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Simple Summary: The dairy industry in Australia and New Zealand is pasture-based, therefore, monitoring failed transfer of passive immunity (FTPI) is challenging. This study involved a systematic literature search and meta-analysis of papers reporting FTPI data from dairy calves within eight days of birth in Australia and New Zealand, until the end of 2022. An overall prevalence of 33% of FTPI in dairy calves in Australasia and a prevalence of 38% at the farm level were calculated from the meta-analysis, comparable to rates observed elsewhere. Factors, such as the frequency of calf removal from the calving area, time of the first colostrum feed after birth, colostrum volume and quality, and other management practices, were found to play a significant role in FTPI in Australasia. Monitoring and minimizing the prevalence of failed transfer of passive immunity (FTPI) in dairy replacement calves within the first week of life is crucial for calf health and farm profitability. In this study, a systematic literature search and meta-analysis were conducted on papers reporting the prevalence of FTPI in calves from pasture-based dairy farms in Australia and New Zealand. Two search methods, a "traditional method" and a "search engine method", were conducted to identify published studies on FTPI in Australia and New Zealand. Data from a total of 13,430 calves from eight studies in Australasia were included in the analysis for FTPI within 8 days of birth. The meta-analysis revealed that the average prevalence of FTPI was 33% across the two countries, with the lowest FTPI (9%) in Western Australia and the highest FTPI (59%) in New Zealand. Using farm data from three studies, the average prevalence of FTPI at the farm level in Australasia was 38%, with the lowest prevalence found in a farm in South Australia (6%). In conclusion, the meta-analysis confirmed the need for good management of cows and newborn calves after birth in pasture-based systems to reduce FTPI in calves. Collecting newborn calves from pasture at least twice per day after birth and providing colostrum of sufficient quantity and quality as soon as possible were the best practices for preventing FTPI in Australasian dairy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional climate models (RCMs) are used to dynamically downscale global climate models (GCMs) to provide high-resolution projections of future climate change to better inform policy and decision making at the regional scale. However, biases from GCMs are transferred to RCMs and this can limit the usefulness of the regional climate projections. This paper investigates the influence of bias correcting 4 GCMs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 3, for regional climate simulations over the CORDEX-Australasia domain using Weather Research and Forecasting. The GCM outputs are bias corrected against ERA-Interim reanalysis as a surrogate truth. Results show that over decadal time scales bias correction removes large systematic precipitation and temperature biases. However, bias correction also introduced biases where there were none, introduced biases of the opposite sign, or enhanced existing biases in other regions in some instances. The dynamical mechanisms driving the changes in the biases are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ∼21 kyr ago) was the most recent time that the Earth experienced global maximum ice volume and minimum eustatic sea level. The climate changes over the Australian region at the LGM remain uncertain, including the extent of cooling in the arid interior, changes in the regional atmospheric circulations such as the tropical monsoon and mid-latitude westerlies, and changes in the balance between precipitation and evaporation. In this study, 13 climate model simulations that were included in the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP) Phases 3 and 4 are used to investigate regional climate (temperature, precipitation, and wind) over Australia at the LGM. The model simulations are compared with existing proxy records and other modelling studies. All models simulate consistent annual and seasonal cooling over the Australian region (defined as 0–45° S, 110–160° E) at the LGM compared to pre-industrial, with a multi-model mean 2.9 °C decrease in annual average surface air temperature over land at the LGM compared to pre-industrial. Models simulate a range of LGM precipitation anomalies over the region. Simulated precipitation changes over tropical Australasia appear to be driven by changes in circulation and moisture transport, which vary greatly between models. Surface moisture balance calculated from precipitation minus evaporation shows little change over much of the Australian land area at the LGM. Changes in the strength and position of the mid-latitude westerlies are uncertain, with wide model disagreement. These results indicate that climate model simulations do not show a robust response in either tropical or mid-latitude circulation to LGM boundary conditions, suggesting that caution is required when interpreting model output in this region. Further analysis based on model evaluation and quantitative model–proxy comparison is required to better understand the drivers of LGM climate and atmospheric circulation changes in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing levels of photovoltaic (PV) penetration to the electricity grid brings challenges to both design and operation of the grid due to its vulnerability to climate change. A crucial aspect of PV operation is power ramps leading to variability and instability in the grid. With notable large-scale PV deployment planned, including the world's largest planned solar energy infrastructure in Powell Creek Australia, characterising future ramps is crucial for ensuring stable power generation to support large-scale economic development. Using CORDEX-Australasia projections under RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 emission scenarios, future solar ramps across Australia have been characterised up to 2100. Results predict a reduction in ramp magnitude across Australia, with changes in frequency and period length varying with the location. This work highlights the importance of considering future changes in climate when designing large-scale solar farms to ensure the incorporation of frequency control devices and storage plans for a reliable power supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on tax smoothing and optimal budget surplus, with emphasis on Australia during the periods of 1964/65 to 1994/95, while testing a version of a tax smoothing hypothesis from author A.J. Barro. Argument that an optimal tax rule should produce an intertemporal smoothing of the average tax rate; What the tax smoothing hypothesis relies on; Information on Australian tax rates; Indication that fiscal policy in Australia has not been conducted in an optimal way.

Native bees augment pollination services in the Northern Hemisphere, especially cultivated apple crops, yet Southern Hemisphere contexts are poorly known. We observed the foraging behaviour of 69 354 invertebrate flower visitors in Australian orchards (two regions, 3 years) to assess the efficacy of pollination service (Peff). Native stingless bees and introduced honey bees were the most abundant visitors and most efficacious pollinators (Tetragonula Peff = 6.16; Apis Peff = 13.02), with Tetragonula becoming important service providers above 22°C. However, visits by tree-nesting stingless bees decreased with distance from native forest (less than 200 m) and their tropical/subtropical distribution precludes pollination service in other major Australian apple-producing regions. More broadly distributed native allodapine and halictine bees transferred the most pollen per-visit, but their low abundances reduce efficacies (Exoneura Peff = 0.03; Lasioglossum Peff = 0.06), resulting in a general dependence on honey bees. This reliance is a burden of biogeography, since key Northern Hemisphere pollinators of apple (Andrena, Apis, Bombus, Osmia) do not naturally occur in Australasia—where there is only 15% generic overlap with Central Asian bees sympatric with wild apple distributions (cf. Palaearctic 66% and Nearctic 46% generic overlaps). The historical biogeography of bees therefore drives an extreme dependence on one introduced species for apple pollination in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Leeuwin Current, flowing southward along the western coast of Australia, is an important conduit for the poleward heat transport and inter-ocean water exchange between the tropical and the subantarctic ocean areas. Its past development and its relationship to Southern Ocean change and Australian ecosystem response is, however, largely unknown. Here we reconstruct sea surface and thermocline temperatures and salinities from foraminiferal-based Mg/Ca and stable oxygen isotopes from areas offshore of southwestern and southeastern Australia, reflecting the Leeuwin Current dynamics over the last 60 kyr. Their variability resembles the biomass burning development in Australasia from ∼60 –20 ka BP, implying that climate-modulated changes related to the Leeuwin Current most likely affected Australian vegetational and fire regimes. Particularly during ∼60 –43 ka BP, the warmest thermocline temperatures point to a strongly developed Leeuwin Current during Antarctic cool periods when the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) weakened. The pronounced centennial-scale variations in Leeuwin Current strength appear to be in line with the migrations of the Southern Hemisphere frontal system and are captured by prominent changes in the Australian megafauna biomass. We argue that the concerted action of a rapidly changing Leeuwin Current, the ecosystem response in Australia, and human interference since ∼50 BP enhanced the ecological stress on the Australian megafauna until its extinction at ∼43 ka BP. While being weakest during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the deglacial Leeuwin Current intensified at times of poleward migrations of the Subtropical Front (STF). During the Holocene, the thermocline off southern Australia was considerably shallower compared to the short-term glacial and deglacial periods of Leeuwin Current intensification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate models (GCMs) are essential for investigating climate change, but their coarse scale limits their efficacy for climate adaptation planning at the regional scales where climate impacts manifest. Dynamical downscaling of GCM outputs better resolves regional climate and thus provides improved guidance for climate policy at regional scales. Being expensive to run, downscaling uses a subset of GCMs, necessitating careful GCM selection. This evaluation identifies a suitable subset of CMIP6 GCMs for downscaling over Australia by assessing individual GCMs against three criteria: (a) performance simulating daily climate variable distributions, climate means, extremes, and modes; (b) model independence; and (c) climate change signal diversity. Over Australia, GCMs are generally biased cold (warm) for maximum (minimum) temperature, with larger biases for minimum temperature. GCMs are generally wet biased, especially over the monsoonal north, but dry biased over eastern regions. Most GCMs show larger biases for temperature and precipitation over geographically complex, heavily populated eastern regions, relative to other regions. Evaluations identify a distinct group of 11 GCMs that perform consistently poorly across climate variables, statistics, and timescales with widespread, statistically significant biases, versus 13 GCMs that show consistent adequate‐to‐good performance with substantially reduced errors. Assessment of model independence highlights the lack of independence between several high‐performing GCMs, particularly from allied modeling groups, demonstrating the importance of careful ensemble selection when making selective samples of climate space. Once GCM climate signal diversity is considered, 6–8 mid‐to‐high‐performing, independent GCMs occupy the full range of the future climate space and, thus, are suitable for dynamical downscaling over CORDEX‐Australasia. Key Points: Per‐global climate model (GCM) performances varied markedly, though the best‐performing GCMs simulated consistently well across temperature variables and statisticsAssessment of model independence highlights the lack of independence between several high‐performing GCMsSix to eight mid‐to‐high‐performing, independent GCMs capturing a broad range of the future climate space are identified as suitable for downscaling [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NARCliM project contributes to the CORDEX initiative for Australasia. The first generation of NARCliM (N1.0) used CMIP3 global climate models (GCMs) and provided near and far future estimates of climate change across Australasia at 50‐km and southeast Australia at 10‐km resolution under a business‐as‐usual climate scenario. However, multiple sets of 20‐year periods in N1.0 did not permit analysis of long‐term, inter‐annual to decadal trends across the 21st century. Feedback on user needs for regional climate information revealed the desire for multiple emission scenarios and use of newer CMIP5 GCMs for dynamical downscaling. These limitations led to development of the second iteration of NARCliM, namely NARCliM1.5 (N1.5). The N1.5 downscaling exercise uses CMIP5 GCMs and is temporally expanded to cover 150 years (1950–2100) for two future Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). N1.5 simulations remain at the 50‐km and 10 km resolutions over the same domains as N1.0, thus producing an expanded and complementary data set for regional climate change. N1.5 simulations substantially improve over N1.0 in capturing the seasonal patterns and magnitudes of precipitation, including improvements in overall bias. Conversely, N1.5 shows similar results to N1.0 for maximum and minimum temperature, with no substantial improvement in overall bias. N1.5 projections project a hotter and drier future relative to N1.0. The combined N1.0 and N1.5 ensemble provides a wider spread of future climates more representative of that found in the full CMIP5 ensemble. Together, N1.0 and N1.5 ensembles provide an improved, more comprehensive data set for studying climate change. Plain Language Summary: The second iteration of New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory Regional Climate Modeling (NARCliM) simulations (N1.5) are described, complementing original NARCliM (N1.0) simulations and expanding the ensemble to 24 members. N1.5 simulations substantially improve over N1.0 simulations in capturing the seasonal patterns and magnitudes of precipitation. N1.5 projections add information to the NARCliM ensemble including the potential for hotter and drier futures than those projected in N1.0. Together, the N1.0 and N1.5 ensembles provide an improved, more comprehensive data set for studying climate change. The varying model performances identified here will help the development of the next generation of regional climate simulations over Australia. Key Points: The second iteration of NARCliM simulations (N1.5) are described complementing original NARCliM simulations (N1.0)N1.5 simulations substantially improve over N1.0 simulations in capturing the seasonal patterns and magnitudes of precipitationN1.5 projections add information to the NARCliM ensemble including the potential for hotter and drier futures than those projected in N1.0 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) is a group of respiratory conditions affecting the lung interstitium often associated with progressive respiratory failure. There is increasing recognition of the need for improved epidemiological data to help determine best practice and improve standardisation of care. The Australasian ILD Registry (AILDR) is a bi-national registry of patients with all ILD subtypes designed to establish a clinically meaningful database reflecting real world practice in Australasia with an objective to improve diagnostic and treatment pathways through research and collaboration.Methods: AILDR is a prospective observational registry recruiting patients attending ILD clinics at centres around Australia and New Zealand. Core and non-core data are stored on a secure server. The pilot phase was launched in 2016 consisting of four sites in Australia. Currently in its second phase a further 16 sites have been recruited, including three in New Zealand.Results: A total of 1061 participants were consented during the pilot phase. Baseline data demonstrated a mean age 68.3 ± 12.5 (SD) years, mean FVC (%predicted) 79.1 ± 20.4 (SD), mean DLCO (%predicted) 58.5 ± 17.9 (SD) and nadir exertional SpO2 (%) 91 ± 6.9 (SD). Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (31%) and connective-tissue disease related ILD (21.7%) were the two most common subtypes. Baseline demographics and physiology were not significantly different across the four centres.Conclusion: AILDR is an important clinical and research tool providing a platform for epidemiological data that will prove essential in promoting understanding of a rare cohort of lung disease and provide foundations for our aspiration to standardise investigation and treatment pathways of ILD across Australasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Community Atmosphere Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE) model is a third‐generation land surface model (LSM). CABLE is commonly used as a stand‐alone LSM, coupled to the Australian Community Climate and Earth Systems Simulator global climate model and coupled to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for regional applications. Here, we evaluate an updated version of CABLE within a WRF physics ensemble over the COordinated Regional Downscaling EXperiment (CORDEX) AustralAsia domain. The ensemble consists of different cumulus, radiation and planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes. Simulations are carried out within the NASA Unified WRF modeling framework, NU‐WRF. Our analysis did not identify one configuration that consistently performed the best for all diagnostics and regions. Of the cumulus parameterizations the Grell‐Freitas cumulus scheme consistently overpredicted precipitation, while the new Tiedtke scheme was the best in simulating the timing of precipitation events. For the radiation schemes, the RRTMG radiation scheme had a general warm bias. For the PBL schemes, the YSU scheme had a warm bias, and the MYJ PBL scheme a cool bias. Results are strongly dependent on the region of interest, with the northern tropics and southwest Western Australia being more sensitive to the choice of physics options compared to southeastern Australia which showed less overall variation and overall better performance across the ensemble. Comparisons with simulations using the Unified Noah LSM showed that CABLE in NU‐WRF has a more realistic simulation of evapotranspiration when compared to GLEAM estimates. Key Points: We identify WRF physics configurations that perform well with CABLESimulation of latent heat fluxes over Australia are more skillful with WRF‐LIS‐CABLE than WRF‐Noah [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which focuses on downscaling climatic changes in Australia. The study used dynamically downscaling coarse climate change projections that utilised a near global ocean model revolving in the Australasian regions. The study shows that differences on the magnitude of the difference between the experiment reveals that the feedback of the ocean in the air-sea fluxes plays significant role in identifying the state of the ocean.

The article focuses on the interrelationship between New Zealand, Australia, and Asia in 2010. Topics include the Trans-Tasman Federation between New Zealand and Australia, the economic relationship between Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, known as Australasia, and if the economic relationship in the region could lead to an Australasian Federation.

The purpose of this article is to study relative trends in total factor productivity (TFP) between the Australian and New Zealand manufacturing sectors from 1986 to 1996. Since 1984 both economies have undergone major structural changes with varying degrees of speed and intensity. We use the Malmquist index to measure TFP growth and decompose it into an efficiency change and a technical change component. This decomposition provides extra insight on accessing relative productivity trends during a period of economic reform. The results indicate the Australian manufacturing sector exhibits better rates of individual factor productivity performance while multifactor productivity is estimated to be higher in New Zealand manufacturing. TFP growth in New Zealand is driven by technical rather than efficiency change. In fact, the New Zealand manufacturing average rate of efficiency change is estimated to be negative over the sample period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]