🐾 Paloma Newton

On the new episode of The Creative Coach podcast, I asked Ben Cooper from R/GA about where he thinks we are in the 'AI' journey right now. Interesting to read today that Canva recently took more than 5,000 employees off line for a week to learn new AI tools. Their Head of People Jennie Rogerson told The Australian Financial Review that in five days they had over 25,000 hours of learning. Impressive stuff! #ai #creativity #artificialintelligence #podcast

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50% of Australians say access to nature is what makes a place liveable. Why isn’t that in our definition of productivity? The RBA defines productivity as output per hour worked. Useful, yes. But incomplete. Because productivity isn’t built in spreadsheets — it’s built in communities. The Living in Australia 2025 survey asked nearly 5,000 people what makes a place liveable. 50% said access to nature — behind only safety and affordable housing. Australians rated access to green space 7.6/10 nationally — compared with just 4.5/10 for housing. And those with excellent access to nature reported better health (7.0 vs 5.9/10), lower stress, and stronger community ties. That’s not lifestyle fluff. That’s productivity. Healthy, connected communities mean stronger workforce participation, lower health costs, and more resilient local economies. Yet too often, housing growth is planned without accounting for green space, transport or health access. At .id, this is why we build independent, hyper-local evidence bases: to give leaders the full picture of place when making decisions that shape our future. It’s time to expand Australia’s definition of productivity — from measuring outputs, to recognising the liveability foundations that truly drive them.

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📣 New Paper 📣 With growing public attention on menopause, we are seeing a surge of products, services, and events promising to support women during the menopause transition. But how do women themselves view the commercialisation of menopause? Drawing on qualitative insights from 509 Australian women aged 45–64, our new open access study published today in Health Promotion International explores how women think that commercial actors - including the wellness and pharmaceutical industries - shape menopause-related narratives, products, and practices. ▶️ https://lnkd.in/g-du_b4v The findings highlight real concerns about how women’s health is being exploited by commercial interests. Women in the study: 💰 Identified a range of strategies contributing to the commercialisation of menopause including catastrophising symptoms, positioning commercial products as essential to managing the menopause transition, and capitalising on fears and concerns for financial gain. ✨ Described how stigma, emotional burden, poor healthcare experiences, and concerns about ageing could exacerbate vulnerabilities to commercial tactics. 💊  Had very divided views about the pharmaceutical industry. While some saw value in CSR initiatives, others were deeply sceptical, perceiving these efforts as exploitative or profit-driven. The study highlights how the growing commercialisation and marketing of menopause-related products, alongside pharmaceutical CSR activities, may shape women’s health and equity during the menopause transition. Big congrats to Katrina Wood for leading this paper as part of her PhD candidature, with Hannah Pitt Simone McCarthy Grace Arnot Melanie Randle Huge thanks to Sarah L. White and Jean Hailes for Women's Health who supported the data collection for this study. Institute for Health Transformation #Menopause #WomenHealth #CommercialDeterminants #PublicHealth #HealthEquity #HealthPromotion 

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It's time for the Australian tech sector to move beyond "thoughts and prayers" and take meaningful action to increase the number of women in the industry. As former Australian Chief of Army David Morrison said, "The standard you walk past is the standard you accept." For too long, we've been diagnosing the problem of gender inequality in tech without committing to a cure. We have the data, we have the reports, but what we need now is tangible, public commitment from leadership. The "pipeline for women is leaking at every joint" because of systemic issues that we can no longer ignore. In my latest op-ed for Startup Daily, I outline the actionable steps we can take to create a more inclusive and equitable tech ecosystem. It's time to tie diversity and inclusion goals to CEO and C-suite KPIs, to dedicate long-term budgets for systemic change, and for executives to dedicate significant time to creating inclusive workplaces. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/g-hjRQ4Z Let's stop walking past the problem. Let's set a new standard. Tech Council of Australia - It's time to see all your members lead on this, not lag! #WomenInTech #TechDiversity #Inclusion #Leadership #ActionNotWords

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Australian startup Maincode has built Matilda, a large language model trained on Australian data and compliant with AI laws and regulations. Maincode founder and CEO Dave L. (Dave Lemphers) closed the annual Tech Leaders forum in the Hunter Valley, hosted by Influencing, which I attended. Dave gave some really interesting insights into Matilda's development and intended uses. Yes, Matilda is intended as Aussie's sovereign version answer to ChatGPT, but Maincode is also taking the model factory approach, producing models of various sizes and intended uses to suit the needs of Australian organisations. More about Matilda at www.maincode.com - AFR reports that the model will be demoed at SXSW Sydney in October. This effort, which is backed by Stake.com founder Ed Craven, could inform New Zealand efforts to build sovereign AI trained on our data and reflecting our culture, regulations and the Treaty of Waitangi. READ: https://lnkd.in/g3BKCbAJ

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