The AFL and NRL celebrated their Indigenous rounds at the weekend, which aim to highlight the contributions of Indigenous players and promote cultural awareness and foster reconciliation.

Unfortunately, new research shows racism among sports spectators in Australia may be getting worse.

The first large-scale study of spectator racism in the three major men’s leagues (AFL, NRL and A-League Men) has just been published. As Keith Parry and his colleagues found, 50% of AFL fans surveyed had witnessed racist behaviour at games, along with 36% of NRL fans and 27% of A-League Men fans. Fans of all three codes said racism has been more prevalent in the preceding two years than it was before.

The football codes are finally getting serious about racism inside footy grounds, penalising perpetrators with lengthy or even lifetime bans.

What is urgently needed though is a greater commitment by fans, especially white fans, to report racism when they observe it. Otherwise they’re giving a free kick to bigots.

But now, to a different survey: The Conversation and the Economic Society of Australia asked 50 of Australia’s most distinguished economists for their verdict on Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s recent budget. Only one-third of them gave it top marks.

Asked whether it will get inflation back within the Reserve Bank’s target band by the end of this year, most said they think it won’t. Rather than being a budget for “decades to come”, as Chalmers has claimed, most say it will leave big issues unaddressed, such as home prices, Australia’s tax system, ailing productivity growth and geopolitical uncertainty.

PS. Thanks to all of you who have given to our donations campaign so far. If you value our unique brand of journalism, please consider becoming a donor and helping to support our work.

Niall Seewang

Sport + Society Editor

Spectator racism is still rife in Australia’s major football codes – new research shows it may even be getting worse

Keith Parry, Bournemouth University; Connor MacDonald, University of South Australia; Daryl Adair, University of Technology Sydney; Jamie Cleland, University of South Australia

New research shows racism among sports fans in Australia is still rife. White footy fans need to report racism – otherwise they’re giving a free kick to bigots.

Top economists give budget modest rating and doubt inflation will fall as planned

Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

Only one-third of the top economists surveyed give Jim Chalmers’ third budget an A or a B, down from two-thirds in 2023. Many say it left big issues unaddressed.

‘Everybody has not won’: trickle-down economics was an idiotic idea. How do we fix the inequality it causes?

Carl Rhodes, University of Technology Sydney

Forty years of the neoliberal experiment have created a world of vast and increasing inequality. But this can and should change.

As COVID cases rise again, what do I need to know about the new FLiRT variants?

Lara Herrero, Griffith University

The so-called ‘FLiRT’ variants are dominant in the US and appear to be gaining traction in Australia. Here’s the information we have so far.

No mullets, no mohawks, no ‘awkwardly contrasting colours’: what are school policies on hair and why do they matter so much?

Kayla Mildren, Griffith University

After yet another student is banned for having the “wrong” type of hair at school, new research shows this is part of a wider pattern to enforce norms around gender, class and race.

Heavy water: how melting ice sheets and pumped groundwater can lower local sea levels – and boost them elsewhere

Rebecca McGirr, Australian National University; Anthony Purcell, Australian National University; Herbert McQueen, Australian National University; Paul Tregoning

Water is very heavy – and it can move. Until now, changes to water on land have actually offset much of the rising sea level from ice melt. How? Gravity

All surface, no substance. Kids will probably love Beings at ACMI. Pity about the rest of us

Dominic Redfern, RMIT University

Kids will probably love it. It looks like the distilled essence of Pixar’s Monster’s Inc visual appeal. Essence is the wrong word though; to be honest this is more like pastiche.

What to watch for in Trump trial’s closing arguments, from a law school professor who teaches and studies them

Jules Epstein, Temple University

Closing arguments tell the jury why the evidence is believable or not, how the facts are linked or not and, most importantly, why their decision to either acquit or convict is moral and just.

The government’s cash splash aims to kickstart Australia’s battery industry. Has it flipped the right switches?

Glen Thomas Currie, Monash University; Anna Malos, Monash University

Australia has all the key ingredients to build a booming battery industry. We just need to find the right cooks and co-ordinate all of this frantic activity to get this big opportunity right.

You leave a ‘microbe fingerprint’ on every piece of clothing you wear – and it could help forensic scientists solve crimes

Paola A. Magni, Murdoch University; Noemi Procopio, University of Central Lancashire; Sarah Gino, Università del Piemonte Orientale

A uniquely identifying population of bacteria can survive on clothes for months after a person wears them.

If an asteroid hit Earth and all the humans died, would the dinosaurs come back? The Conversation’s Curious Kids podcast

Eloise Stevens, The Conversation

Paleontologist Bill Ausich explains whether dinosaurs could ever roam the Earth again. Listen on The Conversation’s Curious Kids podcast.

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