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Preserving China’s minority languages

December 16, 2022

By Professor Jinfang Li Published on December 16, 2022 China is a diverse multi-ethnic country with a huge population of 1.4 billion people. It’s home to a rich array of ethnic groups who speak a wide range of languages. Around 90 percent of the population speak Chinese, including some 84 million Cantonese speakers which is considered by many a separate language, not to mention several hundred million speakers of Shanghainese , Hokkien, Hakka and other Chinese dialects that are mutually intelligible to Mandarin Chinese.

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Truth, understanding and transformation

December 15, 2022

By Professor Eleanor Bourke AM Published on December 15, 2022 The lands where the University of Melbourne campus sits in Parkville are very different to how they were back in 1853 when the University was first established. The 1850s were a time of rapid growth in Victoria following the discovery of gold, and Melbourne quickly attracted people from other parts of the world. The original University of Melbourne building, 1857.

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Captive breeding to prevent extinction

December 7, 2022

By Mikaeylah Davidson Published on December 7, 2022 It is estimated that one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction as a result of human activity. For species not critically threatened, the preferred management action is to restore and protect their native habitat, by preventing the introduction or spread of disease, illegal (or legal) harvesting and removing pests or introduced predators. Captive breeding has become a vital management tool for the conservation of highly threatened species including the Eastern Barred Bandicoot.

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A COVID-19 state of mind

December 5, 2022

By Dr Ferdi Botha Published on December 5, 2022 Better educational achievements and employment prospects, rewarding social relationships, greater physical health and longer life expectancy – the benefits linked with good mental health are well-known and well-established. However, since 2011 – long before the arrival of COVID-19 – the mental health of many younger Australians has been deteriorating, and it has been declining significantly ever since. The mental health of many younger Australians has been deteriorating since 2011.

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A light at the end of the inequality tunnel?

December 5, 2022

By Professor Roger Wilkins Published on December 5, 2022 For a brief time, the arrival of COVID-19 nudged Australia a little closer to being a country of equality. This is because the pandemic didn’t just bring restrictions on how we lived and worked, it triggered a cascade of income supports from the Australian Government. As a result, the latest annual Household, Incomes and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey found income inequality fell to its lowest level since the HILDA Survey began in 2001 – even though this year’s HILDA data only takes into account the early months of the pandemic from mid-March to June 2020.

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