Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: ASB Bank

15 September 2026

ASB has today announced Vittoria Shortt is stepping down as CEO and Managing Director after almost nine years. She will finish up with ASB on 11 December this year.

Sinead Taylor has been appointed as Vittoria’s successor. Ms Taylor is currently Group Executive Institutional Banking and Markets at Commonwealth Bank of Australia and brings extensive banking, operational and commercial experience to the role.

ASB Chair Dame Therese Walsh paid tribute to Vittoria for the significant impact she has had on ASB.

“I’d like to acknowledge Vittoria’s incredible work and dedication as CEO, and before that as a member of the ASB Board.

“As CEO, Vittoria has led ASB through a period of significant change and challenge for all Kiwi, and for the banking industry; from Covid-19 to a global explosion in fraud and scams, the rapid rise of AI, a market study and Select Committee inquiry.

“Against this backdrop, ASB has continued to adapt, perform strongly and lay solid foundations for the future. Under Vittoria’s direction, ASB has continued to focus relentlessly on our customers and our purpose to accelerate progress for all New Zealanders.”

Reflecting on her time at ASB, Ms Shortt says she feels incredibly fortunate to have had this opportunity.

“When I look back at what we’ve achieved, I’m most proud of how deeply our purpose has become part of ASBers’ work every day to help improve customers’ financial wellbeing, support our communities and back the New Zealand economy.”

Vittoria initially plans to take a break before deciding what’s next. “I’m looking forward to some travel, starting with a roadie around New Zealand, and spending more time with my family. I want to take some time to consider my next move professionally.”

Sinead Taylor

Prior to her current Group Executive role, Sinead Taylor has held Executive positions within the Commonwealth Bank group including Group Executive, Chief Operations Officer and Executive General Manager of Bankwest, as well as roles in global markets, strategy, marketing, business and corporate banking. Before banking, she held senior strategy and marketing roles in professional services.

Sinead was born in Glasgow, Scotland and lived for a number of years in New Zealand after moving to Rotorua at the age of nine.

Dame Therese says Sinead will build on ASB’s strong foundations and take the bank into its next chapter.

“Sinead has broad experience and an impressive track record and reputation for creating impact, executing ambitious strategies and leading with purpose. She has led large teams, implemented complex transformation at scale, strengthened risk management and delivered better outcomes for customers. That combination of customer focus, operational discipline and execution makes her well placed to lead ASB through its next phase.”

Sinead’s appointment has received non-objection from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. She will take over as CEO and Managing Director on 12 December 2026.

Source: Health Coalition Aotearoa

Parties on the political left show strongest backing for policies to reduce harm from tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food.

Health Coalition Aotearoa is today releasing the results of its election policy survey (election policy survey), revealing a clear political divide on support for evidence-based measures to reduce harm from tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food, and to protect public policymaking from undue industry influence.

The survey, which was sent to all incumbent political parties ahead of the election, assessed support for Health Coalition Aotearoa’s top prevention priorities.

The findings show strongest support from left-leaning parties for policies that would improve health outcomes, reduce pressure on the health system and boost productivity through prevention. Survey commentary is available in a PHCC Briefing (PHCC Briefing).

“Disappointingly, National and New Zealand First chose neither to complete the survey nor attend our Political Forum on Prevention, held at Parliament in August,” says Health Coalition Aotearoa co-chair Professor Boyd Swinburn, a population nutrition and global health researcher at the University of Auckland.

“This pattern of National, and often other Government Coalition partners, not fronting up to invitations to engage on key policy issues has been observed by multiple organisations seeking policy discussions on health in this pre-election period,” Swinburn says.

The survey was based on priorities identified by Health Coalition Aotearoa’s expert panels as the most evidence-based and cost-effective policies for preventing harm from the commercial determinants of health, as outlined in its Prevention Brief 2026 (Prevention Brief 2026).

“What we’re really looking for is areas of general support across the political spectrum so that effective prevention policies might get advanced and sustained, rather than flip-flopping with every election,” Swinburn says.

The policies receiving the widest support were reinstating the tobacco endgame legislation, restoring the Healthy School Lunches Programme to an optimum design, and strengthening protections against undue industry influence in public policymaking. Support was strongest among the Green Party, Te Pāti Māori and Labour.

The findings also showed broad support among those parties for stronger lobbying rules, improved management of conflicts of interest, and greater transparency in decision-making processes. ACT was the only right-leaning party to respond to the survey and was generally supportive of some tobacco and conflicts of interest measures but unsupportive of most other prevention policies.

Notably, National and New Zealand First did not respond to the survey, leaving voters without direct answers on their positions regarding these priority prevention measures.

Although not included in the survey, The Opportunity Party recently released its Healthy People and Clean Up Politics policies, which are closely aligned with Health Coalition Aotearoa’s priorities.

“Enacting policies is, let’s face it, a lot of work, so if we could see progress on tobacco endgame measures, healthy school lunches and lobbying reform under the next government, that would be fantastic,” says Swinburn.

HCA co-chair Jason Alexander says it is disappointing to see parties steering away from taxes and, to a lesser extent, alcohol law reform, including embedding Te Tiriti in legislation.

“Some parties are shying away from alcohol law reform and taxes on unhealthy commodities, which is disappointing given the substantial evidence of their potential to improve health outcomes and equity.”

Tobacco, alcohol, obesity and unhealthy diets cause about a quarter of healthy years of life lost to preventable death and disability (more than 350,000 disability-adjusted life-years lost every year), with these harms falling inequitably on Māori and Pacific people.

Swinburn says the findings are notable because public support for prevention policies is consistently high across areas such as tobacco control, alcohol harm reduction, healthier food environments and stronger protections against industry influence.

Source: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

Tuesday 15 September 2026

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) is calling for stronger workforce planning and ongoing quality and safety monitoring following the release of the final evaluation of Australia’s fast-track pathway for overseas-trained specialists.

The Medical Board of Australia and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) have released the evaluation, which examines the first 18 months of the Expedited Specialist Pathway’s operation.

RACS supports the pathway’s objective of reducing unnecessary duplication, cost and delay for appropriately qualified specialist international medical graduates (SIMGs).

The evaluation provides useful early evidence that the pathway is faster, more predictable and attractive to eligible SIMGs.

But RACS says speed cannot be the only measure of success.

“The Expedited Specialist Pathway should ultimately be assessed by whether it contributes to a safe, appropriately distributed and sustainable specialist workforce that meets Australia’s long-term community needs,” RACS President Dr Philip Morreau said.

“That means looking not only at how many specialists enter the Australian workforce, but whether they practise in the specialties, locations and scopes of practice where they are needed.”

The evaluation found that 89 per cent of SIMGs on the pathway were practising in metropolitan areas, while just 11 per cent were practising in regional, rural or remote locations.

RACS says this highlights a key limitation of registration reform: it can increase the overall supply of specialists, but cannot by itself determine where they practise or whether they meet specific community needs.

“Registration reform is not, in itself, workforce planning,” Dr Morreau said.

“Expedited pathways need to be part of a broader approach to workforce planning and distribution.”

He said the same principle applies to locally trained doctors.

“Australia has a strong pipeline of junior doctors. The challenge is ensuring they transition into the specialist workforce Australia needs, in the specialties and locations where they are needed.

“The issue is not simply how many doctors we have.

“What is required is targeted, evidence-based workforce planning and distribution alongside changes to specialist registration pathways, whether these are for overseas-trained or homegrown doctors.”

RACS is also cautioning against drawing firm conclusions about the pathway’s longer-term quality and safety from its first 18 months.

While the evaluation found no systemic quality or safety concerns and reported a positive experience among most participating SIMGs, it acknowledges that the evidence is still early and that longer-term safe and competent practice requires ongoing monitoring.

This will be particularly important as the pathway expands into procedural specialties. General Surgery and Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery were not represented in the evaluated cohort and are among the specialties identified for the next phase of the pathway’s rollout.

RACS is calling for specific quality and safety evaluation as the pathway is implemented in these specialties.

RACS has written to Ahpra, the Health Workforce Taskforce and Australian health ministers outlining its response to the evaluation report, including the need for stronger quality and safety monitoring and clearer national workforce planning.

About the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS)

RACS is the leading advocate for surgical standards, professionalism and surgical education in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. The College is a not-for-profit organisation that represents more than 8000 surgeons and 1300 surgical Trainees and Specialist International Medical Graduates. RACS also supports healthcare and surgical education in the Asia-Pacific region and is a substantial funder of surgical research. There are nine surgical specialties in Australasia being: Cardiothoracic Surgery, General Surgery, Neurosurgery, Orthopaedic Surgery, Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Urology and Vascular Surgery. https://www.surgeons.org/

Source: Banking Ombudsman Scheme

The number of disputes dealt with by the Banking Ombudsman Scheme rose by more than a quarter on a year ago to reach their highest level in a decade, according to the scheme’s annual report released today.

The scheme investigated 283 disputes in 2025-26, a 26 per cent increase on the previous financial year.

Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden said the increase applied to all types of disputes, but particularly to lending disputes, which rose 59 per cent on the previous year. Ms Sladden attributed this rise to the financial pressures faced by many New Zealanders. Financial hardship was a factor in a fifth of disputes.

“Customers are also increasingly using AI tools to understand their rights and prepare their complaints. In addition, these tools are giving users the confidence to pursue their complaints as far as possible.”

The scheme resolved disputes on average in 49 working days, 14 fewer than the year before.

Ms Sladden said the other big trend of the year was the drop in fraud and scam complaints. These remained a large part of the scheme’s work, although they fell 40 per cent compared with the previous year. Fraud and scam disputes fell by almost as much – 36 per cent.

She attributed the falls to the success of efforts by banks and government agencies to raise awareness about how to avoid being duped by scammers. She also believed the introduction of stronger fraud detection and prevention measures by banks in December last year was already having a bearing on the improved figures – although she cautioned against complacency. “Scammers are nothing if not determined and adaptable.”

More than half of scam complaints involved unauthorised transactions, of which phishing and information harvesting scams remained the most common types.

Despite the rise in disputes, the scheme’s overall caseload fell 13 per cent for the year, due to a 10 per cent decline in general enquiries and a 14 per cent drop in simple complaints.

The report said loans, bank accounts and service were the most common complaint categories.

It also noted the findings of an independent case review by Professor Ron Paterson, who found the scheme was handling complaints effectively, delivering fair and well-reasoned decisions, and meeting the benchmark principles expected of an approved dispute resolution scheme.

Source: World Literacy Foundation

Australia — Early childhood and primary teacher, children’s author, and literacy advocate Poppy Yayakos has joined the World Literacy Foundation’s Sun Books: Global Children’s Library as an Author Patron, expanding her commitment to literacy that already reaches families throughout her community in Darwin, Australia.

A published children’s author and World Literacy Foundation Ambassador, Poppy draws much of her inspiration from her own family, particularly her grandmother Poppy and mother Evdoxia, who helped foster her lifelong love of reading. Her children’s writing combines rhyme, engaging storytelling, and meaningful lessons designed to help young readers learn and grow.

Her participation in the Global Children’s Library has also brought her story full circle. “Seeing my book become part of the Global Children’s Library and available in other languages has been incredibly meaningful. Having my Greek-speaking grandfather and my young cousins in Greece experience my story in their own language showed me firsthand how books can connect generations, cultures, and families across the world.”

Poppy’s literacy advocacy extends well beyond her own books. As a World Literacy Foundation Ambassador, she has established pop-up libraries in laundromats, donated books to local businesses and community spaces, and collaborated with Reading Out of Poverty to establish a number of bookshelves, having mobilized community support to collect over 1000 books for donation. She also shares literacy and reading tips with schools and reaches approximately 1,000 families in her region through newsletters. Poppy has also hosted several community story times to engage families and children in reading, as well as running parent workshops to further support children’s engagement in reading.

The Sun Books: Global Children’s Library brings together the World Literacy Foundation’s international literacy mission with technology from Hello Computer, Inc. and its publishing division, StoryTime International Press. Through dynamic publishing technology, participating books can reach new audiences through multilingual digital experiences, including translation and read-aloud capabilities in up to 137 languages.

The Global Children’s Library currently has an ongoing international call for children’s authors interested in having their work considered for the initiative and joining its growing international community of Author Patrons.

About Poppy Yayakos

Poppy Yayakos is a Darwin-based early childhood and primary teacher, published children’s author, literacy advocate, and World Literacy Foundation Ambassador. Her work reflects a lifelong love of reading and a commitment to making books and literacy experiences more accessible to children and families.

About the Global Children’s Library

The Sun Books: Global Children’s Library is an initiative of the World Literacy Foundation, created in partnership with Hello Computer, Inc. and StoryTime International Press to expand access to engaging children’s literature and help stories reach young readers across languages, cultures, and borders. Learn more at https://www.globalchildrenslibrary.com/.

Source: University of Auckland (UoA)

Dr Johnny Chan is a senior lecturer in information systems and the University of Auckland Business School.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2026

What are micro-dramas, and why are they so compelling?

As tech companies like Meta, Google and TikTok face ongoing scrutiny over addictive platform design, the rapid rise of micro-dramas offers a glimpse into how AI, algorithms and commercial incentives could make digital entertainment even harder to put down.

In the article Where the brake slips: A feedback view of the micro-drama platform (article), University of Auckland researcher Dr Johnny Chan examines the way micro-dramas operate and how they appeal to viewers.

These serialised shows are made up of short episodes designed for smartphones, typically ending with a cliffhanger before viewers are asked to pay to continue.

The format has grown rapidly, particularly in China, where industry estimates put micro-drama revenues at US$7 billion in 2024. Chinese platforms are now reportedly releasing hundreds of AI-generated micro-dramas a day.

Drawing on existing research and industry evidence, Chan developed a conceptual model to examine what drives micro-drama consumption.

He argues the appeal of the format can’t be understood solely as a question of individual behaviour. Instead, viewers are caught in a series of reinforcing feedback loops involving recommendation algorithms, content creators and the commercial incentives of platforms.

Every interaction can help the algorithm learn what keeps someone watching. The micro-drama creators, meanwhile, get rapid feedback on what keeps audiences engaged.

Traditionally, repetition has provided a natural brake: audiences eventually tire of seeing similar content.

A person might put their book down because chapter 47 feels like chapter 12, says Chan. “They might turn off the television because the third episode of a formula is less surprising than the first. In each case, the system had a built-in brake.”

But, he argues, generative AI could weaken that brake by letting entertainment, such as micro-dramas, quickly and continually produce new, targeted stories, settings, and variations, potentially delaying the point at which people lose interest.

“The result may be an entertainment system in which the forces encouraging people to keep watching increasingly outweigh those encouraging them to stop,” says Chan.

His article also raises questions for regulators.

Media, advertising and gambling are generally treated separately by regulators, but micro-drama platforms increasingly bring elements of all three together.

He argues that proposals to regulate highly engaging platforms, such as time limits, age restrictions and warning labels, may slow consumption but do little to change the systems designed to keep people watching.

More effective interventions, he says, could target how platforms operate, including introducing pauses between episodes, making payment systems more transparent, increasing scrutiny of recommendation algorithms, and changing the incentives that reward platforms for maximising viewing time.

He says while these deeper interventions would be harder to introduce, they are more likely to address the underlying drivers of excessive engagement rather than simply limiting its effects.

“The micro-drama platform is one of the clearest examples of a class of digital practices that have crossed a behavioural threshold in plain sight, and it will not be the last.”

Source: Aotearoa New Zealand Cuba Friendship Society

14 September 2026

The Aotearoa New Zealand Cuba Friendship Society welcomes the BRICS New Delhi Declaration which expresses deep concern over the tightening of unilateral blockade measures against Cuba and calls for their end in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/80/4, which 165 member countries supported.

It is noteworthy that the Cuban situation received a dedicated paragraph in the declaration, acknowledging the worsening humanitarian impact of unilateral sanctions. This shows that major nations of the Global South are paying attention to Cuba, not only because of the severity of the situation, but also because it has implications for all nations.

The declaration reaffirms the character of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace, built on mutual respect, peaceful settlement of disputes and non-intervention.

BRICS nations condemned unilateral coercive measures contrary to international law, noting their far-reaching negative implications for human rights, including the rights to development, health and food security.

Cuba Society Co-chair and National Spokesperson Dr Josephine Varghese welcomed the solidarity expressed by BRICS nations.

“This is a welcome development. BRICS nations are rising in global prominence across economic, cultural, geopolitical and trade sectors, so their reaffirmation of commitment to international law, including proposals to reform international bodies to give greater representation to the Global South, is commendable,” she said.

“As a small nation around half the population size of Cuba, New Zealand should also raise its voice to uphold a rules-based international order – one that will protect not only Cuba, but also New Zealand in the years to come,” Varghese added.

We urge Kiwis to join our efforts by becoming a member. The membership form can be found via our website cubafriendship.org.nz.

Source: Flinders University

14 September 2026

Long before dinosaurs appeared on Earth, fierce predatory fish developed crushing jaws and sharp teeth to survive and diversify in ancient oceans.

Flinders University researchers have used a new combination of techniques to find out how these armoured fish called placoderms – the first vertebrates to evolve jaws and teeth more than 400 million years ago – caught their prey on an exotic ancient reef that once covered what is now northern Western Australia.

The scientists were surprised to discover these early jawed fishes evolved two different ways of biting other armoured prey in the rich marine ecosystems of prehistoric Australia.

“Placoderms experimented with an extraordinary range of jaw shapes and biting parts during the early evolution of vertebrates,” says ARC Future Fellow Dr Alice Clement, who supervised the study. “They provide a rare opportunity to understand how some of the first jaws became specialised for different diets.”

While the smaller species examined relied on broad, flat crushing plates to pulverise prey whole, the larger species evolved weapon-like teeth that pierced and broke apart shelled and armoured prey that were too large to swallow.

“We know that animals feeding on hard foods usually evolve stronger jaws and broader, flatter crushing surfaces, but that’s not exactly what we found in this analysis,” says Dr Clement, from the Flinders Palaeontology Lab.

The researchers used a new finite element analysis technique, with computer-based simulations and three-dimensional analysis of their biting surfaces, to reconstruct how eight of these species fed in the oceans of 385 million years ago.

Dr Rex Mitchell, the first author of the study published in Scientific Reports, studies the relationship between diet and skull shape to explain ecology and evolution.

“Unlike many animals around today, including humans, placoderms did not possess a single lower jaw bone. Instead, their jaws consisted of paired bony plates supported by cartilage, with surfaces ranging from broad crushing plates to sharp slicing edges with tooth-like structures,” says Dr Mitchell, from the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University.

The researchers performed digital bite simulations on 3D models of the fossil jaw bones to measure how well they supported biting forces, before comparing these results with the complexity of each species' biting surface.

Rather than finding a simple relationship, they discovered that both the largest and smallest placoderms possessed the strongest jaws for handling hard bites, despite using completely different biting tools. The smallest species had broad, almost featureless crushing plates, while the largest species possessed highly complex, elevated dental surfaces.

“It was an interesting surprise,” says PhD student and co-author Austin Fitzpatrick. “Both the smallest and largest animals had evolved strong jaws, but they'd solved the problem of processing harder foods in completely different ways.”

The answer, the researchers suggest, lies in the relationship between predator and prey body size when it comes to biting onto armoured prey with tough exterior shells.

Smaller armoured prey could simply be engulfed in the mouth whole and crushed between broad, flat biting plates. Larger prey, however, first had to be broken into smaller pieces before they could be eaten. This required more complex dental structures capable of piercing armour before crushing it.

The largest species in the study possessed teeth arranged along a raised bony crest, forming a structure strikingly similar to the heads of medieval armour-piercing weapons such as war hammers and poleaxes. This suggests the fish used its jaws to puncture the shells or armour of prey before breaking them into manageable pieces.

The findings show that hard-object feeding among Earth's earliest jawed vertebrates was not achieved through a single evolutionary solution. Instead, evolution produced a diversity of jaw designs that allowed placoderms to exploit different prey within the ancient reef ecosystem.

Flinders Emeritus Professor John Long, another co-author of the latest study, has been working at the WA fossil site for the past 40 years and found some of the specimens used in this study.

The world-famous Gogo Formation in WA has been the focus of long-running research, including collaborations with the local Gooniyandi and Gogo community.

“Since 2013, placoderms have been directly linked to our evolution, as the start of the line leading from fishes to humans. Understanding placoderms is now vital to revealing the origins of the human body plan,” adds Professor Long. “Our work contributes to a growing picture of niche separation and ecological specialisation in the ancient Devonian reef during the so-called 'Age of Fishes' which is now acknowledged as the long line leading from fishes to humans.”

The article, 'Hard-object feeding adaptations infer relative predator-prey size relationships in Devonian placoderms' (2026) by D Rex Mitchell, Kate Trinajstic (Curtin University), John A Long, Austin N Fitzpatrick, Joshua Bland and Alice M Clement has been published in Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-57261-3.

Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects funding (DP 220100825 and DP 240102156). Thanks to the Gooniyandi and Gogo community for access to specimens.