If you or someone you’re caring for has a medical emergency, visit your nearest emergency department or call 000.

But what if it’s not an emergency, or you’re not sure? Sometimes you can’t wait wait until 9am or Monday morning to see a doctor or access health care.

You might have a fever that’s not subsiding, a sprain that could be a break, a painful urinary tract infection, or a distressing situation that demands immediate mental health support.

Here are your options for accessing timely health care, in-person and virtually – including some that are free.

Medicare Urgent Care Clinics

Medicare Urgent Care Clinics provide bulk-billed care by a general practitioner (GP) for non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries.

Patients can walk in without an appointment or referral, and can access other services such as blood tests and X-rays. There are no out-of-pocket costs.

You can find your local clinic here.

Search engines to find a GP appointment – in person or online

Health service search engines such as Healthengine and HotDoc can help you find GPs and book appointments.

You can filter search results by types of services and telehealth availability, including the “GP telehealth on-demand option within 15 minutes” on Hotdoc.

Many will come with out-of-pocket costs.

Home visits

In-person home doctor visits for urgent, episodic illness or injury can also be arranged through options such as 13SICK National Home Doctor Service, DoctorDoctor, Hello Home Doctor Service, Sydmed, 13 CURE and OnCallDrs.

These are often bulk billed.

A call with a nurse or doctor

The new 1800MEDICARE helpline is a free 24/7 service where you can speak to a registered nurse about any health concern.

They will listen to your concerns, assess your symptoms and provide advice on next steps. This might mean looking after yourself at home, getting help from a GP, or attending an Urgent Care Clinic, pharmacy or emergency department.

If the 1800MEDICARE nurse advises you to see a GP within 24 hours, you may be offered a telephone or video call back from a 1800MEDICARE GP. These GPs can provide prescriptions via SMS.

Virtual emergency departments for non-life-threatening emergencies

Virtual emergency departments are free, online emergency departments that treat non-life-threatening emergencies such as pain, sprains, infections, respiratory illnesses, gastroenteritis, high blood pressure, pain, infections, minor burns and rashes.

Examples include:

• the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department
• the South Australia Child and Adolescent Virtual Urgent Care Service
• Queensland Virtual Emergency Care Service.

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Read more: What is a virtual emergency department? And when should you ‘visit’ one?

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Another similar option is My Emergency Doctor, which offers patients access to specialist emergency doctors via video call or telephone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, this service costs $150.

Medicines and pharmacists

Some pharmacies operate on extended business hours, including 24 hours. You can find a pharmacy near you at this link, with the option to filter by “extended hours”.

In some circumstances, pharmacies can issue a small amount of a medicine if you’ve run out.

In some states and territories, pharmacists can provide medicines such as antibiotics for simple urinary tract infections without a prescription.

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Read more: It’s now easier to get antibiotics for UTIs. But here’s what to do if your symptoms don’t go away

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For people living in remote Australia, the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) runs a Medical Chests program. Medical chests contain a range of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical items, including prescription-only medicines, which RFDS doctors may prescribe after a phone consultation.

Pregnancy, birth and children

Pregnancy, Birth and Baby is a free national service that provides support to expecting parents, and parents of children from birth to five years of age.

You can speak to maternal and child health nurses via phone, by calling 1800 882 436, or video call about you or your baby, between 7am and midnight, seven days a week.

CubCare is another virtual urgent care option which provides access to paediatric emergency doctors, for a fee.

Dental care

The Australian Dental Foundation runs a free 24/7 Emergency Dental Hotline which can help you work out the urgency of your issue and your next steps.

National Emergency Dentist is a private health service which connects patients to emergency dentists offering same-day and after-hours appointments, for a fee.

Mental health phone support

Mental health support will depend on your individual needs and background. You can access mental health support after hours through these call services (some also have online chats):

• Lifeline: 24/7 crisis support

• Beyond Blue: counselling via phone online chat

• Kids Helpline: 24/7 online and phone counselling for young people aged five to 25 years

• Suicide Call Back Service: 24/7 service providing phone and online counselling to anyone affected by suicide

• 1800 RESPECT: 24/7 support for people affected by domestic, family, or sexual violence

• Gambling Help Online: phone and online support for anyone affected by gambling

• National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline: 24/7 service for all states and territories, except South Australia which operates 8.30am–10pm

• the Butterfly Foundation for free and confidential support about eating disorders and body image.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services

• 13 YARN: 24/7 crisis support phone line operated by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

• Yarning Safe'N'Strong: 24/7 support available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who need to have a yarn with someone about their wellbeing

• Brother to Brother: 24/7 crisis line providing phone support for Aboriginal men, staffed by Aboriginal men, including Elders.

LGBTQIA+ services

• QLife: phone and webchat that operates during afternoons and evenings seven days a week to support LGBTQIA+ people.

Communication assistance

The National Translating and Interpreting Service offers support to non-English speaking people for their consultations. This service is typically free, covers 150 languages and can be accessed after-hours. Register here.

The National Relay Service provides assistance to people with hearing or speech difficulties during their medical consultations.

Mahima Kalla received previous funding from the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre to help build a patient consultation summary application within Healthdirect's video telehealth platform.

Feby Savira Feby received a Priority Primary Care Centre Fellowship (2023-2025) supported by the Western Victoria Primary Health Network and was involved in the evaluation of Priority Primary Care Centres in the Western Victoria region.

Kara Burns receives funding from the Australian General Practice Foundation to research the scaling of digital maternity care in remote general practice. 

Sathana Dushyanthen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

The abrupt resignation of the National Anti-Corruption Commissioner Paul Brereton is a pivotal moment for the federal watchdog. For years, questions over the commissioner’s leadership arising from concerns about his ability to manage conflicts of interest had undermined public confidence and trust in a key Australian integrity institution.

The government has committed to a “merit-based process” to appoint the next commissioner.

But can we trust the government to do that and rebuild trust in our national anti-corruption commission? Research finds governments often abuse their power to appoint, fund and oversee integrity agencies in order to avoid serious oversight.

How do we avoid this abuse and safeguard the independence of our integrity agencies? A new report from the Centre for Public Integrity outlines three key ways to ensure these agencies are truly independent.

These reforms should guide the appointment of a new national anti-corruption commissioner.

Fundamental tensions

To do their job, integrity agencies must be independent from the government. This means they must be able to investigate and criticise governments and public officials without fear of political retaliation.

But in practice there are a few problems with this idea.

Unlike the courts and parliament, these agencies are not protected in the Constitution. Instead, they are often created by the government through an act of parliament.

This creates a foundational tension: integrity agencies are designed by government, to hold the government to account.

The government has a vested interest in these institutions being weak. Governments have been accused of establishing weak watchdogs, or deliberately “clipping the wings” of these bodies by amending laws.

There are also operational tensions. Governments can weaken integrity agencies in more subtle ways.

One way is through political appointments. In Australia, we have seen such politicisation, for instance, in appointments to the former Administrative Appeals Tribunal, ultimately leading to its abolition.

Or they might be in the form of cutting funding. This happened most recently in the current budget, with a funding cut in real terms to the Australian National Audit Office. The office had previously said that with its current funding levels, it would not be able to meet its responsibilities for performance audits.

On budget day, the joint parliamentary committee on public accounts and audit expressed its ongoing concern about the operational capability of the office given its financial position.

A new report released by the Centre for Public Integrity outlines a number of ways the independence of these agencies must be protected across three key pillars: appointments, funding and oversight.

You can’t choose your own watchdog

Our analysis shows that across the country, there is significant variation in how heads of integrity agencies are appointed. Many governments exercise broad and opaque discretion over who leads the core integrity agencies.

This creates obvious risks. If governments can appoint agency heads through opaque processes, there may be concerns — justified or not — about whether those leaders are suitably qualified or truly independent.

The controversy surrounding Brereton illustrates the stakes involved. Questions about conflicts of interest under his leadership have fuelled broader concerns about the lack of a transparent, merit-based appointment process for the role.

Our report recommends legally requiring open advertising of senior integrity positions, independent selection panels and greater parliamentary involvement in appointments.

There’s no need to wait. The government could implement such a process in the upcoming NACC appointment, instead of relying on vague platitudes of a “merit-based process”.

This proposal is similar to one that has been successfully adopted elsewhere, including for the reformed Administrative Review Tribunal.

We also recommend longer but non-renewable terms for agency heads to alleviate any pressure leaders may feel in seeking reappointment.

Handing over the purse strings

The second problem then is funding. Most Australian integrity agencies rely on governments to decide how much money they receive each year.

In practice, this means the government can place pressure on agencies by limiting their resources. Underfunded integrity agencies cannot properly investigate corruption, scrutinise spending or carry out oversight work.

Our report argues integrity agencies should have stronger protections around funding, again, drawing on models that have been successfully developed elsewhere, particularly in the ACT for their “Officers of Parliament”.

Our proposal includes separate parliamentary processes and independent funding panels that can publicly recommend appropriate funding levels. Governments would still make final budget decisions, but there would be greater transparency when they made decisions that cut agency funding.

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Read more: Australia’s anti-corruption commissioner has a trust problem. He needs to change course to fix it

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Genuinely independent oversight

Finally, independence does not mean integrity agencies should operate without accountability. These agencies exercise significant powers. Some can compel evidence, conduct hearings and make findings that seriously affect reputations and careers.

So oversight is essential – but that oversight must be independent. Oversight systems for integrity agencies are often poorly designed. In many jurisdictions, for instance, parliamentary oversight committees are dominated by government members.

A better system would involve parliamentary committees not dominated by government MPs, alongside independent inspectors for agencies exercising coercive powers.

The importance of such roles is underscored by the work of the NACC Inspector, in receiving and investigating complaints about the commission’s decision not to investigate Robodebt referrals.

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Read more: NACC belatedly to investigate whether six Robodebt referrals engaged in ‘corrupt conduct’

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Is real independence possible?

Australia has invested heavily in creating a set of core integrity agencies. Even if reluctantly, every jurisdiction across the country now has an anti-corruption agency, auditor-general and ombudsman office.

The next challenge is ensuring those institutions are sufficiently independent to do their job. Across the country, there are good designs that alleviate the operational pressures these agencies face. Adopting these designs will help secure better and more transparent funding, appointment, and oversight of core integrity agencies.

These more independent integrity agencies can in turn help safeguard the health of our democracy.

Gabrielle Appleby works as the Research Director for the Centre for Public Integrity. She has received funding from the Australian Research Council.

William Partlett is a Stephen Charles Fellow at the Centre for Public Integrity.

In 1973, Japanese food company Calbee started attaching free collectable baseball player cards to its potato chip packets (and continues to do so today). It was mimicking a trend that had already taken off in tobacco markets in Japan and overseas. Baseball, Japan’s national sport, was an obvious choice for Calbee to attract consumers.

Some four years later, rival company Lotte joined the trend, launching a chocolate wafer snack with Bikkuriman “surprise man” stickers. These stickers quickly caught on – and eventually spawned an entire fantasy world that made its way to anime and manga.

Both Calbee and Lotte helped set a template for how children’s collectables could become objects of desire, competition and, later, nostalgia. Bikkuriman is still sold today, with rare 1980s Super Zeus stickers going for thousands of dollars to adult collectors.

It was against this backdrop that Satoshi Tajiri (born 1965) grew up. He would have been about 12 when the first Bikkuriman card was released. Satoshi himself would end up creating one of the most popular collectable card games in the world: Pokémon.

These cards are now so highly coveted they are driving international crime, getting banned from schools, and locked behind glass cabinets in stores.

Creating the cultural conditions for a hit

Satoshi drew on a childhood memory when he created Pokémon (short for “Pocket Monsters”): catching insects and trading them with friends.

He imagined a Nintendo Game Boy game where players could collect and exchange monsters. After seven years in development, Pocket Monsters Red and Green launched in February 1996. This was followed by a trading card game in October.

In 1997, the anime began airing on Japanese television, with a protagonist also named Satoshi (the name still used in Japan today). Pikachu – originally just one of 151 monsters – became the face of the franchise.

Like Bikkuriman, Pocket Monster spread rapidly across games, TV and print media. But unlike Bikkuriman, it also aimed to cross borders.

The English-language version of the game was released in 1998, with its name changed to Pokémon. “Pocket Monsters” may have sounded awkward, or even suggestive, to English speakers. Although it remains the official name in Japan, most Japanese fans also use the portmanteau, Pokémon.

Character names were also adapted and anglicised for overseas audiences.

For instance, Satoshi became Ash. Nyarth, a bipedal cat thought to be inspired by the Japanese lucky charm maneki-neko, became Meowth, to match the English-language cat sound. (Pikachu, drawing on the Japanese onomatopoeia of “pika” and “chu”, was retained.)

Soon enough, the character names, types and Pokédex numbers became shared internationally, allowing players the world over to connect through a shared Pokémon language. In 2004, the first World Championship for the Pokémon Trading Card Game was held in the United States.

Squirtle in your neighbourhood

It’s difficult for any single commodity to maintain popularity over decades. During the early 2010s, Nintendo suffered significantly, even falling into deficit, and the Pokémon franchise faced competition from rivals such as Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yo-Kai Watch.

The old-school model of marketing through traditional media was no longer enough for global dominance. To survive, Pokémon would need to adopt the logic of new media platforms – and catch the eye of the online generation. Then came Pokémon GO.

The 2016 smartphone app was developed by American software company Niantic, in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.

Through augmented reality, parks, shopping streets and neighbourhoods gained new meaning as potential locations for your next Pokémon catch. One grandfather in Taiwan made the news for using 64 smartphones at once.

Some players even travelled internationally to capture region-exclusive Pokémon, such as Kangaskhan in Australia, which was clearly modelled on a kangaroo.

Downloaded more than 500 million times, the enormous success of Pokémon GO played a key role in re-energising the global Pokémon fandom. Many players sought out the cards they had collected as children.

Interest was further amplified by the release of Pokémon TCG Pocket. Released in 2024, this app digitised the old-school Japanese tabletop to make it accesible for all.

Chasing profits and childhood memories

Then there was another, less predictable factor that drove the popularity of Pokémon cards: COVID lockdowns. With more time at home, people dug out old binders and rediscovered their childhood cards – many of which had high value – and began trading to make money.

This has led to a renewed interest in rare cards such as the Pikachu Illustrator, which was distributed in 1998 to the winners of an illustration contest. The card features artwork by Atsuko Nishida, Pikachu’s original designer. With only 39 copies known to exist, collectors call it the “holy grail” of Pokémon cards.

Earlier this year, influencer Logan Paul sold his Pikachu Illustrator for US$16.492 million, setting a record for the most expensive trading card ever sold.

This potential for profit has led to a surge in Pokémon card-related crime, as the cards are easy to carry, hide and move internationally. We’ve seen a wave of burglaries targeting hobby shops all over the world, including in Australia, the US and Japan.

Many fans may now find themselves unable to purchase cards due to the economic bubble. Still, it seems demand is high; roughly 10.2 billion cards were printed from 2024 to 2025.

Pokémon cards are a rare kind of tangible object. They connect the digital to the physical – the past to the present – and Japan to the world. They aren’t just collectables; they are a cultural currency, which, unfortunately, can be stolen.

Tets Kimura does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Trees take carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into wood, storing it for decades. This is why Australian authorities have made forest regeneration eligible for carbon credits.

The largest carbon farming scheme is known as human-induced regeneration. Here, land owners and managers support forests to return on once-forested land. Every tonne of carbon dioxide soaked up by regrowing trees is worth one Australian carbon credit, about A$37.50.

The scheme has around 42 million hectares of land on its books. But only a third of this area is eligible for carbon credits, as the land has to be assessed as likely to regenerate into forest under changed management.

In recent years, some projects have come under fire. Researchers have suggested there’s not enough regeneration or that regeneration would have happened anyway. But independent assessment of these claims suggest these concerns are overblown.

As someone responsible for formally reviewing almost 100 of these projects since 2023, I have visited many sites and verified the data. Overall, I found these projects were being managed well – and forests are regrowing.

How does carbon farming work?

Under the rules, the area can’t have been forested for at least a decade before the project starts. It must have a high likelihood of becoming forested and richer in carbon through regeneration.

If left alone, trees will naturally regrow unless something stops them. Grazing by livestock, feral animals and sometimes native animals is the biggest barrier.

Many regeneration projects are in semi-arid areas with limited water. If water is made freely available for livestock, it can lead to surging numbers of kangaroos, wallabies and other native animals that eat regenerating saplings. This is why one method of limiting grazing is removing artificial watering points.

Fencing is another method. Australian and international researchers have found trees and vegetation on degraded land usually regenerate better when behind fences, though not always.

Does it work?

Australian authorities define a forest as an area dominated by trees over two metres tall, with existing or potential taller trees covering 20% or more of the area.

Participants have to prove forests of local tree species exist in the surrounding area, show the land can support forest and that there are sources of seeds. They also have to show evidence the area could be considered forest 20 years or so after the project begins.

Before carbon farmers can earn credits, the evidence they supply is audited and reviewed by teams of independent experts.

As one of these experts, I have reviewed a great deal of evidence and been on site when data was collected by independent ecologists to confirm how accurate tree cover estimates are. They’re not perfect. But they are very good.

If regeneration is too slow or fails, the area can be removed from the scheme. To date, about 6% of the land considered likely to regenerate has been taken off the scheme. Put another way, that means forests are actually regrowing on 94% of the land considered likely to regenerate.

Is criticism warranted?

Prominent critics have questioned the link between stopping grazing and regenerating forest. If this critique was accurate, it would mean there was no permanent boost to forests by ending grazing.

They argue instead in favour of only giving carbon credits to projects where trees are actively planted on previously cleared land.

The problem is, planting is relatively expensive and can be limited in scope. Planting also requires great care in tree species selection and genetics.

By contrast, removing pressure and allowing forests to naturally regenerate avoids these issues. Natural regeneration can also work in areas where planting and tree management would be expensive.

The critics used national-scale maps of woody vegetation to argue tree cover on some projects was falling short.

But as other experts have pointed out, these criticisms don’t stack up. The maps and models they rely on underestimate tree cover, compared to local and precise data gathered by aircraft with high-resolution scanning lasers.

When regeneration areas are independently assessed using similar gold standard methods, almost all show clear signs of regenerating forest.

Where does this leave us?

Worldwide, there are very real and well documented problems with carbon credit schemes intended to protect or restore forests.

This is why it’s important to scrutinise Australia’s human-induced regeneration scheme and others like it. But not all criticisms are valid.

The good news is, gold standard data gathered by participants cross-checked with regular on the ground audits and reviews show the scheme is largely working.

Regeneration can be slow, even after livestock have been removed. Some heavily degraded areas may not regenerate at all. But overall, it is leading to more forests and more carbon stored.

Under Australia’s carbon credit rules, all methods of producing credits expire after ten years. As a result, the human-induced regeneration scheme closed to new participants in 2023. Policymakers are working on new nature-based solutions to store carbon and boost wildlife on privately managed land.

But for the foreseeable future, forests will quietly regrow on huge tracts of land – and their successes and failures will be tracked and measured to make sure Australia has more trees than it would have otherwise.

Cris Brack subcontracts to ANU Enterprise to deliver regular independent reviews of the Human Induced Regeneration program. He has no current research grants but previously received income to help develop Australia’s National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS) and advise industry and government about sustainable natural resource management.

Headlines might describe meat as “a significant health risk” or “essential for a healthy and balanced diet”.

So what’s behind these seemingly contradicatory statements?

Our new research suggests one reason is who pays for the science behind the studies we see discussed online or via social media.

We examined whether meat industry involvement is linked to how scientific papers portray the health effects of eating meat.

We found studies with ties to the meat industry were 16 times more likely to conclude meat is harmless or beneficial, compared with studies without such ties.

Conflicts of interest in nutrition research are not new. Analyses of sugar, ultra-processed foods, and drinks have found the same pattern: industry-funded studies are more likely to produce outcomes that favour the sponsor’s commercial interests.

This can muddy the evidence base used to guide dietary guidelines and policy, which can influence consumers’ choices.

What we did

The meat industry’s role in shaping nutrition science has received little systematic scrutiny. Our aim was to address this through a simple question: when the meat industry is involved in a study, does that change the study’s conclusion about meat’s health effects?

We searched for nutrition studies published between 2014 and 2023 that examined how eating meat relates to health.

For each study, we recorded declared funding sources, author affiliations and declared conflicts of interest. For example, a study that declared funding by Meat & Livestock Australia was identified as a study with industry ties.

We then classified the paper’s conclusion about meat as favourable, neutral or unfavourable. For example, if a study concluded eating meat may cause cancer, this was classified as unfavourable.

We then analysed whether those conclusions were associated with meat industry ties. We were testing whether there was a statistical link between industry involvement and a more positive “spin” on meat.

What we found

Of the 500 studies included, 78 (15.6%) reported some form of industry involvement.

Studies that disclosed ties to meat related organisations were 16 times more likely to conclude meat was beneficial.

Studies that did not provide a funding statement or conflict of interest declaration also tended to report more positive findings, raising further questions about transparency in nutrition research. Perhaps there was meat industry involvement in this research but it was not declared. We have no way of knowing.

Importantly, we were not judging whether individual studies were “right” or “wrong” about meat’s contribution to health. Instead, we showed that the pattern of conclusions in the literature is strongly linked to who is paying the bills.

This finding is consistent with broader work on food industry sponsorship and outcomes in nutrition science.

Why it matters

Most people will never read an academic paper, but many will encounter its findings via news stories, social media, industry communications or even dietary guidelines.

Journalists and policymakers often rely on “the weight of the evidence” when deciding what messages to send about meat and health.

If industry involvement systematically tilts that evidence base, the public may be misinformed about foods in ways that do not fully reflect all the independent science.

For people trying to make sense of conflicting nutrition headlines, this means apparent scientific disagreement may reflect differences in who supported the research, not differences in the data.

Our findings do not mean every study with meat industry ties study is invalid, nor that independent studies are by default of higher quality. But they do suggest industry involvement should be treated as a key piece of information when weighing up nutrition claims.

For readers, a useful rule of thumb is to look beyond the headline and ask: who funded this study, and do the authors have financial ties to the products being discussed?

Journalists can help by routinely reporting funding sources and conflicts of interest when covering nutrition stories, and by seeking independent experts to contextualise new findings.

What needs to happen next?

Our study adds to growing calls for stronger safeguards around conflicts of interest in nutrition research. At a minimum, clear disclosure of funding sources and conflicts of interest should be non negotiable, and journals should enforce these policies consistently.

However, disclosure only tells us a conflict exists. It does not remove the conflict. Managing, and ideally eliminating conflicts of interest should be a higher priority than solely declaring them.

One way to do this is through greater public and independent funding to enable researchers to conduct studies without relying on support from commercial industries.

The public rightly expects nutrition advice to be grounded in the best available evidence. Our findings suggest that when it comes to meat, industry involvement can tilt that evidence in a certain direction.

Recognising and correcting for that tilt is an essential step towards more trustworthy dietary guidance.

Navid Teimouri receives funding from an Australian government research training program (RTP) scholarship for higher degree by research students.

Katherine Cullerton receives funding from the World Health Organization and NHMRC.

In years gone by, school leavers had one main chance to get into university – by finishing their Year 12 exams with certain marks.

Media coverage of Year 12 results perpetuates the idea everything hinges on your final exams. Every year it runs the same stories of star students with perfect ATARs (Australian Tertiary Entrance Rank).

In reality, the ATAR is just one way to begin undergraduate study. There are multiple paths that can take you to uni if that’s where you want to go.

One of these paths is an enabling program. How do these work?

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Read more: Help! I’m almost finished school but don’t know what I want to do next

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What are enabling courses?

Enabling courses are designed to lead to a university course, usually an undergraduate degree.

They were traditionally called “bridging” programs because they bridge the gap between high school and university for students who don’t meet university entrance requirements. They are also called tertiary preparation programs (or TPPs) because they prepare students for undergraduate tertiary study. You may also hear them called “uni ready” courses.

Enabling courses are fee-free for Australian citizens, as part of a federal government push to encourage wider participation in university study.

Some students enter straight out of school or during the senior years of school. Some enter many years after leaving school and may not have completed Year 12.

Different universities in different states will have different admission requirements, for example, English language requirements. Students should check the specific website of the university for the most detailed and current information.

How do they work?

There are about 48 enabling programs offered by universities across Australia.

The courses can cover a variety of different subjects like academic writing, study skills, mathematics, science, digital literacy and discipline-specific options.

They all teach the skills you need to do well in university study, even if you have not completed high school.

The courses are taught by university lecturers who are especially focused on student support and inclusive teaching.

What’s involved?

These courses can be delivered in high schools, on university campuses, face-to-face or online.

Usually students complete four courses that relate to the undergraduate discipline they want to enter. Successful completion of these usually allows the student to enrol directly into the undergraduate program.

This can include areas such as law, communications, science, arts, education, business, engineering and healthcare, but may vary across different universities.

The programs, with four courses, can potentially be completed in a single semester, or even in a compressed study session over the summer holiday period. So, in theory, you could do an enabling course and enrol in an undergraduate degree mid-year or the next year.

To get started you can search the website of the university of your choice for “enabling”, “TPP” or “FFUR” courses and apply directly online. Also speak directly to support staff at the uni to ask what prerequisites you need to apply for the degree you are interested in.

Who can do an enabling course?

It is estimated approximately 25,000 students Australia-wide will undertake a fee-free enabling course in 2026.

Around 60% of enabling students are from equity groups who are less likely to go to uni. This includes students from regional and remote areas, students from a non-English speaking background, people with a disability or students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Enabling programs can also benefit students who experienced significant illness or disruption in their final years at school.

Or perhaps they are the first person in their family to go to university.

What does it mean for later study?

Doing an enabling program does not mean you are less able to cope with uni than peers who enrolled with an ATAR.

Data suggests students who enter degree programs via enabling courses do just as well in their studies as students who come straight from high school.

In our own experience, we see some students enjoy enabling programs more than school study – they prefer the more flexible, adult environment.

Some young people don’t know what they want to do when they leave school. So an enabling course also gives them a chance to try out higher education without incurring a debt.

Susan Hopkins teaches in an enabling education program and works for a university which offers a Tertiary Preparation Program.

Greg Nash teaches in an enabling education program and works for a university which offers a Tertiary Preparation Program.

A new Masters of the Universe film is now out in cinemas – nearly four decades on from the original 1983 cartoon series and 1987 film.

For audiences who grew up in the 1980s, nostalgia alone may be enough to drive them to the theatre. Indeed, such reboots are often dismissed as attempts by modern studios to make a quick buck using “nostalgia bait”.

But while nostalgia is part of it, it’s not the whole story. In fact, many beloved 80s characters were deliberately created as part of franchisable intellectual property (IP) ecosystems, spanning toys, TV and merchandise.

In other words, they were never just characters or toys. They were designed from the outset to be profitable, across a variety of contexts, for decades.

A merchandising empire

Before Marvel built cinematic universes, companies in the 80s were creating commercial worlds centred around children’s toys. Remember Transformers, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, the Care Bears and the Smurfs? These characters and stories were all carefully designed to sell merchandise and generate ongoing production opportunities.

Prior to the 80s, toys were generally created only after a highly successful cartoon had been released.

But this changed in 1977 with the release of George Lucas’s hugely successful original Star Wars film. The following year, American toy brand Kenner Products reportedly sold some 40 million units of Star Wars items.

Lucas produced his subsequent Star Wars projects with merchandising in mind. This approach would go on to define popular character franchises.

Children’s TV as a giant toy catalogue

Commercial and intellectual property strategies pioneered in the 1980s continue to influence how today’s studios revive and adapt old franchises.

Several major changes occurred during this time. In 1983, there was a loosening of industry restrictions that had prevented children’s shows from functioning largely as toy advertisements.

The Antitrust Division of the US Justice Department put legal pressure on the National Association of Broadcasters to change its industry rules, arguing they had unlawfully restricted competition. So the association abandoned its code of self-regulation.

By 1984, the US Federal Communications Commission had also changed its rules on maximum limits on advertising for children’s TV shows. This meant cartoons created specifically to sell toys were no longer considered extended advertising, whereas they previously were.

Media and toy companies increasingly embraced a “character franchise” model, in which proprietary characters became the foundation for TV programs, toys and licensing opportunities.

The creation of a single character, such as He-Man (the lead in Masters Of The Universe) or Rainbow Brite, became a whole world built on an extensive network of licences.

Through these licensing arrangements, the IP owner controlled how the characters and stories were portrayed across TV, film, toys, merchandise, and various media platforms (such as into the video game space). This is known as “transmedia storytelling”.

Mattel deliberately created Masters of the Universe so the underlying IP rights would be entirely exploitable, and He-Man’s character reproducible across different types of products.

Mattel released the first He-Man toys and merchandise in 1982. This followed by a 65-episodes series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, in 1983.

Mattel provided its partners a brand bible depicting the character’s aesthetics and backstory – which had to be complied with.

The 1980s also saw the rollout of cable TV, with a massive influx of channels, including children’s networks.

This meant TV producers could distribute children’s series through these cable channels and syndicated television markets, rather than relying on the major broadcast networks.

From 1983 to 1988, the number of US toy-based TV shows went from 13 to more than 70. Revenue from the sales of related products tripled. These products – including toys, books, comics, lunchboxes, apparel and stationery – were often licensed to specific manufacturers who had expertise in their area of production.

The transmedia model endures

Toy-based TV shows started to diminish following the Children’s Television Act of 1990.

This act restricted the amount of children’s advertising allowed. It classified a cartoon as an advertisement if a commercial for the cartoon’s associated toy or product aired during, or immediately adjacent to, that specific episode. It also mandated three hours of educational programs per week.

Nevertheless, the underlying IP strategies developed in the 1980s still hold relevance today, even if the context has changed in the digital era.

Today’s media giants such as Disney, Universal, Mattel and Hasbro have built interconnected IP ecosystems that extend across films, TV, games, streaming, toys and consumer products.

For fans of the 80s, the longevity of the transmedia franchising model is good news; they can expect several more adaptations based on their favourite childhood characters. Transformers v GI Joe, Polly Pocket and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are all slated for future releases.

I am a member of the Copyright Society of Australia and the Asia-Pacific Copyright Association.

At the 2022 election “integrity” was a big-deal issue. Then after winning government, Labor ticked off a promise when it set up the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), which began officially in July 2023.

By now the NACC should be a well-functioning, well-respected body, kicking goals, enjoying public trust.

But, in an extraordinary irony, the NACC has become best known for “own goals”, rocked by internal scandals and attracting a litany of complaints. This week things reached the point where its commissioner, Paul Brereton, announced his resignation – two years short of serving his five year term – declaring he had become “a distraction”.

A former New South Wales Supreme Court judge, Brereton came to the job with a formidable reputation, including having conducted the inquiry into allegations of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. He looked an ideal candidate.

But at the commission he became embroiled in not just one, but two, conflict-of-interest issues.

In 2024 the Inspector of the NACC found he had committed “officer misconduct”, because he failed to adequately recuse himself when the commission was dealing with referrals from the Robodebt royal commission. Brereton had had a professional relationship (through his senior position in the Army Reserve) with one of those referred, Kathryn Campbell, a former senior public servant.

Now another report from the Inspector of the NACC is soon to drop. It deals with Brereton’s undertaking consultancy work for the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force while in his NACC post.

“I think everyone contributes to their own downfall […] in some ways and I am sure I have contributed to this in some ways” Brereton told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday. The surprising thing is that Brereton, with his vast legal experience, could land himself in such obvious pitfalls.

But personal misjudgements have not been the only problems under Brereton’s leadership. Critics say the NACC doesn’t just need a new head – it needs a “reset”. They believe it has had too low a profile, and too few big hits.

It is also notoriously slow. For example, former Liberal senator Linda Reynolds in August 2023 referred to it the role of then attorney-general Mark Dreyfus in the payment that was provided to Brittany Higgins in the wake of her alleged rape in Parliament House. It took until June last year for the NACC to dismiss the matter.

At the Senate estimates hearing Greens senator Barbara Pocock said she had, on NACC’s first day, referred a matter relating to a consultancy firm, PWC. Nearly three years on, she had not been given any information about her complaint. When she confronted him, Brereton obfuscated, during an evidence session in which he did not disguise his displeasure at the questioning.

Pocock said later: “Australians’ faith in the NACC has been undermined by the slowness of progress on significant matters and the lack of communication about these matters and the general operation of the NACC has not helped.

"The Commissioner’s tone [at the hearing] was consistent on this in my view: his belittling of citizen’s complaints and his haughty response to concerns about conflicts of interest and untimely outcomes like the PWC matter. Time for a reset, that’s for sure.”

After the NACC declined to investigate any of the Robodebt referrals, there was an avalanche of complaints from the public. The commission, amid the conflict of interest issue, had to bring in an independent person to redo the work.

The NACC is overseen by a multi-party parliamentary committee, chaired by Labor with independent Helen Haines (who fought hard for an integrity body to be set up) as deputy chair. Its most recent report, tabled this month, is damning.

It said the NACC needed to reduce the backlog of referrals, explore ways to communicate more effectively with those making referrals, and focus on “building public trust in its systems and processes”. Given its concerns, the committee said, it had launched an inquiry into the NACC’s performance.

In a pointed message, the committee said “the NACC has a duty to adhere to the highest level of integrity, accountability, and performance to ensure that Australians have confidence” in it.

There’s now unease around the process for selecting the head of the NACC. Crossbench senator David Pocock said, “The appointment of the next commissioner must occur through an independent and merits-based process, that provides Australians with transparency”.

Brereton’s appointment was on a recommendation to cabinet by Dreyfus, following advice from a selection panel. But there was an important check. The appointment had to be cleared by the parliamentary committee. That gave the opposition and crossbench a look in. The parliamentarians asked plenty of questions at the time, but they then unanimously approved Brereton.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland told parliament on Wednesday, in reply to a question from crossbencher Sophie Scamps about the process for choosing Brereton’s successor, that there was already a merit-based process including advertising and a selection panel. But Haines says there should be more visibility at the start of the process, specifically that the membership of the selection panel should be public.

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Read more: We need a new anti-corruption commissioner. Here’s how to pick the right one

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While problems with the commissioner might, in retrospect, be put down to choosing someone who proved a poor fit, the problem with the excessive secrecy that characterises the NACC is a structural issue, and a difficult one to fix.

When the NACC was being set up there was a big debate about whether, or in what circumstances, it should have public hearings.

Government and opposition were united in wanting to keep things as private as possible.

The legislation provides for public hearings in “exceptional circumstances”. Government sources now claim this was not intended to mean no public hearings, as the commission appears to have taken it. To this point there has not been a single public hearing.

While it’s vital the NACC does not become a place for show trials, any serious “reset” would need to look again at this issue.

Haines says: “The clearest thing to do would be to amend the legislation to remove the exceptional circumstances test. At the very least, the commissioner should publish guidance about exceptional circumstances so the public has a better understanding of the factors considered for a public hearing”.

Whether things are loosened and some public hearings are encouraged will be a key test of how much of a “reset” the NACC will undergo.

Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

On May 23, Caleb Shomo, lead singer of American rock/metalcore band Beartooth, publicly came out in an Instagram post as a “proudly gay man”.

The announcement was the first time Shomo took to social media after temporarily deleting his Instagram account in February, shortly after homophobic backlash following the release of the music video for Free.

In the days following the announcement, there has been blatant homophobia and attempts to twist the story into a tabloid saga, infringing on the privacy of Shomo and his family. Both function to undermine the personal and cultural significance of Caleb’s emotional post.

Shomo is by no means the only member of the LGBTQIA+ community to be in alternative music, but he now stands as one of few high-profile examples. This moment offers a chance to reflect on whether metal – a music and culture built on rebellion – amplifies or denigrates LGBTQIA+ voices.

The initial backlash

Beartooth are not newcomers to the world of metal. Shomo originally conceived the project alone in 2012. The band has since amassed a large following with 1.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

What else is well known is Shomo’s evolving fashion and performance style, which at first glance makes the backlash to the Free video more of a head-scratcher.

Shomo’s coming out post has comments disabled. Nevertheless, social media is engaged in a tug-of-war between support and slurs. Queer fans are excited to have representation, but opposition is attempting to tear the man down once more. This is entirely typical of the metal community.

In practice, queerness and metal should not be at odds. After all, fans and performers position metal as a music for outcasts and rebellion against societal norms.

But not all metalheads are outcasts for the same reasons.

Reflecting on past coming out moments

The metal genre has been dominated by cisgender, heterosexual people for most of its history – and this has given room for problematic behaviours to flourish.

Queer performers such as Gorgoroth and Otep Shamaya received death threats from the community after coming out in the 2000s.

The hypermasculine aesthetics of the genre have likely intensified this discrimination. Researchers such as Robert Walser have labelled metal as an “arena for gender”, where masculinity is defined, and then imposed on all metalheads. This creates barriers to participation for LGBTQIA+ individuals, as well as women and people of colour.

That said, we have seen a shift taking place in recent years. Bands comprising entirely cisgender and heterosexual men have openly embraced queer fans, including previous tourmates of Beartooth, Motionless In White, who dedicated their 2017 song Voices to the LGBTQIA+ community.

In fact, Shomo’s coming out is reminiscent of that of another gay man in metal. Rob Halford (Judas Priest) divulged what had been dubbed “the worst kept secret in metal” when he came out in a 1998 MTV interview.

Halford maintained his status in the genre after coming out, providing grounds to believe that metal, and by extension other alt music scenes, were accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community. Nonetheless, research I published earlier this year in Metal Music Studies found that homophobia and transphobia are still prevalent, both at metal shows and online.

Trans and trapped at the local level

Halford’s coming out did not open the gates to other LGBTQIA+ performers in metal. It did, however, demonstrate that if you are able to establish yourself before coming out, your career is more likely to be safe.

The same will probably be true for Shomo. But for performers attempting to enter the scene as openly LGBTQIA+, it’s a different story, especially when looking at the more marginalised individuals in the community.

Through interviews with Australian trans metal performers, I found that trans-ness functions as its own inhibitor to rising through the ranks in metal. As one interviewee shared:

me being a trans woman and probably the vocalist puts me in a big limelight, which is also a bit of an Achilles’ heel for the band getting anywhere.

Despite this, community-driven initiatives such as Transgenre prove there is a thriving community of trans performers dreaming of the success achieved by performers such as Shomo.

Unfortunately, they are trapped at the local level, rarely receiving opportunities to represent their local music scenes and trans community.

The parallels between Shomo and Halford, however, illuminate a potential chance for change. That is, Shomo has an opportunity to help shift societal attitudes within alt music, by providing more exposure to other LGBTQIA+ metal performers.

There will undoubtedly now be more queer fans drawn to Beartooth’s music. Shomo – along with the bands that surround him as allies – should consider platforming and elevating more trans and queer performers in the scene, who have been patiently waiting for an opportunity like this.

Tour lineups of global powerhouses are overpopulated by cisgender and heterosexual men. Shomo is now one of a handful of LGBTQIA+ representatives among them. His influence could turn the tide in making rock and metal’s biggest stages reflect the diversity that exists at the local level.

Vik J. Squires does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Short stories published on Reddit have been selling for lucrative amounts to studios like Warner Bros, Amazon MGM and Netflix. It seems there’s no need to write a full screenplay: a few thousand words in a short story could be enough to kick start a Hollywood dream.

I Pretended to be a Missing Girl, the story attached to Warner Bros, with Sydney Sweeney producing, was posted in 2020 by English teacher Scott Cote to Reddit’s popular horror community r/NoSleep, where stories must be written as if true, in the first-person – and commenters must act in the same spirit. Film rights sold last year.

Stop-motion animator Marcus Kliewer also found success on r/NoSleep, where his short story We Used to Live Here attracted the attention of a producer who sold it to Netflix in 2021, with Blake Lively set to star and produce. Kliewer then got a book deal. An expanded version of his story became his debut novel. His second novel, The Caretaker, published last month, was also based on a short story (unpublished), with film rights already sold; it will be produced by Sweeney, too.

Online platforms such as Reddit and Wattpad, a platform for publishing and sharing fiction, have become part of a legitimate acquisition pipeline. New York magazine reported in late 2024 on the “booming subgenre” of movies based on Wattpad stories (including Amazon Prime’s most popular original film worldwide in 2023, My Fault).

Why short stories suit film

On these platforms, writers can test their skills by sharing their stories with a ready-made readership (in some cases, up to 20 million members). In some ways, these stories are audience-tested through the number of “upvotes” or “likes” or “shares” they receive. So, the story may already have hype around it before being snapped up by a Hollywood producer.

For producers, a short story is faster to read than a full screenplay. It also serves as a good indicator of how well a story will translate into a treatment: the summary of a film’s narrative prepared before investing in a full screenplay. This makes economic sense too: buying the rights to a short story could be cheaper than investing in a full screenplay.

But even with the backing of a big name, many short stories optioned for film will struggle to be made. Projects that never make it to production are not unusual in film, where projects go through complex development and approval processes. Jasper DeWitt’s Reddit story The Patient Who Nearly Drove Me Out of Medicine, optioned by Ryan Reynolds in 2018, is one of many stories acquired this way yet to start production, along with Cote’s and Kliewer’s.

What is clear is that short stories are perfect material for film adaptation. A short story focuses on a single situation, turning point or crisis. This brevity makes it especially adaptable, while novels often need to be compressed for the screen.

Seen in this way, this trend is a new version of an old process. If there is a risk, it’s that writers may feel pressure to write for “likes” and the algorithm. It’s not the end of the short story, but another reminder that literary forms are shaped by the media systems they circulate in.

5 of the best short stories on film

Some of cinema’s most memorable films began as short stories. Here are five of our favourites.

1. Rear Window (It Had to be Murder)

It Had to Be Murder by Cornell Woolrich, first published in Dime Detective Magazine, provides the premise for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 classic, Rear Window. The short story is about a man confined to his apartment, who suspects a neighbour has committed murder after he observes strange behaviour across the courtyard. Woolrich’s text is lean and restricted to the protagonist’s point of view, with clues gradually dropped in.

Hitchcock retains this restricted vantage point but elaborates it into a dense visual world. He turns the courtyard into a kind of stage where multiple narratives unfold. Adding a romantic subplot and the glamorous figure of Lisa (played by Grace Kelly) ramps up the intrigue. Hitchcock also turned to a short story by Daphne Du Maurier as the inspiration for his 1963 thriller The Birds.

2. The Shawshank Redemption (Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption)

Stephen King’s novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, was the inspiration for Frank Darabont’s 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption. The film largely follows the novella’s plot about the wrongful imprisonment of banker Andy Dufresne and his friendship with fellow inmate Red, while amplifying key motifs like institutionalisation, hope and the possibility of moral integrity under brutal conditions.

The adaptation gives more screen time to Andy’s quiet acts of resistance: building a library, playing opera over the loudspeakers. And it uses voice over to preserve aspects of Red’s narration, while exploiting the visual power of enclosed spaces and the climactic escape.

3. Jindabyne (So Much Water So Close to Home)

Raymond Carver’s short story So Much Water So Close to Home was adapted into Ray Lawrence’s 2006 Australian film Jindabyne. Carver’s original story presents a disturbing moral failure: four men discover a young woman’s body while on a fishing trip, but continue fishing before reporting the death. The story is unsettling, focusing on the emotional aftermath within one marriage.

Jindabyne relocates this premise to Australia’s rural New South Wales and expands the story’s ethical questions by making the discovered body that of an Aboriginal woman. This change allows the film to explore broader questions of responsibility, silence, race, masculinity and national unease.

4. Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain, by E. Annie Proulx, was originally published in The New Yorker and later adapted into a 2005 film by Ang Lee. Proulx’s original is spare and unsentimental, tracking the decades-long, intermittent relationship between ranch hands Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist. Its tight third-person narrative summarises years in a few paragraphs.

The screenplay focuses on the Wyoming landscapes and recurring visual motifs (such as the main characters’ shirts hanging side by side in the wardrobe), demonstrating how a short story can be expanded into an emotionally and visually rich feature.

5. Burning (Barn Burning)

Haruki Murakami’s Barn Burning is a disconcerting tale about a young man, an enigmatic woman and her new boyfriend who claims to burn barns as a hobby. The narrative is full of gaps and unresolved suggestions, typical of Murakami’s unique blend of the mundane and uncanny.

Lee Chang-dong’s 2018 film Burning relocates the story to South Korea. It introduces fiery class tension between the protagonist and the wealthy boyfriend, whose crimes extend beyond barn burning. As an adaptation, it shows how the short story can be culturally and politically re-situated, without losing its original sense of mystery and emotional uncertainty.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Since the US–Israel war against Iran began in late February, images of giant billboards in Tehran have been ubiquitous across traditional and social media. These billboards have been placed in some of the busiest and most visible parts of the city, and are constantly being updated to reflect current events.

Iran has long used public spaces as a tool of political communication. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution – and especially during the Iran–Iraq War – the regime has erected murals and billboards to display revolutionary imagery, war memorials and ideological messages.

Today, these billboards are designed not only for local audiences, but also for global digital circulation. Depicting powerful imagery, slogans and symbolic representations, they serve a dual function:

• to reinforce a sense of collective identity, national unity and shared emotion during a time of crisis

• to serve as a tool of propaganda for the state, at times featuring Hebrew and English alongside Farsi (Persian).

Researchers argue these billboards are part of a broader visual communication strategy on the part of the state. They are intended to be photographed, posted and shared widely on social media as a way of projecting power and resistance to a global audience (even with a months-long internet blackout in place).

So, what do the billboards say, and what’s the deeper symbolism behind the imagery? We’ve chosen five samples from Tehran to analyse.

1. The Epstein missile

One of the billboards that circulated widely in recent months depicted Iranian missiles covered with handwritten messages and symbolic phrases.

Among the most striking inscriptions is the phrase “To the girls of Minab”, written in bold, red Farsi script. This is a reference to a strike on a girls’ school in the opening days of the war that Iranian officials say killed 175 girls and teachers. Reports indicate US forces were likely responsible.

Directly below that, written in English, are the words “Epstein Island victim girls”, a reference to the island owned by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein where young women were allegedly sexually assaulted.

On another missile is the phrase “the girl with the pink jacket”. This is a deeply emotional reference to a young Iranian girl killed in a terror attack in 2024, who was identified by her pink jacket and heart-shaped earrings.

The intention is to connect these disparate events through a narrative of vulnerable young women affected by violence, exploitation and political power. Rather than presenting missiles only as weapons of destruction, the image reframes them as symbols of grief, revenge, memory and defence.

In this narrative, Iran is portrayed not as seeking war. It is responding to injustice and protecting its people.

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2. ‘Masters of war’

Another billboard that gained significant attention in 2024 depicted the Farsi phrase “If you want war, we are masters of war” above a Hebrew message saying “Israel must be wiped from the face of the earth”.

The billboard portrays the sky over Israel illuminated by waves of incoming missiles, almost resembling a meteor shower or rain of fire. The imagery is highly stylised and cinematic, with the missiles transforming the night sky into a scene of overwhelming force.

By directly addressing Hebrew-speaking viewers, the billboard functions as both a direct warning to Israelis and a symbolic projection of power, designed to have psychological impact. Language becomes a tool of warfare itself.

This multilingual strategy reveals an important shift in Tehran’s urban propaganda. These billboards, which have become more prominent in recent years, are no longer designed solely for Iranian pedestrians and motorists. The regime is aware photographs will circulate instantly across the internet, reaching intended audiences in Israel.

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3. Trump’s sutured mouth

Another bilingual billboard is targeted to Western – and specifically American – audiences. It features US President Donald Trump’s mouth with a rendering of the Strait of Hormuz sutured on top, alongside the English phrase “The Breaking Point.”

The Farsi text roughly translates to “its patience has run out”. It also contains a literary pun: the word tang in Farsi can refer both to “narrowness” or “constraint” and to the Strait (tangeh) of Hormuz itself. This creates a double meaning linking the geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz with the idea of reaching a psychological or political breaking point.

The image also critiques Trump’s constant political rhetoric and media presence. The sutures placed across his mouth symbolise silencing, constraint and the loss of Trump’s authority or influence in relation to Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

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4. Arash the Archer

Another billboard draws on the famous Persian myth of Arash the Archer. In the image, Arash places an arrow into his bow in the heat of battle, surrounded by missiles. The reference comes from the ancient story in which Arash sacrifices his life after shooting an arrow during a mythological war between Iran and neighbouring Turan.

The billboard suggests modern Iranian soldiers, like Arash, are willing to sacrifice their lives to defend their homeland.

More broadly, the image also reflects how poetry, mythology and heroic storytelling are deeply embedded in Iranian history and culture. It connects the contemporary conflict to centuries of struggle.

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5. The fishermen

Another billboard demonstrates Iranian military power through the image of a massive fishing net spread across the Persian Gulf. Inside the net are captured American aircraft, drones and naval vessels.

The imagery is accompanied by the phrase, “The entire Persian Gulf is our hunting ground” in Farsi, connoting it is under direct Iranian control and surveillance. The image also emphasises the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz, indicating the power to open or close this vital waterway ultimately lies with Iran.

At the same time, the fishing net operates as a cultural metaphor. Like fishing itself, Iran’s warfare strategy is based on patience, resilience, careful strategy and long-term determination, rather than sheer force alone.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

To say this year’s federal budget has ruffled some feathers would be an understatement. The Albanese government announced major reforms to two tax breaks long seen as politically untouchable – negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount.

In response, some banks are reportedly tightening their lending to property investors. And there are early reports of lower attendance at open homes, suggesting buyer caution.

The government’s budget changes are not yet law. But two weeks on from budget night, are we already beginning to see the first ripple effects hitting the Australian property market?

And how much of what we’re seeing in the housing market right now – such as falling sales at auction – can really be attributed just to the budget?

Auction sales have been sliding for months

Auction clearance rates – the percentage of listed properties successfully sold at auction – fell the week after budget. Despite a slight rebound last week, they remain lower than usual.

The longer-term average rate sits in the mid-60s – meaning more than six out of ten homes successfully sell at auction. The rate has now slipped to around 50–60% nationally, so it is clearly down.

But auction activity was already trending down months before the budget was announced, as interest rate hikes and economic uncertainty subdued the market.

Adding to this, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show both investor and homeowner borrowing in decline since December last year.

Competing forecasts on house prices

Based on Treasury modelling, the federal government estimates house prices will still grow – but by 2% less than they would have without these tax reforms over the next couple of years.

Similarly, forecasts by the Commonwealth Bank predict slower growth over the next couple of years, not an outright fall.

Previous research estimating the effect of removing negative gearing on the Australian housing market suggested house prices would fall by just 1%, while homeownership for young people could rise by up to 3%.

At the other end of the scale, investment bank Morgan Stanley made a bold prediction: that housing could see “one of the largest price corrections over the past 40 years”, with falls of up to 10%.

However, as noted by most analysts, Australia’s property market was already softening ahead of the budget. Borrowers have endured three interest rate hikes already this year, with further increases still possible.

Why home ownership is still out of reach for many

For young people feeling locked out of the housing market, the media storm surrounding possible house price falls since the budget may be hard to understand.

House price growth has been highly volatile over the past two decades, from slight falls in some years to spikes of 10–20% in others.

But it has averaged about 8% per year – still far faster than the growth in most people’s wages.

The median home value is now more than eight times median Australian household income. That means homeownership is far less affordable than it once was.

Different markets, different impacts

Looking to where things might be headed, another important nuance arises from the fact investors and prospective owner-occupiers operate in different markets. That means the changes could impact prices unevenly across Australia.

Research has shown investors are far more likely to buy small properties, preferring apartments over houses. Investors purchase 25% of all one-bedroom properties, compared to only 16% of three-bedroom properties and just 10% of four-bedroom properties.

For those seeking to buy an inner-city apartment, where investors are more active, the government’s reforms may have a bigger impact on prices.

But for those buying family homes on the outskirts of the city, these changes may have only a small impact because investors were never as active in those housing markets in the first place.

Over the next few months, the Australian property market may continue to weaken, especially with the possibility of further interest rate rises before the end of this year.

In the short term, it does appear that many home buyers, investors and banks have reacted cautiously to this federal budget.

But it would be wrong to attribute the current cooling down of the market entirely to the reforms announced in the budget – as some commentators may try to do.

James Graham receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. James is a member of Sydney YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard), a grassroots group advocating for increased housing density in the inner city to improve affordability.