National fruit fly surveillance programme

This annual report summarizes the results of the 2021-2022 National Fruit Fly Surveillance Programme (NFFSP) in New Zealand. The report shows that despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the programme was successful in meeting its objectives. A total of 139 individual trap runs were used to service the 7878 Lynfield traps in use, with no new traps established but several relocated to improve coverage. From the 2587 trap-run submissions, a total of 8183 vials were submitted, and no exotic fruit flies were detected. Thirteen samples collected in fruit-fly traps were categorized as "specimens of interest," while 9 specimens were submitted by trappers as passive surveillance samples. All lure batches tested during the season met the required standard, and field checks were made to ensure that all lures sent to trappers had been calibrated within the last 12 months. The report concludes that the trapping network was effective in supporting New Zealand's claims of area freedom.

COVID AND COMPETITION: THE ROLE OF COMPETITION LAW AND REGULATION IN ASEAN DURING AND AFTER THE PANDEMIC

Do regulatory structures and competition laws have a role to play in helping businesses recover from COVID-19? Such policy issues are important, as the pandemic has had a major impact on the competitive capacity of the small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) sector in Southeast Asia, which accounts for a majority of all operating businesses and employs over 140 million people in the region. Both competition policymaking and MSME policy are vital to the Southeast Asian community. This chapter provides an overview of what competition policy and law is, how it has been administered in the region, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the business operating and competition environment. It also discusses how competition agencies have dealt with the challenges of COVID-19 so far. The chapter concludes with recommendations as to how these two different areas of public policy - those relating to competition, and those relating to MSME development - can work together to support recovery from the pandemic. Rather than proposing the enactment of new laws, it is suggested that there be greater collection of MSME data, and further development of consultative mechanisms with the small firm sector and industry associations, as well as the recruitment of staff with firsthand knowledge of MSMEs. © 2022 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

‘I can say I was a journalist during a global pandemic’: Australian students’ experiences of a newsroom in lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic presented university journalism educators with a dual challenge: transitioning subjects online and helping students navigate an industry that is experiencing disruption to work practices and job losses. The impact was particularly felt in practice-based subjects such as student newsrooms. While work-integrated learning programmes have become ubiquitous in journalism courses to produce job-ready graduates, the pandemic required educators to implement swift changes to accommodate online learning in them. The pandemic provides an opportunity to explore how students perceive the value of curriculum-related newsrooms during significant industry upheaval. Many studies have examined these practical journalism education programmes;however, the student perspective is often lacking. This case study, based on student questionnaire responses and educators’ observations, chronicles the experiences of working remotely in a curriculum-related newsroom during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns. It situates this within Jaakkola’s ‘pedagogical newsroom’ that blends pedagogical and journalistic principles to simulate practice within a flexible environment. Due to this flexibility, educators were able to adapt content for unanticipated online delivery to meet learning outcomes and even to create new learning opportunities. Student survey responses showed that despite the disruption, they believed the programme offered vital preparation for industry and generally remained optimistic about their career prospects. © 2022 Intellect Ltd Article. English language.