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The health of the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia’s largest and most complex river system, is in rapid decline, and faces major challenges over the next 30 years as the climate changes.

In our view, there are still major problems with the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. These must be addressed to make sure the system is resilient enough to have a reasonable chance of bouncing back from future shocks to the river’s ecosystems, particularly due to climate change.

Here are five ways the government can clean up the Murray-Darling Basin Plan so the river system has a chance of surviving in the long term.

In May, a multibillion-dollar UK-based multinational called Informa announced in a trading update that it had signed a deal with Microsoft involving “access to advanced learning content and data, and a partnership to explore AI expert applications”. Informa is the parent company of Taylor & Francis, which publishes a wide range of academic and technical books and journals, so the data in question may include the content of these books and journals.

According to reports published last week, the authors of the content do not appear to have been asked or even informed about the deal. What’s more, they say they had no opportunity to opt out of the deal, and will not see any money from it.

In 2014 I carried out an Australian Research Council project documenting the architectural, settlement, and cultural history of the cameleers in the Australian outback. The exploration of the built environment-the absence of built remains, the relationships to natural and linguistic landscapes-is a logical extension of my toponymic training and personal interests in all things architectural and cultural.

Artificial intelligence (AI) text and image generation tools have now been around for a while, but in recent weeks, apps for making AI-generated music have reached consumers as well.

Just like other generative AI tools, the two products – Suno and Udio (and others likely to come) – work by turning a user’s prompt into output. For example, prompting for “a rock punk song about my dog eating my homework” on Suno will produce an audio file (see below) that combines instruments and vocals. The output can be downloaded as an MP3 file.

The underlying AI draws on unknown data sets to generate the music. Users have the option of prompting the AI for lyrics or writing their own lyrics, although some apps advise the AI works best when generating both.

But who, if anyone, owns the resulting sounds? For anyone using these apps, this is an important question to consider. And the answer is not straightforward.

How much is your voice worth?

It could be as little as roughly A$100. That was how much ABC News Verify recently spent to clone federal senator Jacqui Lambie’s voice – with her permission – using an easily accessible online platform.

This example highlights how artificial intelligence (AI) apps which create a synthetic replica of a person’s image and/or voice in the form of deepfakes or voice cloning are becoming cheaper and easier to use.

This poses a serious threat not only to the functioning of democracy (especially around elections), but also to a person’s identity.

Current copyright laws in Australia are inadequate when it comes to protecting people if their image or voice is digitally cloned without their permission. Establishing “personality rights” could help.

En las áreas remotas de Australia –el interior o Outback– gran parte de la población es aborigen; habitan cerca de su tierra tradicional, con diversos grados de conexión con sus tradiciones. Sus vidas fueron brutalmente afectadas por la expansión de la agricultura de los colonizadores. En años recientes la minería también se ha extendido a esos territorios y la mayoría de las empresas mineras reconoce que se requiere una licencia social para operar en las tierras aborígenes, por lo que éstas buscan educar al nuevo personal minero acerca del patrimonio de sus pobladores.

Ask anyone about how Australian students are doing in school and they will likely tell you our results are abysmal and, more importantly, getting progressively worse.

This narrative has been reinforced by sustained reporting within academia and the media. It has only grown with the release of the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results on Tuesday evening.

But is this accurate and fair?

This year we independently both published papers looking at Australian students' results. These papers both reached the same conclusions: students' scores on the vast majority of standardised assessments were not in decline.

On Wednesday, Australia woke up to a barrage of reports about the latest NAPLAN results. Media coverage described an "epic fail", "plummeting" performances and a "bleak picture".

Education experts spoke of "grim reading", and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the results "alarming".

But many of these analyses are misguided and unhelpful.

We have watched the world change linguistically over these last months. Concepts like COVID clusters, COVID hot spots, tracking the virus, now is not the time (to take a holiday), stay at home, stay safe and save lives, we're flattening the curve, keeping to essential services, stopping the spread, social distancing, self-isolation, acquiring or contracting versus transmitting or infecting, when we get through this, on the other side of this, the new normal... these phrases and many others now occur in common parlance and have all taken on their own new and possibly improved meaning. Then there are the names of the cruise ships like Diamond Princess and Celebrity Solstice, and the now infamous Ruby Princess which is associated with the rampant spread of the coronavirus in Australia.

Last week, it was reported that 700 sheep with an estimated value of $140,000, including nearly 200 valuable merino ewes, were stolen from a Victorian property in a highly sophisticated rural crime operation. Such large-scale rural theft is increasingly common.

Rural crime is not isolated to certain states. Rather, stock theft is an Australian problem. Evidence from these large-scale thefts shows that offenders use “corridors” across state borders to move stolen rural property and livestock great distances.

Surveys conducted in Victoria and New South Wales found 70% and 80% of farmers had experienced some type of farm crime in their lifetime, and experienced this victimisation repeatedly.

While farmers experience a variety of crimes, including trespass and illegal shooting on their properties, acquisitive crime – stock theft in particular – is one of the most common crimes faced by farmers.

The impact of “farm crime” is significant. Not only is the farming sector important to the Australian economy, but such crimes can have devastating financial, psychological and physical impacts on farmers, rural landowners and communities.

In recent years, Asia has witnessed the dramatic downfall of several authoritarian leaders, each leaving a profound impact on their respective nations. This paper delves into the intricate details of these political upheavals, focusing on the Shah dynasty in Nepal, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh, the Rajapaksa family in Sri Lanka, and Imran Khan in Pakistan. By examining the historical contexts, political dynamics, and public sentiments that led to these leaders’ downfalls, I aim to provide a short analysis of the shifting political landscape in Asia. This exploration not only highlights the causes and consequences of these dramatic changes but also offers insights into the future trajectories of these nations.

The drawn-out hostage drama in West Papua over New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens has focused Western attention on this neglected area of the world. Mehrtens was abducted and his plane burned by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) on February 7, 2023. He was accused by the group of violating a no-fly zone it had issued over the West Papua region. On April 16, rebel spokesperson Sebby Sambom stated in a recorded message that TPNPB has "asked the Indonesian and New Zealand governments to free the hostages through peaceful negotiations." The group originally demanded that Indonesian authorities recognize the independence of West Papua, but more recently it indicated that it was prepared to drop the demand for independence and seek dialogue.

There is no question that Western and Asian markets differ in many ways—not just in tastes for clothing, food and music but also in how major products are used and perceived.

This diversity is reflected in differences in home design, tastes and product usage—and that is why so much market research has to be replicated across many countries. Now, smart Asian exporters are finding simpler and more cost-effective ways to predict how global markets and different cultures will respond to product developments—both in fast-moving consumer goods and particularly in brown and white goods. It is not surprising that countries like South Korea, which is fast becoming one of the economic powerhouses of the 21st century, are turning to Australia as their first (and possibly last) port of call for offshore market research as a gateway to the West.

The 2024 Olympics in Paris demonstrated the continuing importance of sports events as an aspect of public diplomacy and soft power. France used the event to reflect the French commitment to diversity and equality while demonstrating its continued great power status. The recent endorsement by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for a National Rugby League Team for Papua New Guinea (PNG) is proof that Australia continues to use "sports diplomacy" as one element in its foreign policy toolkit.