Oceania happenings: Australia, New Zealand, etc - misc (geographical hobbies)

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China may find alternatives sources, but Australian produce can still compete, S&P Global
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/02/market-c...latts.html

INTRO: Australia is in an unfavorable position in its trade dispute with China, which has found alternative sources like the U.S. for supplies, according to S&P Global Platts. China is currently importing a lot of produce from the U.S., including wheat, corn and soybeans, Andrei Agapi, Asia-Pacific associate pricing director for agriculture at Platts, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Tuesday.

That buying comes after Beijing agreed to make "substantial purchases" of U.S. manufacturing, agricultural and energy products, along with services, as part of the "phase one" trade agreement between the two economic powerhouses.

The analyst said China has the "potential to buy more" as the country looks to replenish its inventories and reserves. Agapi explained, "There is space for more suppliers, it's not exclusively a U.S. game. China does not strictly need the wheat and barley ... from Australia. It's more Australia that needs the Chinese market."

One factor driving the appetite for agricultural purchases is China's recovery from African swine fever, which decimated hog herds in the country and sent pork prices soaring for months until November. The economy has also largely bounced back from the coronavirus. As a result, Agapi said "feed demand is coming online quite aggressively."
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US plans to restore Navy's 1st Fleet in rebuff to China in South China Sea
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-03/u...t/12946076

INTRO: US President Donald Trump's administration is seeking to finalise a build-up in the US Navy's presence in vital Pacific and Indian Ocean seaways to Australia's north, to ward off any further expansion of China's interests. The fleet will dedicate more American ships and sailors to waters off South-East Asia and west to the Indian Ocean, including the Strait of Malacca through which much of the region's oil and cargo supplies transit by sea.

"In order to improve our posture in the Indo-Pacific we will reconstitute the 1st Fleet, assigning it primary responsibility for the Indo and South Asian region as an expeditionary fleet," Mr Braithwaite told the US Senate's Armed Services Committee. "This will reassure our partners and allies of our presence and commitment to this region while ensuring any potential adversary knows we are committed to global presence, to ensure rule of law and freedom of the seas."

The US Navy has six "numbered" fleets — a unit of organisation and command which also acts as a statement of its Government's purpose to counter threats to American and global interests. In multiple changes to its military priorities, the US Navy hasn't had a 1st Fleet since 1973, when it also had an area of responsibility in the western Pacific... (MORE)

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Iron ore is Australia's silver lining to its darkening China cloud
https://www.theage.com.au/business/marke...56k7k.html

INTRO: In the midst of a bitter, escalating and rather one-sided trade confrontation, the price of our biggest export China has just hit its highest price for more than seven years. The iron ore price, while it was knocked around by the initial impact of the pandemic in March, has been climbing strongly ever since and has now reached $US136.29 a tonne, its highest level since September 2013 and nearly 50 per cent higher than it traded at the start of this year.

The miners have, ironically, China to thank for that. More than 80 per cent of Australia’s iron ore exports go to China, accounting for 60 per cent of China’s supply. While China has been happily slapping tariffs and other trade barriers on Australian products like coal, barley, lobsters and wine it has left iron ore untouched, largely because it has no alternative either now or in the medium term or perhaps even longer.

Australia’s miners, notably Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue, dominate the seaborne trade in iron ore. Their main competitor, Brazil’s Vale, is still recovering from its tailing dam disasters and, more recently, the impact of the pandemic and heavy rains on its production... (MORE)

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‘As an Australian it will affect you. It’s your land as well’: Indigenous tourism’s new online travel agency
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/...vel-agency

EXCERPTS: The proprietor [Juan Walker] of Walkabout Cultural Adventures has been taking visitors around Kuku Yalanji country in far-north Queensland for almost two decades. Lately, many of those visitors have discovered Walker’s tours a new way – through Welcome to Country, a marketplace for Indigenous travel experiences. Walker estimates that Welcome to Country, which currently features 400 operators and over 1,000 experiences, is now one of his largest booking referrers. Given the website only officially launched on 2 December, it’s an impressive result.

[...] At the moment, the sector’s biggest challenge is awareness. [...Rhoda Roberts, head of First Nations at the Sydney Opera House...] points to findings by Tourism Research Australia which suggest the majority of both domestic and international tourists who are interested in having Indigenous cultural experiences do not know how to access them. “So we realised it was the visibility, and [understanding] of what is cultural tourism? Where can you go to find out?” She says people have preconceived assumptions about cultural tourism, but “we can offer everything from a day spa to being on the beach, or learning about the French history of Western Australia”.

[...] Roberts posits that tourism offers other opportunities, too. “I think it’s life-changing on so many different levels that we actually get to show people as hosts, who we are,” she says. “It really helps dispel those negative images and perceptions – we are a very highly intelligent, incredible peoples who are very diverse and have very different opinions.”

[...] “To understand it properly requires the actual experience,” Langton says of what can be gained from cultural tourism. “You can read about it, but unless you’ve been there and done it – been with the traditional owners and the elders, it’s simply a cerebral explanation.

“How many Australians know that there are traditions of Indigenous astronomy?” she asks. “Or that Indigenous Australians know through oral history about the rising of the sea levels 7,000 years ago? Or even something as straightforward as us having arrived here at least 65,000 years ago … With our species being only 300,000 years old, Aboriginal history comprises a fifth of human history … it should be regarded as a treasure. An Australian treasure and a global treasure.”

That understanding of place has implications for the future too, especially when it comes to land management practices. Witnessing undertakings such as cultural burnings, she says, “and all that goes with it, I think, is one of the most wonderful things that an Australian can experience”. (MORE -details)

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Australia's 1st non-alcoholic distillery Seadrift has launched in Sydney's Northern Beaches
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic...ydney.html

EXCERPTS: What began as an experiment with seaweed sourced from Sydney's Northern Beaches two years ago has grown into a unique distillation process that captures the essence of the fresh sea air and local herbs in a non-alcoholic spirit. As mindful drinking is on the rise in Australia, the Mona Vale distillery supports those seeking to reduce their alcohol intake with a sophisticated alternative.

The product is the brainchild of husband-and-wife duo Alastair and Carolyn Whiteley, who wanted to change the way adults drink and allow consumers to take a break from alcoholic beverages if desired. 'Seadrift is the perfect beverage for anyone looking for a non-alcoholic option without missing out on the social aspects of drinking,' Alastair said. 'It is an adult alternative to soft drinks and with no calories, no sugar and no judgement, it's the perfect "spirit" for all occasions where you don't want to drink alcohol.'

[...] After several years of experimenting with ingredients, including seaweed foraged from Mona Vale beach, Seadrift was born. The non-alcoholic spirit balances the infusion of fresh coastal and sea botanicals, distilled in traditional copper pot still for an intense, refreshing drink.

Each 700mL bottle is priced at $55 and is best served with seafood or Asian cuisine, as it has top notes of lime and coriander. 'There are many ways to enjoy Seadrift,' says Carolyn, adding: 'My favourite is a shot of Seadrift over ice with tonic water. Garnished with lemon or even Samphire, you can't go wrong!'

Seadrift is designed to be enjoyed with a mixer such as tonic or soda water, as the carbonation releases and brings to life the natural flavours... (MORE - details)

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Not enough Hazelnuts? Our future climate points to Australia for new cultivations
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/...120320.php

EXCERPTS: The food industry is looking for new areas that are suitable for hazelnut farming to satisfy a growing global demand and to diversify supply. In a recent study, realized with a CMCC Foundation contribution, scientists analysed the effects of climate change on hazelnut production in Australia in the coming decades, revealing an expected yield increase in the southeastern coast of the country.

[...] Most worldwide commercial hazelnut orchards are traditionally concentrated in a select few areas: in fact, more than half of the global production of in-shell hazelnuts is concentrated in Turkey, followed by Italy, Oregon and Azerbaijan. ... the new territories suitable for hazelnut farming should be chosen carefully, taking into consideration not only the current climatic conditions, but also the climate of the future, its changes and the expected impacts, in order to meet the thermal and water requirements of hazelnut growth and development.

Given the long-term nature of the investment needed to establish new orchards - around 10 years after planting before full production - and given the global changes expected for the future, businesses and decision makers need support from the world of research in defining the right strategies.

Climate sciences can offer an ex-ante evaluation of the future production trends, thus highlighting opportunities for the future of hazelnut cultivation. This has been done for the case of Australia, where an increase in hazelnut imports by more than 60% from 1992 to 2015, highlighted the need to enlarge domestic production through the establishment of new hazelnut plantations.

With the aim of supporting private and public bodies to design new investment plans and promote legislative measures aimed at encouraging hazelnut cultivation in Australia, an international team of researchers conducted the study "Climate change impacts on phenology and yield of hazelnut in Australia", just released in the Agricultural Systems Journal and carried out with the cooperation and contribution of the Hazelnut company division of Ferrero Group. The study evaluates for the first time the projected impacts of climate change on hazelnut yield and production in a vast area in southeastern Australia, using an ensemble of regional circulation models bound by four global climate models.

Results show a strong agreement between models. The effect of climate change on hazelnut farming is expected to induce a yield increase in the near future (2020-2039), ranging from 18 to 52% in the southeastern coast of Australia. The impacts of climate change are still uncertain in other regions... (MORE - details)

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US and Australia to develop shared cyberattack training platform
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/se...-platform/

INTRO: The United States and Australia have signed a first-ever bilateral agreement that allows the U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) and the Information Warfare Division (IWD) of the Australian Defense Force to jointly develop and share a virtual cyber training platform.

The two countries' departments of defense will achieve this by incorporating IWD's feedback into USCYBERCOM's simulated training domain known as the Persistent Cyber Training Environment (PCTE).

"This project arrangement is a milestone for U.S.-Australian cooperation. It is the first cyber-only arrangement established between the U.S. Army and an allied nation, which highlights the value of Australia’s partnership in the simulated training domain," U.S. signatory Elizabeth Wilson said.

"To counter known and potential adversarial threats, the Army has recalibrated our strategic thinking; we’ve made smart decisions to refocus our efforts to invest in the new, emerging and smart technologies that will strengthen our ability to fight and win our nation’s wars."

The new approach drastically reduces the time needed by U.S. and allied cyber forces to develop joint virtual training platforms which previously took months for every specific scenario... (MORE)

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Australia accuses China of undermining trade agreement
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-55240898

EXCERPTS: In his strongest comments yet, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said [...] "We continue to raise issues of apparent potential, discriminatory actions targeted against Australia," Mr Birmingham said, adding Australia was "considering all dispute settlement options".

[...] Last week, Australia reacted angrily to a Chinese official's post on Twitter which included a graphic, fake image of an Australian soldier killing an Afghan child. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an apology from Beijing, which was rejected.

The two nations signed a free trade agreement in 2015, which reduced tariffs and increased access to dozens of goods. But since May, China has imposed successive sanctions on Australian goods including barley, meat and dairy products, timber, coal and cotton.

More recently, it placed tariffs of up to 200% on Australian wine - citing allegations of illegal trade practices, which are disputed by Australia. On Wednesday, Mr Birmingham confirmed another Australian beef producer had also been blocked. [...] repeat attempts for meetings with Chinese officials had been ignored - contrary to the trade deal's terms.

The trade issues began shortly after Australia echoed the US in criticising China's response to the coronavirus pandemic, and called for a global inquiry into its origins. Analysts say that escalated existing tensions. In the past few years, Australia has widely discussed allegations of Chinese interference attempts in its domestic politics, business and education sectors. China has rejected those suggestions as "paranoia" and "anti-China hysteria".

[...] Last month, China's embassy listed grievances it had with Australia - including "wanton interference in China's Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan affairs" and its stance on conflicts such as the South China Sea. It has also criticised new powers which allow Australia's federal government to prevent its states from dealing with China's Belt and Road investment programme.

Mr Morrison has repeatedly said Australia will not compromise its sovereignty or national security in the face of criticism. "We will always set our own laws and our own rules according to our national interests - not at the behest of any other nation, whether that's the US or China or anyone else," he said last month... (MORE - details)

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Shaw & Partners analyst graciously advises China to diversify away from Australia
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/16/as-china...ative.html

EXCERPTS: Beijing imports 60% of its iron ore from Australia, and is heavily dependent on the commodity [...] Other Australian exports to China have been affected by the deteriorating relationship between the countries, with Beijing hitting goods such as wine and barley with tariffs. Bilateral relations between Canberra and Beijing soured earlier this year after Australia supported a growing call for an international inquiry into China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

But Beijing has, so far, spared iron ore from Australia, which analysts attributed to the lack of alternatives available. Australia is the world’s largest iron ore producer.

However, Peter O’Connor, senior analyst of metals and mining at investment firm Shaw and Partners, says that Beijing now needs to consider diversifying its supply of iron ore. “That direction or that narrative that we need to think about, that started several years ago … was about diversity of supply. It’s where can China source, how can they diversify away from Australia, also Brazil,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Tuesday... (MORE -details)

[confused2]

Chatting with the natives of Oz:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-australia-55312356

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'Stink from the corpse': WA universities caught in vicious cycle for rankings, research and revenue
https://www.theage.com.au/national/stink...56mhx.html

INTRO: Australian universities are on a dangerous path, according to WA academics who say the pursuit of international money and federal funding has turned them into research businesses. The whistleblowers warn some of the state's most important institutions are caught in a vicious cycle of chasing expensive researchers and getting more research papers published in prestigious journals in order to climb global university rankings, which in turn delivers lucrative international students whose fees – in turn – help fund more research. The WA academics say the chase for what is now the measure of success – university rankings – has corrupted their fundamental mission: to deliver quality education to students.

At one end of the operation sits university management, earning close to seven-figure salaries and overseen by senates dominated by external business leaders without substantive experience in the higher education sector. At the other sits their clients – the students – whose university experience and breadth of study disciplines are being squeezed by narrowing fields of research. And in the middle are the academics, who have been increasingly segregated into working as either researchers or teachers, while ever-mounting teaching workloads are falling to casuals or PhD students and junior academics on 'minimum wage' grant money.

Academics from three of the four public WA universities, some who have spoken to WAtoday under the condition of anonymity, say the situation has become exploitative and are calling for a royal commission into higher education. "Everyone says [rankings] don’t matter, but they do," says Australian National University vice chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt.

"They drive students to you, they hold up your prestige in the community and governments. It's a shame they really aren't very good." The main way universities climb global rankings is by increasing their number of highly cited researchers – so-called 'high-cites' – whose research findings make the likes of peer-reviewed Nature and Science journals... (MORE)

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Secret of Australia's volcanoes revealed
https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/n...ences.html

RELEASE: Australia’s east coast is littered with the remnants of hundreds of volcanoes – the most recent just a few thousand years old – and scientists have been at a loss to explain why so many eruptions have occurred over the past 80 million years. Now, geoscientists at the University of Sydney have discovered why part of a stable continent like Australia is such a hotbed of volcanic activity. And the findings suggest there could be more volcanic activity in the future.

“We aren’t on the famous Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ that produces so many volcanoes and earthquakes,” said Dr Ben Mather from the School of Geosciences and the EarthByte group at the University of Sydney. “So, we needed another explanation why there have been so many volcanoes on Australia’s east coast.”

Many of the volcanoes that form in Australia are one-off events, he said. “Rather than huge explosions like Krakatoa or Vesuvius, or iconic volcanoes like Mount Fuji, the effect is more like the bubbles emerging as you heat your pancake mix,” Dr Mather said.

Their remnants can look like regular hills or notable structures like Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, the Organ Pipes in Victoria, the Undara Lava Tubes in Queensland and Sawn Rocks, near Narrabri, in NSW. Many are yet to be identified, Dr Mather said.

So, what is happening? “Under our east coast we find a special volatile mix of molten rock that bubbles up to the surface through the younger, thinner east coast Australian crust,” he said. The study is published today in the journal Science Advances.

Dr Mather and his team looked at how hundreds of eruptions have occurred along the east coast from North Queensland to Tasmania and across the Tasman to the largely submerged continent Zealandia. They were particularly interested in ‘recent’ peaks of volcanic activity 20 million and 2 million years ago.

“Most of these eruptions are not caused by Australia’s tectonic plate moving over hot plumes in the mantle under the Earth’s crust. Instead, there is a fairly consistent pattern of activity, with a few notable peaks,” said co-author Dr Maria Seton, from the School of Geosciences and EarthByte group.

What tipped them off was that these peaks were happening at the same time there was increased volume of sea-floor material being pushed under the continent from the east by the Pacific plate. “The peaks of volcanic activity correlate nicely with the amount of seafloor being recycled at the Tonga-Kermadec trench east of New Zealand,” Dr Mather said.

Taking this evidence Dr Mather and his team have built a new model that unifies the observations of so many eruptions occurring over millions of years along Australia’s east coast. “The most recent event was at Mount Gambier in Victoria just a few thousand years ago,” he said.

While the model explains the consistent volcanic activity, it can’t predict when the next volcano will emerge.

The sea floor of the Pacific plate to the east is being pushed under the Australian plate. This process is called subduction. The material is literally being pushed under the Australian continental shelf, starting at the Tonga-Kermadec Trench east and north of New Zealand.

“From there it is being slammed into the transition zone between the crust and the magma at depths of about 400 to 500 kilometres. This material is then re-emerging as a series of volcanic eruptions along Australia’s east coast, which is thinner and younger than the centre and west of the continent,” Dr Mather said.

This subduction process is not unique to the Australian east coast. “What sets the east Australia-Zealandia region apart is that the sea-floor being pushed under the continent from the western Pacific is highly concentrated with hydrous materials and carbon-rich rocks. This creates a transition zone right under the east coast of Australia that is enriched with volatile materials.”

The new explanation improves on previous models that have suggested volcanoes in Victoria were due to convection eddies in the mantle from being near the trailing edge of the tectonic plate or models that relied on the plate passing over hot spots in the mantle. “Neither of these gave us the full picture,” Dr Mather said. “But our new approach can explain the volcanic pattern up and down the Australian east coast.”

Dr Mather said this model could also explain other intraplate volcanic regions in the Western USA, Eastern China and around Bermuda. Co-author Professor Dietmar Müller, Joint Coordinator of the EarthByte group in the School of Geosciences, said: “We now need to apply this research to other corners of the Earth to help us understand how other examples of enigmatic volcanism have occurred.”

The research, led by geoscientists at the University of Sydney was undertaken with researchers from Monash University and GNS Science in Dunedin, New Zealand.