Our liberal democracy requires us to look beyond ourselves as individuals or as members of small tribes to be successful.   As the two-party system based on old ideologies has lost its appeal, we need to discover new ways of reaching an agreement on what constitutes the common good on a range of issues, e.g., inflation, productivity, debt, national security, social equality and climate change.   In Australia’s 2022 election campaigns, our two foremost party leaders avoid policy leadership. Instead, they respond to the fracturing of public opinion, the tribalisation of our society, and the power of grievance subcultures.

Border security has increasingly become one of the most pressing issues within nations’ homeland security agencies. Though a controversial subject, there has been a consensus that borders must be secured humanely. A popular humanitarian solution has been the creation of smart walls. A smart wall is the use of technologies such as cameras, scanners, sensors, and radars used to prevent illicit entry, smuggling, and threats along borders... Besides Israel’s largest defense companies, there are several promising homeland security Israeli start-ups that specialize in smart wall solutions. Find out who they are and if they are relevant to your organisation: https://israeltrade.org.au/2022/05/06/israel-border-security-technology-smart-walls-and-all/

Let’s transport ourselves back to 1989, Tim Berners Lee has just written his proposals for the WorldWideWeb software and the modern world as we know will never be the same again. Fast-forward to 2022 and are we witnessing the same thing with Mark Zuckerberg’s aspirations for the Metaverse. In between this time, we have seen mini internet revolutions that have transformed the way we work, communicate and grow as a society. Google and Facebook... we did not realise their impact, then, but will this be the same with the Metaverse? How far will it impact our lives? Read on: https://israeltrade.org.au/2022/05/06/the-future-of-the-metaverse-lies-in-israel/

In December 2021 I posted about how a picture of a Black foetus went viral because it gave us representation.Now I'm happy to talk about the campaign that has been launched to accurately reflect the diversity of women and their bodies, in a bid to help all woman access the healthcare they need.To find out more, click the link below:https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/women-of-colour-represented-in-medical-illustrations_uk_626a6600e4b0bc48f577eb36

After years in the making, this is the UK’s first permanent national LGBTQ+ museum.As the founders point out, queer people have affected every part of culture, yet all too often their lives have been written in the margins of history books. This is a space for queer history to be “preserved, explored and celebrated”.To find out more, click the link below:https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/inside-queer-britain-first-uk-lgbtq-museum_uk_62729face4b0b7c8f07ec420

The RBA announced this week that the major banks will be allowed an extra 9 months to deliver PayTo, the highly anticipated iteration of NPP (new payments platform) allowing payment initiation.Perhaps for Fintech, this is a prudent time to validate, innovate and prepare so that when launched, solutions hit the ground running and we see a shorter j-curve for adoption.What are some innovative use cases for PayTo in market for both consumers and business?https://www.itnews.com.au/news/major-banks-get-more-time-to-deliver-new-npp-functionality-579512Note: PayTo is still due to go-live mid-2022 with a number of participating institutions.