'Remember when Paul Keating talked about greater engagement in Asia? Or Kevin Rudd pushed for more Asian languages in Australian schools?

Well, the direction of our studies and engagement in Asia have only seemed to go backwards.

The grand vision at one point might have been an Australian population that had an awareness of our Asian neighbours, and all the opportunities they presented.

But now the problem is now rather more existential: will we even have enough Indonesian-speakers, or for that matter Mandarin speakers, or Japanese speakers to fill the ranks of our diplomatic corps in the future?

Will we have any deep academic knowledge of what is happening in our own region?'

"The first suspected case of a deadly strain of bird flu that has killed millions of birds and mammals worldwide has been found in Australia, the federal government has confirmed.

A wild migratory bird in Western Australia has returned a suspected positive result for avian influenza, which, if confirmed as the H5 strain, would mean the virus had finally spread to every continent on the planet.

The highly pathogenic H5 strain has devastated populations of seabirds, seals and other animals across the world."

"More than 13,000 seal pups have died on an Australian territory, as testing confirmed the spread of deadly H5N1 bird flu among penguins, seals and petrels on subantarctic islands.

The mass mortality of southern elephant seal pups on Heard Island, about 4,000km south-west of Perth and 1,700km north of Antarctica, was observed by government scientists conducting drone and ground surveys in October 2025 and January 2026.

Death rates were extremely high, averaging 76% across the island, and up to 97% in one location."

Why is it so? As soon as you think the system is working relatively well, and decide that it's safe to place orders from overseas to Australia, chaos ensues.

Just recently I've had a few deliveries from overseas which came via Australia Post Global. Absolute chaos. Nothing arriving when it was scheduled to arrrive. Arriving on schedule is important. It means that you can make sure you are at home, standing ready to receive the delivery. Makes sense, no? Otherwise there's just going to be a random shot at finding someone home and ready to receive a delivery.

Last week, two different orders of two of the same item were split in half, arriving on different days, none of which were the scheduled days. A couple fitted into the letter box, luckily. Others did not. Hours were wasted trying to find out what was happening. No information had come from APG or AP to alert me of a delivery.

Yesterday, delivery of another item was attempted. Received notice that redelivery would be attempted. Waited at home. No redelivery was attempted, although a notification stated that a redelivery attempt was made. Am informed in communciation with AP/APG that APG do not do redeliveries?! Finally discover, through many emails, that the item was left at an Australia Post collection centre. SIGH. I am expecting a delivery, not a trek to collect a parcel.

The Australia Post Global tracking numbers given to the customer are not recognised by Australia Post. Although I was checking MyPost, no information appeared. The customer has no idea when their orders may arrive.

Posting here to inform anyone sending their products to Australia from overseas via Australia Post Global that their customer may experience not only extremely disorganised deliveries/non-deliveries but much stress, too. It is SUCH A SHAME that Australia does not have a postal system that is even half-way acceptable. SIGH.

Why is it so? As soon as you think the system is working relatively well, and decide that it's safe to place orders from overseas to Australia, chaos ensues.

Just recently I've had a few deliveries from overseas which came via Australia Post Global. Absolute chaos. Nothing arriving when it was scheduled to arrrive. Arriving on schedule is important. It means that you can make sure you are at home, standing ready to receive the delivery. Makes sense, no? Otherwise there's just going to be a random shot at finding someone home and ready to receive a delivery.

Last week, two different orders of two of the same item were split in half, arriving on different days, none of which were the scheduled days. A couple fitted into the letter box, luckily. Others did not. Hours were wasted trying to find out what was happening. No information had come from APG or AP to alert me of a delivery.

Yesterday, delivery of another item was attempted. Again, no warning. Received notice that redelivery would be attempted. Waited at home. No redelivery was attempted, although a notification stated that a redelivery attempt was made. Am informed in communciation with AP/APG that APG do not do redeliveries?! Finally discover, through many emails, that the item was left at an Australia Post collection centre. SIGH. I am expecting a delivery, not a trek to collect a parcel.

The Australia Post Global tracking numbers given to the customer are not recognised by Australia Post. Although I was checking MyPost, no information appeared. The customer has no idea when their orders may arrive.

Posting here to inform anyone sending their products to Australia from overseas via Australia Post Global that their customer may experience not only extremely disorganised deliveries/non-deliveries but much stress, too. It is SUCH A SHAME that Australia does not have a postal system that is even half-way acceptable. SIGH.

Why is it so? As soon as you think the system is working relatively well, and decide that it's safe to place orders from overseas to Australia, chaos ensues.

Just recently I've had a few deliveries from overseas which came via Australia Post Global. Absolute chaos. Nothing arriving when it was scheduled to arrrive. Arriving on schedule is important. It means that you can make sure you are at home, standing ready to receive the delivery. Makes sense, no? Otherwise there's just going to be a random shot at finding someone home and ready to receive a delivery.

Two different orders of two of the same item were split in half, arriving on different days, none of which were the scheduled days. A couple fitted into the letter box, luckily. Others did not.

Yesterday, a delivery was attempted. Received notice that redelivery would be attempted. Waited at home. No redelivery attempted, although a notification stated that an attempt was made. Am informed in communciation with AP/APG that APG do not do redeliveries?! Finally discover, through many emails, that the item was left at a collection centre. SIGH.

Hours wasted trying to communicate with sender and with Australia Post Global trying to find out where the deliveries had gone. The tracking numbers are not recognised by Australia Post.

I am expecting a delivery, not a trek to collect a parcel. Posting here to inform anyone sending their products to Australia from overseas that their customer may experience not only extremely disorganised deliveries/non-deliveries but much stress, too. It is SUCH A SHAME that Australia does not have a postal system that is even half-way acceptable. SIGH.

"Perhaps most concerning is how normal this is becoming. Humans are remarkably adaptable. We quickly become accustomed to new realities. Last year’s unprecedented temperatures become this year’s baseline. What would once have been front-page news becomes just another weather report at the bottom of a long list of other news

This phenomenon has a name: shifting baseline syndrome. Each generation accepts the conditions it grows up with as normal, even when those conditions would have shocked previous generations. The danger isn’t simply that the climate is changing. The danger it’s that we stop noticing.

And while all this is happening, powerful interests would very much like us to be distracted.

They want us arguing about culture wars, symbolic controversies, and manufactured outrage. They want us fighting each other over identity, language, and social media scandals while the atmosphere continues to accumulate greenhouse gases and the planet continues to warm.

That’s not an accident. The fossil fuel fascists like culture wars because they divide communities, attract attention, generate clicks, and consume public debate. Every hour spent arguing over a manufactured controversy is an hour not spent discussing climate risk, energy transition, biodiversity loss, housing resilience, insurance affordability, or the long-term future of our children."