March 17-23, 2024: Issue 618

Short-term exposure to high levels of air pollution kills 1 million globally every year: Monash University

March 2024
Every year, more than one million deaths globally occur because of exposure to short-term (hours to days) fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in air pollution, according to a new report, with Eastern Asia reporting more than 50 per cent of deaths attributable to short-term PM2.5  globally.

In Australia, the short-term PM2.5 attributable deaths rose by 40 per cent between 2000 and 2019.

To date most studies have focused on the health impacts of living in cities where pollution levels are consistently high, ignoring the frequent “spikes” in pollution that can impact smaller urban areas that occur, for instance landscape fires, dust and other intermittent extreme air-pollution concentration events.

The Monash University study, looking at mortality and pollution levels of PM2.5 in over 13,000 cities and towns across the globe in the two decades to 2019, was published this week in The Lancet Planetary Health.

Led by Professor Yuming Guo, the study is important because it is the first to look at short-term exposure globally – rather than the long-term impacts of persistent exposure such as for people living in cities with high pollution levels.

The researchers found that breathing in PM2.5 for even a few hours, and up to a few days, results in more than one million premature deaths occurring worldwide every year, particularly in Asia and Africa, and more than a fifth (22.74 per cent) of them occurred in urban areas.

According to Professor Guo, the short-term health effects of being exposed to air pollution have been well documented, “such as the megafires in Australia during the so-called Black Summer of 2019–20 which were estimated to have led to 429 smoke-related premature deaths and 3230 hospital admissions as a result of acute and persistent exposure to extremely high levels of bushfire-related air pollution,” he said.

“But this is the first study to map the global impacts of these short bursts of air pollution exposure.”

The authors add that because of the high population densities in urban areas, together with high levels of air pollution, “understanding the mortality burden associated with short-term exposure toPM2.5 in such areas is crucial for mitigating the negative effects of air pollution on the urban population.”

According to the study:
  • Asia accounted for approximately 65.2 per cent of global mortality due to short-term PM2.5 exposure
  • Africa 17.0 per cent
  • Europe 12.1 per cent
  • The Americas 5.6 per cent
  • Oceania 0.1 per cent
The mortality burden was highest in crowded, highly polluted areas in eastern Asia, southern Asia, and western Africa with the fraction of deaths attributable to short-term PM2.5 exposure in eastern Asia more than 50 per cent higher than the global average.

Most areas in Australia saw a small decrease in the number of attributable deaths, but the attributable death fraction increased from 0.54 per cent in 2000 to 0.76 per cent in 2019, which was larger than any other subregions. One potential reason could be the increasing frequency and scale of extreme weather-related air pollution events, such as bushfire events in 2019.

The study recommends that, where health is most affected by acute air pollution, implementing targeted interventions, such as air-pollution warning systems and community evacuation plans, to avoid transient exposure to high PM2.5 concentrations, could mitigate its acute health damages.

Wenhua Yu, Rongbin Xu, Tingting Ye, Michael J Abramson, Lidia Morawska, Bin Jalaludin, Fay H Johnston, Sarah B Henderson, Luke D Knibbs, Geoffrey G Morgan, Eric Lavigne, Jane Heyworth, Simon Hales, Guy B Marks, Alistair Woodward, Michelle L Bell, Jonathan M Samet, Jiangning Song, Shanshan Li, Yuming Guo. Estimates of global mortality burden associated with short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2·5). The Lancet Planetary Health, 2024; 8 (3): e146 DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00003-2

Insert mage - Professor Yuming Guo. Photo Credit: Monash University

Blood-based marker developed to identify sleep deprivation: Monash University

March 10, 2024
A blood test that can accurately detect when someone has not slept for 24 hours has been developed by experts at Monash University, in Australia, and the University of Birmingham, in the UK.

This level of sleep deprivation increases the risk of serious injury or fatality in safety critical situations.

Published in Science Advances, the biomarker used a combination of markers found in the blood of healthy volunteers. Together, these markers accurately predicted when the study volunteers had been awake for more than 24 hours under controlled laboratory conditions.

The biomarker detected whether individuals had been awake for 24 hours with a 99.2 percent probability of being correct, when compared to their own well-rested sample. When a single sample was considered without the well-rested comparison (similar to a diagnostic blood test), it dropped to 89.1 per cent, which was still very high.
With about 20 per cent of road accidents worldwide caused by sleep deprivation, researchers hope the discovery may inform future tests to quickly and simply identify sleep deprived drivers. The biomarker could also be developed for other situations where sleep deprivation may lead to catastrophic consequences, such as in safety-critical workplaces.

Senior author Professor Clare Anderson led the research while she was with the Monash University School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health. She is now Professor of Sleep and Circadian Science at the University of Birmingham in the UK.

"This is a really exciting discovery for sleep scientists, and could be transformative to the future management of health and safety relating to insufficient sleep," Professor Anderson said. "While more work is required, this is a promising first step.

"There is strong evidence that less than five hours' sleep is associated with unsafe driving, but driving after 24 hours awake, which is what we detected here, would be at least comparable to more than double the Australian legal limit of alcohol performance wise."
The test may be also ideal for future forensic use but further validation is required.

First author Dr Katy Jeppe, from the Monash Proteomics and Metabolomics Platform, previously from the School of Psychological Sciences, said it was difficult to say how soon the test could be developed for post-accident use.

"Next steps would be to test it in a less controlled environment and maybe under forensic conditions, particularly if it was to be used as evidence for crashes involving drivers falling asleep," Dr Jeppe said.

"Given it's blood, the test is more limited in a roadside context, but future work could examine whether our metabolites, and therefore the biomarker, are evident in saliva or breath."

This sleep deprivation biomarker is based on 24 hours or more awake, but can detect down to 18 hours awake. A biomarker for limited sleep over the previous night could be developed but more research is required to combine the time since sleep with the amount of sleep in the predictions.

"Much further work would be needed if laws were to change and a sleep deprivation test introduced on the road or in workplaces," Dr Jeppe said. "This would include further validation of biomarkers, as well as establishing safe levels of sleep to prevent and recover from impairment, not to mention the extensive legal process."

"A biomarker for limited sleep over the previous night could be developed, and others have made progress in this respect (Depner et al.)."
Sleep deprivation can have fatal consequences for other safety-critical occupations. Major catastrophes including the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown and the Challenger space shuttle Disaster* are thought to be caused, in part, by human error associated with fatigue.

"Objective tests that identify individuals who present as a risk to themselves or others are urgently needed in situations where the cost of a mistake is fatal," Professor Anderson said.

"Alcohol testing was a game changer for reducing road crashes and associated serious injuries and fatalities, and it is possible that we can achieve the same with fatigue. But much work is still required to meet this goal."

This research was conducted in association with the Cooperative Research Centre for Alertness, Safety and Productivity.

Katherine Jeppe, Suzanne Ftouni, Brunda Nijagal, Leilah K. Grant, Steven W. Lockley, Shantha M. W. Rajaratnam, Andrew J. K. Phillips, Malcolm J. McConville, Dedreia Tull, Clare Anderson. Accurate detection of acute sleep deprivation using a metabolomic biomarker—A machine learning approach. Science Advances, 2024; 10 (10) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj6834

Cost of living and digital economy shape 2024-25 compliance and enforcement priorities: ACCC

Consumer and competition issues in the supermarket sector and essential services including electricity and financial services are among the ACCC’s compliance and enforcement priorities for the year ahead, ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb announced on March 7, 2024.

“Our priorities continue to be shaped by the key challenges facing our economy and the concerns that occupy our community,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said, speaking at a Committee for Economic Development Australia (CEDA) event in Sydney.

“Principal amongst these shaping influences are the existential importance of the net zero transition, the opportunities and disruptions of digital transformation, and the significant impact of cost of living pressures across our community.”

In the digital economy, the ACCC will focus on consumer protection and fair trading issues for small business including misleading or deceptive conduct in influencer marketing, online reviews, price comparison websites and in-app purchases – especially in the video gaming industry.

“The gaming industry has significant size and reach, particularly with younger consumers,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

“Far too often we hear concerns about consumers incurring huge purchases because of in-app offerings that have inadequate safeguards, or in some cases, deliberately target and nudge or confuse consumers.”

Ms Cass-Gottlieb said the ACCC would also continue to prioritise improving business compliance with consumer guarantees, this year especially in the sale of home electronics and delivery times for online purchases.

“A key concern that has recently emerged is the delay in delivery and non-delivery of consumer products. Delivery timeframes are a key consideration for many consumers when choosing a retailer,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

Ms Cass-Gottlieb said because Australian consumers were facing rising costs across a range of products and services, they were more vulnerable to anti-competitive conduct and misleading representations.

With this in mind, the ACCC will prioritise competition, fair trading, consumer protection and pricing issues in the supermarket sector, with a focus on food and groceries. This work will include the 12-month price inquiry commenced in January.

“This priority reflects the concerns of many Australian consumers and farmers about supermarket pricing that have been expressed to the ACCC and publicly,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

“We also have a role to ensure that consumers are not misled and that claims about specials, discounts and advertised prices are truthful and accurate.”

Competition, consumer and product safety issues in sustainability and the net zero transition will remain a priority, Ms Cass-Gottlieb said, as will competition and consumer issues in the aviation sector.

Improving compliance with the Australian Consumer Law by National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) providers was newly listed following the ACCC commencing chairing a joint taskforce involving NDIS agencies.

Compliance with unfair contract terms laws will also be a priority in contracts relating to small businesses and consumers, supported by new penalties taking effect in late 2023.

For the first time, the ACCC’s work protecting the small business sector was listed as an enduring priority.

“Small business is a significant contributor to our economy and supports the livelihoods of many Australians,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

Taking action on cartel conduct remains at the heart of the ACCC’s role as a competition enforcement agency. Cartel conduct is and will remain an enduring priority.

“Cartels undermine the competitive process removing competition, restricting output, and increasing price of everyday goods for all Australians,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

“We are proud of our history of cartel enforcement, and will continue to bring cartel proceedings, including criminal cartel proceedings by referring briefs to the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions.”

The ACCC’s work in the National Anti-Scam Centre was also newly listed as an enduring priority, joining anti-competitive conduct, product safety, conduct impacting consumers experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage and conduct impacting First Nations Australians.

“This year we are establishing a dedicated First Nations coordination, outreach and advocacy team that will help inform and align all our activities across the whole agency regarding conduct impacting First Nations Australians,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

Notably, 2024 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Trade Practices Act – now the Competition and Consumer Act - a significant milestone for the legislation which remains the foundation for much of the ACCC’s work.

“We recognise the importance of strong enforcement outcomes in achieving specific and general deterrence of conduct prohibited by the Act and in ensuring that consumers, business and the wider community continue to have confidence in our market economy,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

More information including the full list of the ACCC’s 2024-25 enforcement priorities is available at Compliance and enforcement policy and priorities

A summary is also available at 2024-25 Compliance and Enforcement Priorities.  


Photo: ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb

Fertility: Skin Cell Turned Into an Egg - Research sheds light on new strategy to treat infertility

March 2024
New research from Oregon Health & Science University describes the science behind a promising technique to treat infertility by turning a skin cell into an egg that is capable of producing viable embryos.

Researchers at OHSU documented in vitro gametogenesis, or IVG, in a mouse model through the preliminary steps of a technique that relies upon transferring the nucleus of a skin cell into a donated egg whose nucleus has been removed. Experimenting in mice, researchers coaxed the skin cell's nucleus into reducing its chromosomes by half, so that it could then be fertilized by a sperm cell to create a viable embryo.

"The goal is to produce eggs for patients who don't have their own eggs," said senior author Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., director of the OHSU Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy.

The technique could be used by women of advanced maternal age or for those who are unable to produce viable eggs due to previous treatment for cancer or other causes. It also raises the possibility of men in same-sex relationships having children who are genetically related to both parents.

Rather than attempting to differentiate induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, into sperm or egg cells, OHSU researchers are focused on a technique based on somatic cell nuclear transfer, in which a skin cell nucleus is transplanted into a donor egg stripped of its nucleus. In 1996, researchers famously used this technique to clone a sheep in Scotland named Dolly.

In that case, researchers created a clone of one parent.

In contrast, the OHSU study described the result of a technique that resulted in embryos with chromosomes contributed from both parents. The process involves three steps:

Researchers transplant the nucleus of a mouse skin cell into a mouse egg that is stripped of its own nucleus.

Prompted by cytoplasm -- liquid that fills cells -- within the donor egg, the implanted skin cell nucleus discards half of its chromosomes. The process is similar to meiosis, when cells divide to produce mature sperm or egg cells. This is the key step, resulting in a haploid egg with a single set of chromosomes.

Researchers then fertilize the new egg with sperm, a process called in vitro fertilization. This creates a diploid embryo with two sets of chromosomes -- which would ultimately result in healthy offspring with equal genetic contributions from both parents.

OHSU researchers previously demonstrated the proof of concept in a study published in January 2022, but the new study goes further by meticulously sequencing the chromosomes.

The researchers found that the skin cell's nucleus segregated its chromosomes each time it was implanted in the donor egg. In rare cases, this happened perfectly, with one from each pair of matching egg and sperm chromosomes.

"This publication basically shows how we achieved haploidy," Mitalipov said. "In the next phase of this research, we will determine how we enhance that pairing so each chromosome-pair separates correctly."

Laboratories around the world are involved in a different technique of IVG that involves a time-intensive process of reprogramming skin cells to become iPSCs, and then differentiating them to become egg or sperm cells.

"We're skipping that whole step of cell reprogramming," said co-author Paula Amato, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the OHSU School of Medicine. "The advantage of our technique is that it avoids the long culture time it takes to reprogram the cell. Over several months, a lot of deleterious genetic and epigenetic changes can happen."
Although researchers are also studying the technique in human eggs and early embryos, Amato said it will be years before the technique would be ready for clinical use.

"This gives us a lot of insight," she said. "But there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to understand how these chromosomes pair and how they faithfully divide to actually reproduce what happens in nature."

The Authors state that all research involving animal subjects at OHSU must be reviewed and approved by the university's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The IACUC's priority is to ensure the health and safety of animal research subjects. The IACUC also reviews procedures to ensure the health and safety of the people who work with the animals. No live animal work may be conducted at OHSU without IACUC approval.

Aleksei Mikhalchenko, Nuria Marti Gutierrez, Daniel Frana, Zahra Safaei, Crystal Van Dyken, Ying Li, Hong Ma, Amy Koski, Dan Liang, Sang-Goo Lee, Paula Amato, Shoukhrat Mitalipov. Induction of somatic cell haploidy by premature cell division. Science Advances, 2024; 10 (10) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adk9001

Indigenous fire management began more than 11,000 years ago: new research

Cassandra Rowe, James Cook University; Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Flinders University, and Michael Bird, James Cook University

Wildfire burns between 3.94 million and 5.19 million square kilometres of land every year worldwide. If that area were a single country, it would be the seventh largest in the world.

In Australia, most fire occurs in the vast tropical savannas of the country’s north. In new research published in Nature Geoscience, we show Indigenous management of fire in these regions began at least 11,000 years ago – and possibly as long as 40,000 years ago.

Fire and humans

In most parts of the planet, fire has always affected the carbon cycle, the distribution of plants, how ecosystems function, and biodiversity patterns more generally.

But climate change and other effects of human activity are making wildfires more common and more severe in many regions, often with catastrophic results. In Australia, fires have caused major economic, environmental and personal losses, most recently in the south of the country.

One likely reason for the increase of catastrophic fires in Australia is the end of Indigenous fire management after Europeans arrived. This change has caused a decline in biodiversity and the buildup of burnable material, or “fuel load”.

Infographic showing the process of extracting and analysing a sediment core.
How sediment coring works. Emma Rehn, Haidee Cadd, Kelsey Boyd / Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage

While southern fires have been particularly damaging in recent years, more than two-thirds of all Australia’s wildfires happen during the dry season in the tropical savannas of the north. These grasslands cover about 2 million square kilometres, or around a quarter of the country.

When Europeans first saw these tropical savannas, they believed they were seeing a “natural” environment. However, we now think these landscapes were maintained by Indigenous fire management (dubbed “firestick farming” in the 1960s).

Indigenous fire management is a complex process that involves strategically burning small areas throughout the dry season. In its absence, savannas have seen the kind of larger, higher-intensity fires occurring late in the dry season that likely existed before people, when lightning was the sole source of ignition.

We know fire was one of the main tools Indigenous people used to manipulate fuel loads, maintain vegetation and enhance biodiversity. We do not know the time frames over which the “natural” fire regime was transformed into one managed by humans.

A 150,000-year record of fire and climate

To understand this transformation better, we took an 18-metre core sample from sediment at Girraween Lagoon on the outskirts of Darwin. Using this sample, we developed detailed pollen records of vegetation and charcoal, and paired them with geochemical records of climate and fire to reveal how fire patterns have changed over the past 150,000 years.

Now surrounded by suburbs, Girraween Lagoon (the “Place of Flowers”) is a significant site to the Larrakia and Wulna peoples. It is also where the crocodile-attack scene in the movie Crocodile Dundee was filmed.

The lagoon was created after a sinkhole formed, and has contained permanent water ever since. The sediment core we took contains a unique 150,000-year record of environmental change in Australia’s northern savannas.

The core records revealed a dynamic, changing environment. The vegetation around Girraween Lagoon today has a tall and relatively dense tree canopy with a thick grass understory in the wet season.

However, during the last ice age 20,000–30,000 years ago, the site where Darwin sits now was more than 300 km from the coast due to the sea level dropping as the polar ice caps expanded. At that time, the lagoon shrank into its sinkhole and it was surrounded by open, grassy savanna with fewer, shorter trees.

Photo of a collection of clear tubes filled with dark sediment.
Sediment cores retrieved from Girraween Lagoon. Michael Bird / James Cook University

Around 115,000 years ago, and again around 90,000 years ago, Australia was dotted with gigantic inland “megalakes”. At those times, the lagoon expanded into a large, shallow depression surrounded by lush monsoon forest, with almost no grass.

When human fire management began

The Girraween record is one of the few long-term climate records that covers the period before people arrived in Australia some 65,000 years ago, as well as after. This unique coverage provides us with the hard data indicating when the natural fire regime (infrequent, high-intensity fires) switched to a human-managed one (frequent, low-intensity fires).

The data show that by at least 11,000 years ago, as the climate began to resemble the modern climate that established itself after the last ice age, fires became more frequent but less intense.

Frequent, low-intensity fire is the hallmark of Indigenous fire regimes that were observed across northern Australia at European arrival. Our data also showed tantalising indications that this change from a natural to human-dominated fire regime occurred progressively from as early as 40,000 years ago, but it certainly did not occur instantaneously.

Photo showing green shoots of plant life springing up in a burnt landscape.
Vegetation recovering after a human-ignited ‘cool’ fire. Cassandra Rowe / James Cook University

Unlocking Girraween’s secrets with modern scientific techniques has provided unprecedented insights into how the tropical savannas of Australia, and their attendant biodiversity, coevolved over millennia under this new Indigenous fire regime that reduced risk and increased resources.

The rapid change to a European fire regime – with large, intense fires occurring late in the dry season – abruptly regressed patterns to the pre-human norm. This ecosystem-scale shock altered a carefully nurtured biodiversity established over tens of thousands of years and simultaneously increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Reversing these dangerous trends in Australia’s tropical savanna requires re-establishing an Indigenous fire regime through projects such as the West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement managed by Indigenous land managers. By implication, the reintroduction of Indigenous land management in other parts of the world could help reduce the impacts of catastrophic fires and increase carbon sequestration in the future.The Conversation

Cassandra Rowe, Research Fellow, James Cook University; Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University, and Michael Bird, JCU Distinguished Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, James Cook University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

2024 could be the year the Fair Work umpire properly values women’s work – here’s how

Lisa Heap, RMIT University

This International Women’s Day, it is time to call on Australia’s workplace umpire, the Fair Work Commission, to finally close the gender pay gap.

Half a century after the commission’s predecessor granted women “equal pay for equal work” in a landmark case in 1969, the gap remains between 12% and 21%.

Amendments to the Fair Work Act by the incoming Labor government in 2022 gave it new tools to close the gap by addressing the undervaluation of work in traditionally female-dominated occupations.

If it uses these tools to their full potential, 2024 will be a landmark year in the genuine achievement of equal pay for equal work.

What we’ve been doing hasn’t much worked

Traditionally in Australia, addressing gender-based undervaluation has relied on two approaches.

The first has been to argue the business case for gender equality – convincing employers they’ll be rewarded for “doing the right thing”.

The second has been to bring equal pay cases to tribunals.

Unfortunately, neither approach has been successful. In particular, pushing for equal remuneration through tribunals has been time-consuming and expensive.

These tribunals, historically working on models of male full-time wage earners, have struggled to understand the undervaluation of work performed predominantly by women.

The commission’s new tools

The commission’s act has been rewritten to require it to

promote job security and gender equality.

It also has the power to make equal remuneration orders either on its own initiative or on application in order to bring about equal pay for work of equal or comparable value.

A further new development is the establishment of expert panels to assist in gender-related cases. Advice from gender experts should assist in overcoming historical gender biases in commission decisions.

Perhaps the most promising tool is the change to the commission’s modern awards objective, which requires it to eliminate gender-based undervaluation of work and provide workplace conditions that facilitate women’s full economic participation each time it reviews an award.

Among other things, this requirement is likely to result in provisions that ensure part-time work is treated equally to full-time work and ensure a better balance between work and caring responsibilities.

Amending awards is likely to be particularly important for women given that almost three in five of the workers on awards are women. Men are mainly on negotiated agreements.

If the commission wanted to, it could hold a wide-ranging inquiry into the many factors that have contributed to gender-based undervaluation of women’s work.

It could also review entire industries and occupations that are female-dominated, upgrading multiple awards at the same time. This would avoid lengthy and costly reviews of individual awards.

What’s likely in 2024

The Fair Work Commission’s resolve to make lasting change will be tested by several matters currently before it.

The commission is due to issue its final decision in the case lodged by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, the Health Services Union, and the United Workers Union on the value of the work done by workers in aged care.

An initial interim decision delivered in 2022 awarded some – but not all – of these workers a 15% increase, finding that work in feminised industries had been historically undervalued and the reason for that undervaluation is likely to be gender-based".

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke backed the decision, saying it was merely the “first step”.

Another application, for nurses and midwives outside of aged care, was lodged by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation in February this year.

The commission has already started the process of grappling with gender-based undervaluation in modern awards, commissioning research that documents the segregation of women and men into different occupations and industries.

Further research documenting the history of a select group of female-dominated modern awards and identifying the extent to which common elements indicate gender-based undervaluation, is due to be released in April.

It will feed into the annual wage review due by the middle of the year.

How to be bold

Gender-based undervaluation of women’s work won’t be eradicated by incremental adjustments.

Here are three bold steps the commission could take:

  • grant a minimum interim 12% increase (one estimate of Australia’s national gender pay gap) across the board for female-dominated awards in this year’s annual wage review

  • develop new systems for classifying work and ascribing work value, breaking with the previous standards built around skills and qualifications in male dominated occupations

  • better consider the uneven bargaining power in industries such as nursing where governments fund care work and try to restrain costs.

The changes to the Fair Work Act that allow multi-employer bargaining are a start, but unlikely alone to correct the undervaluation of women’s work.

In female-dominated industries where collective bargaining is non-existent or ineffective, the commission should step in and further increase wages.

The Fair Work Commission has been given the tools. This should be the year it applies them.The Conversation

Lisa Heap, Doctoral Researcher RMIT University; Senior Researcher Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute, RMIT University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Australia’s restrictive vaping and tobacco policies are fuelling a lucrative and dangerous black market

James Martin, Deakin University and David Bright, Deakin University

Australia currently has the most restrictive tobacco and vaping policies in the developed world. Australian smokers are taxed at one of the highest rates among comparable nations, with taxes set to further increase at rate of 5% per year. Meanwhile, Australia is the only country to have a prescription model for accessing vaping products.

These policies have begun to attract international attention. The UK government, for example, recently announced increased taxes on tobacco and vaping products, while the Labour opposition has vowed to emulate Australia’s prescription model if it wins this year’s election.

Australia’s policies have been backed by some medical experts as a means to drive down and eventually eliminate smoking and vaping. There has been much alarm around youth vaping, in particular.

While arguably well-intentioned, the increasing taxes and restrictions on cigarettes and vaping products have resulted in an unintended and dangerous outcome – the rise of a lucrative and expanding black market for these products.

Tobacco ‘war’ unfolding in Victoria

Emerging black markets tend to attract established organised crime groups, which have the capacity to use violence to enforce contracts, collect debts and threaten competitors.

Over the past six months, for instance, there have been more than 40 firebombings of stores selling illicit tobacco and vapes across Victoria. In October, police said the killing of Melbourne man in a drive-by shooting was also linked to the underworld war over illegal tobacco products. Reports of standover tactics and extortion targeting tobacco shop owners are also on the rise.

According to police, this serious criminal activity is being committed at the behest of rival criminal networks who are engaged in a “turf war” for control of the lucrative trade.

Since October, police have searched almost 70 stores believed to be involved in the illegal tobacco trade, seizing more than 100,000 vapes with an estimated street value of A$3.2 million, along with 3.2 million cigarettes.

While most of the violence associated with the black market appears to be taking place in Victoria, this is a national problem. Last month in Sydney, health authorities seized over 30,000 vapes and 118,000 cigarettes with a estimated street value of $1.1 million.

These numbers may sound impressive, but they represent a drop in the ocean of the total black market. Authorities estimate the size of the illicit vape market could be worth up to $500 million in Victoria alone.

The economics of the black market

The black market for illicit tobacco and vaping products has been driven by economic forces on both the supply and demand side.

On the demand side, smokers are disproportionately concentrated among lower socio-economic groups. Many are unable or unwilling to pay the ever-increasing prices for cigarettes.

People who vape are also largely rejecting the government’s prescription model, with 87% reporting they source their vapes illegally.

Vaping rates are on the increase, particularly among younger adults. Shutterstock

This demand is only likely to increase as cigarette prices increase further and prescription vapes become even less appealing with the introduction of new flavour restrictions.

On the supply side, economic models suggest traffickers of illicit products are attracted to opportunities that present the lowest risks and highest rewards.

Similar to drugs like cocaine, the importation of illicit tobacco offers attractive profits. The difference is that while importing large quantities of cocaine can lead to substantial prison sentences, the penalties for the importation of illicit tobacco are not as severe.

Vapes are similarly low risk and highly profitable. They can be purchased wholesale from China for as little as $2.50 and sold “on the street” in Australia for more than ten times that amount.

The limits and dangers of prohibition

These economic realities suggest it is unlikely law enforcement agencies will be able to effectively tackle the black market under current government settings.

The Australian Border Force is already stretched beyond capacity tackling the booming illicit drug market. So, even if eight out of ten consignments of illicit vapes are intercepted at the border (an unrealistically high proportion on the best of days), the two that make it through are sufficient for traffickers to make a profit.

And while law enforcement agencies have made inroads with arrests of black marketeers and seizures of their products, these are often quickly replaced so trafficking operations can continue unabated.

As previous examples of prohibition on alcohol and other drugs have demonstrated, the dangers of black markets extend beyond systemic violence. Other harms include the influx of inferior and adulterated products, which can pose even more health risks than legal tobacco products. Young people also have greater access to vapes as black market retailers ignore restrictions on sales to minors. (It should be noted, though, that many retailers may be doing so under duress.)

Added to this is the risk of criminalisation of consumers. A teenager in NSW was recently arrested, for example, following an altercation with police over his possession of a vape.

Then there is the lost tax revenue from tobacco goods sold under the counter, which the Taxation Office estimated at $2.3 billion in 2021-22.

The Australian public and policymakers, as well as other countries considering emulating our policies, need to be mindful of these risks and the implacable economic forces that are driving the black market.

Australia’s tobacco and vaping policies have transformed two largely legal and peaceful markets into increasingly dangerous and uncontrolled ones. The situation could even get worse in the absence of meaningful legislative reform, enhanced multi-agency cooperation, nationally consistent policy platforms and the winding back of some restrictions.

As the history of prohibition has taught us time and again, there is a “sweet spot” in restricting the sale of harmful products – one that limits access and reduces harm, but is not so onerous as to create a large black market. The violence unfolding on our streets suggests our current tobacco and vaping polices are failing to strike this balance.The Conversation

James Martin, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Deakin University and David Bright, Professor of Criminology, Deakin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Prefabricated and build-to-rent houses could help bring rents down

Ameeta Jain, Deakin University

This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here.


Australia’s rental vacancy rate has hit a historic low of close to zero. The latest estimate from SQM Research is 1.1%. The latest estimate from the property listing firm Domain is 0.7%.

As would be expected with hardly any of Australia’s rental properties vacant and available for rent, rents have soared – at first in 2022 only for newly advertised properties, and later for properties in general as measured by average rents.

The Bureau of Statistics measure of average capital city rents climbed 7.3% throughout 2023. It would have climbed by more – by 8.5% – had the bureau not taken account of the increased rent assistance in the May budget, which depressed recorded rents by 1.2%.

Demand surged while new supply sank

Vacancy rates have fallen and rents have climbed because the demand for living space has surged; at first in the aftermath of lockdowns as Australians sought accommodation with fewer housemates and more home office space, and later as borders reopened and Australia’s population swelled.

At the same time, the number of dwellings completed dived in response to shortages of both labour and materials.

Before COVID about 50,000 new dwellings were completed per quarter. Since then, completions have rarely exceeded 45,000.



Tweaking tax concessions would do little to help

While the Australian Greens are pressing the government to wind back capital gains tax concessions and limit negative gearing in order to wind back home prices, there’s little reason to think the changes would do much to reduce rents.

Half of all Australian landlords negatively gear by making a net loss on rental income in order to profit later from concessionally taxed capital gains. Attacking these tax concessions would be likely to cause some of them to reconsider being landlords.

But if they sold, more renters would be able to buy and stop renting, leaving the balance of renters and properties for rent little changed.

Rent assistance and caps won’t much help either

While there is popular support for increasing rent assistance, and while it has materially cut rents paid over the past year, it won’t create more rental properties.

Very big increases in rent assistance might even lift rents further by increasing the amount renters are able to pay. However, the effect is unlikely to be big because Commonwealth rent assistance is restricted to welfare recipients.

Rent caps or freezes don’t increase supply either, and run the risk of encouraging a black market in bidding to pay rents over the legally sanctioned cap.

What’s needed is more homes, in the right places

The government’s new Housing Australia Future Fund and associated agreements are intended to support the delivery of 20,000 new social and 20,000 new affordable homes over the next five years.

Separately, the Commonwealth and the states have agreed to an ambitious target of 1.2 million “new well-located homes” over the next five years, up from 918,200 over the past five years.

The Commonwealth has set aside A$3 billion for “performance-based funding” to the states paid at the rate of $15,000 for each new well-located home they deliver in excess of their share of 1 million new homes in five years.

If the states and territories are able to deliver 1.2 million homes over five years rather than 1 million, Grattan Institute analysis suggests rents will be 4% lower than they would have been.

NSW is displaying the sort of initiative that will be needed. The state is allowing developers of projects worth more than A$75 million to build taller buildings with more accommodation as long as they use 15% of the floor space for affordable housing.

NSW is also allowing denser development within 400 metres of 31 train stations.

Build-to-rent would help

In Australia, most rental properties (even apartments) are owned by individual so-called “mum and dad” investors.

Overseas in the United States and Europe, they are more likely to be owned by corporations who build entire blocks to lease.

These corporations are more concerned about long-term returns than individual owners who want the flexibility to sell, so they tend to offer long-term leases on better terms.

In last year’s budget the government offered build-to-rent tax rules which the Property Council of Australia says could create thousands of extra homes.

On one hand, they are unlikely to be homes for low-income renters. Developers require commercial returns. On the other hand, an increasing number of renters have high incomes.

The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute says while in 1996 households with incomes worth $140,000 a year or more in today’s dollars accounted for only 8% of renters, by 2021 they accounted for 24%.

Pre-fabs could also help, and more apprentices

Another thing that would help is encouraging the use of prefabrication to cut construction times and costs, using locally sourced materials.

Prefabricated homes were used to house migrants after the second world war. More recently they have been used to house NSW flood victims.

They will still require skilled builders and tradespeople, who are in short supply. Only about half of enrolled apprentices complete their training, and the dropout rate has been climbing.

The government has announced an in-depth review of Australia’s system of apprenticeship support. It’s due to report later this year.

It might also help to prioritise the migration of tradespeople. It’s hard to build more homes in the right places, but that’s what we need.The Conversation

Ameeta Jain, Associate Professor, Deakin Business School, Deakin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Let’s not kid ourselves that private investors or super funds will build the social housing we need

t_rust/Getty
Brendan Coates, Grattan Institute and Joey Moloney, Grattan Institute

This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here.


Treasurer Jim Chalmers is leading a push to get private investors to help build more social and affordable housing. But we shouldn’t kid ourselves about where the money will come from.

The defining feature of social and affordable housing is a big rental subsidy for the tenant, which no private investor will ever volunteer to pay. In the end, government – that is, taxpayers – will always foot the bill.

The sooner we accept this, the better. Wishful thinking that private investors will wear the cost of rental discounts risks making the limited government subsidies available for housing less effective.

We need more social housing

Social housing – where rents are typically capped at 30% of tenants’ incomes – makes a big difference to the lives of many vulnerable Australians.

Yet Australia’s stock of social housing – currently about 430,000 dwellings – has barely grown in 20 years, during which time the population has increased by 33%.

A stagnant stock means there is little “flow” of available housing to catch people going through hardship, who then face prolonged, agonising waits while struggling to afford to keep a roof over their head.

But it’s expensive

The main reason our social housing stock has stagnated is the expense.

Social housing offers a big rental discount, or subsidy, to tenants.

In Australia, the gap between the subsidised rent and the private market rent is about $15,000 per rental per year.

Because the subsidy to tenants is ongoing, the cost to governments is ongoing. That means that every extra 100,000 social housing dwellings costs an extra $1.5 billion every year.

The same goes for subsidised “affordable” housing, where rents are typically set at 20-25% below the market rate, and which are available to many low- and some middle-income earners.

If the tenant is getting a discount on the market rate, the government will pay for that somewhere along the line.

Private investors won’t wear the subsidy gap

Australia has $3.5 trillion of superannuation savings – the fourth-largest retirement savings pool in the world – but practically none of it is invested in Australian housing. The Treasurer wants to change that.

He’s talked a big game about encouraging private capital, including super funds, to invest specifically in social and affordable housing.

But no super fund should forego returns for its members by paying the subsidy gap for social or affordable housing out of members’ pockets.

It would be incompatible with superannuation funds’ core objective – maximising returns for their members – which funds are obligated by law to prioritise.

Private investors prefer affordable to social housing

If we make encouraging private investment in social and affordable housing the goal, we risk misallocating the scarce government subsidies we have.

Most super funds, and other investors, would typically prefer to invest in affordable, rather than social housing.

Doing so lets investors finance more homes for any given quantity of government housing subsidies that are available, while taking on less-disadvantaged tenants who are seen as less risky.

We’ve been here before: the National Rental Affordability Scheme spent $3.1 billion channelling subsidies to private investors for affordable housing.

Grattan Institute estimates suggest the scheme paid an extra $1 billion in windfall gains to investors, above and beyond the cost of the discounted rents offered to tenants, who typically weren’t the most needy.

Super funds could make social housing more expensive

Super funds can help finance the construction of new social housing via loans to community housing providers – as four major funds have recently agreed to do.

But these loans are likely to be on fully commercial terms.

They are deals attractive to federal and state governments worried about taking on more debt.

But they are also likely to make social housing more expensive to deliver because governments can borrow at lower rates than the returns sought by funds.

Governments can’t avoid their responsibility

Ultimately, governments have to foot the bill for social and affordable housing. And our priority should be social, rather than affordable housing, since its targeted at people at serious risk of becoming homeless.

The sooner that truth is acknowledged, the sooner we can get on with funding subsidies and the less time we will waste on trying to coax private investors into being something they’re not.

The best way to boost funding for social housing would be to double the size of the Housing Australia Future Fund from $10 billion to $20 billion

The government-owned fund uses borrowed money to invest in stocks and bonds and uses the income to cover the social housing subsidy gap.

It makes use of the higher return the government can get from investing than from retiring debt, in the same way as the government’s Future Fund.

Doubling the size of the Housing Australia Future Fund could support the building of up to an extra 30,000 social dwellings over the next five years.

Coupled with a further big boost to Commonwealth Rent Assistance, it could really help low-income renters.The Conversation

Brendan Coates, Program Director, Economic Policy, Grattan Institute and Joey Moloney, Deputy Program Director, Economic Policy, Grattan Institute

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Hundreds of tariffs to go from July 1 in biggest unilateral tariff cut in decades

Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

The Albanese government will abolish almost 500 so-called “nuisance” import tariffs from July 1.

Items set to become tariff-free include toothbrushes, hand tools, fridges, dishwashers, clothing, and menstrual and sanitary products. The tariff on such products is 5%. The cost to the budget has not yet been announced, partly because the plan is subject to consultations.

The decision will be the centrepiece of a speech Treasurer Jim Chalmers will make to a business audience in Sydney on Monday. Later, in another speech this week, Chalmers will set out some directions for the May budget.

The government says this is “the biggest unilateral tariff reform in at least two decades”, hailing it as a gain for productivity.

“It will cut compliance costs, reduce red tape, make it easier to do business, and boost productivity,” the government said in a statement, adding these tariffs do not protect Australian businesses.

The reforms were an important step in simplifying Australian trade, and would particularly assist small and medium-sized firms.

“After successive trade agreements, most goods are now imported duty-free. This means that businesses spend time and money proving their imports are eligible for existing tariff preferences and concessions, a compliance cost they often pass on to consumers, ” the statement said.

Cheaper toothbrushes, tools and tampons

Chalmers said: “Tariff reform will also provide a small amount of extra help with the cost-of-living challenge by making everyday items such as toothbrushes, tools, fridges, dishwashers and clothing just a little bit cheaper”.

The changes will scrap 14% of Australia’s total tariffs, streamlining about $8.5 billion worth of annual trade. Businesses will save more than $30 million in compliance costs each year, on the government’s estimate.

A Productivity Commission report in 2020 defined nuisance tariffs as

tariffs that raise little revenue, have negligible benefits for producers, but impose compliance burdens

It said the administrative costs of collecting these tariffs amounted to $11 million to $20 million per year.

The government gave the following list of examples of products set to see the removal of the 5% customs duties and what revenue the tariffs currently raise annually:

  • Washing machines with annual imports worth over $490 million, raise less than $140,000 in revenue per year

  • Fridge-freezers with imports worth over $668 million – less than $28,000

  • Tyres for agricultural vehicles, tractors or other machines with imports worth over $102 million – less than $10,000

  • Protective footwear with imports worth $160 million – less than $112,000

  • Toothbrushes with imports worth over $84 million – less than $22,000

  • Menstrual and sanitary products with over $211 million worth of imports – less than $3 million

  • X-ray film with over $160,000 in imports – less than $200

  • Chamois leather with $100,000 in imports – less than $1,000

  • Pyjamas with almost $108 million in imports – less than $120,000

  • Fishing reels with over $50 million in imports – less than $140,000

  • Rollercoasters with over $16 million in imports – less than $40,000

  • Dodgem cars with over $2 million in imports – less than $15,000

  • Ballpoint pens with imports worth over $57 million – less than $95,000

  • Toasters with imports worth over $49 million – less than $1,000

  • Electric blankets with imports worth over $31 million – less than $5,000

  • Bamboo chopsticks with over $3 million in imports – less than $3,000.

Removing tariffs on menstrual and sanitary items will align tariff policy settings with changes previously made to the GST.

The government said consultation on the proposed initial reforms is underway, with submissions open on the Treasury website and closing on April 1.

“The tariffs identified have been selected because their abolition will deliver benefits for businesses without adversely impacting Australian industries or constraining Australia in sensitive FTA negotiations,” the government said in its statement.

The full list of abolished tariffs will be finalised and provided in the May budget.

Chalmers said:“This is meaningful economic reform that will deliver meaningful benefits to businesses of all sizes around Australia.

"These tariffs impose a regulatory burden on Australian businesses and raise the costs of imported goods but they do little to protect our workers and businesses because they apply to goods that are mostly already eligible for duty-free importation.

"These tariff reforms will be better for businesses, better for consumers and better for the economy.”

Trade Minister Don Farrell said: “With one in four Australian jobs trade-related, and 27% of Australia’s economic output supported by trade, the importance of trade to Australia’s national wellbeing cannot be overstated.

"Trade that is simple, fast, and cost-effective can boost Australia’s international competitiveness, help create jobs, and reduce cost of living pressures.”

The Whitlam government began the journey to cut protection by cutting tariffs 25% across-the-board. The Hawke-Keating governments in the late 1980s and early 1990s undertook comprehensive tariff reductions and the elimination of import quotas.

The Howard government cut most tariffs to no more than 5% and many to zero.The Conversation

Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

ACCC extends wholesale price controls to superfast fixed-line broadband networks

March 12, 2024
Australians on broadband plans provided by non-NBN fixed-line networks should benefit from more stable pricing and greater competition between retailers, following the ACCC’s decision to make a final wholesale access determination for the declared superfast broadband access service (SBAS), the ACC has stated today.

TPG and Uniti Group Limited (Uniti) are the two largest suppliers of the SBAS. Their networks combined cover more than one million premises, primarily in apartment buildings and new residential housing estates. In many areas they are the sole fixed-line broadband network operator.

The access determination sets maximum wholesale prices and other important terms and conditions for retailers to access the networks. The regulation will apply if the network owners and retailers cannot reach satisfactory commercial agreements.

“We have made this access determination so the one million or so Australians who rely on these networks for internet at their homes or businesses can select from a broader range of retailers and offers that can better meet their needs,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.

“The final regulation we’ve settled on contains specific price terms, benchmarked against NBN Co’s pricing, that will enable consumers and businesses to find retail offers that are similar to, or better than, those available on the NBN.”  

Regulated monthly prices for the 25/5 and 50/20 Mbps speed tiers will give retailers greater certainty over the access costs they pay. Because of the benchmarking against equivalent NBN access costs, retailers will be able to develop consistent product offerings to consumers across all networks.

The changes will put downward pressure on the wholesale cost to access the entry level 25/5 Mbps service and the popular 50/20 Mbps service. The ACCC expects the regulated price terms for the 50/20 Mbps speed tier will also constrain wholesale prices for higher speed tiers.

The access determination will also regulate connection, transfer, and appointment charges for SBAS networks, which will make it easier for households to switch retailers and will limit their potential exposure to missed appointment fees or other ad hoc charges.

“We’re confident that our final decision strikes the right balance between protecting the long-term interests of consumers and allowing the network providers to earn the revenues required to continue to invest and improve their networks over time,” Ms Brakey said.  

The new access determination will come into force on 1 September 2024 and apply until 1 March 2027.

The ACCC consulted extensively with the SBAS providers, retailers, industry, and consumer groups throughout its inquiry.  

More information on the SBAS and the ACCC’s final report on the inquiry is available at SBAS final access determination inquiry 2021

Background
The SBAS is a declared wholesale fixed-line broadband access service provided over a ‘superfast’ broadband network (one normally capable of download speeds of 25 Mbps or more). These provide a similar service to the NBN.

Other technologies capable of providing a superfast broadband service that are not captured by the declared SBAS are fixed wireless, satellite, mobile, and the NBN.

Since the ACCC first declared an SBAS in 2016, the market has consolidated as larger firms acquired smaller providers. TPG and Uniti are now relatively large, vertically integrated providers, and there is a range of other smaller providers (generally with fewer than 30,000 active customers).

Following extensive stakeholder consultation, the ACCC released a draft decision on the SBAS determination in October 2022 and undertook further consultation over 2023. 

In March 2023, the ACCC released an exposure draft of its determination instrument and called for submissions.

The inquiry was subsequently extended due to uncertainty around regulated NBN access prices under NBN Co’s variation to its special access undertaking (SAU).

The ACCC undertook further consultation on the SBAS determination in November 2023 following its acceptance of NBN Co’s varied SAU.

NBN upgrade: what a free speed increase for fast broadband plans would mean for consumers and retailers

NBN Co
Mark A Gregory, RMIT University

The National Broadband Network may offer a significant speed boost to many users, if a plan from NBN Co, the operator of the network, is implemented. NBN Co’s proposed upgrade would provide download speeds up to five times faster for users on its three fastest home services (Home Fast, Home Superfast and Home Ultrafast).

The speed boost would come at no extra wholesale cost to retailers. On its face, this is an exciting announcement that aims to meet consumer demand for higher speed broadband connections to the internet.

NBN Co has highlighted the rationale for this move. The average Australian household now has around 22 internet-connected devices, and this is expected to grow to 33 by 2026. Data usage per household has doubled in the past five years, and now averages 443 gigabytes per month.

Why do people want more data?

Higher data usage is being driven by new applications, entertainment and online gaming. For example, game updates can be as large as 30 or more gigabytes today. If games update regularly, the amount of data used each month increases quickly.

Entertainment too is using more data. Most streaming video today is provided in a 720p format, but newer televisions can display content at the higher-resolution 4K format. With faster broadband speeds becoming more common, consumers should anticipate more 4K content becoming available.

Likewise, virtual reality and augmented reality are relatively new technologies that are slowly becoming integrated with gaming and business systems. These high data usage technologies are likely to become more present in our daily lives over the next decade.

NBN Co

When would the upgrades happen?

NBN Co has indicated it would like to start providing the new higher speed products later this year, or early next year. The upgrade would be achieved by increasing the overall capacity of the NBN, which could then be “shared out” to consumers.

The NBN Co announcement is something the service providers should have expected at some point soon.

NBN Co’s announcement, coming only months after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) approved a proposal for major annual price increases, may not be welcomed by all broadband retailers.

A spokesperson for the second largest broadband retailer, TPG Telecom, told CommsDay yesterday:

It took more than two years to finalise [the new pricing approved by the ACCC] and only three months for NBN Co to undermine the certainty it was supposed to create. We will always welcome opportunities to deliver greater service and speed to our customers, but NBN’s monopolistic whims make genuine collaboration with them very difficult.

Retailers understandably want certainty in wholesale pricing. One difficulty in achieving this is the high cost of “backhaul” in Australia: this is an intermediate connection between service providers and the NBN itself. Larger retailers have their own backhaul infrastructure, but smaller retailers must pay a third party.

If the NBN offers higher speed broadband connections, smaller retailers may end up paying more for backhaul – and will be faced with a dilemma over whether to pass these extra costs to consumers.

Telstra and Optus have broadly supported the plan by NBN Co to move to new technologies that offer the higher speed capabilities.

A faster network may entice consumers

Aussie Broadband Group managing director Phillip Britt told Gizmodo Australia:

Aussie Broadband is still understanding the detail of NBN Co’s speed proposal, but on the face of it, it could represent one of the most exciting steps in technology adoption for Australian households and businesses.

For NBN Co, the boost for the higher-speed plans may entice consumers to move from basic 50 Mbps plans to the upgraded Home Fast plan (which will offer download speeds of 500 Mbps, up from the current 100 Mbps).

NBN Co may also hope this encourages the remaining consumers with copper “fibre to the node” connections to move to “fibre to the premises” by taking advantage of one of the low or no cost upgrade offers available through retailers.

NBN Co has issued a consultation paper to retailers, asking for their feedback on the proposed changes to the high speed products by April 19 2024.The Conversation

Mark A Gregory, Associate Professor, School of Engineering, RMIT University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Disclaimer: These articles are not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.  Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Pittwater Online News or its staff.