A personal view of Australian and International Politics

Saturday, 8 August 2026

The Ekka has been evolving for 150 years with more change on the way ahead of Brisbane's Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Extract from ABC News

By Jessica van Vonderen

Posted at 5:39am

A woman stands in front of a food stand advertising dagwood dog stand that is closed. — Bronwyn Bridgewater, a fourth-generation "showie", says she is very proud of Brisbane's Ekka. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)

The organisers of Brisbane's famous Ekka insist the event's beloved "country" feel can be maintained, despite increasing urban development around the showgrounds.

The oldest photo of the Ekka in the state library's collection is from 1876 and it shows a bare field surrounded by bushland.

At the time of the first show, 150 years ago, Brisbane's population was a tiny 20,000 people.

But it was a big deal.

"This was the grand social event. This was the highlight of Queensland's year in many ways," said specialist librarian India Dixon.

"A real opportunity … to show off the things they were producing and to represent what it was to be a Queenslander."

A woman with glasses smiles into the camera while holding a large book of photos — India Dixon says the Ekka was, in many ways, the highlight of Queensland's year. (ABC News: Erin Byrnes)

As the site in Bowen Hills continues to develop and modernise ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Ekka wants to carry on recognising its storied past.

A dagwood dog pioneer and sharpshooting grandma

Cattle, horses and horticulture displays are just some of the many popular mainstays of the Ekka. As is side show alley.

Bronwyn Bridgewater is a fourth-generation "showie".

black and white image of Four women line up on stage for an event labelled human target — Bronwyn Bridgewater's grandmother was a sharpshooter at the Ekka circa 1931. (Supplied: Bronwyn Bridgewater)

Her great-grandfather had a merry-go-round in the 1920s, her grandparents sold dagwood dogs and her grandmother had an impressive CV as a contortionist, sharpshooter and snake handler.

Her siblings still have a dagwood dog canteen to this day, in the very same position as their forebears.

"I'm very proud of the showmen. I'm very proud of the Ekka," said Ms Bridgewater.

"I feel nostalgia too as I walk down sideshow alley. I can see the past … and at the same time I see how it's changed.

"But I don't feel a sense of regret.

"The atmosphere has changed … but it's just life. Everything changes. Everything has to keep improving."

A portrait of a woman standing in a showground. — For Bronwyn Bridgewater, walking down sideshow alley at the Ekka is nostalgic. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)

An evolving show and a growing city

As Queensland changed and grew over time, so too has the Ekka.

Koala pelts were once on display, now koala hunting is banned.

Old-fashioned machinery, once considered the latest technology, has been well and truly superseded.

And the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association (RNA), which runs the Ekka, has also had to adapt.

A book of photographs from the first Royal Queensland Show held in Brisbane in 1876. (ABC News: Erin Byrnes)

Its charter is to celebrate and champion the essential role agriculture plays in the everyday lives of Queenslanders.

But the 22-hectare showgrounds at Bowen Hills have also undergone a dramatic redevelopment and urbanisation in recent years to include a hotel, residential apartments and a commercial precinct.

RNA chief executive Brendan Christou said it was a strategic decision that meant the Ekka could remain in its birthplace.

RNA chief executive Brendan Christou speaks at a media conference in Brisbane — Brendan Christou says the infrastructure being built for the Olympics will give the Ekka a welcome boost. (ABC News: Alice Pavlovic)

"It was about making sure the RNA itself, not just the Ekka, is financially sustainable", he said.

"In other states, sometimes the shows have had to move out of the city and we really looked hard at that 15 years ago and said, we want to be in the city, and it's about the country coming to the city."

More high-rises are on the way, with 1,800 apartments to accommodate athletes during the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

An artists impression of the Ekka showgrounds for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. (Supplied)

It will later be converted into permanent housing.

There will be a new 20,000 seat arena, while heritage listed grandstands will get a face lift.

The vision for the RNA showgrounds and the Ekka after the Olympic Games. (Supplied)

For only the fifth time in its history, there will be no Ekka in 2032, but the RNA chief is OK with that.

"We were happy that we're part of it and at least we get that infrastructure investment that will see us through the next 150 years," said Mr Christou.

Stanford researchers create viruses not found in nature using genomes designed by artificial intelligence.

Extract from ABC News

By Andrew Thorpe

Topic:Medical Ethics

23 hours ago

A young man and woman look at a computer screen in a laboratory. The screen shows a complex blue and green pattern. — Researchers Brian Hie and Aditi Merchant examine a protein structure generated by their Evo 2 AI model. (Stanford University: Andrew Brodhead)

In short:

Researchers from Stanford University have synthesised brand-new, self-replicating viruses using genomes designed by artificial intelligence for the first time.

The viruses, designed by AI models trained on genetic code from other viruses as well as more complex organisms, were able to replicate inside E. coli bacteria, demonstrating their viability.

What's next?

The breakthrough could potentially lead to significant medical advances but has also raised concerns the technology could be misused to create powerful bioweapons.

US researchers have for the first time successfully synthesised brand-new viruses not found in nature, based on designs generated by artificial intelligence.

The researchers' paper, published in the journal Science on Thursday, details how scientists from Stanford University and the Arc Institute, a California-based non-profit dedicated to "high-risk, high-reward" research, were able to create the viruses using DNA sequences generated by two "genome language models" named Evo 1 and Evo 2.

Radio National: Could AI transform how we treat disease?

Genome language models operate in a broadly similar way to large language models (LLMs) except that they predict genetic code instead of written text, having been trained on the genomes of other viruses and bacteria, as well as more complex organisms such as plants and animals.

The two models in question were told to generate complete genomes for a viable bacteriophage — a type of virus able to infect and replicate itself inside bacteria, destroying them from the inside.

Using an existing bacteriophage as an example — ΦX174 (pronounced "fie-ex-1-7-4"), known for its ability to infect and destroy E. coli bacteria — the models generated about 700,000 potential designs, of which the researchers picked 285 that looked most promising.

A number of small white masses with white strands tailing them gang up on a large white circle against a blue-green background. — A digital composite of bacteriophage attacking a bacterium. (Wikimedia Commons: Bacteriophages/Emily Brown/CC BY-SA 3.0)

The researchers then synthesised new DNA molecules using those designs and inserted them into E. coli bacteria, before waiting to see if viable bacteriophages would emerge.

Shortly afterwards, 16 of the Petri dishes in which the bacteria were growing began to show clear spots, as the viruses began to attack and replicate themselves inside the E. coli, demonstrating their viability.

Some of those viable viruses proved more effective at attacking E. coli than the original ΦX174 bacteriophage.

AI learns to write genetic code

The paper's eight authors, led by PhD candidate Samuel H King, emphasised in their conclusion that the significance of their research lay not in the characteristics of the viruses they created, but in the demonstration of their AI models' ability to design viable, entirely new biological entities with predetermined characteristics.

The difficulty lies in being able to speak the language of genetic code with a high degree of specificity; a small amount of missing or jumbled code — even a single nucleotide base pair in the wrong place — can destroy the viability of an entire organism.

"In this case, we wanted the model to generate the entire genome end-to-end in a single left-to-right pass. We didn't add anything," said Dr Brian Hie, an assistant professor and one of the study's authors.

While the ΦX174 bacteriophage genome is relatively simple, containing about 5,400 nucleotide base pairs (compared to the 3.1–3.2 billion in the human genome), the Stanford researchers' technique could theoretically lead to the design of far more complex organisms, including living beings, as the models become better at predicting the code for desired traits.

Three young men speak in a laboratory. — Brian Hie (centre) says the Evo 2 model generated the bacteriophages' entire genomes. (Stanford University: Andrew Brodhead)

In the nearer term, the technology could still lead to significant medical breakthroughs.

Targeted "phage therapy" has long been posited as a potential solution to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, while the ability to design custom enzymes for replacement therapy would be a game changer in treating certain genetic disorders.

However, the revelation that AI models are now able to design entirely new biological entities from scratch has led to understandable concern among some in the scientific community, who raise the possibility that the technology could be misused to create powerful bioweapons.

"Although this is promising for life sciences applications, it also raises urgent biosafety and biosecurity questions,"

Professor Thomas Inglesby and Dr Moritz Hanke said.

The pair, who work at Johns Hopkins University's Center for Health Security in Baltimore, were not involved in the Stanford research, but provided an accompanying commentary in Science.

"The ability to compose viral genomes using generative AI now exists; the governance to safely steer it does not," they said.

'Disconnect' between safeguards and science

The Stanford researchers took a number of safety precautions while carrying out their experiment, such as excluding viruses that could infect humans and animals from their models' training data, carrying out their experiment in a secure lab, and selecting the ΦX174 bacteriophage for their models to emulate because it can only attack E. coli.

But while Dr Hanke praised the team for taking those precautions, he also pointed out there was no requirement for them to do so and no guarantee future users of the technology would be as careful.

There is currently a "huge disconnect" between the pace of science and the pace of accompanying regulations, he told The New York Times.

The Stanford researchers have also made Evo 2 freely available to the public, suggesting the risk to the public is offset by the benefit of "having tools like Evo 2 to address existing natural pathogens".

News of the breakthrough comes just days after multiple AI firms reported their own "agentic" AI models had hacked into systems belonging to external companies during safety testing, including one instance in which an OpenAI model exploited a zero-day vulnerability in its testing environment to gain access to the internet.

Another model used a series of fake identities in an attempt to trick a human into injecting malicious code into an open-source project.

The reports have prompted calls from tech industry observers — as well as more than 1,000 employees of top AI companies — to slow the pace of the technology's development until safeguards are able to catch up.

Trump's treasury secretary revealed both his to-do list and the state of US economic policy.

Extract from ABC News

Analysis

By Laura Tingle

Topic:Currency

10 hours ago

A note that reads "To Do Buy Japanese Yen $5-10 bill" — A notepad in front of US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent reads: "To Do … Buy Japanese Yen … $5-10 bill". (Reuters: Daniel Heuer)

When the Trump cabinet met at Camp David last week, the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, ostentatiously put a "to do" list in front of him, where it could be seen by journalists.

"To Do," it said. "Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5 — $10 bill."

Bessent used to make big currency bets for George Soros in his former life as a Wall Street banker, so knows full well the power of such signalling, even before you actually do anything.

Japan and the US later announced that they had jointly intervened to prop up the yen after it had fallen to a 40-year low.

Bessent portrayed the move as the act of an ally and partner of Japan. But the US also has a huge vested interest in a stronger yen.

Not only does a weak yen make Japan ultra-competitive against the US, it poses risks for the US Treasury bond market.

Japan is the largest holder of US Treasury bonds. If those bonds get sold off to support the currency, it puts their price down and, conversely, long term US interest rates up.

That's seen as one of the reasons why this particular intervention happened by the US selling euros, rather than US dollar, in exchange for yen.

US and Japan move to support the yen (Kirsten Aiken)

Warnings from the 1997 crisis

There is also a regional dimension to this story. A crash in the value of the yen was a contributing factor in the lead-up to the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

A competitive devaluation wave across South East Asia now could be ugly.

The 1997 crisis was primarily a result of structural weaknesses like rapidly deregulated financial sectors and volatile short term capital flows.

There are new, different but also dangerous flaws in some Asian economies right now.

Most notably, South Korea — which should be enjoying the absolute economic sunshine of its dominance of the microchip and memory market — is instead flailing under share market volatility fed by over-leveraged investors, and also a share market too heavily dominated by a couple of the largest manufacturers of semiconductor technology, like Samsung.

The result has been a 40 per cent drop in the market's value in the space of just 27 days, leaving thousands of investors who had borrowed in order to invest facing financial oblivion.

The very volatility of the market — which so far in 2026 has had 33 days of movements of at least 5 per cent — has now made South Korea look like a highly risky investment.

Indonesia also has problems stemming from an overly ambitious and expensive government spending program.

Not all the news is bad out of Asia.

To Lam sitting down on a chair with two microphones in front of him on a lectern. — Vietnam's President To Lam is due to visit Australia in the next few days. (Reuters: Minh Hoang)

Vietnamese President To Lam will visit Australia in the next few days. His country has been the fastest growing economy in the region in the past couple of years with growth rates of around 8 per cent a year.

That's despite initially being one of the biggest targets of Donald Trump's Liberation Day tariffs last year.

Malaysia and Singapore — which were also in the firing line — are also booming in the way that South Korea should be, thanks to their big presence in IT hardware.

And that's despite them being among the most energy intense economies, and/or the biggest importers of oil and gas at a time when the Middle East conflict has both pushed up prices and cut supply of both commodities from the Gulf.

So the IMF has still been predicting that Asia will remain the main driver of global growth, with India and China accounting for about 70 per cent of that.

Perhaps more than any other part of the world, Asia is now riding the impact of all the biggest disruptions to the global economy.

There's the continuing uncertainty about energy supply; a boom in AI investment of such magnitude that central bankers discuss its potential to destabilise the financial system; and there is inflation.

Not just an energy price shock

It's not just inflation stemming from an energy price shock either.

The sudden escalation in government spending in the name of building defence capabilities is creating pressures around the world, prompting governments to massively expand their spending even when inflationary surges suggest they should be cutting back.

Japan is at the epicentre of these pressures. Once the stand-out growth economy, the "miracle" economy in the 1980s, it has struggled to find its way back from decades of deflation to growth, only to now find itself suffering from inflation partly driven by the fact its low interest rates have depressed its currency and delivered high prices and inflation across the economy.

While it is making a mark in robotics, it is not the leader in AI that competitors in the region have proved to be.

And it has been rapidly escalating its military spending amid the fears — shared by many US allies — of abandonment even as China projects its power into the region.

That all creates big tensions in economic policy between an expansionary fiscal (or government spending) policy and a monetary policy ambition which should see interest rates rising to curb inflation.

The Bank of Japan has raised rates five times from their record lows, halving the differential with US interest rates.

But it now faces the difficulty of choosing between a path which raises rates to further reduce that differential — and hopefully stop further devaluation of the currency — but at the cost of killing off nascent growth, or stalling for time.

Unlike many other central banks, the BoJ's charter requires its actions to be mutually compatible with government policy.

Which is perhaps why it has instead been buying yen in the market to boost its value — an intervention which some analysts have estimated could have amounted to 13.8 trillion yen or $US87 billion over just two days.

So many conflicting economic signals usually demand some clear economic signals from central banks and ministers.

But if there is another trend at play just now it would seem to be a shift away from clear signals, and even from central bank independence.

The well-respected governor of Bank Indonesia Perry Warjiyo suddenly resigned last month in a move which unsettled markets at a time when the government's budget policies have kindled inflation.

There is much more disquiet, though, about just what is happening at the US Federal Reserve.

Kevin Warsh, standing smiling, with people in suits leaving their seats behind him. — Kevin Warsh announced a new communications strategy which does not indicate where monetary policy might be heading, which has done nothing to settle financial markets. (Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)

Central bank's independence in question

Trump's appointment of Kevin Warsh as Fed chair came after his regular attacks on Warsh's predecessor Jerome Powell, who Trump regularly threatened to fire for not cutting interest rates fast enough.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal last December, Trump said he wanted the Fed chair to consult with him on where to set interest rates.

"I'm a smart voice and should be listened to," Trump said.

Now this week the WSJ has reported that the president has repeatedly spoken with Warsh since he became chairman of the Fed three months ago.

That, and the fact that Warsh has announced a new communications strategy which does not indicate where monetary policy might be heading, has done nothing to settle financial markets.

Confidence in central bank independence is not on a good trajectory right now.

The decision to intervene in the yen was also marked by a lack of coordination with others.

The Financial Times reported on Friday that "Washington's sale of euros to boost the yen late last week blindsided the European Central Bank, with the US only informing its counterparts in Frankfurt after the historic currency intervention".

"Typically, the US would have been expected to use dollars in such an operation," the FT reported.

"Some senior ECB officials viewed the US decision to use euros in its trade as an unprecedented breach of longstanding conventions on co-operation between western monetary authorities, the people said."

Washington's sales of euros, carried out by the New York Federal Reserve on behalf of the US Treasury, were "very striking" and "sad", one person familiar with discussions among European policymakers told the FT.

Global economic policy now seems at the mercy of an exceptionally casual approach to information, scribbled on a notepad, awaiting an update on Scott Bessent's to-do list.

Laura Tingle is the ABC's Global Affairs Editor.

ABC business reporter David Taylor was hacked on X and warns how easily it could happen to you.

Extract from ABC News

By business correspondent David Taylor

Topic:Online Safety

10 hours ago

A social media post with images of a black car. — The hacker used David Taylor's hijacked X account to spruik supposed cryptocurrency investment returns. (Supplied)

I do not own any cryptocurrency, nor do I drive a Range Rover.

I do though, according to my X account, which was hacked at some point late last month.

The story is straightforward.

A long-term trusted contact of mine, Sean Callow, sent me a direct message on X. At least I thought he had.

Sean Callow seated at desk with Bloomberg terminal screens behind him. — Sean Callow says the hack was a "wake-up" call. (ABC News: John Gunn)

It was in Sean's "voice".

He asked me to vote for him to host a podcast.

I thought the request was a little odd, but it was entirely plausible that Mr Callow could be in the running to host a finance or currency podcast given his role as a currency strategist at ITC Capital Markets.

I clicked the link, but it asked for too much authentication, so I bailed out. It was too hard.

A few days later "Sean" sent me another direct message, pulling on the heartstrings, saying he had noticed I hadn't voted for him, and he was disappointed.

So, naturally, I tried voting again, going through several links.

It felt odd again, so I bailed out. But I was too late. I had been hacked.

It has been a humbling experience because I had thought of myself as proficient in spotting a phishing exercise or hack a mile off.

Mr Callow, too, regrets getting trapped in the hacker's web.

"This episode has been a wakeup call for me in how sophisticated hackers have become,"

he said.

"This was not an email with spelling mistakes or a 'too good to be true' financial offer.

"It was presented as a favour to a friend of mine in the US who would very plausibly be preparing for a podcast."

Hack spreads through web of contacts

But the distinctive aspect of this hack is that neither Mr Callow nor I were aware an X account direct message could be infiltrated.

"My guard was also lowered by the message arriving in my X direct messages, which require a PIN for me just to read them," he said.

A trusted contact of Mr Callow's in the US appears to be the origin of the spread of this hack.

It then moved to myself, property investment adviser Pete Wargent, and then onto the X account of the Centre for Independent Studies' chief economist Peter Tulip.

A social media post that begins with the words: "My account was hacked." — Peter Tulip was eventually given the contact details of someone at X to complain about the hack. (Supplied)

From these contacts, hundreds and potentially thousands of Australians have received cyber security threats within their X direct messages.

Mr Tulip said the direct message he engaged with came directly from Mr Wargent.

The ABC has contacted Mr Wargent for comment.

Mr Wargent, however, is indeed a podcast host, making the direct message from him about asking for votes to host a podcast, on the surface, seem credible.

Economist Peter Tulip. — Peter Tulip says he received a direct message from another finance expert, Peter Wargent. (ABC: Dan Irvine)

Mr Tulip said he thought at the time it was "plausible" the direct message was authentic given Mr Wargent's occupation.

Mr Tulip has since been able to regain control of his X account, but he says the day his account was hacked was "extremely difficult".

"I've spent seven years accumulating 8,000 X followers and the prospect of losing communication with them and starting again would have been a huge loss,"

he said.

'Infuriating' lack of response from X

Mr Tulip said the most challenging aspect of the hack was that there was "no-one to talk to at Twitter [X]".

"It's just infuriating.

"It was a simple and common problem that couldn't be rectified."

Mr Tulip was given the contact details of a representative at X by a member of the media.

He said it provided him with a "ray of sunshine" on an otherwise difficult day.

I can corroborate how hard it is to get action from X, formerly known as Twitter, having completed two incident reports with only an automated reply in response.

Unlike your average person, I was able to engage the help of the ABC's cyber team and I was given access to Mr Tulip's new-found contact at X to try to regain control of my account.

Thankfully, that correspondence was helpful and I regained control of my account on Friday evening.

How to avoid being hacked

Our world is dominated by digital applications, passwords, and the ever-present threat of a cyber attack.

An online attack could leave anyone in a constant state of digital fight or flight.

Cyber security expert Troy Hunt agreed it was an ongoing worry for anyone with a digital footprint.

And, he said, dodgy links from trusted direct messages were becoming increasingly common.

However, he also said cyber security "should be a shared responsibility".

He said if one of your online accounts was hacked you need to immediately "go through the account recovery process [provided by the platform host] as painful as that is.

"It's not going to be fun."

A reasonable approach is to remain cautious, but there are proven ways to protect your online presence.

The most obvious are changing passwords, and having two-factor authentication, among others.

A simple text message to Mr Callow after receiving his direct message on X would have also prevented the hack.

Many of my contacts have done precisely that with me.

But if you haven't, please don't click on the link. I'm already on a podcast, for the ABC, and you can listen to it here.

Thursday, 6 August 2026

Royal Australian Mint releases new coin commemorating First Nations land rights.

Extract from ABC News

3 hours ago

A new 50-cent coin design, Vincent Lingiari and Gough Whitlam — Tens of thousands of coins will be released commemorating First Nations land rights. (Supplied: Royal Australian Mint/AGNSW: Mervyn Bishop)

In short:

The Royal Australian Mint is releasing a new coin to honour key moments in Indigenous land rights.

The 50-cent piece features Vincent Lingiari's outstretched hand alongside a gathering of Gurindji people.

Tens of thousands of the new coins will be circulating.

A new 50-cent coin has been released into circulation, marking two defining moments in First Nations land rights.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains images and names of people who have died.

The coin depicts the 1966 Wave Hill walk-off, where Gurindji man Vincent Lingiari led about 200 Aboriginal stockmen, workers and families in strike action.

What began as a protest over poor wages and conditions at Wave Hill station in the Northern Territory became a lightning rod for the national land rights movement.

An historic black-and-white image of a group of men posing beside a sign in the outback — The Gurindji strikers at Wattie Creek, led by Vincent Lingiari. (Supplied: Brian Manning)

Nine years later, then-prime minister Gough Whitlam ceremonially returned a small portion of Gurindji land and poured a handful of soil into Lingiari's hand.

The photo — taken by Mervyn Bishop, a renowned First Nations photojournalist — became a defining image in Australian history.

The following year, the landmark Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 was passed, the first Australian law that allowed traditional owners to make a title claim.

The Royal Australian Mint's new 50-cent coin was designed to commemorate both anniversaries and celebrate the courage of the Gurindji people.

"I think this coin is a stand-out for collectors because of how important this story is," the mint's director of museum and public engagement, Stuart Baines, said.

"It's a really beautiful coin and it's really trying to tell a story of equality and that real Australian notion of a fair go, but as we try to extend that to our First Nations people,"

he said.

The design features Lingiari's outstretched hand alongside a gathering of Gurindji people, with the word 'Unity' inscribed at the bottom.

An historic image of two men standing in front of microphones — Vincent Lingiari makes an address after then-prime minister Gough Whitlam returns Aboriginal land at Wattie Creek in 1975. (Supplied: National Library of Australia)

'Story, history, legacy'

The mint worked with the Gurindji Aboriginal Corporation to create the coin.

The corporation's director and traditional owner Roslyn Frith took part in the historic events as a child.

"Unity is Gurindji's strength," Ms Frith said.

"This coin design represents the proud Gurindji people's story, history and legacy.

"The Gurindji people have come a long way and as Vincent Lingiari said, 'let us be mates.'"

A new 50c coin — The coin celebrates the courage of the Gurindji people. (Supplied: Royal Australian Mint)

The new coin was released into circulation on Thursday.

The mint is also featuring the design on 6,500 silver proof coins and 60,000 collectable coins in cards.

Mr Baines said he hoped the coins sparked public curiosity about an important piece of Australian history.

"We really encourage people to actually start looking for these coins in their change," he said.

"There will be tens of thousands of those in circulation."