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82,513.
That’s how many Australians contracted whooping cough, a potentially fatal respiratory infection, during 2024 and 2025 – the highest rate in 35 years.
Childhood immunisation rates are the lowest in a decade, and only one-fifth of adults over 50 are up to date with the recommended ten-yearly boosters.
As infectious disease specialist Archana Koirala explains, immunisation remains our best defence against the current surge, and while whooping cough isn’t going away any time soon, there are steps we can take to improve vaccination coverage.
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Faith Tabalujan
Assistant Editor Health
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Archana Koirala, University of Sydney
This debilitating disease is particularly dangerous for babies, but can affect people at any age. Vaccination remains a key line of defence.
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Best reads this week
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Kurt Sengul, Macquarie University; Jordan McSwiney, University of Canberra
Pauline Hanson’s party has been dysfunctional and scandal-ridden for its entire existence. Capitalising on strong polling will mean changing decades-old patterns.
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Hrvoje Tkalčić, Australian National University
As the United States and Russia signal a return to nuclear testing, Australia’s remote monitoring station plays a crucial role in global verification.
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Wellett Potter, University of New England
The idea of digital immortality raises many legal questions – and most of them don’t have a clear answer.
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Caitlin Burns, University of Sydney
I read the books that helped shape The Family, the cult founded by an Australian yoga teacher in the 1960s – when Western societies were newly fascinated by the East.
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Alexander Howard, University of Sydney; Erin Harrington, University of Canterbury; Harry Stewart, Flinders University; Lee Wallace, University of Sydney; Lisa French, RMIT University; Liza-Mare Syron, UNSW Sydney; Phoebe Hart, Queensland University of Technology; Stephen Goldsmith, Swinburne University of Technology
This month, our experts are loving shows and films from Australia, Canada, the United States and Korea.
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TC Weekly podcast
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Joyce says ‘I’m not going to be wearing a burqa’ like the One Nation leader – but his relationship with her is stronger than his ‘bitter’ end with the Nationals.
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Gemma Ware, The Conversation
Sports scholar John Affleck talks to The Conversation Weekly podcast about the history of prop betting in American sports.
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Justin Bergman, The Conversation; Digital Storytelling Team, The Conversation
There’s a recipe for autocracy: six steps tried and tested by some of the world’s most notorious leaders. How many has Donald Trump ticked off?
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Our most-read article this week
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Angel Zhong, RMIT University; Jason Tian, Swinburne University of Technology
There’s been a 1,000% surge in local silver trades over the past year. But what goes up fast can also fall – as we’ve just seen.
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In case you missed this week's big stories
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Levi West, Australian National University
Police have charged a man with throwing a homemade bomb into a protest crowd. It’s the alleged result of an increasingly complicated style of terrorism.
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Meg Elkins, RMIT University
The RBA will be hoping Australians respond to this rate rise in three ways: spending less, saving more and not asking for big wage rises.
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Tony Wood, Grattan Institute
It wasn’t so long ago pundits claimed Australia’s grid couldn’t run on higher than 20% renewables. Now it’s 50%.
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Samuel Cornell, UNSW Sydney
A dramatic ocean rescue reminded us that Australian coastal weather can be unpredictable. Here’s how to spot when conditions are changing.
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Lucas Walsh, Monash University; Christine Grice, University of Sydney; Jane Wilkinson, Monash University; Tim Delany, Deakin University
Principals’ jobs have always been stressful. But research suggests the role is becoming more difficult and increasingly unsustainable.
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Ben White, Queensland University of Technology; Casey Haining, Queensland University of Technology; Katrine Del Villar, Queensland University of Technology; Madeleine Archer, Queensland University of Technology
The NT looks set to introduce voluntary assisted dying mid-year, while other states are reviewing – and may change – current laws. Here’s what you need to know.
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Helen Dickinson, UNSW Sydney; Molly Saunders, UNSW Sydney
We finally have more detail on how Thriving Kids will work. But families of kids with autism and developmental delay may still be wary.
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Tim Lindsey, The University of Melbourne
A proposed law against disinformation and foreign propaganda could imperil activists and journalists in Indonesia – and potentially those living abroad.
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Vaughan Cruickshank, University of Tasmania; Brendon Hyndman, Charles Sturt University; Tom Hartley, University of Tasmania
There are eight new events at the Milan Cortina games, and several Australians are right in the mix for a medal.
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Luba Kassova, University of Westminster
Women still struggle for recognition as artists, producers, mixers and engineers.
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We'd love to hear from you. You can email us with your thoughts on our stories and each day we'll publish an edited selection.
The inflation blame game
It's misleading for your article to ignore total government spending (state and federal) and only look at federal to attempt to claim that government spending is not unusually high. Total government spending is at the highest level in decades with the states slowly bankrupting themselves.
Hugh Daniel, Brisbane QLD
Hot cities - a miss
As a longtime subscriber to The Conversation, I've come to expect a high standard. The recent article on cooling our cities failed to meet these expectations. Just as I was looking forward to getting into the details about the technologies and empirical findings of urban heat management, the article finished. About all we got was "Scientists know a great deal about how to reduce urban heat..." but very little substance to follow - no information about Australian trials and results, Australian developed materials, problematic legislation or regulation that compounds the problem, etc.
John Kelman 
Hot cities - a win
I thought the article on hot cities was interesting and quite relevant in our present hot situation in Southern Australia. Our home is insulated, we have a highly reflective white roof and walls and we’re surrounded by greenery, watered by rainwater tanks that can give us months of usable water in summer. Unfortunately,I see the continuous building of new developments on small blocks and narrow dark bituminous streets, houses poorly insulated with dark roofs. Parks are islands and often not connected, hardly anyone ventures out during the summer day. Where are the green spaces to interconnect and allow safe transitioning? The car parks of shopping centres
do not have any cover for our vehicle. Accolades to those that do but many still don’t. I hope that as our climate changes those that can do something to reduce its effects do so soon.
Nick Anargyros, Wallaroo SA
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