Bunnings has toppled Woolworths as Australia’s most ‘trusted’ brand – what makes us trust a brand in the first place?

Louise Grimmer, University of TasmaniaThink of some of the world’s biggest brands: Nike, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Apple. With what do you associate them? Are they positive associations? Now consider, do you trust them? Brand trust is a measure of how customers feel about a brand in terms of how well the brand delivers on its promises. Trust is an important measure for any organisation, large or small. Whether or not customers trust a brand can be the difference between choosing that brand’s products or services over another. In Australia, Woolworths held the title of our most trusted brand for three and a half years. But recent cost-of-living pressures have put supermarkets in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Roy Morgan Research’s most recent trust rankings show Woolworths has slipped to number two, handing its crown to hardware behemoth Bunnings. It’s clear that trust is fragile and can be quickly squandered when brands lose touch with those they serve. So what makes us trust a brand in the first place? And why do we trust some more than others? What makes us...

Read More........ → February 11, 2025

The LA fires have prompted a reckoning for the insurance industry – Australian premiums could soar as a result

Paula Jarzabkowski, The University of Queensland; Katie Meissner, The University of Queensland; Rosie Gallagher, The University of Queensland, and Tyler Riordan, The University of QueenslandA series of wildfires in Los Angeles County have caused widespread devastation in California, including at least 24 deaths and the destruction of more than 12,000 homes and structures. Thousands of residents have been evacuated, and the danger isn’t over yet. Some estimates have put the cost of the damage and economic loss at between A$400 billion and A$450 billion, of which only A$32 billion is insured. This is a stark illustration of the insurance protection gap – the difference between insured and uninsured losses. As California rebuilds, it means the bill for uninsured losses will fall on the property owners themselves and public funds. These catastrophic fires should ring alarm bells in Australia, where global ripple effects are likely to force up our own insurance premiums. Most importantly, we must grapple with and prepare for the grim prospect of our own similar disaster. Uninsurable...

Read More........ → January 20, 2025

Australia sets goal of ending HIV transmission by 2030

Canberra, (IANS): The Australian government has set a goal of ending the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the country by 2030.The Minister for Health Mark Butler on Thursday released Australia's ninth National HIV Strategy for 2024-2030, describing it as a final step towards achieving the elimination of HIV transmission in Australia, Xinhua news agency reported."Through this strategy, we establish a path to be the first country to virtually eliminate HIV transmission by 2030," the strategy said.According to the strategy, HIV diagnoses in Australia declined by 33 per cent between 2014 and 2023.It estimated that the population-wide prevalence of HIV in Australia in 2023 was 0.14 per cent."In the 40 years since HIV/AIDS reached Australia, we have made remarkable progress," Butler said in a statement.The strategy said that if the transmission of HIV is eliminated in Australia, the country's response will shift to supporting people with the virus to live healthy lives.Butler pledged that nobody with HIV would be left behind and that Australia would continue offering...

Read More........ → December 10, 2024

91% of Australian teens have a phone – but many are not keeping their identity and location secure

Halfpoint/ Shutterstock , CC BY Yeslam Al-Saggaf, Charles Sturt University and Julie Maclean, Charles Sturt University Most Australian teenagers have their own smartphone. According to a 2023 survey, 91% of young people between 14 and 17 owned a phone. At the same time, there is huge community concern about young people being exposed to harms online – this includes the content they consume and the interactions they might have. But there is also concern about their privacy and security. A 2023 UK study found teenagers are overly optimistic about the degree to which they can protect their personal information online. This is a problem because smartphones can communicate information such as identities and locations when settings are not figured correctly. Our new project – which has been funded by the eSafety Commissioner and will soon be available online – looked at how to teach students to be safer with their phones. What are the risks? Without changing the default settings, a phone (or smart watch, laptop or tablet) can share information such as full names, current...

Read More........ → November 06, 2024

Australia’s fertility rate has reached a record low. What might that mean for the economy?

BaLL LunLa/Shutterstock Jonathan Boymal, RMIT University; Ashton De Silva, RMIT University, and Sarah Sinclair, RMIT UniversityAustralia’s fertility rate has fallen to a new record low of 1.5 babies per woman. That’s well below the “replacement rate” of 2.1 needed to sustain a country’s population. On face value, it might not seem like a big deal. But we can’t afford to ignore this issue. The health of an economy is deeply intertwined with the size and structure of its population. Australians simply aren’t having as many babies as they used to, raising some serious questions about how we can maintain our country’s workforce, sustain economic growth and fund important services. So what’s going on with fertility rates here and around the world, and what might it mean for the future of our economy? What can we do about it? Are lower birth rates always a problem? Falling fertility rates can actually have some short-term benefits. Having fewer dependent young people in an economy can increase workforce participation, as well as boost savings and wealth. Smaller populations...

Read More........ → October 24, 2024

Australia plans huge fines if big tech fails to tackle disinformation

SYDNEY - Tech giants could face billions of dollars in fines for failing to tackle disinformation under proposed Australian laws, which a watchdog on Monday said would bring "mandatory" standards to the little-regulated sector.Under the proposed legislation, the owners of platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, TikTok and podcasting services would face penalties worth up to five percent of annual global turnover -- some of the highest proposed anywhere in the world.The Australian Communications and Media Authority, a government watchdog, would be granted a range of powers to force companies to prevent misinformation or disinformation from spreading and stop it from being monetised."The legislation, if passed, would provide the ACMA with a range of new powers to compel information from digital platforms, register and enforce mandatory industry codes as well as make industry standards," a spokesperson told AFP.The watchdog would not have the power to take down or sanction individual posts.But it could instead punish platforms for failing to monitor and combat intentionally "false, misleading...

Read More........ → October 09, 2024

How to buy a home: 7 tips for negotiating like a pro

Dragon Images/Shutterstock Park Thaichon, University of Southern QueenslandThe main purpose of negotiation is to find a mutually acceptable solution for buyers and sellers. Good negotiations greatly improve relationships between buyers, sellers and agents. They also help avoid future problems and conflicts. Negotiating skills become even more important for home buyers in a “seller’s market”, where demand from buyers exceeds supply from sellers. That’s currently the case in all Australian capital cities and major regional cities such as Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and others. Many home buyers mistakenly believe negotiation only occurs during the signing of the sale contract. However, it involves distinct stages: pre-negotiation and during negotiation. So how can people maximise their chances of successfully negotiating a purchase in a seller’s market? I offer the following tips. Be someone the seller’s agent wants to do business with Buyers often communicate solely with the seller’s agent, rather than directly with the seller. It’s crucial to ensure the agent views the buyer...

Read More........ → September 23, 2024

What’s a recession – and how can we tell if we’re in one?

William Barton/Shutterstock Leonora Risse, University of CanberraThis article is part of The Conversation’s “Business Basics” series where we ask experts to discuss key concepts in business, economics and finance. Today’s economic data shows that, outside of the pandemic, the Australian economy has slowed down to its lowest annual rate of growth since the early-1990s recession. That’s prompting the dreaded question: are we headed for another one? Any mention of the “R” word can trigger anxiety. Recessions bring job losses and financial strain, and put serious pressure on people’s mental health. These impacts can be especially severe for people who are already experiencing disadvantage and vulnerabilities. But what exactly does it mean to be in a recession? What are the different ways we define them? And are these current approaches the best way to measure people’s economic pain? What’s a recession? A bit like the waves of the ocean, our economy is characterised by ebbs and flows in overall activity. Spending and business growth can swell during times of confidence,...

Read More........ → September 06, 2024

Australia doubles the cost of Student Visa fees for International Students

Australia has more than doubled the cost of student visa fees for international students from 710 dollars to 1,600 dollars. The move will impact lakhs of Indian students planning to study in the country. The decision has triggered outrage among the student community.Another significant change is that onshore visa applications will no longer be permitted. It means applicants now have to submit a visa application from abroad and not from Australia. Because of this those on Temporary Graduate, Visitor, and Maritime Crew visas, will no longer be eligible to apply for a student visa while they are in Australia. The Australian government has already lowered the age limit of the students applying for temporary graduate visas from 50 to 35 years from the 1st of July. Australia’s visa application fee is the highest compared to countries such as Canada, New Zealand, the US and the UK. Australia doubles the cost of Student Visa fees for International Studen...

Read More........ → July 03, 2024

Chamber calls for Western Australia to overturn uranium ban

Yeelirrie: one of four uranium projects excluded from the ban (Image: Cameco Australia)Restarting uranium mining in Western Australia could create up to 9000 jobs and produce uranium worth more than AUD1 billion a year, a 12-month inquiry by the state's Chamber of Commerce and Industry has found. It recommends that the state overturn its ban on uranium mining to unlock significant economic benefits. Western Australia is home to a "considerable share" of Australia's uranium but cannot capitalise on this, due to the state government's 2017 ban on uranium mining, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia (CCIWA) notes in its report. The ban conditionally excludes four uranium projects that had already received ministerial approval from the previous government: Wiluna, Kintyre, Mulga Rock and Yeelirrie.South Australia and the Northern Territory currently allow uranium to be mined and exported, proving the industry is safe and sustainable, the CCIWA said. Last year South Australia produced around 5,469 tU: Western Australia has capacity to produce an estimated 8,000...

Read More........ → March 31, 2024

Petrol, pricing and parking: why so many outer suburban residents are opting for EVs

Anton Ukolov/Shutterstock Park Thaichon, University of Southern QueenslandUntil now, you might have thought of electric vehicles as inner suburban toys. Teslas and Polestars are expensive, leaving them as playthings for wealthier Australians and out of reach for the mortgage belt. But that’s no longer the case. As residents in the outer suburbs reel from price rises seemingly everywhere, more and more are turning to electric vehicles (EVs) to slash their fuel bill. Last year, EV orders for outer suburban residents (43%) overtook inner suburban residents (39%) for the first time. Rural and regional residents accounted for 18% of orders. Avoiding petrol costs is one reason. But there are other good reasons, from easier parking and charging, to lower maintenance. And as our research into why people buy EVs has shown, there’s an even more fundamental reason – car buyers now know more about EVs and feel more familiar with the technology. The suburban garage or driveway works well with charging your EV at home. riopatuca/ShutterstockOuter suburbs rely on cars The further you get...

Read More........ → March 18, 2024

When it comes to Indigenous affairs, Australian voters’ opinions are complicated

Geoffrey Robinson, Deakin University The academic study of public opinion is a well-developed area. One foundational finding is that while the views of voters often seem contradictory and incoherent, these apparent inconsistencies have a pattern. The views that voters express in opinion polls reveal that many voters, especially those disengaged from politics, understand key concepts such as “equality” and “disadvantage” in a very different way from political elites of both left and right. The fact that public opinion does not align with traditional “left” and “right” viewpoints means that both progressives and conservatives have opportunities to gain majority support. The marriage equality plebiscite dashed conservatives’ dreams of a suburban “silent majority”. The Voice referendum seems likely to be disappointing for the left. The dynamics of both ballots are similar. One key finding from the study of popular ideology is that voters often express loyalty to general principles while also supporting policies that contradict those principles. Often these general principles are conservative....

Read More........ → October 12, 2023

Cheng Lei released by China and reunited with family in Melbourne

Michelle Grattan, University of CanberraCheng Lei, the Australian journalist incarcerated in China since August 2020, has been freed – arriving in Melbourne to be reunited with her family. She was met at the airport by Foreign Minister Penny Wong, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announcing her release at a Melbourne news conference on Wednesday. Albanese said he had spoken with Cheng, who has two young daughters, and she was “delighted” to be back in Melbourne. He said that in the call he had welcomed her home on behalf of all Australians. “Her return brings an end to a very difficult few years for Ms Cheng and her family,” Albanese said. He described her as “a very strong and resilient person”. Cheng, 48, who was born in China, was a business journalist with China’s state-run English language television station CGTN when she was detained. She was accused of “illegally supplying state secrets overseas”. Her trial took place in secret. Her release comes after continued representations by Australia, including by Albanese himself. It appears to be timed as a gesture ahead of Albanese’s...

Read More........ → October 11, 2023