fill information gaps.
Our current research shows how a spatial imagery visualisation tool that detects long-term (1988 – 2021) changes to wetland coverage, when combined with indigenous knowledge, can improve our understanding of the baseline wetland conditions, how the wetlands have changed over time and provides a means for their ongoing monitoring.
In various wetlands around Australia, we compared the results obtained using a spatial imagery tool with the local observations of Traditional Owners and found that the two forms of information followed similar trends and complemented each other, providing a very valuable monitoring tool to manage the problems wetlands like those on Stradbroke Island are currently facing.
Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island)
Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island), a sand island of high wetland diversity, is the home of the Nunukul, Ngugi and Goenpul people who have inhabited the island for over 25,000 years. Due to the natural filtering capacity of the island’s sand and its healthy wetlands, the water the island produces is of very high quality, requiring little treatment. For this reason, SEQWater sources more than 50% of the water needed for Redlands Council from Minjerribah, a whopping 8,250 ML every year. With the population continuing to grow the Elders of Minjerribah are concerned about the effects this water extraction is having on the wetlands. They are especially concerned about those of cultural importance like Bummiera or Brown Lake, one of the few unique dune or perched lakes of eastern Queensland, which they have reported to be diminishing in size.
Bummiera (Brown Lake) 1998 – 2021
We used our spatial visualisation tool to confirm the Elders observations that the open water area and aquatic vegetation cover of the lake decreased since a strong and long Millennial drought occurred in Australia between 2001-2009. While Elders suspect water extraction is the primary culprit, it is only one of a number of possibilities. Recent increases in the lake and vegetation coverage following the heavy rainfalls of the past three years shows how difficult it is to disentangle climatic variations from anthropogenic pressures and natural cycles of wetlands. In these circumstances, continuous monitoring of lakes like Bummiera with our visualisation tool is crucial in helping resolve the cause these changes to the lake and subsequently inform the Traditional Owners of the island on how best to manage their water resources and the appropriate water extraction levels for the island.
” … seeing with both eyes”; the merging of scientific spatial visualisation tools with indigenous knowledge. The combination is a clear example of how lived experiences complements photographic imagery … “
This is an example of the concept known as “seeing with both eyes”; the merging of scientific spatial visualisation tools with indigenous knowledge. The combination is a clear example of how lived experiences complements photographic imagery and demonstrates how wetlands have changed in an easily understood visually engaging way. It’s only after clearly understanding how wetlands have changed and the driving forces behind it, that we can best determine how to act upon this change, with suggested solutions and long-term ongoing monitoring.
The spatial visualisation tool we helped develop with our partners in Geosciences Australia is a way of addressing the challenges that wetlands are facing in the times of climate change and is a valuable monitoring tool and is an essential early warning of changing water levels and aquatic plant coverage necessary if we are to avoid catastrophic changes in wetlands.
The combining of both indigenous and scientific knowledge will be crucial to support decision-making around the threats the worlds wetlands will face in the near future, the potential solutions to implement, and the subsequently monitoring any management actions taken to ensure success.
Author
Dr. Fernanda Adame Vivanco is a Research Fellow working at the Coastal & Marine Research Centre, Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith University. She works collaboratively with the Department of Environment and Sciences, Queensland Government, creating science that is useful for the management, conservation and restoration of wetlands. She graduated from the National Autonomous University in Mexico, where she is originally from, and obtained her PhD from the University of Queensland, Australia. The main focus of her work is the ecosystem services that wetlands provide, such as: carbon sequestration, improvement of water quality, and the protection from tropical storms and flooding. Her current projects include the role of wetlands to improve water quality in the Great Barrier Reef Region and restoration of mangroves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia and Mexico.
Dr Colin Hutchins is an environmental scientist turned science communicator. He has more than 15 years’ multi-disciplinary research experience in a broad range of environmental sciences, from ecotoxicology to biogeochemistry and genomics, with a focus on the chemistry of contaminants and their consequences. Dismayed at the expanding gap between the academic and public/government/industry understanding of research, he transitioned into science communications. With a Masters degree in Science Communications (University of Queensland), he has worked for Griffith University, Australian Rivers Institute, the Making Good Alliance, the Ningaloo Turtle Program and others developing communication strategies and content.
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