31 March, 2021

Defence chief cites 'negative public attention' in decision to wind back move to revoke honours

The chief of Defence pulled back on revoking honours awarded to Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, citing a desire not to "be at odds" with the government's position on the issue and to avoid "negative public attention".

General Angus Campbell announced late last year that he would recommend that the Meritorious Unit Citation (MUC) be stripped from Special Operations Task Groups that served in Afghanistan.

The MUC was awarded to the Task Groups for "sustained and outstanding warlike operational service in Afghanistan from 30 April 2007 to 31 December 2013, through the conduct of counter-insurgency operations in support of the International Security Assistance Force".

About 3,000 personnel received the collective award.

The decision was made in response to the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) report into allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan that detailed 39 allegations of murder and recommended 19 current and serving special forces soldiers be prosecuted.

"It has to be said that what this report discloses in disgraceful and a profound betrayal of the Australian Defence Force's professional standards and expectations," the IGADF report stated.

"The inquiry has recommended the revocation of the award of the Meritorious Unit Citation, as an effective demonstration of the collective responsibility and accountability of the Special Operations Task Group as a whole for those events."

"I have accepted the Inspector-General's recommendation," General Campbell said in his response to the IGADF report in November, "and will again write to the Governor-General, requesting he revoke the Meritorious Unit Citation awarded to Special Operations Task Group rotations serving in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2013".

But shortly after the release of the IGADF report, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said "no decisions" had been made on revoking the MUC.

Veterans, media, and some Returned Service League officials had condemned General Campbell for "betraying" veterans of the Afghanistan conflict.

"If General Campbell has not felt the bitch slap from all those millions of Australians out there, he needs to pull his head out of his arse," Senator Jacqui Lambie said in response to the decision.

Within a month of the IGADF report becoming public, the Defence chief released a statement stepping back from the decision to immediately revoke honours.

Documents, obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information, reveal that the Defence chief was aware of political and public disquiet about his announcement.

The Afghan Files

The ABC's Afghan Files stories in 2017 gave an unprecedented insight into the operations of Australia's elite special forces, detailing incidents of troops killing unarmed men and children and concerns about a "warrior culture" among soldiers.

The documents, which are mostly redacted, include a ministerial briefing note by General Campbell, titled Consideration of Special Forces honours and awards 2007-2013.

"In light of public controversy regarding the revocation of the Meritorious Unit Citation, I am of the view that a slower, more deliberate approach to implementing the Inspector-General's recommendations regarding individual honours and awards will ensure the review process is thorough considered by Defence," General Campbell wrote to then defence minister Linda Reynolds.

General Campbell said an independent oversight panel would consider any action by Defence in response to the IGADF report.

"It will ensure work is not undertaken which could be perceived to be at odds with the publicly stated government direction to defer work on honours and awards, amongst other recommendations, until completion of the Implementation Plan," wrote General Campbell.

Vowing to maintain a "deliberate and consistent approach" to implementing the IGADF's recommendations, General Campbell also noted that outcomes did "have the potential to attract negative public attention".

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-31/defence-chief-toes-government-line-on-honours/100038490

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Australians stranded overseas take frustrations to United Nations, lobby the government’s ‘extreme restrictions’

A number of Australians who have been left “stranded” overseas since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have taken their complaints straight to the top, after failing to negotiate a safe passage home with the Australian government’s “extreme restrictions”.

All have started vaccination programs while some are fully vaccinated and have the help of world renowned human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC.

The complaint was filed on Monday at the UN’s Human Rights Committee in Geneva, Switzerland, claiming the government “has arbitrarily breached their right to return to the land of their birth or citizenship”, according to a statement by Stranded Aussies, the group of volunteers affected by the flight caps.

“We think that it is of great international significance that Australia is the only Western democracy that does not have a bill of human rights that protects the rights of Australians to return home.”

The group includes a volcanologist from Melbourne who has been trying to return to Australia since March last year, a microbiologist who lives in New Jersey but wants to return home to Tasmania with his Australian wife and a family from the UK who “want to be closer to loved ones”.

“We are just a group of ordinary Aussies who have been left high and dry by an unfeeling government, and we are supporting these cases because they demonstrate how badly Australia is treating its own citizens,” spokeswoman Deborah Tellis said.

“The government is responsible for quarantine and has a duty to allow its citizens to return and enter into it – it should force the states to admit us and provide for them to increase their quarantine facilities. What it must not do is to breach international law.”

Nearly 500,000 Australians have returned to the country since the beginning of the pandemic but there are still more than 36,000 Australians who remain overseas due to arrival caps.

State and territory governments use these caps to manage “pressure” on quarantine facilities.

The government says these measures “are temporary and will be reviewed”.

In figures released to the Senate from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) last week, 4860 of the 36,206 Australian overseas registered to return home are described as vulnerable.

India has the largest numbers of Australians who have said they want to come home, followed by the UK, the US, Philippines and Thailand. Some have written an open letter to “every one living in Australia”.

“The damage it is doing to many stranded Australians is terrible – they are unable to get back to see dying parents or sick relatives, unable to return to take up jobs or start university courses,” Ms Tellis said.

“By going to the UN, we hope to highlight what an unfeeling government Mr Morrison heads.”

Of the 20 repatriation flights announced by the government earlier this year, 12 have arrived while the rest are due to be completed by April 17.

Victoria announced it would accept international flights again from April 8 but the problems persist, with several international airlines, including Singapore Airlines, recently complaining over the lack of information and operational challenges of flying into the country due to the ever-changing border rules.

Stranded Aussies have blamed the caps for preventing them from returning and say they have made efforts and are “willing to comply with all necessary public health measures, including fourteen days quarantine in Australia”.

Their petitions claim Australia has breached the UN’s International Covenant “because they have no effective remedy – they cannot go to court to require the government to live up to its obligations to permit its citizens to return home”.

DFAT secretary Frances Adamson told Senate estimates last week officials had done “exceptional work” getting Australians home during the pandemic but DFAT’s Assistant Secretary Lynette Wood conceded she could not predict when all stranded Australians would finally return home.

“Just be clear, the cup keeps refilling,” Ms Wood said. “It’s not like it’s a finite number and the door has closed. More and more people have registered.”

But in their claim to the UN, the Australians say the government has “prevented tens of thousands of citizens from ‘calling Australia home’” and that “the right to return to one’s native land is regarded as fundamental in international law”.

They have said that all they ask for is for “Australia to provide enough robust Quarantine capacity to allow enough of us home per week, so that the number of us stranded actually moves downward, and that quarantine is able to be booked alongside a flight, so we don’t get cancelled at the whim of the airlines trying to juggle the incoming flight caps.”

They also called for more quarantine space and a “booking system to reliably be able to get home – that’s it”.

Mr Morrison told reporters he intended to get “as many people as possible home, if not all of them, by Christmas”, while Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said he wanted to “ensure that every Australian who wants to come home is home by Christmas”.

And yet, tens of thousands of Australians remain stuck overseas as life here slowly returns to normal. In fact the number of “vulnerable” Australians has risen since the PM’s Christmas promise.

“International law recognises the strong bond between individuals and their homeland and no respectable government would impose travel caps to prevent, for over a year, its citizens from returning if they are prepared to do quarantine,” Geoffrey Robertson QC, who has advised the petitioners, said.

“Both our political parties have, in the past, done what they can to help Australians overseas but Mr Morrison is behaving as if in a moral vacuum – he does not seem to care very much about the suffering caused to fellow Australians.”

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/health-safety/australians-stranded-oversees-take-frustrations-to-united-nations-lobby-the-governments-extreme-restrictions/news-story/135fc1372aff108a8cf6e8f872583fb3

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Dwelling approvals record a strong rise in February:

Dwelling approvals record a strong rise in February: Australia

The number of dwellings approved rose 21.6 per cent in February (seasonally adjusted), after falling 19.4 per cent in January, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.

Bill Becker, Director of Construction Statistics at the ABS, said: “Approvals for private houses increased 15.1 per cent in February, exceeding the previous record-high set in December last year.”

“Since the introduction of the Homebuilder grant in June 2020, private house approvals have risen by almost 70 per cent.”

Approvals for private sector dwellings excluding houses (i.e. townhouses and apartments) rose by 45.3 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms, coming off a nine-year low in January.

Total dwelling approvals rose in Queensland (40.5 per cent), Tasmania (31.6 per cent), Victoria (21.7 per cent), Western Australia (19.1 per cent) and New South Wales (16.1 per cent). Dwelling approvals fell in South Australia (3.4 per cent).

Approvals for private sector houses rose across all mainland states in February; Queensland (25.4 per cent), Western Australia (16.7 per cent), New South Wales (14.5 per cent), Victoria (11.1 per cent) and South Australia (4.0 per cent).

The value of total building approved increased 23.3 per cent, in seasonally adjusted terms. The value of total residential building rose 21.0 per cent, comprising a 22.8 per cent rise in new residential building, and a 11.1 per cent increase in alterations and additions. The value of non-residential building also increased in February (27.5 per cent).

https://www.miragenews.com/dwelling-approvals-record-a-strong-rise-in-537413/

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Santos gives green light to $4.7b new gas field off Australia

Santos, one of Australia’s largest oil and gas producers, has given the go-ahead to its $4.7 billion Barossa gas project north of Darwin after its plans were put on hold last year amid the coronavirus-driven market crash.

The green light for the offshore gas and condensate project also kickstarts a $US600 million ($786 million) investment in the Darwin LNG plant’s life extension and pipeline projects, which will extend the facility life for around 20 years, the company said.

“As the economy re-emerges from the COVID-19 lockdowns, these job-creating and sustaining projects are critical for Australia, also unlocking new business opportunities and export income for the nation,” Santos managing director Kevin Gallagher said.

“The Barossa and Darwin life extension projects are good for the economy and good for local jobs and business opportunities in the Northern Territory.”

Santos and other ASX-listed oil and gas companies last year were forced to slash their spending budgets, cut back drilling and halt growth plans as coronavirus restrictions began hammering energy demand and prices.

Australia’s exports of LNG, a fuel widely used in power generation, heating and manufacturing, fell sharply from $50 billion to $33 billion, as commodity prices fell. But benchmark prices for LNG cargoes have begun to bounce back in Asia, from historic lows of under $US2 per million British thermal units to more than $US12 in the March quarter as a freezing cold winter in North Asia boosted demand. The federal government expects the LNG prices to hover around $US6.90 during the three months to June 30.

Resources Minister Keith Pitt, who joined Mr Gallagher for the announcement in Darwin on Tuesday, said the Barossa go-ahead was a “tremendous show of confidence” in the long-term future of Australia’s resources sector. “It is also a great sign that oil and gas market conditions have improved,” Mr Pitt said.

However, the Barossa field contains high levels of carbon dioxide, raising questions about its impact on Santos’ emissions footprint. Wood Mackenzie analyst Shaun Brady said Santos would need to deliver on energy efficiency projects and its proposed Moomba carbon capture and storage facility in order to offset the added emissions.

“Santos has a goal to be net-zero by 2040 and reduce emissions by 30 per cent through 2030,” he said. “With such a high carbon intensity, Santos must now deliver the projects that can offset this impact.”

Climate campaigners on Tuesday said the greenhouse gas emissions from Barossa were likely to significantly increase Australia’s emissions profile.

“This could be one of the dirtiest gas fields in Australia, leading to immense harm to the environment in the immediate vicinity, and accelerating dangerous climate change,” said Richie Merzian of the Australia Institute.

“There are real questions about Australia’s ability to deliver on its commitments on the Paris Agreement if this project is approved.”

RBC Capital Markets analyst Gordon Ramsay said Santos was targeting production costs of $US2 per million British thermal units, “making it the lowest cost new source of LNG supply in the Australian region” at $US5.50.

Mr Gallagher said Barossa would be one of the lowest-cost, new LNG supply projects in the world and would give Santos and Darwin LNG a competitive advantage in a tightening global LNG market.

Santos said the project represented the biggest investment in Australia’s oil and gas sector since 2012.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/santos-gives-green-light-to-4-7b-new-gas-field-off-australia-20210330-p57f4e.html

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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30 March, 2021

Explicitly racist abuse not deemed illegal in Australia

The campaigner who successfully pushed to get Coon cheese renamed has had his racism complaint terminated despite receiving an abusive email saying he had an “ugly black face”.

The hate mail, sent to Aboriginal anti-racism activist Dr Stephan Hagan by Don Harris on January 14, said he was “part of the world’s dumbest race” and “a broken, conquered people”.

Harris referred to a “miserable black existence” and “absolute inferiority to the white man”, concluding with “May the Aryan man rule forever” and attaching further white supremacist quotes.

Dr Hagan said the email had caused him and his wife “considerable distress”, adding that he felt “violated and fear for my safety and that of my family all because I dared to challenge the status quo of a racial slur used on a popular cheese brand.”

However, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on Monday told Dr Hagan that it had decided to terminate the complaint without inquiry.

“I am satisfied that it is misconceived and/or lacking in substance,” said the response to the complaint from Jodie Ball, the Commission president’s delegate.

She said she understood Dr Hagan would be “disappointed” by the decision but that he had “not sufficiently explained” which human right had been violated or how that right had been impaired.

“I acknowledge that you found the content of the email offensive and upsetting and that due to prior experiences where you say you were abused and threatened, the email made you feel concerned about you and your family’s safety,” wrote Ms Ball.

But she said that the incident did not meet the threshold to qualify as racial hatred under the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA) because it did not take place in public.

“It is arguable that the email that is the subject of your complaint is an act done because of your race, colour or national or ethnic origin and that it would be reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate a reasonable person of your race, colour or national or ethnic origin,” said Ms Ball. “However, from the information provided to date, the email does not meet the requirement in the law that it is an act done ‘otherwise than in private’.”

She said the email was sent directly to Dr Hagan via email, and that while he claimed the information was now in the public domain after news outlets covered the Commission’s original response, “it appears that this is because you spoke publicly about the email that you received, rather than because the writer of the email caused the words and image to be communicated to the public.”

https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/aboriginal-campaigners-complaint-over-racist-email-thrown-out/news-story/151c5e69175860de1f6bf4890b2687ef

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The ABC declares there is 'NO such thing as free speech in Australia' as it defends censoring comments left on a story about a transgender swimmer

Saying "nasty" things about transgenders blew their committment to free speech out of the water

The ABC has boldly declared 'there is no such thing as free speech in Australia' after banning users during a heated discussion about a transgender swimmer on the national broadcaster's Facebook page.

The strident declaration about free speech came after some users were kicked off the page over alleged transphobic and sexist comments.

A page moderator had earlier urged users to be constructive, not nasty, when commenting about an article about a transgender swimmer.

In the article, swimmer Cassy Judy said she became a target for 'hurtful' comments after McIver's Ladies Baths, in Coogee, banned pre-surgery trans women.

'I feel like it's given license to some people to come out and say things that are quite hurtful to trans women like myself or gender nonbinary people,' she told the ABC.

'Things like ... 'You are what's between your legs'.'

'For me, [the baths] was a place where I went before surgery just to feel accepted and included as a woman.'

An initial moderator post in the article thread asked people to avoid being 'nasty' in response to the article and warned that the page 'will not tolerate any transphobic or sexist commentary'.

'We will be hiding comments and banning users without further notice if you breach our terms'.

It posted a link to the terms, which under the heading 'ABC Online Communities' said it encourages 'rigorous debate and the sharing of diverse opinions' but 'expects community members to treat each other with respect and courtesy'.

The conditions also reserve the right to 'edit, remove or exercise its discretion not to publish' comments if deemed to 'violate laws regarding harassment, discrimination, racial vilification, privacy or contempt' or to be 'abusive, offensive or obscene; inappropriate, off topic, repetitive or vexatious'.

Later on Thursday, the page moderator stated: 'We have deleted and banned users as per ABC's Terms of Use' and again provided the link.

From there, the moderator's message became notably more strident, stating: 'FYI - There is no such thing as free speech in Australia.' 'Hate speech or transphobic comments will not be tolerated regardless if it's your opinion.' 'If it is your opinion than perhaps you need to educate yourself on equality, empathy and equity.'

The moderator challenged people to make a formal complaint - providing a link - 'If you're 'upset' about your harmful comments being removed and 'your taxpayer dollars'.'

The comments left in the discussion were heated, but appeared to be evenly balanced - some supportive of Ms Judy's statements and view, and some opposed.

Free speech in public forums is complex and depends on the context, however the Australian Human Rights Commission states: 'The Australian Constitution does not explicitly protect freedom of expression.'

Freedom of expression in media is generally accepted, but in a major international statement, is understood to be balanced by responsibility to show 'respect of the rights or reputations of others.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9404935/No-thing-free-speech-ABC-defends-censoring-feedback-transgender-swimmer-story.html

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Education Dept run by Leftist union

Tracy Tully caused uproar recently when she gave an interview to The Sunday Mail’s Stephanie Bennett, speaking out about a toxic culture of bullying and favouritism in the Queensland education department.

Tully also told Bennett the powerful Queensland Teachers’ Union was a Labor puppet.

Tully said she and others were heckled for not openly advocating for the Labor Party, and at a public meeting was told in front of witnesses to sit down and shut up.

Tracy doesn’t know Woodridge manual arts teacher, David Frarricciardi, but their stories of union wrongdoing are strikingly similar.

Last year on this page Frarricciardi told how he quit the QTU because he was tired of its relentless promotion of ALP candidates and causes.

Tully claims QTU members were pressured to distribute Labor Party material in the lead-up to state elections, and that principals who refused to go on strike were harassed.

She told me teachers in marginal seats were transferred if they did not co-operate with pro-Labor campaigns.

“They ousted a principal who would not support the Labor Party,” she said.

“They wanted me to distribute Labor Party pamphlets and I refused.’’

She believes the cosy relationship between the QTU and the education department fosters intimidation and corruption.

She has made a complaint to the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Like Frarricciardi, Tully said she was a swinging voter who has never been a member of a political party.

She resented it when the union started throwing its weight around and deliberately trying to undermine her authority.

She recalls a hostile meeting where a group of unionists arrived to tell her to change the curriculum.

“They came into my office and shut the door and started to tell me what to do.

“It was highly unprofessional, and I told them so. I sent them packing. I said, don’t dare come and here and try to stand over me. I told them the union does not run the school, the principal does.

“The union wouldn’t know how to run a school. I said, ‘Next time make an appointment and we can discuss it’.”

She has an unpleasant memory of her days in Charleville in 2011 when she disobeyed an order by a bureaucrat not to close the school as flood waters rose. “When the water got up to my knees I knew it was time to get out,’’ she said.

Police friends told her she had done the right thing, but the department sent two Ethical Standards Unit men to investigate her.

In her memoir FEARless (Ultimate World Publishing), she says she felt bullied. “The guys acted like police officers serving a summons,” she said.

Tully said she stood her ground and dismissed “wild” allegations against her and other teachers.

“They threw a giant toddler tantrum, raising their voices and slamming their hands on the table, then stormed out of the interview room,” she wrote.

“Welcome to the Queensland education department’s investigative process.”

The tape-recorded meeting was an attempt to “shame me” and “break me”, she said. It didn’t.

Tully, 60, from Charleville and Toowoomba, said several teachers suffering anxiety due to bullying had contacted her after she blew the whistle in the Sunday Mail.

Chris Neville at Condon Charles Lawyers in Toowoomba has been engaged by them to start a class action.

Tully, who was described by a colleague as a voice for the voiceless, says wrongdoing festers behind the scenes because teachers are prevented from speaking out by the Public Service Act.

The Act strips teachers and principals of their basic human rights, she said.

The department was “a secret world where those who step out of line were harassed by narcissist bureaucrats”.

“You can’t defend yourself. They allow anyone to make an allegation without a signed statutory declaration and without evidence. It’s a free for all.’’

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/insight/tracy-tully-takes-on-qld-education-bureaucrat-bullies/news-story/1c20c2c4c7564c79b2c2a4b4afd1ca09

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A crazed African driver purposefully sped towards pedestrians in a road rage row, pinning a terrified woman against a wall

An investigation is underway following the hit-and-run crash that left a woman injured in Sydney’s west.

At 6.30pm on Saturday, emergency services were called to Penelope Lucas Lane near Virginia Lane, Rosehill, after reports a pedestrian had been struck by a vehicle.

Police have been told a man and woman were involved in an argument with an unknown man who was driving a Skoda Octavia.

The unknown man then allegedly drove the vehicle at the pedestrians, pinning the woman against a wall.

The unknown man reversed and fled the scene in the vehicle.

The 41-year-old woman was treated at the scene for a severe lower leg injury, before being taken to Westmead Hospital in a stable condition.

The 37-year-old man suffered a minor foot injury and did not require hospitalisation.

Officers from Cumberland Police Area Command attended, and detectives commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

An extensive search of the area and surrounds was conducted, and the vehicle was located on Crown Street, Harris Park a short time later.

The driver had fled the scene prior to police arrival.

The man is described as being of African appearance, with short curly hair, wearing a red basketball jersey and shorts.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9412193/Rosehill-Sydney-Police-hunt-crazed-driver-pinned-woman-wall-road-rage-attack.html

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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29 March, 2021

Queensland Public Trustee denies making profit from clients, despite report criticising high fees and charges

They might not make a profit in any accounting sense but they are a bloated bureaucracy with well-feathered nests for their bureaucrats

They are run for the benefit of their employees, not for those they are supposed to serve. They have been left basically unsupervised for far too long

People on disability support and aged care pensions with assets will continue to be charged up to 40 per cent of their low incomes for financial administration services by the Public Trustee of Queensland, despite a report criticising the practice.

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman tabled the Public Advocate's report into the Public Trustee in state parliament earlier this month.

It documented high fees for asset-rich pensioners, fees for no service and charging multiple sets of fees on managing the same funds, like superannuation.

In response, the state government announced that a board would oversee the Public Trustee.

However, the government has not yet set a timeframe for when this would occur and what authority it would have.

The Public Advocate's report also exposed routine profiteering from cash assets that were funnelled exclusively into the Public Trustee's own investment products – something called the "interest differential".

"The practice of directing all client funds into Public Trustee investments also means that the Public Trustee earns income and fees additional to the general Asset Management Fees it charges clients for providing administration services," the report stated.

"This practice raises questions about whether the Public Trustee is fulfilling its fiduciary duties to avoid conflicts with its clients' interests and not to make unauthorised profits from clients."

The report found that in 2019-20 alone, the Public Trustee kept $12.9 million in interest earnings from the cash assets of clients.

"The conflicts inherent in this funding arrangement appear to be incompatible with the duties and obligations of a trustee and fiduciary to not profit from its clients and to avoid conflicts," it said.

Public Advocate Mary Burgess made 32 recommendations and in a statement responding to the report, Ms Fentiman said the majority of the recommendations were primarily the responsibility of the Public Trustee to implement.

One of the recommendations included changing the legislation to clarify when and how the Public Trustee could invest client funds.

Another was to ensure the Trustee does not profit from administration clients unless expressly permitted by law.

Ms Fentiman did not say whether the government would review its legislation to determine whether profit was permissible under the Public Trustee Act, and she denied the report's finding that the Public Trustee profits from financial administration services.

"A moratorium on fees and charges would impact on the Public Trustee's ability to provide important services to vulnerable Queenslanders," Ms Fentiman said.

She also said many of the reforms had already been implemented or were underway.

The Public Trustee said a review on fees and charges was already underway but would not be completed for another six to eight months.

The Public Trustee denied it made a profit.

Sue Nunn, who has a person close to her who has been under financial administration, said she was sickened by the way they had been treated.

Ms Nunn said her complaints and concerns about the Public Trustee had fallen on deaf ears.

The Guardianship and Administration Act prevents the ABC from disclosing anything that could identify a person under a financial administration order — something that critics said prevented them from speaking out.

The person Ms Nunn is advocating for is paying close to 40 per cent of a disability pension in Public Trustee fees for financial and asset management.

"They're taking 40 per cent of his income – how can you say that's not profiting from somebody with a disability?" Ms Nunn said.

She said she was disappointed by the response of the state government to the Public Advocate's report. "At what point do we matter?" Ms Nunn said. "How many people have to be gouged of their finances?

"How many people have to lose everything they have, before we become important, and before it's enough to say 'stop, things need to change'."

Ms Nunn said she had lost count of the number of complaints she had made to assorted government bodies and ministers, and in her view, Ms Fentiman had downplayed the extent of the issues in her response to the parliament.

Steven Collins is another person with multiple family members who either are, or have previously been, under financial administration.

Mr Collins said he had observed questionable financial decisions being made for a family member, including trying to sell their house for more than it had been valued.

He claimed the family member was moved into rental accommodation that was costing more per week than the mortgage repayments had been. The person was moved back into their house when it had not sold.

The same family member was being given just $100 a week to live on at one stage, once the Trustee had extracted its fees and charges.

"The way it looks to me from things that have happened is it's just about getting money at any cost and from any angle — it's not about the client," Mr Collins said.

Mr Collins said when he started advocating on his family members' behalf, and asking questions of the Public Trustee, they stopped responding. "The letter I got back from them was actually quite appalling — it was a generalised, bureaucratic letter, and it really didn't get into the heart of any of the questions I asked," Mr Collins said.

"From there, they really stopped talking to me and wouldn't communicate with me from then on out."

Shadow attorney-general Tim Nicholls is now calling for an independent audit of the Public Trustee, and for the legislation that governs it to be either rewritten or amended substantially.

"It's really the case that the report has been done, the government has looked at it, and then handed it to the Public Trustee and said, 'You solve your own problems'," he said.

"There's no clarity about the [fee] review and what the changes are likely to be. "The Public Trustee continues to milk those clients for every cent under a flawed system that sees the most disadvantaged people paying more and getting less."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-29/qld-public-trustee-denies-making-profit-from-clients/100023364

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Veteran Adelaide radio host Jeremy Cordeaux sacked over Brittany Higgins tirade

Must not question St. Brittany

Veteran radio broadcaster Jeremy Cordeaux, who called Brittany Higgins a “silly girl who got drunk” and questioned her story, has been sacked.

The award-winning host was branded a “dinosaur” online over the appalling comments on air on FIVEaa over the weekend about the alleged rape at Parliament House in 2019.

“I just ask myself why the prime minister doesn’t call it out for what it is. A silly little girl who got drunk,” Cordeaux said at 6.26am during his weekend breakfast show.

“If this girl has been raped, why hasn’t the guy who raped her been arrested? Apparently everyone knows his name.”

“Security, you know, should never have let these two into the minister’s office at two o’clock in the morning. Never,” Cordeaux said.

“The defence minister. Can you imagine security taking someone who was obviously drunk, so drunk I think that the young lady, during the week on television, said she couldn’t get her shoes on.

“My advice to the prime minister – as he was sort of monstered by A Current Affair – my advice would be to stop worrying about offending somebody.”

https://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/veteran-adelaide-radio-host-jeremy-cordeaux-sacked-over-brittany-higgins-tirade/news-story/e4a351373860af6e3cee6b2cfecbb74a

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‘It feels very political’: Principals sorry schools rushed to sign plan to tackle consent

One of the state’s longest-serving independent school heads says a cross-sector “statement of intent” to improve consent education was driven by political expediency rather than a desire for change, and she wishes her sector had not signed it.

Several other principals privately agree with her, with one saying “it feels very political”.

The statement, which has been signed by the public, Catholic and independent sectors, commits all schools to taking “concrete actions” to strengthen their students’ ability to form healthy relationships and prevent harmful situations.

However, it does not include parents’ groups as signatories as originally proposed by the Association of Independent Schools NSW, which came up with the concept three weeks ago. Parents’ groups told the Herald they would have signed it.

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the statement was intended to be signed by the three school sector heads individually, with further collaboration with other key groups to follow.

“While this is a whole-of-society challenge, the statement signed by the three education heads acknowledges the key role schools and teachers, in partnership with parents and parent organisations, will play in supporting change,” she said.

But Jenny Allum, who has led SCEGGS Darlinghurst since 1996, said while she supported the ideals articulated in the statement – which included hearing the voices of students and basing decisions on evidence – parents should have been signatories even if their involvement delayed the process.

“I am very sorry that we rushed to sign the statement of intent after it had been made clear that some parent groups would also like to sign the statement,” she said. “The signing of the statement in such a rushed fashion has more to do with political expediency than any desire to actually affect change.

“There is no quick fix here, no short-term critical incident to manage and wait for it to go away.

“A better course of action would have been to have a continued dialogue about consent and sexual coercion, as well as sexual assault and abuse, violence against women, gendered stereotypes, sexualisation of girls and women, and so on.”

Ms Allum said parents were the primary educators of their children, and so needed to be involved in conversations about respect, consent and violence towards women.

“Why was it important to sign something by yesterday afternoon, except that either the minister wanted it that way, or the [school] systems could look like they were doing something?” she said. “From what I can tell it’s relatively cosmetic. What practical solution does it offer?

“If you can’t name a practical solution, you’ve got to think it was political.”

Another principal, who did not want to be named, said the problem of sexual assault ran much deeper than students’ understanding of consent. “I don’t think [the statement] is the answer,” she said. “I don’t know how a statement of intent even begins to address it.”

Another said the document was “full of motherhood statements” but signing it did no harm and sent a positive message.

Julie Townsend, from St Catherine’s School, said it was appropriate for schools to work together. “Parents’ organisations can similarly unite with a common intent,” she said. “Both the school sectors and parent organisations can work side by side.”

Other principals, who also did not want to be named, said they would have preferred to wait for guidance from the Australian Human Rights Commission, which consulted with the sector at a roundtable on Friday.

They believe that a firm set of guidelines or recommendations from the commission, which has also helped the university sector and defence force, would be the most likely avenue to create lasting and meaningful change.

The AISNSW board voted to sign the statement after discussing it on Thursday night, AIS chief executive Geoff Newcombe said. “The board noted that this should be seen as a first step in dealing with what is a whole-of-society issue,” he said.

“The association also is currently in discussions with the NSW Parents Council so that we can recognise the critical role that parents will play in trying to resolve this problem.”

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/it-feels-very-political-principals-sorry-schools-rushed-to-sign-plan-to-tackle-consent-20210326-p57eg4.html

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Muslim haters tracked down

A Queensland dog trainer and a Melbourne gemstone trader have been arrested as “senior players” of a sophisticated Australian terror network paying for foreign fighters to travel to Syria to join Jabhat al-Nusra.

Joint counterterrorism teams from Queensland and Victoria yesterday pounced on the men in co-ordinated raids, charging them over their alleged involvement in a sophisticated terrorist network being run out of southeast Queensland.

Gabriel Crazzi, 34, from Chambers Flat in Logan, and Ahmed Talib, 31, from Melbourne, are alleged to have been key players in the religiously-motivated extremist organisation.

The network is understood to have been responsible for funding Queensland man Ahmed Succarieh’s 2013 trip to Syria where he became Australia’s first suicide bomber.

The former schoolboy from south of Brisbane is believed to have blown himself up when he drove a truck loaded with explosives into a military checkpoint in Syria in September, 2013.

The explosion killed 35 people.

It will be alleged Crazzi and Talib developed networks in Australia, Turkey and Syria that helped Australians get into Syria to fight for Jabhat al-Nusra in 2012 and 2013.

Crazzi has been charged with seven foreign incursion related offences, while Talib is facing one charge.

Talib appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday and is facing extradition to Queensland.

Crazzi is due to appear before the Brisbane Magistrates Court today.

AFP Commander Stephen Dametto said the arrests were a culmination of the AFP, Queensland Police Service and ASIO working together to keep the community safe.

“Today is an example of our commitment to discourage Australians from fighting overseas and holding people to account for their involvement in supporting terrorism and terrorist organisations,” he said.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/vic-gem-dealer-and-qld-dog-trainer-held-after-joint-counter-terrorism-teams-extremist-network-probe/news-story/f4c8b3e7a62ae86d66af9187f1b3a45b

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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28 March, 2021

Calls for Australia’s ‘racist’ laws which can send young criminals to prison aged just 10 to be scrapped – as activists call for offenders to have no responsibility until 14

Because of the stealth skills they have inherited from their hunter-gatherer ancestors, young aborigines are brilliant thieves. And they start from a young age. The age of criminal responsibiity has been kept low in part because there is so much criminality among even very young aborigines. Changing that age is not going to change the criminality.

The one thing that might help is to ensure that they attend school. They truant often and that gives them time in the community to commit offences

The kneejerk reaction that they should be "rehabilitated" instead of being sent to jail just does not work usually. But if their time in jail were used to further their education, that might help. They would usually respond rather well to trade training, which would give them something constructive to do

Keenan Mundine was 14 when he first went to jail for breaking into a car and stealing a laptop. 'I was placed in a dorm with 30 other boys and there were nine- and 10-year-old boys in there that had been there for months,' the 34-year-old said. 'Some of them couldn't even read or write. None of them got visits from their parents.'

The Wakka Wakka and Birpai man grew up on The Block in Sydney's Redfern, an experience he describes as 'f***ing horrible'.

'There were no doors, windows smashed, rats and cockroaches everywhere, abandoned buildings, people shooting up in my backyard while I'm playing on my trampoline, people overdosing, people getting stabbed,' Mr Mundine said.

'It was all normal to me.'

Mr Mundine's parents died by the time he was seven and he was separated from his siblings.

His arrest at 14 marked the beginning of years-long involvement with the youth justice system.

'I was homeless, I had no job, I had no parents, I had no one responsible for me and they just opened the gate after me serving my time and took me back out to the wolves,' Mr Mundine said.

'All I knew was what community taught me to do and that was take things that didn't belong to me because I needed them.'

Mr Mundine turned his life around and founded Aboriginal community-led charity Deadly Connections with his wife Carly.

He has been advocating for years to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to at least 14, in line with most international jurisdictions.

Across Australia, children as young as 10 can be arrested by police, remanded in custody, convicted by the courts and jailed.

It is estimated almost 600 children aged between 10 and 13 were in custody last financial year. More than 60 per cent were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Cheryl Axleby, co-chair of the Aboriginal-led justice coalition Change the Record, said discriminatory laws and policing is to blame for the over-representation of Indigenous youth in the criminal justice system

'Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are more likely to be stopped by police, arrested and charged instead of cautioned, and locked up on remand instead of being released on bail,' she said.

The earlier a child is driven into the criminal justice system, the more likely they are to stay in it, she added. 'When we lock up children as young as 10, it's not just a prison sentence, it's a life sentence.'

Rodney Dillon, a Palawa elder from Tasmania and Indigenous rights advisor for Amnesty International, agrees. 'Living in that system doesn't address the issues that the kids have got. All it does is make the kids worse,' he said.

Mr Dillion said children under 14 who end up in custody are more likely to skip school, have an undiagnosed disability, suffer from underlying trauma and come from a poor family.

'We know that poverty, poor housing and the criminal justice system all live together. Why don't we address all three issues?' Mr Dillon said. 'All we do, because it's simple, is lock kids up.'

Mick Creati, paediatrician and senior fellow at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, said children under 14 are yet to develop the ability to control impulses or foresee the consequences of their actions.

'We are criminalising children as young as 10 for behaviours that are explained by their immature brain development, disability, mental illness and/or trauma,' Dr Creati said.

Children under 14 brought before court are presumed to be 'doli incapax', meaning they don't have the capacity to commit crime because they lack a guilty mind. But young people can spend months in remand during the legal argument.

In January, more than 30 United Nations member states, including Canada, France and Germany, called on Australia to raise the age.

Australia's Council of Attorneys-General agreed to consider raising the age to 14, and has been examining alternatives to imprisonment.

Last year ACT became the first jurisdiction to commit to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 and called on other states and territories to follow.

Pressure is mounting in Victoria, where a national-first inquiry into the historic and ongoing injustices committed against Indigenous people has been established and a number of discriminatory laws have been abolished.

The Greens have introduced a bill to the upper house to raise the age but both major parties said they wouldn't support it.

'Tackling the root causes of youth offending is our first priority,' a Victorian government spokesperson told AAP, pointing to a youth justice plan aiming to provide better outcomes for young people.

On Wednesday, the attorneys-general are set to meet for the first time this year, although the federal government's expected ministerial reshuffle may cause a delay and it's unclear if raising the age will be on the agenda.

For Michael Kennedy, a former NSW Police detective who works at the University of Western Sydney, raising the age alone is not enough.

'There is no use lifting the age of criminal responsibility to 14 if nothing is going to be done about unemployment, drug and alcohol problems, sexual assault, domestic violence,' he said.

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman said the average daily number of young people in custody in the 2019/20 financial year was the lowest since 2002.

Mr Mundine said the cost of inaction was grave. 'The ripple effect of not raising the age of criminal responsibility is going to be another 50 years of undoing trauma,' he said.

'I try to remain positive and optimistic and hopeful. Because I've proved them wrong in terms of how they measured me ... and where I'd end up.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9408225/Keenan-Mundine-opens-went-jail-age-14-stealing-laptop.html

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Bungling health authorities reveal man who hosted a party in Brisbane while infected with Covid only had FIVE people over NOT 25

A Queensland man accused of hosting a party with 25 friends while awaiting Covid test results did no wrong, the government has admitted while confirming one new locally transmitted case.

The Sunshine State was put on high alert on Friday after a 26-year-old Stafford man, from Brisbane's north, tested positive to the highly infectious UK varient of the virus.

Authorities then claimed a man who was identified as a close contact of the known case ignored advice to self isolate and instead threw a party with 25 friends after he was tested for Covid on Friday afternoon.

But they've now admitted that upon further investigation they learned there were only five people at the home.

Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said it was 'inflammatory' to refer to the gathering on Friday night as a party.

Instead, he said there were just five people present in the house and that there was 'no evidence' anybody in attendance committed an offence.

The 25 people first identified as being present at the party were initially forced to self isolate, but there are now just five people who are undergoing mandatory quarantine.

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath said the information they provided the public was 'given by the man himself' while assisting contact tracers. But she admitted there is a possibility that authorities misunderstood the information he provided.

'That the numbers are far lower and it is contained to predominantly housemates, that is a good outcome, much better outcome than what we thought was occurring yesterday,' she said.

'It is disappointing that we have ended up in this situation, but we also have to act on the information that we have at the time.'

The state recorded three new cases of Covid on Sunday, including one within the community.

The new case is the brother of the 26-year-old Stafford man who sparked the latest outbreak when he tested positive to the highly infectious UK strain on Thursday.

Dr Young explained on Sunday the brother is likely the 'missing link' contact tracers have been searching for.

Early indications suggest the virus was in his system longer than his brother and that he has almost entirely recovered, suggesting he was infected first and passed the virus on.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9410639/Queensland-Health-reveal-WRONG-man-hosted-party-Covid.html

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Universities to smother academic freedom

The University of Sydney has treated Education Minister Alan Tudge with complete contempt within hours of the Higher Education Support Amendment (Freedom of Speech) Bill 2020 passing through parliament this month. It did so in the typically duplicitous manner we expect from our universities. It pretends to support the minister’s bill that allows academics to take part in contentious arguments, but then insists on a killer proviso — so long as the speech is “respectful”.

Respectful speech is a fine aspiration for all of us. But the word respect has many meanings ranging from bare tolerance to deep admiration. Former High Court chief justice Robert French, on whose report on freedom of speech and academic freedom the legislation is partly based, points out that terms such as “lack of respect” are “legal categories of indeterminate reference … They allow ‘a wide range for variable judgment in interpretation …’ ”.

That is a huge problem for an academic who is accused by their university of disrespectful speech. Who will decide if the speech was respectful enough? The vice-chancellor?

Consider a hypothetical case of a medical vaccine researcher who stated that anti-vaxxers would be responsible for killing thousands of people by scaring people about the risks of the COVID-19 vaccine. The researcher might state this calmly with many supporting facts. But there is nothing more disrespectful than an accusation that somebody is killing thousands of people. I wonder what the VC would decide? I think the medical researcher would probably get away with it because it refers to anti-vaxxers.

But what about another researcher who said that those advocating zero carbon emissions would kill millions in the Third World by making electricity too expensive? Or a scientist who stated that the banning of DDT by medical authorities had been responsible for the avoidable deaths by malaria of millions of children? Would the VC think that was disrespectful? Quite possible, yes. The academic might be fired despite both statements being perfectly arguable positions.

So the problem is that, by insisting on respect, making contentious comments becomes like walking along the edge of a cliff on a foggy night. You can’t see the edge. The only option for an academic is not to say anything remotely contentious.

In other words, Sydney University just killed academic freedom of speech while pretending to support the minister’s new law.

It seems likely that Sydney University is not aware of a recent heated debate over the term respectful at the University of Cambridge. The Cambridge VC tried to force the university academic freedom policy to require speech to be respectful. The Cambridge dons rebelled and voted instead for the term tolerance.

Why should they respect climate change deniers, some Cambridge academics legitimately argued, if they believed deniers would be responsible for the end of the world? They voted eight to one against the VC.

Such a rebellion by academics needs to happen at Sydney University. But you’d be brave to lead such a challenge. This is a university that has already fired an academic (Tim Anderson, whose comments I disagree with) for making statements it did not like.

Sydney University often states its mantra “disagree well”. It is hard to argue against such an aspiration. But it ignores the fact some things cannot be said in a way that everybody can be guaranteed to feel respected. And if academic freedom depends on nebulous terms such as respect, it ceases to exist.

What is most disgusting about the Sydney University statement is that it pretends to agree with the minister and the French review, claiming it “welcomes passage of freedom of speech bill”. It is yet more evidence that many of our universities are going to need much more encouragement to truly embrace free speech.

But the new legislation is a great step in the right direction. It will need to be policed and suitable penalties applied. That inevitably will mean threatening the loss of federal funding. In my view, Sydney University, which clearly does not understand the concept of free speech, needs to be “respectfully” spoken to by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. The universities must be independent of government interference, but to earn that independence they must first act like a university.

Sydney University does not seem to understand what being a university is all about.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/in-many-respects-unis-will-smother-academic-freedom/news-story/1b57f0e49df667a22ff23eee79afc9f2

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Artist abused as ANU-based gallery takes down artwork critical of Chinese government

An art gallery on the campus of the Australian National University has removed three satirical artworks from an exhibition, including one that took aim at the persecution of Uighur Muslims, after complaints from Chinese international students.

Artist Luke Cornish says he experienced a torrent of abuse from Chinese students on social media after his exhibition of street art opened at the aMBUSH gallery on the ANU campus earlier this month.

“I’ve copped a lot of online abuse calling me racist. It was definitely like a targeted attack because it all happened in about an hour. I was just smashed on social media. There was so much of it,” Cornish said. “I understand the gallery is protecting its reputation. But at the same time we shouldn’t be bullied into censoring work about genocide.”

Cornish said he agreed to take down one artwork of a 10 Chinese Yuan currency note featuring Mao Zedong’s face over which he had painted a batman mask. The artwork was captioned: “A shout out to the man that ate the bat in a Wuhan wet market that stopped the f---ing world (which probably didn’t happen).”

The ANU International Students’ Department did not respond to requests for comment, but in a Facebook post said it had asked the gallery to take down the Batman artwork after receiving “multiple reports regarding the harmful nature of the artwork.”

The group said it did not request the removal of the other artworks and “were ourselves surprised to hear the other two artworks were taken down”.

The exhibition featured 54 pieces of Cornish’s artwork and is billed as a commentary on “the rise of authoritarianism, the fall of liberties, the power of the people, and art’s role in inciting change”.

“I was a little bit naive to the racism Chinese people have been facing since COVID and it did offend a lot of Chinese students. So I kind of agreed, yes, we should take that one down,” Cornish said.

But the gallery also took down two other pieces centred around a 10 Yuan note - a decision Cornish did not agree with. One note was painted over with a picture of Winnie the Pooh strangling Tigger. Cornish said the artwork was a comment on China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims, with Chinese President Xi Jinping represented as Winnie the Pooh while “Tigger” rhymed with “Uighur”. In 2018, Chinese censors banned the cartoon bear after it became a popular way to mock President Xi.

The third artwork features Mao Zedong’s face marked with digital outlines of facial-recognition software, billed as a comment on the Chinese government’s social credit system and use of mass surveillance.

Cornish said the artworks were not intended to target Chinese people but rather the government.

“I certainly don’t want to offend anyone on an individual level, the country they come from, and the colour of their skin. [The artworks] are like a broad spectrum assault on all governments, anybody that’s abusing power,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the gallery said it removed the artworks after feedback from the Chinese community.

“The decision was based around unintended hurt caused to the Chinese community who felt the work was feeding into negative racial narratives,” the spokeswoman said.

“The intention of the artwork was to call out the racism experienced by the Chinese community and the absurdity of racist stories around the virus origin. However, both the artist and aMBUSH understand the experience of the series did not reflected the artist’s intention, and this is why we removed it.

“The rest of Luke’s exhibition remains on display. Including works supporting the Uighur struggle. We respect the artist’s freedom to express his political opinion.” Another piece by Cornish, depicting a Uighur man painted onto a meat cleaver remains in the exhibit.

An ANU spokesman said the aMBUSH gallery was a commercial tenant of the campus’ Kambri Precinct and is not affiliated with ANU.

“ANU?is aware artwork has been taken down at Ambush Gallery,?which was an independent decision of the gallery.???Neither the artwork nor the exhibition?were?commissioned by ANU,” the spokesman said.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/targeted-attack-artist-abused-as-anu-based-gallery-takes-down-artwork-critical-of-chinese-government-20210326-p57egh.html

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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27 March, 2021

Folbigg petition: Science thrown out of court

She was convicted on the basis of an assumption now known to be false

At 10.10am on Wednesday, Australia’s most notorious female prisoner, Kathleen Folbigg, entered a room at Clarence Correctional Facility and sat at a table, facing a camera linked to a court in Sydney. Eight minutes later, looking slightly bemused, she stood up and left.

In the interim, NSW Supreme Court Justice John Basten had taken less than 45 seconds to dismiss an application made on Folbigg’s behalf to overturn the findings of an inquiry held in 2019 into her convictions for the manslaughter of her firstborn, Caleb, and the subsequent murders of her second child, Patrick, and her third and fourth children, Sarah and Laura.

A scathing written judgment from the three Appeal Court judges, justices Basten, Paul Brereton and Mark Leeming, confirmed the view of the commissioner who headed the earlier inquiry, Justice Reginald Blanch, that “there was an ample basis, consistent with the scientific evidence, for the judicial officer to conclude that there was no reasonable doubt as to Ms Folbigg’s guilt”.

The judges also suggested that: “This was not a case in which the judicial officer’s conclusion was at odds with the scientific evidence.”

What happened next was unprecedented. That afternoon, the Australian Academy of Science issued a statement directly contradicting the judges, saying: “There are medical and scientific explanations for the death of each of Kathleen Folbigg’s children.”

Academy president John Shine told The Australian: “Experts from around the globe have offered an evidence-based explanation for the death of the Folbigg children. It is time that this evidence be brought to bear in the Folbigg case. Any statement suggesting a contrary view should be backed with data. The Folbigg case calls into question the ability for the legal system to assess the reliability of expert evidence.”

Australian National University professor Carola Vinuesa, who gave evidence to the 2019 inquiry, went even further, describing Justice Blanch’s conclusions about the genetic evidence she had helped to present as “incorrect”, and the inquiry’s reasoning as “non-scientific”.

Or in other words, the judges got it wrong.

It’s clear that this is now a bare-knuckle fight between those scientists who believe that plausible natural causes of death have been established for all four of Folbigg’s children, and the judges who continue to reason that other, circumstantial elements of the case, combined with the anguished, ambiguous comments made by Folbigg in her diaries, leave no room for doubt that she smothered all four of her children.

The petition

The Appeal Court verdict comes less than three weeks after 90 eminent scientists — including two Australian Nobel laureates — signed a petition to NSW Governor Margaret Beazley, calling for Folbigg’s immediate pardon and release from jail.

That petition is based on peer-reviewed research published after Justice Blanch’s inquiry, which concludes that Folbigg’s daughters, Sarah and Laura, “likely” died of natural causes linked to a genetic abnormality, and it remains a live issue to be considered by the Governor and by the NSW Attorney-General, Mark Speakman, and his team. The petition and its new research were not referred to by the Appeal Court judges in their conclusions about the science.

Newcastle University Scientia professor emeritus Eugenie R. Lumbers told The Weekend Australian that in her view: “The conflict that exists between the legal system and science can be attributed to the rapid progress of new scientific knowledge. It is essential that the legal system takes a considered approach and places reliance on the expertise of scientists currently working in relevant specific areas of inquiry. ”

The challenge to the judges by the scientific community marks a significant escalation in the increasingly frosty relationship between medical and scientific expert witnesses, and the judges who assess that evidence.

This week, two expert witnesses who appeared on Folbigg’s behalf at the 2019 inquiry openly criticised the way in which they and their evidence were treated.

Newcastle University emeritus professor Robert Clancy said: “My experience in giving evidence at the 2019 inquiry was extremely stressful. I was subjected to a ‘vigour of inquiry’ that I found aggressive and beyond anything I had experienced in over 40 years as an expert witness.

“When I could not agree with incorrect and outmoded evidence given earlier, counsel asked me to provide a detailed report — which I did. Without my knowledge, relevant information in it was redacted.”

Caroline Blackwell, conjoint professor of immunology and microbiology at Newcastle University, says she had the impression the inquiry “was not aware of the complexity or the relevance of the information presented by Professor Clancy and myself”.

John Hilton, long regarded as one of Australia’s pre-eminent forensic pathologists, told The Weekend Australian that the medical evidence “certainly in one case, showed a clear-cut, obvious natural cause of death”.

That case was Laura, Folbigg’s fourth child, where Hilton and three other forensic pathologists all gave evidence to the inquiry that her death could be ascribed to myocarditis, a sometimes fatal inflammation of the heart muscle. Hilton describes it as a “strong probability”.

Laura’s myocarditis was also referred to by the cardiac geneticists who reviewed the case and who suggested it may have triggered her underlying genetic condition causing a cardiac arrest and her sudden death.

Hilton says: “For some reason or other, people have found it terribly hard to get their heads around this. They didn’t understand really what the medical evidence was saying.”

The science

This is now the main allegation being levelled at Justice Blanch, and at the Appeal Court judges who reviewed the genetic evidence that was presented to his inquiry — that they didn’t understand the science.

Law professor Gary Edmond, from the University of NSW, says: “If you were designing a system to facilitate an impartial review of a conviction, where the major issue is the biomedical evidence, would you appoint legally trained personnel to conduct, oversee and evaluate the evidence? Why do we have a legally trained chair, legally trained counsel assisting but no forensic pathologist, geneticist or statistician sitting on the panel?”

Referring to the genetic mutation, CALM2 G114R, which Vinuesa and her colleagues discovered in Folbigg and her two daughters, the judges acknowledged this week that: “The scientific evidence raised a theoretical possibility that there were innocent explanations for the deaths of the two girls.”

But, they argued: “Their circumstances departed from the reported cases of deaths associated with CALM abnormalities.” Compared with other cases reported in the literature, the deaths of Sarah and Laura were “outliers”, the judges ruled. One example was that “the girls apparently died suddenly when asleep and not during exertion”. A further example was the contention that they died at a younger age than other, known examples of CALM-induced deaths.

But Vinuesa begs to disagree. “In all four Folbigg children, there is credible medical and pathological evidence, including new peer-reviewed genetic findings, by an international team of 27 scientists published in a top international cardiology journal … that points towards natural causes of death,” she says.

This is the evidence that the scientists published in the highly respected journal, Europace — which Vinuesa believes was not adequately considered by the Appeal Court.

Vinuesa says that the Folbigg girls’ deaths were not outliers with regards to already known CALM-related sudden unexpected deaths.

On Friday, one of the world’s foremost cardiologists and cardiac genetics experts, Peter Schwartz, weighed in. He described the judges’ scientific commentary as “simply wrong”, adding: “It goes against the only serious data available, namely those of our International Calmodulin Registry.

“With over 100 patients enrolled, it is crystal clear that life-threatening or fatal events have occurred in infants and young children at rest or during sleep, and the majority occur without prior warning.” Vinuesa and her team discovered a different genetic mutation in the two boys, Caleb and Patrick, although the scientists acknowledge that here, further research is needed.

The judges’ conclusions implied that CALM mutations that are lethal in children are not inherited from healthy parents. But Schwartz argues that: “It is widely accepted in genetics that highly symptomatic infants can inherit the disease-causing mutations from apparently healthy parents or parents with mild disease. Consistent with the latter, Ms Folbigg had numerous transient fainting episodes (known as syncopes) during childhood and adolescence, including a witnessed syncope while swimming as an 11-year-old child, requiring her to be dragged out of the pool, which rules out it having been a ‘benign’ syncope.”

What next?

Folbigg’s fate now rests with the NSW Governor and the politically appointed Attorney-General, Mark Speakman.

Will they agree with claims by the Australian Academy of Science, that the scientific conclusions reached by the Appeal Court judges are flawed, or will they decide that the circumstantial evidence presented at Folbigg’s trial, and the evidence of her diaries, overrides these claims?

Edmond argues that: “NSW should have an independent criminal cases review commission — like England, Scotland and New Zealand.”

And he adds: “At one level, given the medical evidence, the diary entries may not even be meaningful. If there is no medical evidence suggesting murder or even deliberate harm, does it matter that a woman has written self-deprecating and adverse self-accusations? The ambiguous diaries must be read subject to the medical evidence. If the medical evidence does not support murder, then ambiguous diaries cannot operate as a makeweight.”

Blackwell says: “There have been significant advancements in science and medicine in the last 18 years. This is particularly evident in the field of genetics, which has led to groundbreaking findings that could not have been envisioned almost two decades ago. The law needs to be open to this progress. It also requires scientists to support the legal system in their understanding of the true cause of all unexpected deaths.”

Solicitor Rhanee Rego and barrister Robert Cavanagh, co-authors of the petition seeking Folbigg’s release, believe that the Appeal Court’s decision this week “should not impact on the petition for pardon of Ms Folbigg, which is currently under consideration by the Governor. The petition deals with matters not considered by the NSW Court of Appeal.”

Rego says: “One of the biggest tensions in our legal system is the varying levels of scientific literacy of those who preside over and appear in courtrooms.

“This can lead to fundamental errors in the assessment of scientific evidence … We must be conscious to listen to those experts who represent their field of expertise and treat with caution those who do not.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/folbigg-petition-science-thrown-out-of-court/news-story/7de0128d44c89492dea815d7d5db66d4

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Outrage as young boys are forced to stand in school assembly and 'apologise for rapes committed by their gender' to female classmates

It's a basic principle of natural justice that you are not responsible for the deeds of others

A school has sparked outrage by forcing its young male students to apologise on behalf of their gender to female classmates.

Brauer College in the south-western Victorian town of Warrnambool held an assembly on Wednesday where boys were told to stand up in a symbolic gesture of apology to girls and women.

One parent said her son in Year 7 was left confused about why he had to stage the bizarre apology, where boys were told to say sorry that women are raped and sexually assaulted.

'He said that he was made to stand up and basically apologise... it wasn’t explained properly to the male students what they were doing or why they were doing it,' the mother Danielle Shephard told 7News.

'They really should have made more of an effort to notify the parents.'

In a separate post on Facebook, Ms Shepherd shared another complaint from a parent who called the assembly 'a joke'.

'Wow just wow... this is actually disgusting Brauer College... not at all impressed that you made my son apologise for something he's never done nor considered doing,' she wrote.

A male student also criticised the assembly in a Snapchat post. 'Today at Brauer they made every guy stand up and apologise to every girl for rape, sexual assault,' the student said. 'Guys go through as much s**t as girls do.'

Brauer College Principal Jane Boyle said the apology part of the assembly was 'inappropriate' but defended the school's intentions.

'The assembly included the screening of a video message by Brisbane Boys’ College Captain Mason Black about being proactive in stopping incidents of sexual assault and harassment,' she said in a statement.

'As part of this discussion boys were asked to stand as a symbolic gesture of apology for the behaviours of their gender that have hurt or offended girls and women.

'In retrospect, while well-intended, we recognise that this part of the assembly was inappropriate.'

One mother said on Facebook their son had told her the exercise was simply intended to 'raise awareness'.

'My son explained they stood not to apologise, but to stand in support and solidarity,' another parent wrote.

'You'll find all schools will be teaching consent over the next year - Braeur won't be the only one.'

Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino has since moved to make teaching consent compulsory in all government schools from next month.

The initiative previously did not explicitly direct schools to teach consent and instead focused on relationships, sexuality and safety.

From term two, the directive will compel state schools to teach the government's Respectful Relationships training on free agreements.

Brisbane Boys' College is another of several schools in Australia that has been named in testimonies from private and public school girls who say they were either sexually assaulted, harassed or raped.

Thousands of schoolgirls shared their experiences after Kambala School alumni Chanel Contos, 22, launched a petition on February 18, demanding students be taught about consent.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9404221/Brauer-College-Warrnambool-male-students-apologise-gender-female-classmates.html

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Gross police abuse of their powers

Police officers have been accused of deliberately intimating a lawyer on his way to court and scaring him so badly he fled through the Magistrate's exit.

The solicitor had been on his way to represent an outlaw motorcycle gang member in a case against NSW Police Strike Force Raptor - the elite bikie-fighting unit. The lawyer was so shaken that the hearing was adjourned.

The abuse of power was detailed in the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission's report which was made public late on Friday.

The lawyer, a principal in his own criminal law firm, first noticed a police car driving past his house at 6.30am on May 28, 2019 - the day he was due in court to represent the bikie against Strike Force Raptor, the report said.

Being on good terms with local police in his country town, he waved - but they didn't wave back.

At 7am he reversed out of his driveway onto the empty street and noticed police were following him.

They pulled him over less than 10 minutes away at a nearby Beaurepaires tyre shop, and identified themselves as being from Strike Force Raptor.

The Raptor officers asked for his drivers license - which he had forgotten.

On his way home to get his ID, the Raptor officers stopped him again to conduct a 'roadworthiness check' on his vehicle.

They repeatedly pulled the front seatbelt before claiming it was not retracting.

They then opened the bonnet and told him they could see an oil leak, then defected him for oil leaks, seat belt defects and window tinting, forcing him to walk home in his socks and thongs.

Rattled, he took a taxi to work - but the police followed his taxi, checking it after he arrived at work with their flashing lights on, the report said.

At 8.30am, his client arrived, telling him the police were 'doing laps' outside his office. This worried the lawyer so much he took a back exit from his office to a solicitor friend who rang the regular police - but they said they could not do anything.

He was so shaken that when he appeared before the Magistrate to represent his client against Strike Force Raptor, she adjourned the matter.

When he left the courtroom, five to 10 Strike Force Raptor officers were waiting.

This intimidated the lawyer so much he fled the court by the Magistrate's private exit, with her permission.

He then told his client that he should not represent him anymore - and the client hired another lawyer, the report said.

Integrity Commissioner Lea Drake found that a senior Strike Force Raptor officer had ordered two other officers to 'target, interact and harass' the lawyer so that he did not make it to court, and also intimidated his female friend.

The Commissioner found that the officers' conduct towards the lawyer was 'disgraceful', inventing breaches in order to target him.

'When misused, targeting can create a hostile relationship between the police and citizens who would otherwise have no animosity towards the police,' the Commissioner wrote.

'The Commission is concerned about the sense of entitlement that can develop in an elite strike force and was demonstrated by this conduct.

'Such limited strategies can become unrestrained and unlawful. If you are an elite, are you bound by the rule of law and the policies of the NSW Police Force or are you bigger, better, harder and more entitled?

'The task of these officers is to enforce the law. If the unlawful conduct engaged in by these officers is allowed to continue and be condoned because of some imagined higher purpose, there can be no good to come from it for the people of New South Wales.'

The Commissioner wrote that while Strike Force Raptor had been successful in disrupting criminal activity, it could not be allowed to harass people.

'However, unlawful conduct must not be condoned or covered up.'

Greens MP David Shoebridge was beside himself on reading the report and slammed the conduct within it late on Friday, summing up the story in an outraged Twitter thread.

'Lawless,' he wrote.

'This is seriously lawless behaviour by a number of police acting in concert and it’s close to unbelievable .... We (will) not leave it here I can assure you. Seriously unbelievable.'

A spokesman for NSW Police said the release of the report had been 'noted' and its contents and recommendations would be 'considered'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9406493/NSW-Police-Strike-Force-Raptor-slammed-intimidating-lawyer-bikie-client-didnt-like.html

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Brisbane man claims paramedics took more than four hours to arrive to his code one call

A Brisbane man has called on the government to expedite fixing ambulance response times before someone dies after he said he waited four hours for paramedics to arrive.

Ben Mihan, 33, said he rang Triple-0 at 8.58pm on Friday as he was suffering from severe chest pains along with trouble breathing.

“They put me as a category one patient and they took four hours and 15 minutes to arrive,” he said.

“During the time they didn’t communicate to check in with me considering the long duration of time I was waiting and I was left in the dark.

“Paramedics didn’t arrive until 1.15am the following morning and I was rushed to hospital.”

Mr Mihan who lives alone and also suffers from asthma, said he then spent five days in the cardiac ward at Chermside’s Prince Charles Hospital, where he was hooked up to a heart monitor for the week.

“It was really scary not knowing when the ambulance would even turn up. I thought they forgot about me,” he said.

“Over that period of time in hospital they ran lots of tests and, as a 33-year-old man, the whole experience was pretty intense and scary.”

The Clontarf resident said an abnormal rhythm was detected in his heart twice, with doctors suspecting a possible blood clot.

Mr Mihan said he was shocked with the four hours it took for an ambulance to arrive, but grateful to be alive. “If somebody, like an elderly man is having a heart attack and it’s a definite heart attack, those four hours would make a difference. He won’t survive that,” he said. “Some people are going to die from these wait times.”

He said he wanted to share his story in the hope it would help alert the government that the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) direly needed more resources.

The pressure has been on the Queensland Government to increase the number of QAS personnel after it was revealed in January response times had fallen to an average of 18.3 minutes for a code one – or a life threatening emergency.

The ambulance response time statewide averaged 18.4 minutes during 2019-2020, up from 17.1 minutes during 2018-2019, according to the Report on Government Services (ROGS) 2021.

Ben Mihan said he called Triple-0 three times, and each time was told an ambulance would be there soon. Picture: Supplied

The best QAS response time recorded since 2012 was during 2013-2014 when an average time of 14.7 minutes was achieved, but it has continued to creep up ever since.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/brisbane-man-claims-paramedics-took-more-than-four-hours-to-arrive-to-his-code-one-call/news-story/bb673b456ffeb0d07b70592efb30cc97

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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26 March, 2021

High-profile Qld eisteddfod’s sudden shut down

This is very sad. The Brisbane Eisteddfod has been fading for some time. But for many years it was an opportunity for country people to send their children to the "big smoke" where they could get their talents a wider audience

I well remember the excitement at my country school many years ago when it was announced that some kid was off to the eisteddfod. The teacher and mother concerned were always as proud as punch and the kids were full of anticipation

There is still a Gold Coast eisteddfod: https://www.goldcoasteisteddfod.com.au/

The Queensland arts world has been left shocked by the announcement that one of the state’s premier Eisteddfods was folding due to a lack of support.

The long-running Brisbane Eisteddfod has announced it will fold after 129 years of performances.

The Eisteddfod, which every year provides young performers the chance to showcase their talents in music, dance and drama, has confirmed the closure due to a “loss of relevance”.

In a statement on the Brisbane Eisteddfod site, the executive management committee said it “had taken the hard decision to formally close down Brisbane Eisteddfod Inc. as a functioning performing arts competition platform.”

“The decision was not made lightly and is not based on financial or resource availability. A discouraged internal level of commitment and energy and a lack of external understanding and appreciation of dedication, along with a demonstrated lack of interest by the eisteddfod and arts community in maintaining Brisbane Eisteddfod as viable, has further exacerbated its demise as a valuable opportunity,” the statement said.

“Numerous calls for support over social media and the press in recent years has also denied us results.

“Recent rebranding presented Brisbane Eisteddfod with a fresh new look however the anticipated new volunteer interest did not follow.

“From a membership of in excess of 100 some 40 years ago to just 10 over recent years, it’s this in the first instance that has contributed to our position.

“We have always ensured that the competitions were first and foremost in our minds as that’s the staple of our Constitution.

“For Dance, Speech & Drama, Vocal, Instrumental and to a far lesser extent, Choral and Choral Speaking, it is indeed a sad final entry!”

Queensland’s shadow minister for the arts Dr Christian Rowan said the demise of the eisteddford was a huge loss for the Brisbane community.

“This is incredibly sad news, given that the Eisteddfod has been an invaluable opportunity over many years for young performers to demonstrate their talents in music, dance and drama.

“All levels of Government should urgently consider any forms of assistance and support,” Dr Rowan said.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/lack-of-interest-highprofile-qld-eisteddfods-sudden-shut-down/news-story/f869248b8626e9dd9f2441a95576f9fd

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Gender equality watchdog warns of ‘mob mentality’ against men in war against workplace sexual harassment

The federal government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) director Libby Lyons called for more respect for women at work, but warned against demonising all men after an avalanche of sexual harassment allegations aired this month.

“Some of the worst bullying I’ve seen in workplaces has come from women,’’ she told News Corp Australia.

“We have to be very, very careful that we don’t fall into a mob mentality and mass hysteria. “I believe there are many more good men out there than men who treat people poorly.’’

Ms Lyons said she was “outraged’’ by workplace harassment, and called for more women in top management roles to ensure diversity and prevent “groupthink’’ by men in power. “I am not here bashing men around the head,’’ she said.

“This is about respect for everyone.

“There are many good men who try incredibly hard and are probably worried about standing up and calling things out – they probably feel they are in the minority.’’

Ms Lyons said some men feared “that if they speak up they’ll be shouted down’’.

“We must ensure we are not lumping all men into the same basket,’’ she said. “This is not about pitting men against women, this is about ensuring we point out we all need to be treated respectfully.

“We must ensure we have workplaces that mirror the communities in which we live – this means we embrace young and old people, people of different cultural backgrounds, people with disabilities, and women.‘’

Ms Lyons said women’s revelations of workplace harassment were “outrageous’’. “Goodness me, what happened to basic kindness?’’ she said.

“It‘s outrageous. People get into positions of power and they take the privilege for granted.

“There’s a lot of pent-up frustration and discontent, in some cases leading to anger in women, because they feel they’re unable to speak up and have been unfairly and unjustly treated, and in fact mistreated, in many cases.

“Women have been fearful to speak up because for decades we’ve had law enforcement, a legal system and a justice system dominated by men and women have not had a fair go when they’ve been brave enough to step up to make reports.’’

Ms Lyons said harassment and discrimination against women at work was “a symptom of an embedded culture we have lived in for generations’’. “That is a culture where the man is the breadwinner and responsible for bringing home the bacon and the woman has been the happy homemaker,’’ she said.

“That all changed as more and more women wanted to have a career.

Ms Lyons was speaking before today’s launch of new research by the WGEA and Bankwest Curtin Economics centre, predicting that Australian women will take a quarter of a century to earn as much as men.

Men still earn, on average, 20 per cent more than women working full-time.

Ms Lyons said more women need to “sit at the decision-making table’’.

“If we have more workplaces that have more women – not just white women either but more from all sorts of backgrounds and experience and ages – sitting around the decision-making table, they’ll be able to feed in their ideas and we’ll get better decision-making and more respectful workplaces,’’ she said.

“We need to challenge groupthink.’’

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/gender-equality-watchdog-warns-of-mob-mentality-against-men-in-war-against-workplace-sexual-harassment/news-story/8a369f28cfc074716a40ad2385a55e46

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Home battery incentives proposed as way to bypass solar power traffic jams

A deluge of rooftop solar power pouring into the electricity network is causing network traffic jams, prompting the energy market rule-maker to propose new regulations to smooth the torrent of household power into the grid and offer incentives to drive the use of home batteries.

Networks were built decades ago when power only flowed from big coal and gas-fired generators directly to customers’ homes. Now power lines are groaning under the strain of Australia’s world-leading solar power installation, which is forecast to grow from 2.6 million energy customers, or 20 per cent of households, to 50 per cent in the next decade.

The energy market rule-maker says new regulations are needed to stop customers copping bigger bills as the network is weighed down by more rooftop solar power.

The energy market rule-maker says new regulations are needed to stop customers copping bigger bills as the network is weighed down by more rooftop solar power. CREDIT:NICK MOIR

Currently, network operators are scrambling to curb the volume of power flowing back into the grid by limiting how much homeowners can sell into it, restraining the returns they make on their investment into panels that cost thousands of dollars.

The Australian Energy Market Commission released proposed rule changes on Thursday to allow networks to offer financial incentives to home owners who avoid sending power to the grid in the middle of the day but export it at night instead. This would encourage greater uptake of home batteries, which could store power generated during the day.

It also made a more controversial proposal that would allow networks to charge solar panel owners for sending power to the grid when the network is most congested, such as in the middle of a sunny day.

In Victoria, excess supply is already causing four of the state’s five network operators to impose solar export limits on households with rooftop panels to prevent disruption to the state power grid.

The AEMC said its rule changes would prevent the need to invest in new network capacity to cope with an excess of power supply. That would limit network charges, which comprise about half the cost of retail electricity bills.

“One option to deal with more solar traffic – building more poles and wires – is very expensive and ends up on all our energy bills whether we have solar or not,” AEMC chief executive Benn Barr said.

“It’s important to do this fairly. We want to avoid a first-come, best dressed system because that limits the capacity for more solar into the grid.”

The AEMC modelled likely scenarios that showed that under the proposed changes an average household customer — including those without rooftop panels — would get a small reduction of up to $25 in their annual bill. But customers with solar panels would take a small hit on their earnings.

A customer with a typical solar system with a capacity of between two and four kilowatts, who on average earn $645 a year for sending power to the grid, would receive $30 less under the rule changes.

The AEMC warned a “do-nothing” approach would see congestion grow and cause restrictions on power export. If implemented for 10 per cent of the time for customers with an average size system, they could see a reduction in annual revenue of around $30, or $80 if exports are restricted for 25 per cent of the time.

The proposed rule changes don’t mandate the price options to customers, which would be left up to network operators to agree with the market regulator.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/home-battery-incentives-allowed-to-stop-solar-power-traffic-jams-20210324-p57dif.html

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Frustrated driver sick of climate change protesters blocking his commute to work rips down their signs - before the police arrest HIM instead of clearing the road

A man was tackled to the ground by police after he jumped out of his car and ripped a large banner from the hands of climate change protesters.

Dennis Huts, the former head of the Perth chapter of the United Patriots Front, was later charged with several offences over the incident in the city's CBD on Tuesday.

The 52-year-old had stopped at a red traffic light on Wellington Street as Extinction Rebellion protesters stood in the middle of the road holding the banner which was emblazoned with 'climate and ecological emergency'.

Video footage shows a viably angry Mr Huts got out his car and approached the protesters while yelling 'Get out of my f**king way' and furiously shaking his finger, before grabbing the banner and walking to the side of the road.

Several police officers who were keeping a close watch on the protest quickly pounced on Mr Huts, telling him 'you're under arrest'.

Mr Huts was dragged to the ground by officers as he demanded 'why don't you f**king deal with them?'.

He was bundled into the back of a police van while surrounded by five cops. One officer suffered a serious knee injury during the arrest.

Mr Huts was later charged with common assault, obstructing officers and disorderly behaviour.

He told Nine News he had no issue with protesters but took umbrage at them blocking traffic.

'I've been involved in activism myself - conservative activism. So I support all of that,' Mr Huts said.

'What I don't support is people stopping other people from going about their lawful business.'

In January 2019, Mr Huts outed himself as the man behind a banner reading 'it's OK to be white' which was unveiled in front of thousands of fans at a Big Bash cricket game.

The One Nation supporter said he and a group of others left the sign hanging on the stands to 'protest against the on-going attacks by the progressive left establishment' as he urged Australians to 'embrace the glory of colonisation'.

Mr Huts arrest came on the second day of planned Extinction Rebellion protests in Perth.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9395609/Former-United-Patriots-member-Dennis-Huts-charged-Perth-climate-change-incident.html

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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25 March, 2021

What Australians really think about climate change

Sampling, sampling, sampling. The revelation that only one in seven Australians take climate change seriously is very encouraging but ALL the figures below have to be taken with a large grain of salt.

The "sample" was derived from an online panel study and the biases of online studies are well-known, to say nothing of the inaccuracies in panel studies. Online samples tend to skew Left. So even the 7% is probably an overstimate

The journal article is "Australian voters’ attitudes to climate action and their social-political determinants" in https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0248268

Just one in seven Australians considered climate change their decisive issue when voting in the 2019 federal election.

But some 80 per cent say action to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions is important, including almost 70 per cent of Coalition voters.

They are two key findings from new ANU research published today in the journal PLOS ONE, based on online and telephone surveys with more than 2000 Australian voters after the 2019 poll.

In the paper, researchers Dr Rebecca Colvin and Professor Frank Jotzo looked at some of the reasons why, in the “climate election,” the party that was offering the more “status quo” emissions policy was returned to government.

They found 52 per cent of survey respondents said climate change was a factor in how they voted in 2019, but it was the single biggest issue for just 13 per cent of voters – or slightly more than one in seven people.

Asked whether this finding could be a source of hope or despair for supporters of climate action, Dr Colvin said both interpretations were possible.

“One way to look at it is that there isn’t a massive unbridgeable divide across the political spectrum on climate change,” she told News Corp. “There are lots of people who say they want to see action on climate change but they’re not determining their votes on it – but that broad based of social support is there.”

https://www.couriermail.com.au/technology/what-aussies-really-think-about-climate-change/news-story/c3f16ecdc5aaed224b97e9769f3ce55a

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Many young African-Australians are in jail. Some blame police, but the data tells a different story

It's the high rate of offending among the South Sudanese

There's a concerning trend in the kids we're locking up. For some, it's clear evidence of racist policing.

While overall youth crime rates have declined in Victoria, the imprisonment of African-Australian youth has spiked.

African (predominantly South Sudanese) youth comprise at least 19 per cent of young people in custody despite being less than 0.5 per cent of Victoria's youth population.

But are prejudice and police tactics behind numbers, or is the answer more complicated?

Between 2016 and 2018 a small number of African-Australian youth were involved in a number of highly publicised offences.

These incidents received extensive media attention — with some outlets criticised for politicising their coverage and demonising the African-Australian community.

For some commentators and community advocates, racial profiling was a factor in this sequence of offending, and the coinciding spike in African-Australian youth imprisonment — which has now reached concerning levels.

In a number of recent community surveys, African-Australian youth say they're being targeted and harassed by police in public places because of their race.

While the sample sizes of these reports are small, the concerns raised by the participants are similar to those expressed in the 2012 lawsuit.

For people who are regularly breaking the law, police attention is expected and should not come as a surprise.

But there are occasional incidents of overzealous policing, and perhaps isolated incidents of profiling.

Police behaviour can also stigmatise, even if it is unintended.

A young person who is publicly stopped and questioned on the street as part of routine police activity may feel signalled out and humiliated.

There is always room for improvement to ensure that people are treated with dignity and that procedural fairness is adhered to.

But it's unlikely police services have the explicit intention to disfavour particular cultural groups.

For the most part, police are reacting to information given to them by the public.

So what is behind the over-incarceration?

Higher rates of African-Australian youth imprisonment are most likely because of an increase in violent criminal activity by some members that group.

A recent study pointed to the significantly higher rate of "crimes against the person" by South Sudanese-born youth compared to Australian-born youth between 2015 and 2018.

Crimes against the person include serious offences such as robbery and assault, which often involve less police discretion. They're also crimes that tend to receive custodial sentences.

In contrast, rates for less serious crimes, such as public order and drug offences, have remained stable and relatively low for South Sudanese-born youth.

If police profiling of African-Australian young people is pervasive, one might have expected public order and drug offences to climb during a period of intense media coverage, given that such crimes generally involve more police discretion.

One may also expect to see over-representation right across the African-Australian diaspora if profiling was both rampant and regularly pulling kids into the justice-system.

However only specific African-Australian sub-groups (i.e., South Sudanese) have been over-represented in recent years.

This is likely the result of those groups being collectively exposed to a number of socio-economic and environmental risk factors that increase the likelihood of young people engaging in crime.

It is unlikely that alleged racial profiling by Victoria Police members is driving the imprisonment rates of African-Australian young people.

This does not suggest in any way that racial profiling does not occur at all. Some African-Australian young people have experienced adversarial confrontations with police, however it's not known how widespread these experiences are across the community.

Over-involvement in serious crimes most likely explains the concerning trends in African-Australian youth imprisonment.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-25/racial-profiling-concerns-african-australian-youth-imprisonment/13252594

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Greens senator retracts rape claim against Home Affairs Minister, apologises

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ps_dcVR7rKs/YFuyQynakGI/AAAAAAAADpM/yuxyXhKwxtA1lYa7anRhKq4JckzcUJd8wCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/waters.png

This would normally be a matter of no general interest except for one thing: It is an example of the lie about rape that regularly sprouts from Leftist women: The lie that women do not lie about rape. "Believe the woman", they say.

Women in fact lie prolifically. There are many cases -- particularly in Britain -- where rape allegations have been found in court to be false. Britain has even jailed some of false accusers in the more egregious cases

It is just amazing how readily Leftists resort to psychopathic lies -- lies that are easily found out to be lies. If they wish something to be true, they act as if it were true. Their reality-contact is very poor It is a major mental defect in them

Greens senator Larissa Waters has issued an “unreserved” apology to Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton after calling him a “rape apologist” last month.

The Courier-Mail revealed on Saturday Mr Dutton had sent a legal letter to the Queensland senator demanding the apology and removal of online posts containing the insult.

Senator Waters’ comments were made on social media site Twitter in February, in reaction to a news article in which Mr Dutton referred to not knowing the “he said, she said” in the Brittany Higgins rape allegations that have rocked Parliament.

“WOMEN DO NOT LIE ABOUT BEING RAPED (Peter Dutton) YOU INHUMANE, SEXIST RAPE APOLOGIST,” she posted, with similar comments made in a press release.

Tonight she posted an apology to both Twitter and her own website.

“On 25 February 2021 I published a media release on my website, posted on my Twitter account, and made in the course of a press conference false and defamatory statements that Peter Dutton is a rape apologist, that he has sought to conceal and dismiss reports of rape, and that he has no sympathy for victims of rape,” she said.

“I accept that there was no basis for those allegations and that they were false. I unreservedly apologise to Minister Dutton for the hurt, distress and damage to his reputation I have caused him.”

Senator Waters’ original tweet was no longer online last night.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/qld-politics/larissa-waters-retracts-tweet-against-peter-dutton-apologises/news-story/11d9476ee5c340db4d30e18b7b6437f1

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Australian company signs deal to sell COVID nose spray in Britain

Australian biotech Starpharma is taking its COVID-fighting antiviral nasal spray to the world, signing a deal with UK chemist chain LloydsPharmacy to sell the product in Britain as the country emerges from lockdown.

The Melbourne-based company announced a deal on Thursday morning that will see its Viraleze virus-fighting product sold online in the UK starting next week. It will also be stocked in Lloyds’ 1400-strong pharmacy network.

Chief executive Jackie Fairley declined to comment on the value of the deal, but said the successful launch of the product overseas would pave the way for its long-term use beyond the pandemic. She said the company was also planning to register Viraleze in Australia, but would focus on COVID-ravaged Europe in the first instance.

“It’s been a pretty frenetic 12 months, and we’re delighted to have gotten to this point,” she said. “Clearly this market [Britain] is a very large market - this is a broad spectrum antiviral and it’s a product that has applications more broadly. The UK is currently locked down and will be emerging in a couple of weeks. This [deal] achieves a very high level of distribution through that market rapidly.”

The move makes Starpharma the first ASX-listed biotech to bring a COVID-19 preventative product to a global retail market. It comes after a year in which almost every drug developer around the world has tried to pivot its treatments towards the virus.

Starpharma’s shares opened up 3.5 per cent to $2.10 on the news, before dropping 1 per cent by 11am AEDT.

Starpharma started work on Viraleze around a year ago, convinced that SPL7013, the active antiviral compound that it already uses in registered antiviral condoms and sexual health products, could prove useful in stopping SARS-CoV-2 in its tracks.

Unlike vaccines for coronavirus, Viraleze has not gone through large-scale human trials and instead has been tested in the laboratory for its effectiveness. The company has been able to launch the product quickly because the active ingredients have already been reviewed and registered for use in Europe.

The company says the product is a “broad spectrum antiviral” spray that has been shown to inactivate 99.99 per cent of the virus that causes COVID-19 in lab studies.

The product is intended to be used alongside vaccines and other preventative measures as an extra level of protection against the virus and other viruses including influenza for candidates such as healthcare workers.

Dr Fairley said Viraleze was designed to be used in the overall battle against COVID alongside masks and vaccines.

“We’re not making a claim that [it] is the same as vaccines,” she said.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/aussie-biotech-starpharma-signs-deal-to-sell-covid-nose-spray-in-britain-20210325-p57dvg.html

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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24 March, 2021

Golden Gaytime could be forced to change its name because LGBT community finds it 'offensive'

Australia's popular Golden Gaytime ice cream could be forced to change its name after being slammed by the LGBT community as 'offensive'.

Brian Mc, from Melbourne, launched a petition to replace the name of the 62-year-old treat, prompting a heated battle with owner Streets.

'As a part of the LGBTQIA+ community I believe my sexual identity is owned by me, not a brand and that the outdated meaning no longer applies. Isn't it time for this double entendre to end?' he wrote on the online petition, which has garnered 800 signatures.

'Under the law they are seen the same, discrimination means being treated unfairly or not as well as others because of a protected characteristic like age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race or disability.

'It's not my place to tell Streets what to call their re-branded product, but I do feel it's time that the Golden Gaytime is called out for being outdated, especially when Streets is releasing new products and cross promotions in 2021.

'Just to be a gay man, even in 2021 is still hard … (we) still have a long way to go to be fully accepted as equals, but if we see an area in life that's not equal, and we are able to change it for the better, why wouldn't you speak up?'

Mr Mc said his aim isn't for the product to be cancelled, but is calling for 'Gay' to be removed from its name.

The ice cream giant issued a statement saying that the first Streets Gaytime was released in Australia was in 1959 'when the word 'gay' had not yet been applied to sexual preference.

'The origin of the Gaytime name was and remains related to having a joyous or happy time and was meant to capture the pleasure that comes with enjoying an ice cream.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9395877/Australias-Golden-Gaytime-forced-change-slammed-offensive.html

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Locally produced AstraZeneca ‘single best thing’ as government gives up on international supply

Australia will have no certainty around its vaccine rollout until CSL starts distributing locally produced doses, as European authorities continue to block attempts to export internationally manufactured AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.

The government is also no longer relying on getting any more doses of AstraZeneca from Europe as CSL-Seqirus ramps up to produce 50 million doses throughout the year.

Australia was due to get 3.8 million doses of the European-made AstraZeneca in February, but Health Department secretary Professor Brendan Murphy said neither the company nor Australia knew that supply would be stymied by Europe as the continent battles ongoing coronavirus epidemics.

“It’s not been possible until now to have certainty in planning,” he told a Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday morning.

Under questioning from Labor senator Murray Watt, Professor Murphy said early projections of having 4 million people vaccinated by the end of March were based on receiving those AstraZeneca doses, plus international shipments of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

“That was patently unachievable given that we didn’t get those international doses,” he said. “We’ve been working with Europe just about every day to try and get AstraZeneca released. It’s been a huge effort.”

On Tuesday evening, the AstraZeneca vaccine being manufactured by CSL in Victoria passed the final hurdle, after the Therapeutic Goods Administration approved the release of the first four batches - a total of 832,200 doses.

Professor Murphy said securing local vaccine production was “the single best thing we’ve done in this vaccine rollout”.

“Until we had this secure supply, every piece of advice we provide has been indicative,” he said. “Even the Pfizer doses, which have come in, fortunately, on a regular basis, have had a week to week uncertainty about [them].”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/locally-produced-astrazeneca-single-best-thing-as-government-gives-up-on-international-supply-20210324-p57dj3.html

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Ramping ambulances lose up to 185 hours in day

Ambulances spent up to 185 hours ramped in one day as leaked internal reports further reveal the ramping crisis gripping emergency departments across the state.

The Courier-Mail can reveal paramedics spent 185 hours waiting to offload patients and prepare for their next callout at Ipswich, Sunshine Coast University, Cairns and Gold Coast University hospitals on Sunday.

As the government announced yesterday it was convening talks with stakeholders, 15 ambulances sat ramped at Gold Coast University Hospital and patients brought to the Cairns Hospital via ambulance faced a three-hour wait.

The leaks came as Health Minister Yvette D’Ath defended the under-pressure system, calling on the Commonwealth to find room for almost 600 people who are using public hospitals while waiting to be moved to aged-care and disability facilities.

She said 60 beds were being used by COVID-19 patients while attributing some of the constraint to clearing elective surgery lists that had backed up during the pandemic.

“Emergency departments across the state are seeing significant, sustained and unprecedented demand pressures,” she said.

The 185 hours – referred to as lost QAS “availability” – are calculated from when an ambulance arrives at a hospital with a patient to when it indicates it’s ready to respond to another job.

The government was peppered with ramping questions by the opposition in parliament yesterday, where leader David Crisafulli claimed Labor was losing control of the health system.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/ramping-ambulances-lose-185-hours-in-day/news-story/771af2a4ccd0a356a1ab3f4f34f93b02

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Prosecutor tells Senate Estimates they are considering dropping charges against ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle

Prosecutors will decide whether to drop charges against Australian Taxation Office (ATO) whistleblower Richard Boyle within the next week.

On Tuesday night, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, Sarah McNaughton, told Senate estimates that the CDPP was considering whether or not it should drop the charges against Mr Boyle, a former debt collection officer at the ATO's Adelaide office.

Mr Boyle is relying on the public interest disclosure defence in pleading not guilty to offences including using a listening device to monitor a private conversation, recording another person's tax file number and disclosing protected information.

A Senate report last year found that ATO did a "superficial" investigation into Mr Boyle's public interest disclosure about the ATO misusing its powers against small businesses.

Blowing the whistle should not destroy your life

A single whistleblowing law and authority to protect those who disclose wrongdoing could boost protections.

On Wednesday night, Ms McNaughton responded to questioning by independent senator Rex Patrick about whether the charges would be dropped.

"We can indicate that we have received materials and that includes a copy of the Senate report," Ms McNaughton said.

"I can also indicate that we have indicated to the court that we will be considering these matters in relation to whether or not the matters should be no-billed (discontinued) within three weeks from the 10th of March.

"We are considering whether or not it should continue, and that decision — we have indicated to the court — we hope to be making by around about the 31st of March, and beyond that I'm really not in a position to comment."

Public servant turned whistleblower

Mr Boyle became a whistleblower in October 2017 when he made an internal public interest disclosure to the ATO.

It was only after the ATO dismissed his internal disclosure about heavy-handed debt collection practices at the Adelaide office branch that Mr Boyle took his claims public via an ABC Four Corners investigation.

The media investigation revealed ATO staff were instructed to use an aggressive debt collection practice known as garnishee notices, which can have an adverse impact on vulnerable individuals and businesses.

Mr Boyle's case is the first major test case of protections available under the Public Interest Disclosure Act (2013).

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) has already reduced the charges against Mr Boyle from 66 to 24.

But if found guilty of each of the alleged offences, Mr Boyle could still face a maximum sentence that means he spends the rest of his life in jail.

A 'huge injustice'

Senator Rex Patrick told ABC News that "a huge injustice would occur if the prosecution were allowed to continue".

"It is not in the public interest to prosecute whistleblowers," he said.

Senator Patrick said the ATO "improperly rejected" Mr Boyle's public interest disclosure.

"At great risk to himself, he [Mr Boyle] then went to the media and the improper conduct was exposed which ultimately caused a stop to the abuse of power," Senator Rex Patrick said.

"Mr Boyle acted courageously in the public interest only to find himself charged and before a court."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-24/charges-ato-whistleblower-richard-boyle-dropped-senate-estimates/13271128

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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23 March, 2021

‘Life-threatening’: Fears as downpour continues in S.E. Queensland, causing floods, landslides

These stories of destructive weather always bemuse me. When I look out my front door I never see anything like the weather report. And so it is at the moment. As I write this at lunchtime on Tuesday (23rd), we have had some prolonged showers earlier on but it is not raining at the moment. It has certainly rained fairly continuously in the last few days but very little of that has been heavy falls

There have always been flood-prone areas in Brisbane but I can remember worse flooding only a few years back. I certainly encountered no holdups on the road this morning or yesterday

Parts of southeast Queensland have recorded almost half a year’s worth of rain in two days as the relentless deluge continues, with fears that even more rain could cause flash flooding and potentially deadline landslips.

From Birdsville in the west to the southeast coast, hundreds of roads were cut, including the Cunningham Highway, and properties isolated, while homes in the Gold Coast hinterland were evacuated as torrential rain sent landslides and waterfalls tumbling down hillsides.

Rainfall records that have stood for more than a century in some places have been smashed.

In the 24 hours to 9am, North Tamborine recorded 242mm, with more than 550mm recorded in the past two days. Nearby Mount Tamborine, Upper Springbrook and Hotham Creek all recorded over 200mm in the past 24 hours, with two-day tallies of well over 400mm.

North Stradbroke Island also recorded more than 200mm yesterday.

Further west, Stanthorpe recorded its wettest March day in more than a century, while Applethorpe set a new March daily rainfall record with 86mm.

Flooding is predicted for Beaudesert on Tuesday afternoon, but it is expected to fall well short of the levels seen in the wake of Cyclone Debbie four years ago.

Springbrook has borne the brunt of Queensland’s heavy weather over the past week with 397mm of recorded rainfall. North Tamborine closely followed with 382mm recorded rainfall, Worongary Creek 369mm, Bonogin 364mm, Mount Tamborine 349mm, Clearview 361mm, Possum Creek 342mm, Oxenford Weir 331mm, Tallebudgera Creek Road 318mm and Molendinar being hit with 314mm.

James Thompson from the Bureau of Meteorology said Brisbane could have anywhere between 35-60mm of rainfall today.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/weather/lifethreatening-fears-as-downpour-continues-causing-floods-landslides/news-story/9ec6b8ba61dd252d2a70864f2efdf3ae

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The Mother of All Battles

Bettina Arndt

As the Christian Porter saga continues to dominate the news, there’s a lesson playing out for all the woke men who hope that by drinking the feminist Kool-Aid they will protect themselves from being targeted during the ongoing anti-male crusade.

Our Attorney General is a classic. Porter has been sucking up to the feminist mob for decades. Just look at his incredible performance back in 2015 on the ABC’s Q&A, just after he’d announced 100 million dollars funding for the domestic violence industry. There he was spewing out all the buzzwords they wanted to hear, claiming the entire problem was due to vicious, misogynist men and telling a young male audience member to listen to women, believe women.

Many of the prominent feminists he fawned over are now delighting in throwing him under the bus – like former UTS communications lecturer Jenna Price happily declaring his career is over whilst Julia Baird gleefully tweets that the Porter case has triggered a “cultural reckoning”.

Even more ironic is the fact that Christian Porter ignored appeals from prominent people complaining about the defamation case of Fr John Fleming, a Catholic priest who unsuccessfully sued an Adelaide newspaper which destroyed his reputation by publishing details of unsubstantiated allegations involving historic child sexual abuse.

Read this account by law professor Augusto Zimmermann of the legal flaws in the subsequent unsuccessful appeal which overturned the presumption of innocence and set a dangerous precedent in lowering the standard of proof required in defamation cases where criminal allegations are involved. The judge chose to believe the uncorroborated narrative offered by the accuser in the face of evidence that powerfully contradicted her version of events.

Zimmermann believes that the Fleming case could have bearing on Porter’s defamation case.

Women’s right to feel safe.

One of the most infuriating themes emerging in the ongoing feminist campaign is the facile dream of a utopia in which all women feel completely safe walking at night. We’ve seen endless women complaining they don’t dare walk alone in the streets in the dark, something they see as the fault of all men. Here’s the SBS even taking up the ludicrous suggestion from a British MP proposing a 6pm curfew for all men.

The reality is that men have far more reason to feel unsafe on the streets at night than women do. The latest AIHW figures show male rates of assault injury hospitalisations are almost twice that of females - 64% (14,085 cases) compared to 36% for females (7,972 cases).

Many Australian men as well as women are wary of walking the streets in dubious neighbourhoods, particularly very young or frail older men. But let’s not forget this is, comparatively, a very safe country and overall violence rates are on the decrease. The AIHW statistics show assaults have gone down significantly, with a 3% annual drop since 2007-8. The ABS’s Personal Safety Survey shows a drop in experiences of physical violence, falling from 7.5% in 2005 to 4.5% in 2016.

Naturally, men’s experience doesn’t rate a mention in the current narrative. We simply don’t care about men being bashed or beaten or stabbed. The only time we get upset about men being attacked seems to be when young men are king hit, taken out in a one-punch assault by a stranger. When a few cases of this started happening some years ago we were happy to close down the night life of Sydney.

But that was an aberration. In the current manufactured outrage about protecting women, men’s safety is irrelevant.

At least most people seem to have twigged to the fact that the whole campaign is a cynical exercise to take out ScoMo and his government. How revealing that the organizer of women’s march was blatantly tweeting back in January, seeking ideas to damage the Coalition.

As the weeks have rolled on, we have seen more evidence that the rage about women’s safety is blatant political opportunism, egged on by the usual biased media playing down complaints about sexist bullying in Labor party offices in order to focus exclusively on the allegations against Coalition men. Naturally, they choose to ignore Nicolle Flint’s expose of the hypocrisy of Penny Wong and her Labor colleagues who turned a blind eye to the appalling sexist treatment Flint received curtesy of the Get Up thugs.

While many women have been seduced into signing up to this cultural event, I’m also receiving a flood of mail from female correspondents who see through the whole charade. Like an 80-year-old retired GP who wrote saying she “is fed up with all the stuff in the media about Grace Tame, and the discussions about rape, etc. The message feminists are giving is very dangerous for our society.”

Or the younger female who said she is “sickened to see the push by modern feminists, activists, and SJWs to ostracise, sedate, and punish men so unfairly to the extent of removing their right to fair legal processes.”

Our failed criminal justice system

Many have written suggesting I put together data to dismantle the lies being promoted about the supposed failure of our criminal justice system to deal properly with rape accusations. I’m keen to do that and would welcome your help in taking apart the statistics but a complete analysis will take time.

As a starting point, let’s have a quick look at the latest voodoo statistics being used to fuel the current debate. I’m reminded of Andrew Lang’s telling comment that some people use statistics as a drunk man uses a drunk post – for support, not illumination.

Helen Trinca in The Weekend Australian claims the conviction rate in rape court cases “sits at a shockingly low 2 per cent.” This is total nonsense. Latest figures from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics BOSCAR show 66% of sexual assault cases result in a guilty verdict.

Just how the feminists have conjured up the oft-quoted 2% figure remains a mystery – but it appears they inflate the numbers of rape victims by not using assaults reported to the police but rather self-defined victim figures from the ABS PPS which includes a wonderfully broad definition.

In fact, that survey is pretty illuminating, telling us a great deal about why so many of these cases don’t end up in court.

Here’s some of the facts about those rape statistics they won’t tell you.

We’re not just talking about what most people think of as ‘rape” but any sexual act involving force or coercion, including attempts to force someone into sexual activity.(PSS)

Many of these cases involve young women - over a quarter (27%) of female victims were aged between 15 and 19 years. (ABS Recorded Crimes)

Most victims (87%) knew their offender – so chances are many are date rape cases revolving around the murky complexities of consent. (ABS)

Half the women believed that alcohol or another substance contributed to the sexual assault. (AIHW)

Only 13 % reported the assault to police. The major reasons for not doing so included a third who felt they could deal with it themselves, and another third who did not regard it as a serious offence. (AIHW)

Almost half the women didn’t see what happened to them as a crime. Twenty two percent saw it as something that just happens. (AIHW)

Back in 2009 BOSCAR investigated why fewer cases were going through to trial and found one of the major reasons was there had been an increase in cases where the victim knew the offender and didn’t want to give evidence against the accused person.

While it is certainly true that many women who are raped don’t trust the criminal system to provide them with justice, this is the other side of the picture that is never discussed. The fact is that many young women who have experiences now being defined as sexual assault don’t see what happened to them as particularly serious and feel they can deal with it themselves. And thankfully, many don’t see a confusing drunken hook-up as reason to punish the man for what happened.

Many of these young women know these cases are not going to stand up in court, yet the arrogant feminists are telling them that they know better. That they should be pushing the justice system to give them a hearing, even if a jury then throws the case out. Of course, if a jury decides the evidence isn’t there to find the man guilty, this fuels feminist outrage about injustice towards women. Pretty neat, eh?

Naturally, the feminists are arguing women’s recalcitrant attitudes towards their own experiences simply point to the need for educating women that all sexual assault experiences are serious criminal offences, and the men deserve to be punished.

That’s actually what they will achieve unless we start to speak out, encouraging young women to make more sensible decisions about how they conduct their sexual lives. It’s so dangerous allowing sexual consent courses to be taught in schools and universities where intoxicated women are regarded as not able to give consent – so her drunk partner is always the rapist. And she has the right to change her mind afterwards.

We all must join the conversation, parents must write to schools, talk to other parents. We need to challenge the anti-male rhetoric dominating current discussions, by adding comments to online articles, or joining debates on social media. Think about the generations of young men growing up in these troubled times. We owe it to them to fight back.

Bettina Arndt newsletter: newsletter@bettinaarndt.com.au

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The urban farmers taking over someone else's backyard as a reprieve from the pandemic

This sounds an excellent idea. My backyard is available

On a quiet street in suburban Melbourne, there's no sign of the transformation taking place.

Behind an old cottage in Fawkner, Catie Payne and George Clipp carefully tend to rows of flourishing crops.

The pair have long wanted to try their hand at farming. But despite years of experience working on market gardens and farms across Australia and abroad, they were unable to afford land of their own.

That is, until an innovative project in Melbourne's north gave them the chance to try their hand at urban farming — using someone else's backyard.

"It's wildest dream material for us," says 32-year-old Payne.

"We'd long chatted about how great it would be for folks with unused land to connect with those who'd love to tend a little patch of land."

The Backyard Farmers project is the brainchild of Growing Farmers, a community regenerative urban farming group, created in early 2020 to strengthen local food security and sustainability.

By connecting aspiring farmers like Payne and Clipp with people happy to share their backyards, the group hopes to foster a win-win relationship that could be replicated across the country.

"I'd been moaning about needing to do the mowing and I saw the ad and thought, 'that's what I need'," laughs Sapphire McMullan-Fisher, who decided to volunteer her property after coming across a flyer for the project at a local market garden.

A mycologist at Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens, McMullan-Fisher is also a lifelong gardener, passionate about healthy soil and the biodiversity it supports.

But after buying her house several years ago with a friend, McMullin-Fisher's plans to renovate were shelved, leaving her to battle weeds and grass in her large backyard.

"I've always worked with people to do things, so I was totally ready for someone else to come and take responsibility for this space," she says.

"Productive food for the community, paid or unpaid or however it evolves — why wouldn't you support that?"

A burgeoning local food system

With McMullan-Fisher's help, Payne and Clipp have been hard at work since Melbourne's restrictions began easing late last year.

What was once a tangle of weeds and grass is now 60 square metres of crops, ranging from tomatoes and pumpkins to bush foods like midyim berries and native river mint.

They haven't decided whether they'll sell or donate their harvests through a local food hub, but they have plenty of plans for the patch, which they'll have access to for at least six months.

In return, their host gets to see her backyard turned into a productive oasis and share in the organic produce it creates.

"The opportunity to be part of a burgeoning local food system — where backyards become mini-farms and people step up to share, collaborate and compromise — is exciting," says Payne.

With the project well underway, the group hopes to build on a pandemic-driven surge of interest in food growing.

More than 60 per cent of those who participated in the 2020 Pandemic Gardening Survey, conducted by Sustain: The Australian Food Network, said they had increased their edible food growing over the past 12 months.

Many cited the sense of reassurance and wellbeing it gave them.

"We're interested in not only growing food but also in growing resilient and connected communities around that," Growing Farmers president Alice Crowe says.

"When people work together on something they believe in, it creates a kind of glue between them. "People supporting other people and having their daily lives entwined in even a small way — that is community to me." 'It reminds us how connected we are'

Like many suburbs across Australia, Fawkner's multicultural traditions and generous blocks make it ideal for edible gardening, says Crowe.

"This area has a rich food-growing history with a lot of Italian and Greek migrants, as well as people from Arabic-speaking countries, who have always been really invested in the ethos of home food-growing and providing for yourself," she says.

"It also seems to attract people who are interested in nature, and interested in how we live and how we eat. People here are very connected."

Long-term, Growing Farmers hopes to unlock some of the area's public land for a large-scale market garden. That would allow residents to grow food for the local community, Crowe says, while giving novice farmers the opportunity to learn those skills.

"Anyone who grew a tomato during lockdown — even a little bit of their own food — knows that feeling of how satisfying is it to be working with the processes of nature," she says.

"It reminds us how connected we are with the earth and there's a feeling of deep satisfaction that comes from that."

Checking a bed of ripening blackberries in a community garden across town, gardener Meg knows that feeling well.

Eight years ago, the Caulfield South Community Garden was an abandoned tennis court, sitting forgotten behind a church.

Today, it is a beloved sanctuary of communal veggie beds, pots of herbs and trees laden with fruit.

Old church pews dot the garden, which is open every day to members who share in its harvest, and anyone else who wants to visit.

During Melbourne's first lockdown, Meg (who didn't want her surname used) and fellow volunteers began delivering bags of produce to members who were self-isolating.

Inspired by wartime Victory Gardens, they then began raising masses of vegetable seedlings to give away.

"Growing your own food, whether in a full-on homestead situation, or simply getting a few herbs going on your kitchen windowsill, is an incredibly empowering act which can help re-connect us with the natural world," Meg says.

"The list of benefits really goes on and on, but one of the big ways I think it supported many people during lockdown was by encouraging mindfulness and ritual, and bringing a little bit of joy and wonder into our worlds."

'A space where people feel they can go at any time'

The Isolation Gardening Project saw more than 2,000 free pots and punnets of seedlings, as well as seeds, shared with the community.

As word of the project spread, the garden's social media following tripled in size. Queues formed each week when plants and seeds were ready.

"People were incredibly grateful," says Meg. "One woman said she cried when she picked up her first punnet of seedlings — she was just so overwhelmed by the support of the community."

During Melbourne's tough Stage 4 lockdown, some volunteers also used their daily hour of permitted exercise to work in the garden — as a way of looking after both the plants, and their own mental health.

"The garden has been a godsend for me," says Anne, a member who's dropped in to do some weeding and harvest rhubarb. "At home I kept watching the news and waiting for the daily numbers of cases," she adds. "But I didn't think of that at all when I was working here in the garden."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-21/gardening-as-a-reprieve-from-the-coronavirus-pandemic/13050976

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Company swings to loss amid delays to New Acland mine

Delays to expansion caused by ‘vocal activists’ are costing jobs in Queensland and hurting the broader business, says coal miner.

Listed miner New Hope Group says continued uncertainty around the approval of stage three of its New Acland Coal Mine in Queensland could see the number of employees at the site fall from more than 100 to around a dozen while damaging the broader company, which has swung to a half-year loss.

The company on Tuesday said revenue for the period declined 34.4 per cent to $405m while a net loss of $55m was recorded, compared to a $69.7m profit in the prior comparable period.

An interim dividend of four cents a share, fully franked, was declared.

At the end of the last financial year the $1.10bn miner recorded a $156m annual loss, suspended its dividend and cut 200 jobs associated with its New Acland Coal Mine due to approval delays.

Last month, the High Court ordered fresh hearings into the planned expansion of the mine, after a group of Darling Downs landholders won an appeal against the miner’s moves.

On Tuesday New Hope CEO Reinhold Schmidt said this continuing regulatory uncertainty surrounding the New Acland coal mine was impacting the broader business and costing more jobs.

“Redundancies continue as a result of nearing final stage 2 coal at New Acland,” Mr Schmidt said.

“With the High Court of Australia ordering New Acland back to the Land Court of Queensland in the first quarter of FY22, and the prospect of the project being placed in care and maintenance, a further impairment of the asset has been accounted for in the half year results.

“Despite the ongoing delays, brought about by a handful of vocal activists, the company remains committed to push for the approval of stage 3.”

The Australian understands that between 20 and 30 Acland workers will be made redundant in the coming months, bringing the mine’s headcount under 100, compared to a recent high of 300 in November 2019.

If approval for stage 3 is not granted by November, the mine is expected to go into care and maintenance mode, necessitating only a fraction of the current workforce to stay on site.

Additionally, the company has within the last half year made approximately one dozen employees redundant at its Queensland Bulk Handling ports business and shed 80 corporate head office positions.

Company accounts show a $40.25m before tax impairment charge relating to Queensland coal mining assets, a $1.6m impairment charge relating to Queensland coal exploration and $10.1m in group redundancy costs.

A spokesman for the company said New Hope had received “less than $10m” from the government’s Jobkeeper scheme.

Despite the regulatory hurdles faced by the New Acland mine, Mr Schmidt said a foundation has been set for a strong second half, with coal prices lifting and production at its Bengalla mine improving.

“The Newcastle 6000 index has recovered from the lows in 2020 of US$50 to the current level in excess of US$90,” Mr Schmidt said.

“Bengalla continues to perform strongly for the business and, although production was down slightly in the first half due to the major dragline shut, it was above expectations.

“The investment in the dragline has delivered continued improvement in productivity to ensure a strong performance into the future.

“The focus moving forward is to increase annual production to the approved permitted capacity of the operation whilst maintaining safety and cost efficiencies.”

New Hope also separately addressed media speculation concerning potential legal action by the liquidators of two subsidiaries in voluntary administration - Northern Energy Corporation and Colton Coal - against the company “in connection with alleged voidable transaction, insolvent trading, asset transfers and breaches of directors’ duties, in respect of claims the Liquidators estimate to be valued at $174.1 million plus interest and costs.”

“Although the Company has not been served with any proceedings, it intends to defend vigorously any proceedings that are commenced,” New Hope said in a statement.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/business/new-hope-swings-to-loss-amid-delays-to-new-acland-mine/news-story/1f01f3b75d8741519cba2f11ea020405

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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22 March, 2021

Bipartisan motion calls out China’s treatment of Uighurs

I guess it is very wicked of me but I feel no regret about China's treatment of the Uighurs. Have we forgotten the Ürümqi riots of a few years ago in which Uighurs attacked Han Chinese? The Uighurs were making a nuisance of themselves in a typical Muslim way before the Chinese government (composed of Han Chinese) aroused itself to do something about them.

China wants a permanent solution to Uighur aggression and they rightly see that any solution will have to be a cultural one. So they are trying to knock their primitive Muslim religion out of the Uighurs. If the Uighurs abandoned their religion in favour of Confucian ideals, their oppression would end.

Muslims have done plenty of attacking us -- remember 9/11/2001? So it is plenty time for them to get some of their own back

Australian Uighurs are urging all federal MPs to support a bipartisan motion in Parliament which criticises China for “serious and systematic breaches of human rights” in Xinjiang.

The government has allowed debate on the motion put forward by veteran Liberal MP Kevin Andrews and Labor MP Chris Hayes, which will mark the strongest ever condemnation by the Australian Parliament of the Chinese government’s treatment of Uighurs.

The motion, introduced on Monday, urges the United Nations to investigate Beijing for its re-education camps and calls on the Australian government to ensure the country is not profiteering off forced labour in Xinjiang.

The Chinese government has repeatedly denied accusations of human rights abuses, including genocide, in the far western province.

Independent senator Rex Patrick last week accused the Australian government of failing to call out China’s mistreatment of Uighurs after it blocked his attempt to push through a Senate motion that would have recognised the Chinese government’s actions against the Muslim minority as “genocide”.

While not going that far, the resolution debated on Monday acknowledges parliaments and governments of other countries - including Britain, Netherlands, the United States and Canada - have recently said China’s actions in Xinjiang amount to genocide under international law.

The Australian Uighur Association’s Bahtiyar Bora said all members of Parliament should support the new motion and demand the Australian government “take much stronger action on what many believe is genocide taking place in plain sight”.

“At least one million innocent civilians have been locked up for no reason in a network of several hundred prisons,” he said. “This is beyond the usual left=right divide - this is about basic human dignity and the future of the entire Uighur population.”

Ramila Chanisheff from Australian Uighur Tangritagh Women’s Association said democratic nations such as Australia had a duty to call out China for its actions.

“The Chinese government has also separated thousands of children from their parents and placed them in special orphanages, in order to indoctrinate them,” she said.

Private members’ motions do not normally go to a vote, but it was given an hour of allocated time for debate from 10.15am. The Coalition and Labor were given 12 speakers each to debate the motion.

Mr Andrews said there was “overwhelming evidence of the cruel, inhumane and brutal practices of the Chinese Communist regime”.

“The most egregious, systematic abuse of human rights in the world is occurring in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China,” Mr Andrews said during his speech. “It has been occurring for several years. It involves the imprisonment, torture and enslavement of millions of ethnic Uyghurs, who comprise some 90 % of the population in the southern region of Xinjiang.”

Earlier this year the BBC reported first-hand accounts of systematic rape, sexual abuse and torture in Uighur detention camps.

Philip Citowicki, who was a policy adviser to former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop, said the motion was a reminder that many federal MPs were deeply concerned about the situation in Xinjiang.

What are Magnitsky sanctions and why does Russia oppose them?

?This bipartisan motion was long in the making and acts as a release valve for many MPs who have wanted to speak up but have been rightly carefully managed by governments and its desire to limit commentary outside of the control senior officials,” he said.

“Airing their grievances on the floor of the house offers an opportunity for many MPs to push the conversation on a recognition of genocide and similarly speak out as other parliaments around the world have....Without a doubt, the government would be very mindful of just how this would play out diplomatically and seek to carefully manage escalating tensions.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/genocide-in-plain-sight-bipartisan-motion-calls-out-china-s-treatment-uighurs-20210321-p57cqr.html

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Ambos waste 10,000 hours waiting around

Paramedics waited almost 10,000 hours with patients outside overloaded hospitals in February, stopping them from getting back on the road to help other sick and injured Queenslanders and prompting calls for a review of the health system which “is not coping”.

Startling new data obtained by The Courier-Mail has revealed ambulance officers lost more time waiting with patients last month compared to the same period last year despite there being less patients.

The revelation has prompted United Workers Union (UWU) national ambulance co-ordinator Fiona Scalon to call for a system review – similar to that conducted in 2013 amid a ramping crisis.

“We’re back to the stage where we think that level of scrutiny is needed again,” she said.

“UWU delegates are working with QAS to affect change in the areas that QAS has control over but the majority of the issue for our members stem from the fact that the Health and Hospital system is just not keeping up with demand.”

The Sunday-Mail recently revealed patients had waited up to seven hours with paramedics before being moved to a bed, with increased demand being reported across the state.

It can today be revealed that a patient more recently waited eight hours at the Ipswich Hospital.

And Ms Scalon said every hospital in Brisbane was at capacity by 3pm on Thursday this week.

New figures show QAS “lost” 9213.34 hours last month while waiting for patients to be admitted to hospitals across the Sunshine Coast, Metro North, Metro South, Gold Coast and West Moreton.

This is compared to 5527.8 hours last February when there were 393 more patients.

Ambulances just missed their targets to attend the most critical jobs between February 1 and March 17 this year across Metro North and South – with 50 per cent responding to 1A jobs in 8.5 minutes. The target is 8.2 minutes.

Health and Ambulance Services Minister Yvette D’Ath said the latest data showed 100 per cent of the most urgent Category 1 ED patients were being treated within two minutes.

“ED presentations in January were up 32,000 on the same time last year – with more than 212,000 presentations in total,” she said.

“Demand is increasing across the state for healthcare, and our public hospitals are seeing more patients presenting to emergency departments than ever before.

“QAS responds to up to 3,000 incidents a day – and they’re still responding to the most critical patients in optimum time frames.

“We’ll work with Queensland Health, QAS and unions to ensure that our health system remains strong.”

“The Health Minister needs to explain why standards are slipping at hospitals across Queensland and how she plans to fix it,” she said.

An additional $25 million will be spent this financial year to open more bed capacity across the system.

Ms Scalon said “hospital flow” needed to be at the top of the list for government. “The system is not coping,” she said.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/ambos-waste-10000-hours-waiting-around/news-story/f676a8cf2d2d0d7e589f53172732acde

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Climate scaremongers not held responsible for falsehoods

Tim Flannery still hasn’t paid a price for being wrong. Sydney’s Warragamba Dam is flooding again — which our former chief climate commissioner once said couldn’t happen.

In 2005, Flannery predicted Sydney’s dams could be empty in just two years because global warming was drying up the rains, leaving the city “facing extreme difficulties with water”.

In 2007, Flannery stepped up the scare, claiming global warming made the soil so hot that “even the rain that falls isn’t actually going to fill our dams and river systems”.

Yet for the second time in two years, Warragamba is overflowing. It also spilt over in 2012.

But where is Flannery?

He’s sure not saying sorry. Far from it; he’s just been named as a speaker at the taxpayer-funded Sydney Writers’ Festival, to lecture us on what “may be the last chance” to save ourselves from “the climate crisis”.

That’s how it goes with these climate catastrophists. Even when they’re wrong, the politico-media class forgives them because they were wrong in a sacred cause. They scare us into righteousness.

Check for yourself. Have you heard a single ABC presenter mention that Warragamba has again made a fool of Flannery? Or that Melbourne’s dams are now twice as full as they were when he made his dam-draining prediction?

Flannery is, of course, easy to mock. It’s hard to think of a global warming preacher who has been wrong so often.

This is the scaremonger who in 2008 warned of “a world five years from now, when there is no more ice over the Arctic”, who predicted Perth would become the world’s first “ghost metropolis” through lack of water, and who claimed we’d see cyclones “more frequently in the future”.

In fact, the Arctic ice and Perth are still there, and we’ve had fewer cyclones, not more.

Yet Flannery is only one of many climate catastrophists whose dud predictions are not held against them.

Take Robert Watson, a former chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Last month he co-wrote a United Nations report that warned us to cut our consumption because global warming was one of the man-made “climate emergencies” that had reduced “the Earth’s capacity to sustain current and future human wellbeing”.

His alarmist report was hyped by the media and especially by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who claimed we “might not thrive, even survive” because we’d waged a “suicidal war on nature”.

But why was anyone taking Watson seriously? Never mind that even his own report admitted world prosperity had actually doubled over the past 50 years.

Just consider his record. In 2004, this same Watson promoted a report on global warming that had been commissioned by the Pentagon and which predicted doom by 2020.

As The Guardian reported then, without a skerrick of scepticism, this “secret report” warned that “major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020”, when “nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the word”.

None of that happened last year, or was ever likely to. Yet Watson had praised these off-the-wall predictions, claiming “it’s going to be hard to blow off this sort of document”, which was “hugely embarrassing” to then President George W. Bush.

Watson paid no price for peddling this trash. Instead, this British chemist was knighted in 2012.

And what price did Al Gore pay? In 2006, the former US vice-president claimed in his Academy Award-winning “documentary” An Inconvenient Truth that global warming was drowning Pacific islands under rising seas, and “the citizens of these Pacific nations have all had to evacuate to New Zealand”.

Labor fell for this “drowning islands” scare, producing a “Pacific climate change plan” promising to take in such global warming refugees, with Anthony Albanese, now Labor leader, piously declaring we couldn’t “sit by while people literally drown”.

In fact, Gore was preaching porkies. No global warming “refugees” were evacuated to New Zealand then or since, and low-lying Pacific island nations are actually much more likely to grow than shrink.

Professor Paul Kench and Dr Arthur Webb studied 27 atoll islands in the central Pacific and found 43 per cent had actually got bigger over recent decades, and just 14 cent — not the most populous — smaller.

But what does Gore care? Scares sell, and he’s now hailed as the world’s first “climate change billionaire”. If he was wrong, it was only for our own good, you see. And his.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-bolt/andrew-bolt-climate-scaremongers-not-held-responsible-for-falsehoods/news-story/1925cef19cb1a5dc815b4e838fedd0e2

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CoitalSafe? What a classic Aussie brain fart

Many Australian men have no idea about how sex starts, and often continues, for girls. Brace yourself for the disturbing truth.

Do we need a consent app for sexual relations? No, we don’t, and thanks should immediately go to Jacqui Lambie for cutting right to the chase on this one.

How easy is it going to be for a bloke to get a swipe-right from a woman who is chucking up in a bucket, she wanted to know? Quite right. Also, what’s to stop somebody from swiping the app for you, while you’re too drunk to stand?

How soon will we see a predator using the green tick to say, “See, I didn’t rape her! She was up for whatever went down.”

Also, what happens when you swipe right for yes, then change your mind when he tries to extend things beyond your comfort zone? And, who’s going to make this app? One of those creepy dudes from Facebook who can’t even understand why the massacre and suicide livestreams should come down? No thank you.

The government? No thank you again (although it would be interesting to see what they’d call it: CoitalSafe? Or F..ksSafe?) No, no, and no.

The idea — more like a classic Aussie brain fart — came from NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller, who said at the time that it might be the worst idea he’d had this year, before immediately being proven right.

Still, it was a bit odd to find it coming from a cop. Why do we need an app, Mick, when we’ve got a police force? It’s run in NSW … by you! Except that we all know how the legal system — existing law, the police, the courts — runs just like CovidSafe. As in, you might as well not have it.

Because here’s how it currently works: women and girls get assaulted, and nothing happens, and then the matter goes away. But not for them.

Why does it work this way?

Because women and girls are too ashamed to speak up when they’ve been assaulted; or else too fearful; or else they blame themselves; or else it’s her word against his and she knows she won’t be believed; or else there’s no evidence; or gathering the evidence is too horrifying an idea; and because it’s so much easier to just try to forget. Except they can’t. Which is why it doesn’t go away for them.

Which is why it’s also so important that Australia is now having this urgent, national conversation about consent.

Many men seem to have no idea how much unwanted sex — sexual assault and harassment basically — women endure over the course of their lives. In particular, they have no idea about how sex starts, and often continues, for girls.

Girls in Australia are being forced, cajoled, coerced or tricked into sex, often from an early age. Sometimes, it’s performing sex acts they don’t want to perform; sometime it’s about gaining access to a girl’s body.

Men — and, most importantly, boys — don’t seem to understand that girls, for a range of complex reasons (guilt, shame, anxiety, fear) don’t always know how to say no.

Thus we have a situation where boys are pushing themselves onto girls, who feel powerless to stop them. Girls are being made to do things they don’t want to do, earlier than they want to do them, by boys who feel curious, or entitled to explore.

You may not believe that such a thing is happening, but you don’t have to take my word for it. You can take the testimony of the 5000 Australian girls who have this month posted their experiences with sexual assault to a website established by a former Sydney schoolgirl, Chanel Contos.

Contos, 23, was assaulted by a boy — that is, forced to do something she didn’t want to do — when she was a student at a prestigious all-girls school in Sydney. She was 13. She didn’t know it was assault, because she didn’t know how — or that she was allowed — to say no.

It was many years before she confided her experience to a friend, who immediately said that something similar had happened to her.

They knew it was affecting their adult relationships (one of the worst things about this story is how girls are being assaulted in a routine manner while growing up, and then we send boys and girls into the world to try to work and live together).

Contos put a post on Instagram, asking whether other girls had similar stories — and then stood back, as the messages flooded in. One girl said she didn’t consent so much as “cave in” to pressure to start having sex when she was 13. “I knew I wasn’t ready. I don’t know why I felt this pressure, but I did, and it made me feel sick,” she said.

Another girl said: “We weren’t taught anything. I thought a man just haggling you was what they did, and women just gave in.”

Many girls remembered drinking until they passed out and waking to find themselves being assaulted, often by more than one boy. “I thought it was my fault because I got so drunk,” said one.

“I was only 13 and he was almost 17, it was New Years’ and he liked me, so I thought I had to like him back,” said another.

One girl said: “It has always stuck with me that it was something I never wanted to happen. I felt pressured into giving consent and still feel sick about it … I doubt he has ever given it a second thought … I spent my life thinking it was my fault and I’d done wrong.”

Another said: “I was 14 … he said if we had sex, he would be my boyfriend … he kept going while I lay there crying … when we came out of the bedroom, his friend congratulated him.”

One girl said she knew she had been filmed. Plenty said other kids had gathered around to watch while they were being groped while drunk. One wrote that she had developed a “reputation” after having sex, so regularly got drunk, “and I didn’t want to (have sex) but only did because I felt I may as well live up to the names I was getting called … I seriously struggled to have sex sober for the years following … I didn’t feel I deserved anyone good.”

On and on it goes, for hundreds of pages.

Is this really how you want your teenage daughter to experience sex? Of course it’s not. So what can be done?

Some say alcohol is the problem, and that is partly right. Ask around, you’ll discover that teenagers host these things call “gatherings” — we used to say parties — where kids smuggle alcohol, or the “cool” parents provide it. We know what happens when kids get drunk. Girls get assaulted.

Parents should supervise more closely, but it is naive to think young people are not going to drink and experiment. They are.

Some say it is not alcohol — there’s always been alcohol — but it might be pornography.

Remember how shocked you were to find a tame 1970s Playboy in your Dad’s shed? Children these days have access to unfiltered, unclassified pornography on their phones, from primary school (please don’t think “my kid would never look, he’s not interested” — because there’s always a bigger kid in the playground who cannot wait to show him.) We could talk about trying to restrict access to pornography, but the horse has bolted.

Young people have some better ideas. Contos, for example, has started a petition calling for consent to be part of sex education from an early age.

“We are advocating for younger generations to receive an education that (we) received far too late,” Contos writes on her petition.

“We are sad and angry we did not receive an adequate education regarding what amounts to sexual assault,” she adds.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? Girls don’t want to be told to “avoid sex” or to “keep themselves nice” as the old saying used to go. They are just as curious and delighted by the idea of sex as the boys are.

But they don’t want sex education to be “what goes where” and “how to make a baby” (or, more likely these days, how to avoid making a baby). They are looking forward to a shared and hopefully wonderful experience.

But to get there, you need consent. And to get there, you need respect.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/forget-sexual-consent-apps-its-about-education-and-respect/news-story/c5619422797d9e867b60b4e1b724b55e

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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21 March, 2021

A penalty of being good-looking