This document is part of an archive of postings on Australian Politics, a blog hosted by Blogspot who are in turn owned by Google. The index to the archive is available here or here. Indexes to my other blogs can be located here or here. Archives do accompany my original postings but, given the animus towards conservative writing on Google and other internet institutions, their permanence is uncertain. These alternative archives help ensure a more permanent record of what I have written. My Home Page. My Recipes. My alternative Wikipedia. My Blogroll. Email me (John Ray) here. NOTE: The short comments that I have in the side column of the primary site for this blog are now given at the foot of this document.

Two of my ancestors were convicts so my family has been in Australia for a long time. As well as that, all four of my grandparents were born in the State where I was born and still live: Queensland. And I am even a member of the world's second-most condemned minority: WASPs (the most condemned is of course the Jews -- which may be why I tend to like Jews). So I think I am as Australian as you can get. I certainly feel that way. I like all things that are iconically Australian: meat pies, Vegemite, Henry Lawson etc. I particularly pride myself on my familiarity with the great Australian slanguage. I draw the line at Iced Vo-Vos and betting on the neddies, however. So if I cannot comment insightfully on Australian affairs, who could?

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31 August, 2020

We're edging towards a big change in how the economy is managed

Extensive creation of new money has become respectable

Ross Gittins

We must be in a recession because I’m getting a lot more letters from readers telling me they’ve figured out how to fix the economy in a way the economists haven’t been smart enough to discover.

Their solutions can be weird and wonderful, but a lot of them boil down to a simple proposition: if the economy’s in recession and unemployment’s high because people aren’t spending enough money, why doesn’t the government just print a lot of money and spend it itself?

But here’s the scoop: the idea that, rather than borrowing to fund their budget deficits – thus incurring big debts and interest bills – governments should just create the money they need has been anathema to economists for the past 40 years, but this may be changing.

There is a growing debate among economists, between the proponents of what they call “modern monetary theory” and more conventional economists and econocrats over whether governments should just create the money they need.

The defenders of the conventional wisdom have had to concede a lot of ground. Whereas a decade ago MMT was lightly dismissed as a crackpot idea, as this radical idea has gained more attention its opponents have had to admit it would be perfectly possible to do. They just think it would be a really bad thing to do.

Unconventional already the norm

Trick is, the “unconventional policy” of “quantitative easing” – where the central bank buys second-hand government bonds and other securities and pays for them merely by crediting the seller’s bank account – is quite similar to what the radicals are seeking.

All the major advanced economies – the US, the Eurozone, Britain and Japan - began doing this in big licks in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008, once their official interest rates were so close to zero that they could be pushed no lower.

And now, once this coronacession had prompted our Reserve Bank to drop our official rate to its “effective lower bound” of 0.25 per cent in March, it too has resorted to quantitative easing, promising to buy as many second-hand bonds as necessary to keep the interest rate on three-year government bonds no higher than 0.25 per cent.

So, how exactly would what the RBA is already doing be very different to what the MMT advocates say it should be doing?

The greatest proponent of MMT is an Australian, Professor Bill Mitchell, from my alma mater, the University of Newcastle. Internationally, its highest profile salesperson is Professor Stephanie Kelton, of Stony Brook University in New York, author of the big-selling The Deficit Myth.

Our leading commentator on the debate is Dr Stephen Grenville, a former deputy governor of the RBA. And our most vocal opponent of MMT is present RBA governor Dr Philip Lowe.

Those opponents are right to say there’s nothing new about “modern” monetary policy. In the days before the loss of faith in simple "Keynesianism", it was common for governments to fund their budgets partly by selling bonds to the Reserve Bank, rather than to the public.

So the fatwah on governments “printing money” dates back only as far as Milton Friedman and his monetarists’ semi-successful attack on Keynesian orthodoxy in the late 1970s, when all the developed economies had a big problem with high inflation.

Friedman argued that inflation was “always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon” which governments could control by limiting the supply of money. Governments eventually realised that the quantity of money was “demand-determined” and that setting targets for growth in the money supply didn’t work. They switched to using the manipulation of interest rates to target the inflation rate.

As sensible economists always knew, it was never true that creating money always leads to greater inflation. It does so only when the demand for “real resources” – land, labour and physical capital – exceeds the supply of real resources. Only then do you have “too much money chasing too few goods”.

This has been confirmed by the failure of all the money created by quantitative easing since the global financial crisis to cause much, if any inflation, contrary to the predictions of the world’s few remaining monetarists.

The opponents are also right to say, quoting Friedman’s most famous aphorism, that “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” and it’s a delusion to imagine MMT offers one.

As Lowe argued vigorously at his appearance before the Parliament’s economics committee earlier this month, in reply to questions from Greens leader Adam Bandt, it may seem that by creating money rather than borrowing it you’re avoiding a lot of debt and interest payments but, in reality, all you’re doing is delaying and hiding the bill to the government and its taxpayers.

Risky business

It’s also a delusion (as the leading proponents of MMT acknowledge) that governments would be free to create (or “print”, to use a misleading metaphor) as much money as they needed, without restraint. The restraint is the same one it always was: the limited supply of real resources.

While ever the demand for real resources – the things we use to produce goods and services – is falling short of the supply of those resources, creating money should lead to increased demand for them (provided you do it more effectively than the big central banks did it after the financial crisis).

But once demand was growing faster than the supply of real resources, any further money you created would simply cause inflation. This is what’s really worrying the opponents of MMT (and me). If you let the politicians off the leash to spend as much as they liked up to a point, how would you ever get them to stop once that point was reached?

While ever all we’re doing is quantitative easing, the independent central banks do the deciding, not the politicians. Which brings us to Lowe’s “advanced negotiating position”: why risk letting the pollies start creating money when the government can borrow from the public at interest rates that are pathetically low. And RBA governor Lowe’s promising to keep them low for as long as necessary.

SOURCE 






A practical way of using renewables

Kalbarri [in Western Australia] is now the proposed site for a massive 5,000-megawatt renewable hydrogen export operation. Although construction is still 10 years away from breaking ground, should it go ahead, the project will put the tiny town at the bleeding edge of a pioneering technological development in renewable energy.

“The idea is to become a low-cost producer of green, renewable hydrogen,” says Terry Kallis, one of the project’s promoters.

Like solar and wind power, the technology to make “green” hydrogen from water has been around since the 1970s.

Historically the production of hydrogen relied on fossil fuels to make “brown” or “blue” hydrogen by running an electric current through water using an electrolyser – a device that breaks down water into oxygen and hydrogen.

But today the development of renewable energy has advanced enough that coal or natural gas are no longer needed to create the electric current. The entire process can instead be powered by wind and solar – making green hydrogen possible.

For years, technological development in the sector stalled due to a lack of demand, but that is changing rapidly. Each year the world consumes 70m tonnes of hydrogen to make glass, steel and fertiliser. That figure is projected to grow to 90m tonnes by 2050 under the more conservative scenarios.

The Kalbarri proposal aims to take advantage of this by constructing a combined wind and solar plant to power the commercial production of hydrogen from seawater. If all goes well, the gas will then be exported to nations like Korea, Japan and Singapore, countries that – thanks to their geography – cannot make it themselves.

Kallis and his business partner, Peter Sgardelis, have a background in large-scale renewables. Kallis was involved in the construction of the first commercial windfarm in South Australia and Sgardelis worked on the Star of the South offshore windfarm in Victoria.

This experience – along with the growing global interest in renewable hydrogen – has helped attract support from German multinational engineering giant Siemens, which in October last year signed up to build the electrolysers for the project.

“We’ve seen the costs associated with production of green hydrogen coming down, or coming down sooner than expected,” Kallis says. “We’ve also seen the development of the electrolyser to commercial scale and people start talking about demand. That has been a missing link.”

The area around Kalbarri – the traditional land of the Nanda people with whom they are currently negotiating a land use agreement – is an obvious choice, he says.

The landscape offers the right type of wind, good exposure to sun, and is close to both ocean and the Dampier-to-Bunbury pipeline – the longest gas pipeline in Australia.

Since the project is being developed in stages, the earliest phases will see hydrogen blended into the liquid natural gas supply before it then pivots to focus on export.

Like any ambitious project that pushes the boundaries of technological and industrial development, it is not without problems to solve.

While the process of making hydrogen from water is well understood, until recently the electrolysers required for the process have not been large and efficient enough to produce in commercial quantities.

The other issue has been transport.

Moving hydrogen offshore currently requires the gas to be packaged up in ammonia, or cooled 250C below freezing until it forms a liquid that can then be pumped out onto a ship like LNG.

“Those details have yet to be determined, as it will depend on what the buyer wants,” Kallis says. “We’re under no illusions and we make clear this is a very large project, something that will be developed in stages over time.”

Should they succeed, they will be helping to pioneer what may be a whole new industry for Australia.

Many believe hydrogen could play a role in turning Australia into the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy.

“Countries such as Japan, Korea and Germany have already come to Australia, asking for us to export renewable hydrogen for their domestic energy consumption,” says Ken Baldwin, the director of the Energy Change Institute at the Australian National University. “We have enormous opportunities … [to create wealth and] jobs due to the demand for our energy from these countries.”

In November last year, the CSIRO released the National Hydrogen Roadmap to plan out how an export industry could be developed.

The potential to get in on the ground floor of a future industry has the private sector excited, with a flurry of 30 new proposals for renewable hydrogen projects in Western Australia alone.

SOURCE 






Independent review into NAPLAN advocates for replacing test with new Australian Standardised Assessment “ANSA”

The latest independent review into the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) was today presented to the Education Council which comprises commonwealth, state and territory Education ministers.

The review’s key recommendations included that NAPLAN be replaced with the new test “ANSA”, and testing students in Year 10 instead of testing students in Year 9 to better inform senior subject choices.

Sweeping changes to the writing assessment and more focus on critical thinking and science, were also among the recommendations.

If adopted, ANSA would be held earlier in the year as opposed to when NAPLAN is held in May in a bid to prevent schools “teaching to the test”.

It would aim for results to be returned within one week, to inform teaching and learning for the rest of the year.

However, replacing or amending NAPLAN would require consensus of the Education Council.

The review found that the lag between testing and results makes data ineffective for teachers, the writing test was flawed, the timing of the test contributes to teacher stress and student anxiety, and the test lacks contemporary content and delivery.

Education Minister Grace Grace said the review acknowledged that standardised testing should remain but needed to be improved.

“It is clear that the current NAPLAN testing is not world’s best practice,” Ms Grace said.

“By modernising these tests, we will be able to find a model that best suits parents, teachers and most importantly students.

NAPLAN performance has been calculated by finding each school’s yearly average total over five years. Five year change has been calculated by finding the percentage change between a school’s NAPLAN scores over five years.

Queensland schools cover the 2015 to 2019 period. Schools in all other states and territories cover the 2014 to 2018 period.

The Palaszczuk Government recently promised the Queensland Teachers’ Union, who have relentlessly opposed NAPLAN, to advocate for its replacement as a bid to appease the union over its anger and lobbying against the pay-rise deferral.

Ms Grace said the report proposes changes that would address issues that have been heard “loud and clear” that the “testing is onerous for teachers and too high-stakes for students”.

“This review aims to make changes to NAPLAN that alleviate these concerns, all while providing valuable information to schools, parents and the wider community alike.”

Since the testing began in 2008 NAPLAN has been subject to several reviews and controversy, and was this year cancelled because of COVID-19.

The latest review was commissioned by the Queensland Victorian, New South Wales and ACT governments and conducted by education experts Emeritus Professor Barry McGaw AO, Emeritus Professor William Louden AM and Professor Claire Wyatt-Smith.

SOURCE 






Australia announces changes to citizenship test and English language program for migrants

In a major policy overhaul impacting migrants, Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge has announced that Australia will be updating the citizenship test with a strong focus on Australian values to boost social cohesion.

Flagging the changes in an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Friday, Minister Tudge said new questions “on Australian values” will be included in the citizenship tests.

“Australian citizenship is both a privilege and a responsibility, and it should be granted to those who support our values, respect our laws, and want to contribute to Australia’s future,” he said.

Minister Tudge particularly recognised the efforts of the volunteers of the Sikh community who provided free meals to over 3,000 residents of the nine public housing estates in north Melbourne that were forced into “hard lockdown” amid a COVID-19 outbreak in July earlier this year.

“When you see Buddhist monks providing free massages to weary fire-fighters, Muslim builders putting on barbeques for bushfire survivors, Irish truck drivers delivering hundreds of thousands of litres of water, and Sikhs cooking and delivering curries to Melbourne’s public housing estates during the COVID lockdown, you know we have something special in this nation,” said Minister Tudge.

A record number of people – over 200,000 pledged their allegiance to Australia in 2019-20, of which a majority were from India.

Melbourne-based permanent resident Simreet Dua who is keen to be added to the list of Australian citizens this year said most migrants who want to assimilate into the country’s social fabric would welcome the inclusion of questions on Australian democratic values in the citizenship test.

“While it is too early to comment what the revised tests would look like, I strongly believe that all migrants should be across the Australian values, to be able to integrate into the Australian society and to make a valuable contribution to its culture and even economy,” said the 32-year-old.

Minister Tudge also announced that migrants who can’t speak English will be allowed to attend an uncapped number of free language classes in an overhaul of the billion-dollar worth Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP), which currently offers 510 hours of free tuition to be completed within five years.

Under the changes, the government has announced it will not only scrap the cap on the hours but also remove time limits on the classes, enabling permanent residents or citizens to be able to attend classes free of charge until they have acquired "functional English.”

“Without English language skills, migrants are less likely to get a job, less likely to integrate, and less likely to participate in our democracy,” said Mr Tudge.

Census data indicates that around half of overseas-born Australians who arrived with no English skills still cannot speak the language well, or at all after 15 years of residency.

Former senior Immigration Department official Abul Rizvi said while the English language is a key element of successfully integrating migrants into Australia, the question remains how much more money is the Morrison government willing to allocate towards the expansion of AMEP.

"No one can deny that the English language is important for migrants to communicate and survive in Australia. But the thing to watch out for is how much more money is the government allocating to this approach. If the answer is zero then you will have to question what the value of the policy is?” questioned Mr Rizvi.

He said the key here is to encourage more migrants to attend and participate in these classes.

“The main problem is that many of the migrants who want to attend classes are also searching for work and are often working. And the difficulty is accessing AMEP while you’re working. Its accessibility is a greater challenge than the allocation or the hourly limit,” added Mr Rizvi.

Welcoming the changes to the English language program, Violet Roumeliotis, the CEO of Settlement Services International (SSI), a Sydney-based community organisation, that supports new migrants told SBS Punjabi that the change in the policy will “further strengthen” Australia’s resolve and success towards the settlement and integration of migrant communities.

"We welcome any move that will further enhance social cohesion for new migrants and lead to better settlement outcomes, especially during these unprecedented times,” said Ms Roumeliotis.

SOURCE 

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here





30 August, 2020

We need an inquiry into climate alarmism

I hope you are sitting down; this foray into political and media madness over bushfires and climate change starts with recognising some excellent, forensic journalism by the ABC. Investigating last summer’s devastating Gospers Mountain fire, journalist Philippa McDonald took us to the very tree where the fire is believed to have been started when it was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm.

McDonald used this to give us the brilliantly counterintuitive opening line; “It began not with fire, but ice.” In a series of reports, McDonald and her team retraced the history of the fire over a number of weeks, how it was almost extinguished by rain, how bushwalkers in the wrong place at the wrong time thwarted a backburn that might have stopped it, how another prescribed burn got out of control and destroyed houses, and how a fortuitous wind change stopped it encroaching on suburban Sydney.

We might quibble with some of the alarmist language — repeating the silly new “megafire” term and pretending that when fires meet they join and get bigger when, in fact, this reduces the number of fronts and total length of fire perimeter — but overall the reporting was factual and admirable because it explained the many variables in fire behaviour and the factors that can influence whether a fire can be contained or extinguished before weather conditions turn it into an unstoppable beast. Surprisingly, and refreshingly, the reports did not dwell on climate change.

When it comes to our bushfires climate change is so close to being irrelevant, it should hardly warrant a passing reference — we have always faced disastrous bushfire conditions and always will. If climate change makes the worst conditions either marginally more or less common, it matters not; we still need to do the same things to protect ourselves.

In previous articles I have detailed the leading scientific analysis showing the main precondition for the NSW fires — a long drought — cannot be attributed to climate change. Unless climate activists want to argue Australia could do something to alter the global climate sufficiently to reduce our bushfire threat, they are exposed as cynical campaigners who used the sure bet of bushfires to advance their political scare campaign.

The NSW bushfire inquiry released this week took a dive into the climate science — as it was tasked to do — and found, predictably enough, that climate change “clearly played a role in the conditions” that led up to the fires and helped spread them. But thankfully it did not waste much time on climate in its recommendations, merely suggesting climate trends need to be monitored and factored in.

Apart from exercises in politically correct box ticking — Indigenous training for evacuation centre staff so they are “culturally competent”, wildlife rescue training for firefighters, and signs to promote ABC radio stations — most of the recommendations were practical. Better equipment for firefighters, more water bombers, more communication, public education and most importantly, a range of suggestions on fuel reduction around settled areas and planning controls on building in fire prone areas.

The bottom line has always been obvious: the one fire input we can control is fuel, so where we want to slow blazes or protect properties, we must reduce fuel. Planning is also important to prevent housing in indefensible locations, but one crucial phrase missing from the report was “personal responsibility”.

Houses on wooded hilltops or surrounded by bush cannot be protected and their residents should not expect others to risk their lives trying to do so.

People must be educated to clear extensively around properties, sufficient to withstand not a moderate fire but a firestorm, otherwise they must be prepared to surrender their homes and escape early.

“Hazard reduction is not the complete answer,” said report author Mary O’Kane. “People do need to take responsibility, they need to realise that if they live in certain areas it can be very dangerous, and we try to give a strong message of, if you are in a dangerous area and there is one of these big, bad megafires, the message, is get out.”

O’Kane is right, of course. But it seems a hell of a waste to hold a full inquiry only to be told we should do more fuel reduction, be careful where we build houses, and get the hell out of the way rather than try to fight firestorms. We knew all this.

The push for an inquiry was largely driven by the climate catastrophists. Remember, they wanted to blame the blazes on the axing of the carbon tax, and on Scott Morrison. It was inane and rancid stuff.

They will be at it again, this fire season. They love making political capital out of disasters, although they go as quiet as Tim Flannery when it comes to full dams and widespread snowfalls.

The area of land burned in the Australian summer has now been revised down by 25 per cent, and the claims about wildlife deaths revised downwards too, to factor in the mind-blowing realisation that animals actually escape fire when they can — birds fly, wombats burrow, kangaroos hop and even koalas can climb to the treetops and escape all but a crowning blaze.

Remember we had articles in The Guardian, The New York Times, and on CNN and the BBC, saying the bush might never recover. Take a drive through the Blue Mountains, Kangaroo Island or the Australian Alps and see how their predictions turned out.

The sclerophyll forests of southern Australia are not just adapted to fire, they are reliant on it. Therefore, the wildlife also is reliant on it for the rejuvenation of the vegetation — why does basic ecology escape the climate activists? If it is any comfort, the same madness is now playing out in California. Similar climate, similar history of bushfires, and the same maddening political debate. With fires burning more than a million acres in northern California this month, the state’s Democratic Governor, Gavin Newsom, sent a recorded message to his party’s national convention; “If you are in denial about climate change, come to California.” The trouble is that while these are bad wildfires, they are not unusual in the natural and settled history of that environment.

Like the Australian bush, the redwood forests that US journalists suggest are being destroyed by fire, depend on fire for propagation. Just like here, one of the issues has been the suppression of bushfire by human interference, leading to the unnatural build up of fuel that can explode when a wildfire does get away in bad conditions.

Environmentalist and author of Apocalypse Never; Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All, Michael Shellenberger says the climate is warming but the impact of this on fires is overstated. In an article for Forbes.com he quoted Scott Stevens of the University of California, Berkeley, saying climate change is not a major factor, as well as other experts scoffing of the idea that severe fires are anything new.

“California’s fires should indeed serve as a warning to the public, but not that climate change is causing the apocalypse,” wrote Shellenberger. “Rather, it should serve as a warning that mainstream news reporters and California’s politicians cannot be trusted to tell the truth about climate change and fires.”

Ditto for Oz. I have detailed previously how Fran Kelly told ABC audiences in November that “the fire warning had been increased to catastrophic for the first time ever in this country” — but that was wrong, wildly wrong.

Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John accused his political opponents of being “no better than arsonists” and other Greens and Labor MPs said Australia’s climate policies were exacerbating bushfires. Insane as this might be, it was amplified rather than interrogated by most media.

The thick smoke haze in Sydney was portrayed as something “unprecedented” — if it has not been on Twitter before it must never have happened — but a quick search of newspaper files found similar bushfire-induced shrouds in 1951, when airports were closed, and 1936, when a ship couldn’t find the heads.

Fires in rainforest areas of southern Queensland and northern NSW were not “unprecedented” either, with archived reports noting similar fires in the spring of 1951 and even the winter of 1946.

Despite 200,000 media mentions of “unprecedented” tracked by media monitors across December and January, the facts showed none of this was new. Greater areas were burned in 1851 and 1974-75, and human devastation was either as bad or worse on Black Saturday in 2009, Ash Wednesday in 1983, Black Tuesday in 1967, Black Friday in 1939 and Black Thursday 1851.

Bushland was not destroyed forever, koalas were not rendered extinct and Scott Morrison was not to blame. We should have an inquiry into climate alarmism, political posturing and media reporting — we would learn a lot more from that than we have from relearning age-old fire preparedness from yet another bushfire inquiry.

SOURCE 






Do we really need Mustafas?

Mustafa is one of the names of Muhammad

A sadistic ice junkie who raped seven women, including a 13-year-old school girl and a 22-year-old who died before she could see her attacker face justice, will die in prison.

Mustafa Kayirici, 30, was sentenced to 34 years in jail on Friday for the terrifying five-hour long sexual assault of a child which took place over 10 locations in 2016.

The sickening sex monster had already been sentenced to 38 years for the rape and robbery of seven other escorts that same year.

A judged at Sydney's Downing Centre District Court deemed Kayirici so evil that his latest sentence won't even come into effect until September 2041, but it's unlikely he will live that long as he has been diagnosed with an incurable disease and has just 12 months to live.

Kayirici's rampage began on the morning of May 7, 2016, when he raped a sex worker at an apartment block in Sydney's CBD while threatening her with a butcher's knife.

Later that afternoon, he arranged to meet another escort in Parramatta where he carried out a similar attack.

She said the face-tattooed predator was 'aggressive and dominant' and called her a sl*t before he spat in her eye, beat her and brutally raped her.

'I had to fight for my life,' she said.

Kayirici told her he 'loved seeing the fear in people when they can't do anything about it,' she said.

Just one week later he robbed another sex worker at knife point at her Parramatta apartment and then robbed another woman in her home in the same suburb on May 20.

On May 27, Kayirici pulled a butcher's knife on Dasha Volnoukhin - a 22-year-old Canadian model and escort who was living in Parramatta.

Eerie CCTV pictures showed him walking with her through the lobby of the Fiori Apartments in Parramatta and into the lift before his crime.

Ms Volnoukhin never saw her abuser suffer the consequences of his depraved acts as she died in the months before his sentencing hearing.

The cause of her death cannot legally be published.

Within moments of Ms Volnoukhin letting him inside the apartment, he took a 'large butcher style knife' from a kitchen drawer and told her to take off her clothes.

Kayirici told the terrified young woman - who screamed upon seeing the knife - to take off her clothes and then carry out sex acts on him.

'The man then yelled at me ''don't f***ing scream'' (and then) ''take your clothes off'',' Ms Volnoukhin told police.

'I was wearing shorts and a tank top at the time and then started to take my clothes off as I was thinking that if I don't, I will probably die. I was so scared.'

The young woman also said in her police statement that Kayirici filmed himself sexually assaulting her while asking her 'do you like being raped?'

'The man was pointing the phone at me… then started to demand that I say things… he was saying to me: ''Say you are a sl*t'.'

The rape ended after three to four minutes, Ms Volnoukhin said, before Kayirici stole her day's earnings and left.

Just three days after the brutal attack on Ms Volnoukhin, Kayirici robbed and raped another sex worker at knifepoint.

On June 19, Kayirici raped yet another woman in a Parramatta apartment block, calling her a 'little dog'.

His crime spree would continue on June 26, when he lured a 13-year-old into his car.

He then he drove the teenager to an underground car park where he forced her to undress and made her watch pornographic videos.

He told her she was going to get 'raped one day or another,' before making the girl perform sex acts and threatening her with a knife when she refused.

Kayirici then drove the teenager to a unit block basement and forced her to perform another series of sex acts.

He even tried to get her to find another young girl to join them as the pair drove 10 different locations, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The pair went to a supermarket together to buy duct tape and razors and the teenager tried to make eye contact with one of the staff members, the court heard.

Kayirici then scolded the girl for trying to get him caught.

He then raped her repeatedly in his car before dumping her at Auburn train station.

Kayirici gave the girl $5, apologised to her before threatening to release the videos he made if she told anyone.

'If you tell anyone, I will release those videos,' he said, the court was told.

'How would you like it if your dad saw that … I can hold it against you.'

The teenager said in a victim impact statement that the girl sometimes felt she would be 'better off dead' and felt constant fear and humiliation due to the attack.

The litany of sexual assaults over the horror six-week period resulted in Kayirici being found guilty of 42 charges at two separate trials including 12 charges of aggravated sexual assault with a person under 16 and 12 charges of using a child under 14 years to produce child abuse material.

SOURCE 






Social work, psychology protected from university price hikes as Federal Government looks to lock in support

The biggest higher education reform in decades is set to pass its first test — a Coalition party room vote — after social work and psychology were cut from the list of humanities courses set to have fees doubled.

Introduced in June, the Federal Government's "job-ready graduates" program is designed to equip the tertiary sector for post-pandemic employment needs by using a carrot and stick method of reducing fees for some courses, while increasing fees for others.

The reforms, which yesterday triggered hundreds of teachers and staff to join a virtual grassroots organising committee vowing illegal strike action, will likely be introduced in the house on Wednesday.

But the reforms face a tougher task in the Senate, where the program needs critical votes from crossbenchers.

Education Minister Dan Tehan declined to comment on the grounds the matter was going to a partyroom vote.

However, the ABC understands Coalition backbenchers returning home to electorates and hearing about concerns over access to mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic led to the partyroom change.

It is understood social work and psychology will both be taken out of the most expensive band, band 4, where humanities sit, and into band 2.

How much students can expect to pay:

Band    Discipline    Annual cost

1    Teaching, clinical psychology, English, maths, nursing, languages, agriculture    $3,700

2    Allied health, other health, architecturey, English, maths, nursing, languages, agriculture    $3,700, IT, creative arts, engineering, environmental studies, science    $7,700

3    Medical, dental, veterinary science    $11,300

4    Law & economics, management & commerce, society & culture, humanities, communications, behavioural science    $14,500

One of the senators the Federal Government will need to convince, independent Rex Patrick, said the latest changes were not enough.

He said wanted to see an inquiry into the proposal — which the Government would likely try to avoid.

"They have been presented without much evidence as to the effect they will have in the long term," Senator Patrick said

"I think a lot of students make their choices based on an affinity for a particular topic.

"I don't think you can force someone who's got an affinity with the humanities down a STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] path."

The fee hikes, as well as the absence of a comprehensive rescue package for the sector that is expected to haemorrhage between $3 billion and $4.6 billion in revenue this year, has parts of some campuses in revolt.

SOURCE 






Behind Australia's big vaccine gamble

When it came to securing a COVID-19 vaccine for Australia, the Morrison government was between a rock and a hard place. It had to hedge its bets in a vaccine world that is full of uncertainty and risk.

If it sat on its hands and did nothing while a vaccine became successful, it risked looking inept. But, if it backed a vaccine which then fell over, it also risked looking inept.

For weeks, the government studied the options, took wise counsel, waited and debated. Then it made an educated guess. It selected the vaccine being developed jointly by the University of Oxford and UK-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

The Morrison government has selected the vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford, led by researcher Sarah Gilbert, and UK-Swedish company AstraZeneca. David Rowe

If this vaccine proves successful, Australia has a deal that will allow it to manufacture 25 million doses for domestic use.

“This is one of the most advanced vaccines of the moment and one of the first that shows promise, but there are going to be many others,” says Professor Brendan Crabb, director of Melbourne’s Burnet Institute.

“Everything about it is fine, except that – like all vaccines at this stage of development – it is a high-risk venture and could easily fall over. This means Australia will need a plan B, C and D.

“The ideal thing for a country that wants a vaccine is to bet on every horse in the race, knowing there is some chance that none of the horses will finish the race.”

But there are too many. Of the hundreds of vaccine candidates currently in development across the globe, 167 are listed by The World Health Organisation as having preclinical or clinical trials underway.

Of this number, 29 are already into clinical trials and of them, six are into the final phase. The Oxford vaccine is top of the list and Australia has gambled on it.

In an ideal world, Australia would have kept its powder dry while it waited, but that was not an option, says Professor Crabb. supplied

But Australia also has two local horses in the race, one based at the University of Queensland and one on the Flinders University campus in Adelaide. These two are the most advanced under development in Australia.

While Professor Crabb believes the government has made a very sensible decision he says it is “a fingers-crossed situation”.

“In an ideal world, Australia would have kept its powder dry while it waited, perhaps into next year, until the phase three results were out for the Oxford vaccine.”

But that wasn’t really an option. Other countries were securing deals and there was public pressure to do something. Australia needed to have licensing agreements in place, so as soon as it received the go ahead, it could begin manufacturing the vaccine.

A long lead time is necessary to create the level of sophistication and capacity to manufacture the vaccine at scale.

“This is a huge and expensive undertaking and it wouldn’t surprise me if they had started making it already,” says Professor Crabb. “Imagine the risk in that. If the trial falls over, the project is dead. And so many vaccines fall at the very last hurdle.

"There is every chance this vaccine may not get approval and all this money would have been spent.”

Nevertheless, he says we need more horses so we can be better prepared and won't need to rely on other countries to make a vaccine for us, in their own timeframe.

There is considerable optimism that a vaccine will emerge. This is being driven by the unprecedented global effort from governments, multilateral players and industry to condense a multi-decade-long process into a year or two.

During COVID-19, money has taken on a different life. The previous carefully measured allocation of resources for research has become a bottomless jug of cash pouring into developments that might help to bring the pandemic to a close.

The average cost of a pharmaceutical or a vaccine getting to market is about $US4 billion ($5.6 billion). One reason vaccine development usually takes many years is because the financial risk induces caution, with researchers gingerly going from step to step.

In the COVID-19 catastrophe this caution has been largely discarded, says Professor Crabb.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here





28 August, 2020

Coronavirus: Australian antibody treatment offers aged care hope

An Australian consortium of 30 national peak clinical groups is working to develop an antibody-based preventive treatment for COVID-19.

“We’re interested in is actually developing antibodies that can block the entry of the virus into the cells and, therefore, stop virus infection,” Associate Professor Wai-Hong Tham said on Wednesday.

The treatment is designed to have antibodies that target the COVID-19 spike protein, which is what the virus uses to enter the body’s cells.

Tham, who is part of the research team via the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, explained the COVID virus has “a lock and key mechanism between spike protein and human cells. So, if you can actually bind an antibody that blocks spikes from doing the interaction with the human cells, you stop virus infection.

“What you’re developing really are antibodies you can deliver to patients, that you know are already going to be safe, that are going to be potent, they’re going to stop virus entry, stop virus infection, and they probably hopefully will work against all the variants that you have in the community,” Prof Tham said.

Antibody therapies have previously been used successfully for the treatment of cancers and multiple immune disorders.

Prof Tham said antibody treatments would be particularly beneficial in protecting aged and immune-compromised populations.

While Prof Tam refused to provide a timeline for the treatment, she said she and the consortium were “hopeful” and said “we are working as hard as we can … looking at clinical trials early next year. But it does take time and for us the most important thing is to make a safe and effective product.”

SOURCE 






'Major victory' for paedophiles as baffling law is passed that could see rape and sexual assault victims thrown into JAIL just for telling their stories

This is presumably to protect the offender but surely the interests of his victims come first

Victorian sexual assault survivors could be jailed for up to four months or face fines exceeding $3000 for telling their stories using their real names.

The Judicial Proceedings Reports Act was changed in February, prohibiting victims from identifying themselves publicly if their attacker has been found guilty.

The new law applies retrospectively, meaning victims who have lawfully spoken out previously are now censored from speaking out publicly. Media outlets who defy the law can also be prosecuted and face fines of up to $8,000.

The only way for victims to identify themselves and tell their stories is to obtain a court order - which is not only time consuming, but would cost more than $10,000 in legal fees.

Dr Rachael Burgin, lecturer in the Swinburne Law School, described the change in the law as a 'major victory' for convicted paedophiles and rapists.

She said thousands of survivors will now find they cannot tell their stories.

Not only can victim's no longer use their real names, they cannot provide any identifying features such as photos in publications such as memoirs and autobiographies unless they get a court order.

 'There is no way that I would just have $10,000 sitting around to pay to do this. (I’d) be taking money away from (my) family,' Maggie*, an adult survivor of child rape told news.com.au.       

Sexual assault survivors are now fighting for their right to share their stories, with the #LetUsSpeak campaign launched on Wednesday. The campaign, which is a collaboration between Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy (RASARA), Marque Lawyers, End Rape On Campus Australia, and news.com.au is calling on the government to reform the law.

Melbourne mother Maggie, 44, was raped from age eight by her father, who also sexually abused her older step sister Kate*.

When Maggie was 17, he was arrested and charged with rape and gross indecency as well as multiple counts of bestiality, after Kate reported her abuse to police.

In May 1997, four days before the trial was set to begin, he shot Kate dead at work after tracking her down using a private investigator.  

He was sent to prison the following year, after pleading guilty to murder in exchange for the sexual offences being dropped.

With his parole eligibility date looming, Maggie decided to come forward, resulting in her father receiving a nine-year jail sentence for multiple counts of incest and rape against her. 

However, in March this year, the Supreme Court of Appeal slashed his sentence for the crimes against Maggie and ruled he could serve them concurrently with his murder sentence, leaving him eligible for parole in June 2022.

'I’m now a mother of three beautiful children and I wouldn’t want him out in any community. I’m not just scared for my children. I’m scared for all children. I also have to be the voice for my sister too. She never got justice for the sexual abuse she experienced either,' Maggie said.

Maggie contacted Australian media outlets to draw attention to the lenient sentences given to paedophilles, only to learn of the new law that makes it a crime for the media to publish her name, or her fathers, as it could indirectly identify her.

'My sister was murdered for trying to tell her story and now I’m stopped from telling mine. He has all the power again. It has to change,' Maggie said.

Victorian Attorney-General, Jill Hennessy has written to Maggie and other members of the #LetUsSpeak campaign to say she is 'very sorry' to hear of their experiences.

She has requested the Department of Justice and Community Safety look into the cases.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to cover the court costs of survivors battling to overturn the gag law.

Similar gag laws were overturned in the Northern Territory and Tasmania earlier this year as a result of #LetUsSpeak campaign.

However, they differed to the Victorian legislation as they were out-dated pre-existing policies.

SOURCE 






Australia has an epidemic of nonsense jobs

As if the coronavirus hasn’t foisted enough change on us, NSW and Victoria are about to unleash more. Last week alone, during the ­biggest economic downturn in a ­century, the two states were advertising 20 high-paid jobs variously requiring skills in “change, culture, transformation and strategy”, with total salaries above $3.5m.

Pick of the bunch was the $249,000 director of intersectionality and inclusion role at the Victoria Department of Justice, who must, naturally, “provide authoritative, strategic and innovative advice in relation to inclusion and intersectionality”.

Also appealing was the $327,000 director of people and culture role at the NSW Department of Education, who should “provide expert strategic advice across a range of strategic priorities”. Familiarity with Sun Tzu’s Art of War is presumably a given.

But it was vocational training giant TAFE NSW that’s at the vanguard of a change revolution, advertising separately for a “change lead”, “change manager”, “change analyst”, “change co-ordinator”, “change specialist” and, the lowest-paid of the group, an “organisational change officer”, making do on $88,000.

The change lead ($194,000), manager ($173,000) and co-ordinator ($119,000) will at least have lots of time for blue-sky thinking with only a change analyst, specialist and officer to oversee.

The NSW Ombudsman, which handles complaints about government, isn’t immune to the change revolution either, seeking (albeit more frugally) its own “change lead” on $164,000 to “develop and embed a strategic approach to change across the Ombudsman”. Perhaps, like obscenity, you know a strategic approach to change when you see it. “The Change Lead will own the single view of change,” the advertisement explained. Talk about ­pressure.

Change is afoot south of the border, too. Victoria’s Environmental Protection Agency and State Revenue Office were luring change experts with $161,000 and $141,000 salaries, respectively. The former would need to “achieve organisation-wide support, enthusiasm, and participation in the changes … including delivery of change solutions (such as) change facilitation, change champions and change leadership”.

One feels for the successful applicant in a #WFH world, having to psyche up colleagues on Zoom call and nurture change champ­ions who may well have the camera option turned off.

Perhaps the SRO change role should be greater paid given the challenge at hand: state taxes have barely changed in 20 years.

Our two biggest state governments would appear to have provided an answer to anthropologist David Graeber’s 2019 book Bullshit Jobs: The Rise of Pointless Work and What We Can Do About It. Answer: not much.

“Economics around the world have become vast engines for producing nonsense,” Graeber writes in a book that delineates five classes of bullshit jobs, of which change roles fit best into “flunkie” and “box ticker” categories. The former “exist to make someone else feel or look important”, the latter “allow organisations to claim they are doing something that in fact it is not doing”.

You might think the tier of government most directly responsible for destroying livelihoods on an unprecedented scale in this country might have the modesty to rein in such profligacy. This is the biggest economic contraction since the national accounts were developed more than 50 years ago. Private sector wages are shrinking for the first time in a generation.

Jobs that are necessary, which arise from real demand from households and businesses, such as accommodation, retail, many professional services, have been wiped out, while those existing purely by fiat, for which no one would pay a cent, flourish.

It’s government arrogance and amorality that justifies such “jobs” — and the extraordinary salaries — in a major recession. It’s not the job creation we need.

Naturally, these advertised roles are just the latest recruits to the massively unproductive standing change, diversity and inclusion army entrenched in the public sector across the country.

In May the NSW Department of Planning hired a “manager, diversity & inclusion strategy” on a salary of $148,134, who would “lead a small, diverse team which is responsible for developing and implementing strategic plans to embed diversity and inclusion” across the department.

Perhaps this crack team is musing over whether brownfield developments are racist.

Meanwhile, as government sucks intelligent workers into the pointless work Graeber identifies, it hobbles the private sector’s scope to generate jobs.

For example, four years after it started negotiations, the Fair Work Commission knocked back an enterprise agreement sought by Swissport for its thousands of ground support staff.

That leaves intact the Airline Operations — Ground Staff Award 2020, which specifies, among other absurdities, that workers be paid $3.19 a week more for every coffin they handle and $5.18 a week if they handle money between $200 and $1000. You might think an industry facing an existential crisis required more flexibility.

Then there’s the Building and Construction On-Site Award, whose mind-blowing complexity makes it a wonder much is built at all. The construction sector is facing the loss of 150,000 jobs by early next year, yet it specifies loadings for working at different heights, in different types of weather.

And, a personal favourite, employees “who are regularly required to compute or estimate quantities of materials in respect of the work performed by other employees must be paid an additional 23.3 per cent of the hourly standard rate per day or part thereof”.

At least they are being paid more for something that need to be done, unlike the “change” army.

SOURCE 





Australian state to make landowners clear fire hazards

Since landowners have been prosecuted in the past for doing that, this is a great leap forward

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's most populous state said on Tuesday it will compel owners to clear their land of flammable material as it endorsed 76 recommendations from an enquiry into deadly bushfires.

Fires razed more than 11 million hectares (37 million acres) of bushland across Australia's southeast early this year, killing at least 33 people and billions of native animals, a disaster that Prime Minister Scott Morrison called Australia's "black summer".

Amid public anger, the federal and state governments commissioned independent enquiries.

New South Wales (NSW), which recorded the highest death toll from the fires at 25, on Tuesday became the first to release findings. Its Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said the state government had accepted all recommendations.

Among recommendations, the state will require landowners to clear or burn flammable material - usually dried brush and dead leaves - for firefighters to be trained in treating wild animals and the creation of a fund to develop technology to detect fires.

"These 76 recommendations are wide-ranging but what they also show is that there is no silver bullet. The last summer was caused by a crippling drought," Elliott told reporters in Canberra.

The issue of hazard reduction, however, is the most contentious as questions arise about the cause of the fires.

Morrison, a supporter of the fossil fuel industry, this year said removing flammable material was as "important as emissions reduction and I think many would argue even more so", a stance rejected by several former firefighting chiefs.

Environmental groups said Australia - one of the world's biggest carbon emitters on a per capital basis - must reduce its greenhouse emissions, amid forecasts for more frequent and severe droughts as the climate changes.

SOURCE 







Superannuation funds increase pools of cash despite Australians withdrawing their money early

It's not exactly cash.  It is share investments

The rush by millions of Australians to withdraw their superannuation early and a rebounding sharemarket has left the nation’s honey pot of retirement savings virtually unscathed, new statistics show.

Data from the banking regulator, the Australian Prudential and Regulation Authority, released on Tuesday found total superannuation assets fell by just 0.6 per cent in the June quarter, from $2.88 billion to $2.86 billion.

The Federal Government’s early release of superannuation scheme has come under intense scrutiny by the Federal Opposition for allowing cash-strapped Australians to withdraw their retirement savings prematurely.

Under the scheme eligible applicants who have suffered hits to their incomes could withdraw $10,000 tax-free last financial year and another $10,000 up until December 31.

Latest ATO figures show more than 2.7 million people have withdrawn $33.9 billion from their super accounts under the scheme.

But a rebounding sharemarket has helped cushion the financial blow to super accounts during the COVID-19 crisis.

Figures from super research firm Chant West showed median growth funds (61 to 80 per cent in growth assets) climbed by 6.4 per cent in the June quarter.

This meant for $100,000 in super savings, it climbed to $106,400.

Debate has erupted over whether the compulsory superannuation payments should rise from 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent in 2021.
Debate has erupted over whether the compulsory superannuation payments should rise from 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent in 2021.
During this quarter the amount of quarterly benefits paid out to Australians climbed by 31.2 per cent in 12 months, from $76.5 billion to $100.4 billion.

All types of super funds also increased their assets in the June quarter including industry super funds which grew from $717 billion in March to $747.9 billion in June.

Retail funds also fattened, growing from $1.85 trillion to $1.9 trillion in the same period.

Federal Labor MPs have criticised the scrutiny of the scheme which allows Australians to go through a self-assessment application via the Australian Taxation Office’s online portal before getting the green light from their fund to withdraw money.

The compulsory superannuation guarantee is legislated to rise to 10 per cent on July 1, 2021 and then in increments up to 12 per cent by 2025.

Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe warned this month that ­increasing the super guarantee would “certainly have a negative effect on wages growth”.

He said if it went ahead he would “expect wages growth to be even lower than it otherwise would be”.

This legislation has also come under fire in recent weeks from Coalition backbenchers who said the rise must be halted.

Many MPs believe small and medium-sized businesses cannot afford the hikes and want it delayed or scrapped as the economy fights to recover from the deepest recession since the 1930s.

SOURCE

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here





27 August, 2020

Coal-fired pollution killing 800 Australians a year: report

This study just took as proven the conclusions of several American studies of pollution effects. But I have repeatedly shown that the studies concerned were badly flawed -- either because of their failure to apply demograpic controls and/or   the minute effects found. So this study is a castle built on sand. See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here

They also rely on a recent MJA study of the Hazelwood fire but that study attempts to examine before-and-after effects without having any data on "before".  A good try but no cigar. I append below the abstract of that study together with some comments

Air pollution from Australia’s ageing coal-fired power stations kills around 800 people each year and spreads hundreds of kilometres from regional plants into major cities, new research finds.

This national death toll is twice as high as the number of smoke inhalation deaths in the recent catastrophic bushfire season, and eight times greater than the average annual casualties from all natural disasters, according to a new report from Greenpeace Australia.

This is the first time the national health impacts of burning coal for electricity have been scientifically assessed, its authors say.

Air pollution from coal-burning power stations also causes an average of 850 babies each year to be born with low birth weight, which puts them at greater risk of serious health conditions as adults, like cardiovascular disease, it finds. This represents 450 babies each year for Sydney, and 260 for Melbourne.

"Australians all over the country are paying for electricity with their lives and health, even if they don’t use power from burning coal or live near a power station," said Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigner, Jonathan Moylan.

There are 14,000 asthma attacks and symptoms among Australian children and young people aged between 5 and 19 that can be attributed to emissions from coal-burning power stations each year, the report finds.

Some of these symptoms come from cross-state pollution, with about 20 percent of cases occurring in states and territories that are not home to the power station that is the source of the emissions.

But a spokesperson for the Australian Energy Council, which represents major generators, rejected the report as "alarmist, misleading and lacking in rigour".

They pointed out it had not been peer-reviewed, saying it used outdated data from overseas and extrapolated it to Australia.

"This report appears to be part of a broader campaign that seeks to demonise fossil fuel plants regardless of their health, safety or environmental performance," they said. "All power plants have to meet health and environmental limits set and monitored by independent bodies."

The Greenpeace study modelled how much pollution from coal power stations could be expected in certain areas, based on observed meteorological conditions, reported pollutant emissions and electricity generation.

Existing health studies were then used to calculate how many additional deaths occur with this increased pollution. For mortality, this included deaths due to heart disease, cardiopulmonary disease, lung cancer, lower respiratory infections and stroke.

Report co-author Professor Hilary Bambrick, an environmental epidemiologist, said power plant air pollution had caused Australians to die and suffer from preventable diseases for decades: "Governments must come up with a plan to replace our ageing and unreliable coal burning power stations with clean energy solutions as quickly as possible."

New research recently published in the Medical Journal of Australia found unborn babies whose mothers were exposed to smoke from the Hazelwood coal mine fire are at greater risk of respiratory infections in early childhood, despite not directly inhaling the pollution.

Australia still operates 22 coal-burning power stations, some of which are among the oldest and most polluting in the world. Power stations in Australia are licensed to emit pollutant concentrations that dramatically exceed limits set by comparable countries, says Max Smith, a campaigner at Environmental Justice Australia.

He urged federal and state governments to address flaws in the regulatory system and fit Australia’s coal-fired power stations with basic pollution controls that could cut toxic pollutants by more than 85 percent.

SOURCE 

Respiratory and atopic conditions in children two to four years after the 2014 Hazelwood coalmine fire

This is a very strange study.  It is about health effects of exposure to smoke pollution from one fire. But they had no baseline for a before and after study.  So they sought to get around that by correlating ESTIMATED monthly exposure to pollution with monthly reports of ill health.

But one would assume that almost all the pollution from the fire would have occurred WITHIN the first month.  How could there be ANY effect up to four years later?  It's a mystery. I have read and re-read the article several times but can make no sense of it

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate associations between exposure during early life to mine fire smoke and parent?reported indicators of respiratory and atopic illness 2–4 years later.

Design, setting: The Hazelwood coalmine fire exposed a regional Australian community to markedly increased air pollution during February – March 2014. During June 2016 – October 2018 we conducted a prospective cohort study of children from the Latrobe Valley.

Participants: Seventy?nine children exposed to smoke in utero, 81 exposed during early childhood (0–2 years of age), and 129 children conceived after the fire (ie, unexposed).

Exposure: Individualised mean daily and peak 24?hour fire?attributable fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure during the fire period, based on modelled air quality and time?activity data.

Main outcome measures: Parent?reported symptoms, medications use, and contacts with medical professionals, collected in monthly online diaries for 29 months, 2–4 years after the fire.

Results: In the in utero exposure analysis (2678 monthly diaries for 160 children exposed in utero or unexposed), each 10 ?g/m3 increase in mean daily PM2.5 exposure was associated with increased reports of runny nose/cough (relative risk [RR], 1.09; 95% CI, 1.02–1.17), wheeze (RR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.18–2.07), seeking health professional advice (RR, 1.17; 95% CI 1.06–1.29), and doctor diagnoses of upper respiratory tract infections, cold or flu (RR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.14–1.60). Associations with peak 24?hour PM2.5 exposure were similar. In the early childhood exposure analysis (3290 diaries for 210 children exposed during early childhood, or unexposed), each 100 ?g/m3 increase in peak 24?hour PM2.5 exposure was associated with increased use of asthma inhalers (RR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.01–1.58).

Conclusions: Exposure to mine fire smoke in utero was associated with increased reports by parents of respiratory infections and wheeze in their children 2–4 years later.

Med J Aust doi: 10.5694/mja2.50719
Published online: 24 August 2020






Australian COVID-19 vaccine produces ZERO side effects in human trials and provides protection against the virus in animals while reducing symptoms

A coronavirus vaccine being developed by Australian researchers has produced zero side effects in human trials so far and has shown promise with mammals.

The University of Queensland and Australian biotech giant CSL last month began injecting 120 Brisbane volunteers with a trial vaccine.

Hamsters in the Netherlands were also administered the drug.

Project co-leader Associate Professor Keith Chappell said the European animal trials, conducted by Dutch diagnostic testing firm Viroclinics-DDL, had proven to be a success.

'The neutralising immune response created by our molecular clamp vaccine in animal models was better than the average level of antibodies found in patients who have recovered from COVID-19,' Dr Chappell said.

He said the hamsters given the vaccine and Seqirus MF59® adjuvant had reduced lung inflammation after exposure to the virus.

No side effects have been reported so far on the human trial element taking place in Brisbane, although more clinical results are needed from the volunteers in suburban Herston.

UQ's Brisbane project is one of just 17 human trials for a potential vaccine happening worldwide, including in the US, UK and China.

Globally, more than 130 coronavirus vaccines are being developed but UQ's work has demonstrated great success in the pre-clinical development stage.

The good news from clinical trials has been revealed a week after Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government signed an in-principal deal with UK pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca to receive early supplies of a potentially successful vaccine being developed with Oxford University.

Should UQ successfully develop a vaccine in Australia, Dr Chappell said the biggest challenge would be in tasking CSL, formerly known as Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, with manufacturing sufficient quantities of the drug.

'One of the big challenges in the development of vaccines is the ability to produce them at sufficient scale for widespread use,' he said.

'We are working with CSL to ensure the production yield is as efficient as possible, and have every confidence they will be able to manufacture the millions of doses required to protect the Australian public.'

UQ is running clinical trials until mid-2021 - but, if successful, a potential vaccine could be rolled out at the start of next year for emergency use among the broader Australian population.

The Queensland vaccine has the advantage of being worked on in partnership with a manufacturer, CSL, meaning it could be mass produced quickly if successful.

The global Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness announced a partnership with CSL in June to fast-track clinical testing and potentially begin manufacturing should the trials prove successful.

CEPI gave UQ $15.16million to develop a molecular clamp vaccine platform that enables rapid vaccine design and production.

Another $10million came from the Queensland government, with the commonwealth chipping in another $5million in addition to the $10million that has come from philanthropic donors.

SOURCE 





Chaos at Australian universities as hundreds of whinging staff vow to walk out across the country - despite thousands already losing their jobs and the sector brought to its knees

Hundreds of Australian university staffers are planning to walk off the job, throwing an academic year already disrupted by travel bans, lockdowns, and job cuts into further chaos.

A group of activist academics, known as the National Higher Education Action Network, voted to endorse a protest plan which will likely result in strike action.

The Monday meeting, attended by 460 members at its peak, voted with an overwhelming majority to endorse the plan 'with the goal of making democratically planned unprotected industrial action possible'.

The group also voted they would 'mount a vigorous campaign of coordinated actions' in response to funding cuts and to protect university jobs.

One such large scale public protest involving the National Tertiary Education Union, the National Union of Students, and 'secondary school student groups' is set to be held before the government's October budget.

The group claims Monday's unprecedented meeting and the call to plan towards strike action is in response to the governments 'refusal' to support universities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Unprotected industrial action is strikes or suspension of work by staff during the negotiations of an enterprise bargaining agreement.

Such action can result in large fines for both individuals and unions taking part in the strikes.

'Striking is recognised at a very basic right of working people and it is unacceptable that it is restricted as it in this country,' Dr Nick Riemer told the Guardian.

'It is very clear that we need to withdraw our labour in order to bring about the political reset that is needed'.

Australian universities have been decimated by coronavirus travel bans.

In 2018, international students provided 26 per cent of all higher education revenues across the country, according to leading industry agency the International Consultants for Education and Fairs.

The agency estimates the tertiary education sector could see up to $5billion in lost revenue in 2020 alone.

Public universities are also not eligible for JobKeeper payments leading to the possibility of large-scale layoffs.

Deakin University in Melbourne has announced 419 jobs will be slashed while UNSW staffers have agreed to across the board pay cuts in an effort to save jobs.

UNSW has already cut 500 jobs, with 300 gone at Monash and 500 feared to be on the line at UTS.

University of Sydney staff members have been reportedly sent an email asking for suggestions on how to cut up to 30 per cent of jobs in some faculties.

Sweeping changes to university fees by Education Minister Dan Tehan announced in June have added further upheaval.

The changes include increasing fees for arts, commerce and law subjects while reducing fees for teaching, science, maths, and engineering courses.

'People are so outraged at the job cuts, at the changes to universities, that they are ready to stop working. There is a lot of anger in universities at the moment,' Dr Reimer said.

Opposition education spokesperson Tanya Plibersek has previously said the government needs to act to ensure Australia's university sector remain healthy.

'For weeks now, Labor has been urging the federal government to act to help universities and save jobs,' she said.

SOURCE 





Union boss accuses Labor of walking away from its working class roots

He's right about that.  They care more about global warming than jobs

The CFMEU will pull financial support and won’t campaign for Labor during the upcoming election, in what’s set to be a major blow to the Palaszczuk Government’s chances of re-election.

During an extraordinary press conference, union boss Michael Ravbar blasted Labor, claiming they’d been walking away from its working class roots.

Mr Ravbar, who rarely speaks publicly, conceded pulling support would hamper the party’s chances of re-election but said “so be it”.

“We’ve made it clear, there will be no finances, there’ll be no resources, there’ll be no people on the ground,” he said.

“At the end of the day, they rely on organisations such as us for our support, whatever it might be, financially or on the ground, so yes it will hurt.”

And while he doesn’t want the LNP to win, Mr Ravbar didn’t rule out campaigning for minority parties, including the Katter’s Australian Party, which the CFMMEU has donated money to in the past.

Mr Ravbar said the union - across local, state and federal - donated millions of dollars to the Labor Party.

He said Left members in the party were focused on getting themselves re-elected, and claimed it was “all about trying to promote and keep Jackie Trad alive”.

“To me she’s on life support, to me she’s a political liability,” he said.

He also took aim at the Government’s handling of the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming there was a lot of “spin” and “bright ads” on tv.

“At the end of the day, we’re not convinced about her (Premier) plan, her vision and her leadership in regards for jobs, jobs security, stimulating the economy,” he said.

The union boss said he hoped MPs in the Left took notice, when asked whether the union would be pressuring Bancroft MP Chris Whiting to also quit.

He also claimed Labor was making the same mistakes which led to Federal Labor’s annihilation at the 2019 Election across regional Queensland.

“It’s not just about the CFMEU ... we’d love to see them get re-elected, but when you go off track and you’re not actually looking after the interests of all and when you’re a bit anti-coal, I would have thought that the Labor Government would have learnt from the last Federal Election last year,” he said.

“It seems to be that they’re actually making the same mistakes that they did.”

Slamming the Government’s handling of Cross River Rail and the New Acland coal mine, Mr Ravbar said he wanted to see prescribed clauses that would ensure local jobs.

He also wants requirements put in place to guarantee more apprenticeships, traineeships and indigenous employment.

“At the moment they’re just giving the projects out to the corporate sector,” he said.

He said he was also disappointed in union boss and factional heavyweight Gary Bullock, claiming, “He hasn’t been listening to some of our concerns.”

He also took aim at Labor’s State Secretary Julie-Ann Campbell, saying there was an “inward looking” within the Left.

He can’t see the union rejoining the Left in the short term.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here






26 August, 2020

Suncorp says fewer accident claims helps offset COVID impact

I have over 5,000 shares in them so I like this news

SUNCORP says it is benefitting from a drop in motor accident claims due to COVID-19 helping it offset the negative impact of the pandemic on other parts of its business.

The Queensland insurance and banking giant booked a $140 million gain from lower motor insurance claims as fewer peoople drove during the height of the pandemic earlier this year.

That helped Suncorp offset a $85 million provision made for additional claims and other costs to cover COVID-related rent loss and business interruption claims.

Suncorp on Friday said it achieved full year group net profit after tax of $913 million included a $285 million after-tax profit from the sale of its Capital SMART and ACM Parts businesses, and the $89 million non-cash impairment charge relating to its banking platform.

Cash earnings of $749 million were down 32.8 per cent as a result of reduced profit from insurance and banking and wealth divisions.

“It has been a challenging 12 months for Suncorp and for the customers and communities we support,“ said Suncorp chief executive Steve Johnston.

“First a season of extreme weather conditions, and then the global COVID-19 pandemic which will result in longlasting economic disruption and fundamentally change the way we live.”

But he said Suncorp entered the COVID-19 crisis in a solid position and responded quickly. “We have maintained the financial and operational strength of our business,“ he said.

He said 31,000 motor and home insurance customers had received three month premium waivers or discounts as at the end of June while 9800 customer loans were under temporary repayment deferral arrangements.

“The operating environment remains highly uncertain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic impacts,” Mr Johnston said.

He said Suncorp was prepared for a sharp deterioration in economic conditions before the economy was expected to begin recovery from 2021.

The company announced a fully franked final ordinary dividend of 10 cents per share bringing its full year payout to 36 cents.

SOURCE 






Trade spats or not, we must learn to co-exist with China

Amanda Vanstone

What do you think when someone mentions Richard Nixon? The nickname “Tricky Dicky” comes to mind, as does Watergate. Do you baulk at the idea that he changed the world? Like so many things in life it depends on the perspective.

Nixon formally recognised the People’s Republic of China. He had said long before his 1972 visit: “We simply cannot afford to leave China forever outside the family of nations, there to nurture its fantasies, cherish its hates, and threaten its neighbours. There is no place on this small planet for a billion of its potentially most able people to live in angry isolation.”

China joined the United Nations. Taiwan lost out. Some say Mao got everything he wanted and that Nixon shamefully didn’t push for China to lessen its support for North Vietnam to save American troops' lives. Less than a decade later China started opening up to the world. Without Nixon’s efforts that may have taken many more years.

In China, this opening up to the world created incredible opportunities. Millions have been lifted out of abject poverty.

But the story doesn’t end in China. China’s opening up to the world meant the world had access to much cheaper white goods, airconditioners, clothing, plastics and small electrical goods. All around the globe people with less money could now buy some things that were previously out of their reach. Many everyday items were cheaper for everyone. That means an improved standard of living.

From Australia’s position the story was even more beneficial. China, the new industrial powerhouse, needed iron, coal and grains. We had them to sell and that made us richer.

Nixon may have richly deserved the nickname “Tricky Dicky” but we do ourselves a disservice if that’s all we remember. I think “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” is a bit tricky, as is describing Bill Clinton’s womanising as “he’s a hard dog to keep on the porch", but one aspect of a person is rarely the whole story. Like him or not, Nixon’s decision to recognise the PRC changed our world for the better.

Now we have to deal with that changed world. It’s difficult to see in the near future China becoming unproblematic. The recent announcement on looking at Australian wine imports in the context of dumping is just one example of why. Apparently we need to be sent a message, threatened for not kowtowing to the Chinese perspective. It’s no way to win friends.

Using trade to threaten is never smart in the long term. But to choose wine was particularly lacking in skill. Obviously such a move, with the recent dramatic rise in sales to China, would be bound to get the government’s attention and plenty of media focus. But the wine industry has a special place in the hearts of Australians. Attack it and you’re attacking us. That just engenders ill will in the hearts and minds of Australians. Imagine what the Chinese would say if we put a levy on exported minerals and energy. We might call it the “wine industry support levy”.

In the context of anti-dumping cases one might imagine China is most at risk. Anti-dumping was my portfolio responsibility for a few years and it is the job from hell.

If the decision is that something is being dumped, the importers hate you because their cheap supply is about to become more expensive.

If the decision is that there is no dumping the Australian producers hate you because the cheap competition will keep coming. Perhaps we should give all new ministers a turn in this job; you pretty soon learn that you can’t please everyone so bad luck, just get on with it and make the decision.

What is taken into account to ascertain whether or not a product is being dumped might not make it easy for goods from China, which are either produced directly by state-owned enterprises or by factories supported by them. That means a lot of production. My own nightmare was Chinese clear float glass. In any event the rules are there to protect free trade, which has brought so many people out of starvation and poverty. Playing with them for political messaging seems a bit inept.

The world rightly marvels at how far China has come in the last half-century. There is more opportunity to be seized. It will be many years before China gets the full benefit of Nixon’s decision.

Xi Jinping speaks confidently about further reducing poverty. The Premier, Li Keqiang, brought a note of reality into the debate when he said that more than 600 million Chinese lived on less than $200 a month. Out of a population of about 1.4 billion that’s an unattractively high proportion living poorly. Add to that just about zip in terms of healthcare or welfare and it’s a pretty dark outlook for many.

China is not going away nor one imagines is it going to suddenly become democratic. On the other side, those of us in democratic countries are quite taken with individual freedom, protection from persecution by the state, freedom of speech, good healthcare and decent welfare. We’re not going anywhere either.

We will all have to work out how to co-exist. That’s possible. Sticking fingers in another’s eye doesn’t augur well for happy co-existence.

SOURCE 






High school mark cutoffs for getting into university expected to rise due to coronavirus crisis

A big leap in domestic demand is outweighing the drop in overseas students

University courses will be harder to get into, with ATAR cut-offs predicted to spike thanks to a skyrocketing demand for tertiary study and a cap on funded places.

Griffith University tertiary expert Stephen Billett said “without a doubt” the domestic student market would be more competitive given the loss of international students and the economic downturn of COVID-19.

And former Grattan Institute higher education program director and ANU professor Andrew Norton said amid COVID-19 there would be both increased tertiary applications and fewer people deferring entry, meaning minimum entry cut-offs for courses could soar.

It comes as the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre has already recorded a staggering jump in applications for university this year.

It experienced the most applications ever received on an opening day when admissions opened on August 4: 2918.

QTAC executive officer John Griffiths said the high applicant number was a good indicator there would be strong demand from the domestic market next year.

Dr Griffiths said there had been a 37.8 per cent increase in tertiary applicants compared with the same time in 2019, with a big increase from current Year 12 students.

About 6600 students had already applied for university admission next year and to receive their ATAR in December after registrations for both opened on August 4, he said.

Prof Norton said in recent years about 9-10 per cent of people who accepted university offers deferred by a year but it was expected fewer people would defer because of the impact of COVID-19 on travel and employment.

“So that will push a large number of higher ATAR students into wanting a place in 2021,” he said.

“And because ATARs are, in most cases, the interaction of supply and demand, that could well push up the minimum thresholds for some courses.”

Prof Billett said there would be greater competition for courses with “identifiable occupations”, on top of a trend of young people seeking “clean, well-paid and secure employment”.

Medicine and law might become more difficult to access, he said.

And courses in physiotherapy, dietetics, speech pathology, occupational therapy, and engineering could be the courses with a big increase in demand, Prof Billett said.

SOURCE 





Global warming diehards object to natural gas

Gas can actually replace coal so that is no good

A group of leading Australian scientists has taken the unusual step of writing to the Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, saying his support for gas as an energy source "is not consistent with a safe climate".

"We are making a definite and profound statement that the advice the Chief Scientist is giving is in opposition to the evidence the Australian scientific community has gathered about the climatic system and the way it is changing," Professor Will Steffen, the founding director of the Australian National University's Climate Change Institute, said of the decision to write the letter.

The letter's signatories include many world-leading Australian experts and lead authors with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They include professors John Church, Matthew England and Steven Sherwood from the University of NSW's Climate Change Research Centre, Professor Mark Howden of the Australian National University and Professor Graeme Pearman of the University of Melbourne.

"We are writing to you as Chief Scientist with our concerns about your strategy for dealing with climate change, and to offer any scientific advice that you might find useful on climate change issues," begins the letter, which is signed by 25 scientists.

Professor Steffen said the scientists' decision to take the unusual step of speaking out about the Chief Scientist was prompted in part by elements of Dr Finkel's address to the National Press Club in February, as well as other public comments he has made about gas.

Professor Steffen said more would have signed the letter but could not as they were employed by government agencies such as the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology.

In the speech Dr Finkel outlined how Australia needed to electrify its energy system to meet Paris climate goals.

He said that as renewable energy generation, storage and transmission technologies are scaled up to decarbonise the economy, gas would play a "critical role", and that the transition could take decades.

The speech, made shortly before the government embraced a gas-led economic recovery from the economic crisis caused by COVID-19, caused concern among elements of the scientific community who see gas as an increasingly destructive global warming agent.

"He seems to be speaking in ignorance of or [to be] ignoring the overwhelming amount of evidence gathered by his own scientific community about the impact of the gas industry on the climate," said Professor Steffen.

Professor Steffen said that Australia's Paris climate targets were weak, set politically and had no scientific basis; that even if they were to be met Australia would still not be doing its fair share to mitigate global warming under the agreement, and that the use of gas as a transition energy source was quickly making the situation worse.

In the letter the scientists applaud Dr Finkel's support for a transition to renewable energy, but take issue with his support for the government's advocacy for an ongoing role for gas.

"Our concern ... relates to the scale and speed of the decarbonisation challenge required to meet the Paris Agreement, and, in particular, your support for the use of gas as a transition fuel over ‘many decades'," they write.

"Unfortunately, that approach is not consistent with a safe climate nor, more specifically, with the Paris Agreement. There is no role for an expansion of the gas industry."

"The combustion of natural gas is now the fastest growing source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, the most important greenhouse gas driving climate change.

"On a decadal time frame, methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

"In Australia, the rapid rise in methane emissions is due to the expansion of the natural gas industry. The rate of methane leakage from the full gas economy, from exploration through to end use, has far exceeded earlier estimates."

Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor as well as the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission support gas as an energy source that is less carbon intensive than coal and that can quickly be ramped up or down to support renewable energy sources in the grid.

A spokeswoman for the Office of the Chief Scientist said Dr Finkel was considering his response and would comment in due course.

A spokesman for Mr Taylor said that the International Energy Agency has estimated that coal-to-gas switching has avoided more than half a billion tonnes of emissions between 2010 and 2018.

"A separate CSIRO assessment of Queensland LNG production found that gas alone can reduce emissions from electricity production by up to 50 per cent. When gas backs up solar and wind, the emissions savings are even greater.

"Australia's gas exports are reducing emissions in importing countries overseas where they displace more emissions-intensive alternatives or backup renewables.

Dr Pep Canadell, executive director of the Global Carbon Project and a chief research scientist at the CSIRO said greenhouse gas emissions from the gas industry in Australia were "skyrocketing".

"They are not taking Australia in the direction it needs to go."

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here





25 August 2020

A Kurdish "boat person"

The NYT has a long and meandering story designed to evoke the life of a Kurdish "refugee" named Behrouz Boochani.

"Boat people" are alleged refugees who tried to crash their way into Australia aboard small, rickety, wooden fishing bosts from Indonesia.  They mostly came from the Middle East after taking an airline flight from Pakistan to Indonesia.  As a Muslim country, Indonesia had a duty of hospitality towards them but they wanted to come to much more affluent Australia.  They were almost all Muslims but passionately wanted to live in a non-Muslim country.

Since they had been in two countries where they could claim asylum, their claim to be asylum seekers was invalid.  They already had asylum in Pakistan or Indonesia.  Nobody was shooting at them or likely to do so there.

In the '70s, Vietnamese boat people sailing directly from South Vietnam to escape the aftermath of the Vietnam war were welcomed into Australia and integrated well. Muslims not so much.

Dramatically, the NYT story starts out:

"In 2013, Australia sent hundreds of would-be asylum seekers to a secretive offshore detention center. Then one of the detainees, a journalist named Behrouz Boochani, told the world all about it."

It is a sob story.  Let me briefly retell the story without the sobs:

Boochani was one of a group of "boat people" who tried to impose their presence on Australia.  They thought they could bypass the means Australia uses for selecting immigrants.  They thought that compassion alone would grant them entry.

It once did, but Australia eventually suffered compassion fatigue. Most such arrivals remained welfare dependent on the Australian taxpayer, a most exploited individual who would have preferred to keep his hard-earned dollars in his pocket.

Would you like a stranger to move into your house and expect you to feed him?  That is very much what the boat people were doing.  So in the end both major Australian political parties agreed that no more such people would be accepted into Australia.  They would instead be held in what were effectively jails outside Australia and offered a free flight to anywhere else in the world.

Boochani is a Kurd so he could have opted to go to the Kurdish autonomous region in Iraq. But Kurdistan generally is poor.  So that was no good to him.  He sought life in a rich and peaceful Western country. And Australia was near but so far. He was offered residence in the USA but rejected that. He had heard that America was too violent.  It was Australia and New Zealand he was focused on.

He was eventually released from detention and given residence in New Guinea.  But New Guinea is poor and violent, just like Iran, where he came from.  So that was no good to him.  He was a journalist and a talented writer so he wrote accounts of his life as a boat person until he was accepted into New Zealand, where he has an academic job.

It took him many years of his life in squalid refugee camps to reach his goal but reach it he did.  He is certainly persistent.

But the NYT article is a tale of suffering.  It even adopts Boochani's claim that the Australians tortured him.  The torture was however the torture of being held in a jail instead of sailing off blissfully to Australia.

There is however no doubt that detention was unpleasant and frustrating but it was his choice to become an unwelcome guest in someone else's country that brought that down on his head.  Had I been an Iranian and a critic of the regime, I would simply have shut up.  It would have given me a much less troubled life -- JR






Andrew Bolt: Diversity has once again let Victoria down

Victoria’s commitment to diversity has once again landed the state in hot water, and I’d be saying ‘I told you so’ if the situation weren’t so dire, writes Andrew Bolt.

I would thank the lunatic Victorian government for making my critics look stupid, if it wasn’t that so many people have died.

Two months ago I was savaged by the mob for saying this second wave of infections “exposes the stupidity of that multicultural slogan ‘diversity makes us stronger’”.

I said diversity had instead weakened us.

I won’t go through all my evidence: how the virus was worst in the most multicultural suburbs, housing commission towers, workplaces and an Islamic school, after slipping out of quarantine hotels where many guards were immigrant workers, badly trained.

Nor will I again go through all the admissions by the Victorian government that public health messages were not reaching ethnic groups where English was poor.

Let me instead point out even more evidence — crazy stuff — that’s come out since activists said they’d ask the Press Council to punish me for my heresy.

Last week, a public servant working in Victoria’s highly infectious quarantine hotels told an inquiry he’d been given an hour of training in “equity and diversity”, but none on personal protective equipment.

Don’t think this must be an anomaly. The self-destructive preaching of “diversity” seems to run right through what should have been a single-minded war to stop the virus.

About 90 per cent of the infections in this second wave have been traced back to a hotel where security was handed to Unified Security, which was not a preferred tenderer but did boast it was “Indigenous-owned”.

And it seems the government hasn’t learned its lesson.

Check its extraordinary ads now for a manager and several policy officers for its COVID-19 Forward Strategy and Co-ordination Branch.

In the nine-paragraph job descriptions, there are four paragraphs stressing the branch’s commitment to diversity, and not one to its commitment to stopping people getting sick.

It declares: “We are building an inclusive workplace that embraces diversity of backgrounds and differences”, and “we encourage job applications from Aboriginal people, people with disabilities, LGBTI and people from culturally diverse backgrounds”.

Only later, in the job summary, is there one fleeting reference to what should be the most urgent part of the job, “the development of policy advice on measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19”.

But for all this yammer about “diversity”, what happened? A second wave of infections that’s hit the most “diverse” communities worst

SOURCE 





UK infrastructure investor suffers big losses from two Australia solar farms

That "free" electricity from the sun turns out to be not so free after all

UK infrastructure investor John Laing has revealed yet more big losses from its Australia renewable energy portfolio, this time focused on the two big Australian solar farm investments hit by connection delays, equipment problems and grid congestion issues.

The two solar projects affected are the wholly-owned 175MW Finley solar farm, located in south west NSW in a newly congested part of the grid, and its 90 per cent owned 200MW Sunraysia solar project, which is in the same region but which has also run into technical difficulties and has so far failed to obtain registration from the Australian Energy Market Operator nearly a year after mechanical construction was complete.

In its interim results released late last week, John Laing reported losses of £43 million ($A79 million) from the two solar assets. This follows its write downs of £66 million a year earlier due to changes in marginal loss factors in Australia – a result that led to a decision to cease new investment in wind and solar assets and to try and sell the Australian portfolio.

It adds to the growing number of write-downs and losses on new solar projects from a range of affected parties – contractors, developers and asset owners – due to issues ranging from cost-overruns, delays, commissioning problems, grid congestion and system strength issues. More are now being affected by falling wholesale prices, such as New Energy Solar’s Manildra solar farm, among others.

In the latest period, some £11 million came from transmission issues, presumably Finley, which is among a number of solar assets warned about “material constraints” in the network west of Wagga Wagga due to congestion issues. That suggests that many of the solar assets in the area may also face write downs by their owners.

“This primarily relates to a loss on one of our solar projects as a result of transmission-related issues,” the company says. “Due to the instability of the power system in south-western New South Wales, AEMO imposed a constraint on this network. This limits the flow of power on the main transmission line.”

The losses from Sunraysia make up the rest of the £43 million cited from the two solar farms. “Sunraysia, which is still in construction,  experienced technical issues,” it says, adding later that the technical issues are related to “transformers”.

“There have also been ongoing delays with the Australian Energy Market Operator registration process which is holding up the project’s connection to the grid,” it adds.

John Laing says a “remediation plan” for Sunraysia is in place. But the solar farm has also become the centre of a legal dispute between John Laing and co-investor Maoneng, and the main contractor Decmil.

In a presentation to analysts, recently appointed CEO Ben Loome said some of the issues that have affected the business are the result of “not fully assessing risk return dynamics. A lot of this activity came at a time when investment in renewable energy was becoming more competitive and commoditised.”

John Laing earlier this year put its Australian renewable energy portfolio up for sale after taking the decision not to invest in any new assets. It pulled the two solar assets from the sales process, citing the uncertainty over connections and grid congestion.

Loome said the company will not be hurried to make a sale. “We have got to make sure each of projects is properly prepared for sale – so we can maximise value,” he said in the presentation. “We will be pursing realisations over the next 1 or 2 years. We are not under pressure to sell any assets ”

But John Laing says the sale process is being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and changes to Australia Foreign Investment Review Board rules, and the 49.8 per cent owned Granville wind farm being built in Tasmania is being delayed by Covid-19 issues and “weather conditions.” Completion of construction is targeted for the beginning of 2021.

Its other assets in Australia include the Cherry Tree wind farm in Victoria, the Kiata wind farm in Victoria (72.3 per cent), and minority stakes in each of the three big Hornsdale wind farm assets in South Australia.

The John Laing accounts also reveal another £50 million in losses from its renewable energy portfolio because of lower prices, although it does not specify the extent of these losses across the individual regions of its US, European or Australian portfolio.

John Laing has contracts in numerous civil works projects across a number of countries, including a hospital in Adelaide and light rail in Sydney, but the problems with its renewables portfolio drove its result to a £95 million loss in the first half.

SOURCE 






Australian public servant condemns censorship after blogpost cost him his job

He would have had to sign a confidentiality agreement to get his job so the government has a clear right to enforce that agreement.  But whether what he did does breach the agreement sounds moot.  But in any case there is no "right" to a government job.  And resigning was not forced on him.  So I think he has scant grounds for complaint

When federal public servant Josh Krook sat down to pen a decidedly uncontroversial blogpost on how Covid-19 benefitted big tech, he didn’t imagine it would cost him his job.

In April, Krook published a post on a fledgling blog called the Oxford Political Review, arguing social isolation was good for big tech companies, because it made people increasingly dependent on online platforms for interaction.

Krook also worked as a policy officer with the industry department, working on tech policy.

His post talked only in generalities. It made no reference to any individual company and did not mention, let alone criticise, the Australian government or government policy.

In no way did Krook identify himself as a government employee or policy officer or seek to conflate his writing with his views as a public servant.

Three months after the post, Krook was invited to a meeting with his superior. In the meeting, Krook says he was given a choice: remove the blog post or face termination.

“[My boss] said that the problem was that in talking about the big tech companies, we risked damaging the relationship the government has with the big tech companies and that when we go and do public-private partnerships, they could Google my name, find my article and then refuse to work with us,” Krook told the Guardian.

“I was told that all future writing, all future public writing that I do would have to go through my boss or a senior colleague.

“I was also told that for the first article, it would have been fine to write it, had I been positive about the big tech companies.”

Krook did as he was asked, initially at least. He contacted the editor of the Oxford Political Review and asked that the post be removed.

But the more he reflected, the less he could stomach what he had been asked to do. He decided to quit government and speak out about the censorship, a decision that will almost certainly cruel any future career he has in the public service.

The case reignites the tension between freedom of speech and the public service code of conduct’s requirement that workers be apolitical.

He aired no criticism whatsoever of government or government policy. “I was very careful not to do that … the idea that you shouldn’t be able to criticise other companies, when you work with the government particularly, it doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.

“I don’t think there is a public interest case for that. Basically, I think I can criticise the big tech companies while remaining apolitical.”

Krook says he was also told to amend a second post containing an almost laughably benign reference to the Australian government’s competition with other governments for medical supplies.

He was, at the time, seconded within the industry department to a role in helping the government secure such supplies.

His post’s brief reference to the competition between Australia and other nations for medical supplies could in no way be conceived of as a criticism, but rather a reflection of fact, and a repetition of a statement previously made by the health minister, Greg Hunt, and the former chief medical officer Brendan Murphy.

“I was told that by saying that there’s competition between Australia and other countries, I make the government look chaotic in its response,” he said.

“I didn’t say that, I didn’t say the government was chaotic in its response. But he said that could be implied by what I had written somehow.”

The industry department was approached for comment but says it does not discuss staffing matters.

Krook was on a non-ongoing contract with the department, which was expected to be renewed.

Krook is now jobless at an extremely difficult time, leaving the relative comfort of the public service to enter the job market during an economic crisis.

He remains the law editor of the Oxford Political Review, where he occasionally edits writing, and plans to republish his blog post.

Krook is eyeing a future career in academia, but with that sector facing huge upheaval, his work prospects remain uncertain.

“It’s not the best time to leave a job, it’s not the best time to look for new work,” he said. “But there reaches a certain point where you have to stand by what you believe in, I guess, and in this I just completely disagreed with what they were saying and their decision.”

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here






24 August 2020

Revealed: how the Great Barrier Reef is really doing

Even the academics are finding it hard to moan about it

Is it dying or thriving? The state of the Great Barrier Reef has become a hot button topic, but a report out today gives the most complete picture of the state of our most valuable national icon.

Reports of the death of the Great Barrier Reef may have been exaggerated, with new research showing “encouraging” signs of coral growth in two-thirds of 86 monitored reefs.

The annual report of the health of the reef by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, published today, has been welcomed by tourism operators who say they are battling widespread perceptions the reef is already dead.

Today’s report shows modest increases in coral coverage in the reef’s central and southern zones, and a stabilisation in the north, after several years of hits from bleaching, cyclones and outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish.

Head researcher Dr Mike Emslie said the survey, which is now in its 35th year, showed “the reef is resilient, but this resilience has limits”.

Dr Emslie’s team conducted their assessment between September 2019 and June 2020 at reefs scattered from below Rockhampton to the very tip of Cape York. The work is done by means of a “manta tow”, in which a marine scientist is pulled along a section of the reef underwater for two minutes, and afterwards calculates the percentage of sea floor covered by coral.

“Out of the 86 reefs we surveyed this year, two thirds were low or moderate, with less than 30 per cent coral cover,” he said. “There were 23 reefs that had high coral cover, which is 30 to 50 per cent, and only five had very high coral cover, over 50 per cent.”

Comparing this year’s results to previous years of coral coverage gives a different perspective on the health of the reef.

In the northern reef, coral coverage in 2020 was just half of what it was at its recorded peak, and in the southern reef it was at 60 per cent of its best-ever result. The peaks in both areas were recorded in 1988.

Coral coverage in the central part of the reef reached its highest level ever recorded in 2016, Dr Emslie said, but this year the coverage had fallen back to 61 per cent of that peak.

“The reef is taking repeated hits from coral bleaching, cyclones and crown-of-thorns outbreaks. While we have seen the Great Barrier Reef’s ability to begin recovery from these pressures, the frequency and intensity of disturbances means less time for full recovery to take place,” Dr Emslie said.

The full effect of last summer’s mass bleaching event – the third in five years – would not be known for several months, he added.

“The 35-year data set we’ve got shows that the long term trajectory of hard coral cover is actually ratcheting down,” Dr Emslie said.

“There are lot of good reefs still out there, but there’s also lots of impacted reefs. People can still go out and see the Great Barrier Reef in all its glory but we really need to be aware of what the long term data is telling is.”

Gareth Phillips, CEO of the Association of Marine Park Tour Operators and himself a reef scientist, said people who worked on the reef were seeing its recovery day to day, but negative publicity about the condition of the reef had been affecting visitor numbers prior to the coronavirus outbreak.

“The overwhelming message is ‘Go now to see what’s left, and what you will probably see is this stark white reef that’s just on it’s last legs’. It’s just completely false,” he said.

“Marine operators do not deny that the reef has gone through some substantial pressures but as this report has shown, the reef has ability to recover,” Mr Phillips said. “It’s exactly in line with what the operators have been trying to say – that the reef is not dead and it is a beautiful place.”

Tourism operations on the reef were currently running at about 10-15 per cent of their pre-COVID capacity, Mr Phillips said, but he rejected popular suggestions this lack of activity could help the reef “heal”.

“Tourism actually has a positive impact on the reef,” he said. “With recent bleaching events, the tourism locations had very little impact because (operators) showed good stewardship. They monitor the reef. They’re a critical part of its management.”

The lack of commercial enterprise on the reef during the lockdown was also leading to an increase in illegal fishing in the area because the tourism boats provide surveillance, Mr Phillips said.

Cairns Tourism Industry Assocition president Kevin Byrne said operators were “continuously fighting against this over-egging of the decline of the Great Barrier Reef”.

The perception that the reef was dying was “fuelled by the contest of academics to try and paint the most gloomy picture,” he said. “The reef needs to be managed, it doesn’t at the moment need to be saved.”

According to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, there were 2.1 million “visitor days” to the reef in 2019.

SOURCE 






Gender reassigned to the ideological sin bin

The ACT is set to become one of the first jurisdictions in Australia to cement into law the triumph of gender ideology over common sense. It is be­ing achieved under the guise of a bill outlawing conversion therapy, which was supposed to be debated on Thursday but was postponed, due in part to unexpected public reaction.

The reason is that this bill, which ostensibly outlaws “conversion” therapy for sexual and gender identity issues, is not really about outmoded and cruel conversion therapy; it is about stopping any therapy for gender dysphoria, even in minors, other than to affirm transgender identity. This has been achieved by a clever sleight of hand. There is no real definition of conversion therapy in the bill. Instead, the bill endorses any therapy that validates transgenderism and criminalises anything that doesn’t.

By using the word conversion, and deliber­ately conflating outmoded and unethical techniques of gay conver­sion with legitimate therapies aimed at easing a young person’s anxiety about gender identity that enable them to accept their biological sex, it compounds opacity with deceit.

The bill is about ideology, not welfare, which is clear in the opening statements, which affirm the validity of all sexual and gender expression. One may well ask why it is the business of a government to tell us this, and the ideological purpose becomes clearer when it gives examples of the types of therapies that would be considered legitimate: only those that affirm sexual expression and identity — so, by extension, criminalising any therapies that don’t.

This would encompass even the most benign forms of open-ended psychotherapy for gender-confused children, many of whom have other psychological problems.

The proposed ACT bill goes much further than the similar Queensland law and is potentially far more damaging to fundamental human rights, particularly the rights of parents.

This is because the ACT bill, unlike the Queensland law, is not aimed solely at psychotherapists and other medical personnel. It is aimed at everybody, even parents. Any parent potentially could be charged with an offence if they try to prevent an adolescent or a child — even an underage child — from seeking trans-affirmative treatment, and there is even a provision to allow underage children to agree to their own treatment without parental consent. What is more, it penalises anyone who wishes to remove a child to another jurisdiction for treatment. The penalties are harsh, including incarceration and unlimited fines.

Outmoded and sometimes cruel gay conversion therapies, often based on aversion techniques, are universally rejected in psychiatric circles. However open-ended therapy, particularly for children displaying transgender traits, which helps them to conform to their biological sex and usually attempts to treat their underlying psychological disorders, such as autism, is perfectly valid. But this is not what the transgender lobby wants — it wants one route only, the path to a gender reassignment clinic.

Dianna Kenny, formerly professor of psychology at the University of Sydney and currently in private psychotherapy practice, has pointed out that the legislation is fatally flawed by virtue of its “illogical and ill-founded ideological base”. It is based on the ideology of gender identity rather than gender-related psychological treatment. Consequently it is a minefield, particularly for those treating children and adolescents.

“The legislation does not specify how these proposed changes to clinical practice in transgender therapy will be administered, or how professional bodies overseeing the work of health practitioners will interact with those administering the proposed legislation,” Kenny says.

She warns it is “steeped in errors” but, most important, it also has not defined the term conversion therapy with any rigour or accuracy and “deceitfully conflates lesbian and gay issues with transgender issues”.

The transgender lobby seeks to make the validation of gender identity at all costs the only approach and has used suicide statistics to bolster its claims. Lately, however, this ideology has had a few setbacks.

The Tavistock in London is being sued by adults who underwent reassignment surgery as children, and Swedish research claiming children who underwent gender reassignment surgery were less prone to suicide, which has been used as evidence by clinicians in Australia to make surgery more easily available, has been proved false.

The August 1 edition of the American journal of Psychiatry had to publish a rare correction, an editorial and letters from a dozen psychiatrists, clinicians and researchers in four countries identifying multiple flaws in the 2019 Swedish paper, with the conclusion that the data showed “no improvement in mental health after surgery or hormonal treatment”.

It is obvious that the ACT government pushed this bill under the COVID radar. It has ploughed on with this legislation while the federal government is distracted by the crisis and the federal Health Minister’s inquiry into gender reassignment for very young children has not begun. A cross-section of stakeholders, including independent schools, was sent a fact sheet describing the proposed ban but was given only 18 working days to submit feedback. This was said to be in lieu of the standard public consultation “due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19”.

However, the uproar during the past week when news of the bill became widespread has, one hopes, allowed the ACT government time to put in acceptable amendments and clearer definitions. As the independent schools rightly state: “This approach is unacceptable for a law which allows for complaints to go through the ACT Human Rights Commission, as well as the creation of criminal offences, the regulation of health practitioners, and the treatment of ‘conversion’ prac­tices as a form of child abuse or neglect.”

Those of us who live in the territory have become almost blase about the never-ending quest of the Labor-Green alliance, with a majority of one, to refashion the way we live, and now the way we think. But the legal tactics of the trans lobby mean the rest of Australia also may have to get used to it — sooner rather than later.

SOURCE 





Australian tourism is at 'boiling point' as world's toughest coronavirus border restrictions unleash havoc on embattled businesses, inquiry hears

Tourism businesses are at boiling point over the lack of certainty due to coronavirus restrictions, and jobs are on the line, a Senate inquiry has been told.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Jenny Lambert has told the inquiry an immediate fix for the sector is to ensure business is confident of a way forward.

She says business confidence has been rocked by decisions made after Victoria's virus outbreak, particularly on border closures on the basis of a small number of cases.

'The frustration of the business community is boiling over,' she said on Thursday.

'Businesses will hang on - they'll keep remortgaging their house, they'll keep doing whatever it takes to hang on if they see a future.

'But if they don't see an immediate future then it's very hard for them to hang on and that will mean many, many thousands of jobs lost in tourism in the next month or two.'

ACCI has warned 172,000 businesses only have two weeks left of financial reserves.

Tourism groups are frustrated state governments haven't stuck to the coronavirus roadmap and are urging for national guidelines on when borders can close and reopen. Australian Tourism Industry Council chief Simon Westaway has suggested state borders reopen after 28 days of no community transmission.

Without public confidence, there will be no sustainable tourism industry in the future. 'This is the critical elixir,' Mr Westaway said.

Queensland's border closures alone has cost $21 million and 173 jobs a day.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will discuss border controls with premiers and chief ministers when national cabinet meets on Friday.

The Senate inquiry also heard from hospitality workers who expressed frustration about the impending JobKeeper rate reduction.

United Workers Union member Josephine Annink told the inquiry she had no choice but to drain her superannuation account to stay afloat.

It comes as Qantas announced they will not begin flying internationally again until at least July 2021 as it records a $2billion loss in the 2020 financial year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At least 6,000 staff lost their jobs and another 20,000 were stood down as the embattled airline's profits plunged by 91 percent after the crisis grounded almost all international travel in early 2020.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the second half of 2020 was the toughest few months in the Flying Kangaroo's illustrious 99-year history - it turns 100 on November 16th - and called on state premiers to reconsider tough border closures. 'The impact of COVID on all airlines is clear. It's devastating and it will be a question of survival for many,' he said.

'We don't understand why states with zero cases still have borders closed to other states with zero cases... If it's safe, we need to reopen them.'

SOURCE 






Curriculum ignores history value

Twenty-first century history is being made each day. The news is full of  statue-toppling anarchists and clueless looters, politicians making life and death decisions on COVID-19, increasing cyber crime and human rights abuses, loss of respect for longstanding international conventions of the sea and air … and the list goes on.

As times like these, there can be a realisation of a desperate need for knowledge and skills to examine ourselves and our past to reassure ourselves that people are capable of great goodness.

Only the sophisticated, inquiry-based study of human history can do this.

Down Under, reviewers of the Australian Curriculum have a tiny window of opportunity to make History the go-to subject that will finally stand tall alongside English, Mathematics and Science as signalled when those first four learning areas were prioritised back in 2011.

Unfortunately, like foreign languages and the arts, Australian education places History in the category of ‘nice to have’ but without widely accepted value ‘in the real world’.

This subject area suffers from some of the same issues as STEM and languages – too few highly trained teachers, and too little public support for intellectually rigorous education.

At its very best, the study of history — more than any other area of the curriculum — produces analytical thinkers, researchers with academic integrity and deep curiosity, competent writers and thoughtful debaters who marshal the evidence to explain the past, the present and the possible future.

But Australian education is reaping what we have sown — a weak, disjointed curriculum, lacking a powerful overarching national narrative (see Singapore for contrast) and clear, high standards.  This is particularly evident in History, with its inconsistent delivery, small enrolments in Years 11 and 12 and minimal alignment with the separate subject of Civics and Citizenship.

So who will write the history of these strange times? As the saying goes, those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. And history does tend to be written by the winners.

The revised Australian Curriculum needs to be a winner, especially in that most precious field of History.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here






23 August 2020

Wake up, Australia: where’s your scepticism?

Why do people place so much trust in governments? How much easier will it be for future governments to operate as benevolent, but authoritarian, regimes? And what if, through our submission, benevolence slides into something worse?

Eight months after the first recorded case of COVID-19 arrived in Australia, governments have grabbed hold of a plethora of draconian powers that few of us could have imagined, except in the plot of an old sci-fi movie or a history book about East Germany.

Understandably, facing the ­unknown, most of us accepted the first wave of restrictions. Cancelling inbound flights to prevent the virus arriving and spreading made eminent sense. Social distancing remains sensible. We accepted lockdowns, fenced-off beaches, and police patrolling parks and streets for miscreants.

But many restrictions that made sense many months ago no longer make sense. This week, school formals were cancelled in NSW. School sport has been neutered. And dancing at weddings remains verboten. But if polls are to be believed, Australians are on board with submitting to a growing list of government decrees.

Put another way, the healthy Aussie scepticism of authority has disappeared faster than a fart in a windstorm.

This week, drones were introduced in Victoria to make it easier for police to catch people venturing outside their homes for illegal reasons. Senior Constable Ruben Gilles told local news source The Port Phillip Leader: “It will be a brilliant tool for crowd control.” Yes, indeed. How much easier ­policing could be with some more Soviet-style techniques.

Premiers aren’t erring on the side of constitutional caution when it comes borders either. Witness the current arms race of border controls by South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Queensland. Qantas’s Alan Joyce is right to be exasperated that there is no clear set of rules, based on sound health advice, to offer Australians and Australian businesses hope about the borders opening.

But why would Premiers take much notice of the Prime Minister berating them about state borders when the federal government continues to ban Australians from leaving the country without a special exemption, based on exceptional circumstances, signed off by some unaccountable bureaucrat in a back office. The border commissars gave Shane Warne permission to commentate on the cricket in London. But three out of four applications by other Australians have been rejected.

Again, most Australians seem just fine with these continuing incursions and double standards on lives and livelihoods, with no end game from state or federal governments. Voices of dissent are still few and far between.

Making Australians fearful has been critical in lulling us into quiet submission. And to maintain a sense of fear, goalposts have kept moving to the point where they are no longer visible. The Morrison government locked down the economy relying on modelling with a best-case scenario of 50,000 deaths. As of Friday, the number of deaths from COVID-19 stands at 459. Flattening the curve has been and gone. Hospital capacity has been built, ICU beds lie empty. And why would state and federal governments lay out an exit strategy to the continuing lockdown when most Australians seem content with disproportionate restrictions that continue to destroy lives and livelihoods?

Our unquestioning submission is causing other dire consequences. It is becoming clear that when we don’t expect accountability from government, none is forthcoming from politicians prone to blame-dodging.

This week, the NSW Premier apologised for the deadly con­sequences of the Ruby Princess ­fiasco: hundreds of passengers infected with COVID-19 were allowed to leave the ship on March 1, spreading the virus into the Australian community and causing at least 28 deaths. But no one, not Health Minister Brad Hazzard, nor a single health official, has been sacked or even disciplined, for deadly mistakes inquiry chief Bret Walker called “inexplicable” “unjustifiable” and “inexcusable”.

Sky News host Alan Jones says NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian offered up a pathetic “pigeon-livered” apology following the state government's handling of the Ruby Princess fiasco.
In Victoria, the Andrews government has been sitting on information about the source of second-wave community transmission — 99 per cent from two Melbourne hotels. The Andrews government has been caught out misleading the public about offers of ADF help too. Yet no one has stepped down, even stepped aside, for the single biggest policy failure in Australia, one that continues to kill people and cause untold damage to lives and livelihoods.

At the federal level, while the Prime Minister blames the Victorian government for the disaster in Victorian aged-care homes, it is clear that the Morrison government is responsible for catastrophic deaths of our most vulnerable citizens.

Deaths in March and April at Newmarch House and Dorothy Henderson Lodge in NSW should have been a wake-up call. But as Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into Aged Care Peter Rozens QC said earlier this month, “neither the commonwealth Department of Health nor the aged-care regulator developed a COVID-19 plan specifically for the aged-care sector”.

The government’s failure was slammed the same day the Prime Minister accused Andrew Bolt of being “heartless” and “amoral” and offering up the elderly to this deadly disease. Is this what we should expect when raising questions about some of the nonsensical pandemic rules? Normally this kind of rubbish emanates from the waves of ABC radio.

There is, of course, a thick black line between scepticism that encourages a government to govern better during a health crisis, and wicked distrust that undermines safety and good government.

The latter will come to the fore now that the Morrison government has locked in a deal for the Aust­ralia-wide supply of the world’s first potential COVID-19 vaccine. The letter-of-intent signed with drug giant Astra­Zeneca means that every Australian will be offered the University of Oxford vaccine for free if and when it becomes available.

The prospect of a coronavirus vaccine has given new lease to anti-vaxxers who, this week, bombarded social media sites with ­irrational conspiracy theories. Their distrust of science, corporations and government is nothing short of deranged. A cab driver told me this week the pandemic is a conspiracy caused by 5G, and that Bill Gates secretly wants to implant us with a tracking device using a COVID-19 vaccine.

As someone on Facebook said of the optimism of COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, they obviously have never been project managers: getting even a dozen people to act in concert with no blabbing is impossible.

Alas, anti-vaxxers have always been with us. In December 2014, when parents could lodge “conscientious objections” against childhood vaccinations, more than 39,000 children aged under seven were not vaccinated. There was nothing conscientious about their objections: children, and the most vulnerable in our community, were threatened with entirely preventable diseases such as polio, diphtheria and whooping cough.

The Abbott government’s “no jab, no play” policy introduced in early 2015, making some family tax benefits, including childcare rebates, contingent on children being vaccinated, has boosted the number of vaccinated children. This week, the federal Department of Health said Australia was on track to meet the 95 per cent target needed for herd immunity, with more than 94.6 per cent coverage for one- and five-year-old children, and more than 91.6 per cent for two-year-old children.

Anti-vaxxers will remain lurking below the surface or hollering on social media like Pauline Hanson. While no serious person will sink to the dangerous and pathological distrust of governments by COVID-19 anti-vaxxers, there is such a thing as a healthy dose of scepticism. Refusing a “vaccine” plugged by Vladimir Putin, for example.

Getting the trust balance right is just as critical when Australian governments are exercising powers more at home in Putin’s Russia. Speaking of which, Victorian Premier Dan Andrews said this week that it was unlikely that the virus would ever be completely eliminated. You don’t say.

That means a healthy level of scepticism of government is our best shot at guarding against ­future governments assuming draconian powers at gradually lower bars, and making even worse mistakes than those made over the past six months.

SOURCE 





Ban on uranium mining in New South Wales is set to be lifted after 30 years in an effort to create new jobs - but environmentalists are furious

Uranium mining is set be allowed in New South Wales - creating a wave of new jobs - after the government struck a deal with One Nation to lift a ban on the industry.

A bill to be voted on in the upper house of parliament next week calls for the repeal of legislation banning nuclear facilities and uranium mining in the state.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Deputy Premier John Barilaro are understood to have thrown their support behind bill by directly working out a deal with One Nation.

The deal has left some Coalition members in the Liberals and many of Mr Barilaro's Nationals colleagues fuming.

In an effort to appease their party a deal had been struck which would allow uranium mining but keep the existing ban on nuclear facilities, according to 7 News.

Nuclear energy generation is currently banned by the federal government so this part of the deal would only signal intent not to push for any of the power plants.

If the federal government were to lift the ban then the deal would also allow New South Wales to follow suit, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The ban on the industry has been in place since the late 1980s and would likely see significant backlash from nuclear energy opponents in repealed.

Australia has been estimated to hold 30 per cent of the world's uranium reserves - the largest of any single country.

As such, the industry could generate a significant amount of jobs and revenue for the state according to The Minerals Council of Australia chief executive, Tania Constable.

'Australia is endowed with the world's largest uranium resource but is only the third largest producer,' she said.

Ms Constable said if the bans are repealed, it would help strengthen Australia's position as a global uranium producer.

South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory are currently the only states and territories that allow the mining of uranium.

The arguments against mining of the radioactive metal include the environmental aspects, the dangers of nuclear power, and indigenous land issues.

The draft legislation has also attracted criticism form conservationists. The Australian Conservation Foundation has argued the country doesn't need to explore 'dangerous' nuclear options.

'The state ban on uranium mining has served NSW well and should remain,' Australian Capital Territory nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney said in a statement. 'Uranium mining in New South Wales would risk the health of the environment and regional communities for scant promise of return.'

Cabinet will need to give their final approval of Ms Berejiklian's and Mr Barilaro's deal with One Nation on Monday.

SOURCE 





Australian universities plead for fee rises to be scaled back and places increased

A group of Australian universities has called on the Morrison government to scale back the size of proposed fee increases while also warning that the number of student places needs to grow even faster than planned.

As the government considers the final shape of its higher education package, which it wants to legislate before the end of this year, the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) network is pushing for changes that would protect students and universities from dramatic changes in fees and funding.

IRU – which represents seven comprehensive universities including Western Sydney University, La Trobe University and Griffith University – argues in a submission that the government should “rework the student charges so that no unit is subject to a charge higher than the current highest rate”.

In order to ensure its proposal remained budget neutral, the IRU says the government could simultaneously “raise the lower rates proposed to offset this”.

The IRU is also seeking a second change to the package to ensure that universities do not receive less funding for each student on average than they currently do.

“As we explore the detail and universities model the period to 2024, there is less and less comfort that the funds saved are all being returned in other ways,” the submission states.

“Revenue for STEM and agriculture ought not to reduce if more graduates with these skills are required.”

In a third major change, the IRU calls on the federal government to support faster growth in the number of university places.

“Additional growth places are needed since the number planned will only just cover the population growth in the younger age groups in the short term and will fall well short towards the end of the decade,” it states.

The education minister, Dan Tehan, unveiled the “job-ready graduates” package in June, proposing to reduce the overall government contribution to degrees from 58% to 52% on average and increase fees for some courses to help pay for 39,000 extra university places by 2023 and almost 100,000 extra places by 2030.

But the package has attracted controversy over some heavy increases in student fees – for example 113% for the humanities – and because the government has no modelling about whether the changes will incentivise students to study science instead of humanities, the rationale provided by Tehan.

The Nationals have also expressed fears that the inclusion of social work, behavioural science and mental health in that highest paying cluster will hurt regional areas, which have already suffered from a lack of access to mental health support.

The regional education minister, Andrew Gee, who is from the Nationals, issued a statement under his ministerial banner last week describing this aspect as “a glaring and potentially detrimental design flaw” that could harm women, mature students and regional Australia more generally.

Tehan responded to that broadside by saying he would listen to all feedback as part of the consultation process. Monday was the deadline for submissions on the draft bill, which was released six days earlier.

The IRU submission says it supports the need for the package overall, noting it “seeks to reverse the steady decline in the value of university funding through effective indexation and provide a mechanism for growth in the future that will meet likely demand”.

But it is pushing for several changes, including removing many elements of the “student protection” schedule of the bill. This is the portion that includes cutting off commonwealth support for students who fail more than half of eight units in their first year of study.

IRU says the government “should leave universities to administer their policies and continue with performance measures that include the successful passing of units as one marker”.

It argues those elements are part of “a major extension of regulation over universities, with a limited evidence base for the need”.

“It is an extension of micro regulation to universities contrary to the government’s commitment to reduce red tape and inefficient barriers to effective practice,” the submission states.

Universities Australia, an umbrella body, has also raised concern about the issue of student success and commonwealth support.

The chief executive, Catriona Jackson, said universities already had “a range of measures in place to ensure satisfactory academic progress within their chosen course”.

“As we understand it the new legislation means students must pass more than half of the units in a course to retain commonwealth support, but that students can change direction, or have special circumstances recognised and retain support,” she said.

“We continue to discuss the detail with the government, with fairness the primary consideration.”

SOURCE 





Two women who flew to Perth from Adelaide without an exemption before sneaking out of hotel quarantine to party with a rapper have vowed to return to the city 'by force' after they were sent home in disgrace

Law-breaking by blacks is very common.  It is a pity that we have to import such behaviour

Isata Jalloh, 19, and Banchi Techana, 22, narrowly avoided jail time after flying into Western Australia on Monday and fleeing the Novotel Hotel to 'hang out with friends' and make the most of their 'vacation'.

The pair left the Murray St hotel via an emergency stairwell at about 1.30am on Tuesday but were caught by police at a unit in Coolbellup, in the south of Perth.

Jalloh and Techana were escorted back to hotel quarantine before making obscene gestures as they were placed on a taxpayer-funded return flight to South Australia on Friday.

Once on the ground in Adelaide, the duo refused to apologise for their selfish behaviour.

'Sorry for what? Did we commit a crime? Did we kill anyone?' Jalloh told Nine News before claiming they had 'no idea' there were travel restrictions in place.

The pair said they also planned to return to Western Australia in two months time, 'once coronavirus is over'. 'We will enter by force,' Jalloh added.

During their trip, the women were told they would need to quarantine before returning to Adelaide after flying into Perth without permission.

The pair instead left quarantine a few hours later and caught a taxi to the party.

Police called Jalloh's mobile phone to ask where the women were but she laughed and hung up on the officer.

The mobile phone signal was then used to track both women to the flat.

The women were arrested at about 8.30am and were taken into custody for two days.

They appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to the breach.

Jalloh was handed a $5,000 fine and Techana, who also admitted to obstructing an officer while in custody, was given an eight-month sentence, suspended for 12 months.

WA Police said the women arrived in Perth intending to holiday and visit family but were directed to quarantine until return flights could be arranged.

The court heard Techana, a dancer, had moved to Perth for a 'fresh start' and planned to bring over her one-year-old daughter.

Jalloh's lawyer also argued the 19-year-old had travelled from Queensland to South Australia without self-isolating and did not understand WA's coronavirus measures.

Magistrate Ben White said he believed the women were aware of the border restrictions.

'It's difficult to think anyone in the current climate could be in the dark about those sorts of things,' he said. 'There's risks to health, there's risks of this sort of behaviour resulting in further lockdowns.'

SOURCE 
 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here




21 August, 2020

ABC is forced to pull two episodes of kids' favourite TV show Bluey over claims they include racist language

Almost any word can be offensive in some context.  The context matters.  And there is no abusive or offensive context in the show mentioned below

In a famous comic book ("The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie") written by Barry Humphries, the word "feature" was treated as very indelicate -- but in all other contexts it has no offensive character at all


The ABC has pulled two episodes of its most downloaded kids show after receiving complaints they contained racist language.

Episodes of the show Bluey were taken down on August 10 after a viewer complained about the use of the term 'ooga booga' in the 'Teasers' and 'Flat Back' episodes.

The complaint said the phrase had racial connotations which referred to a 'problematic history for Indigenous Australians.'

'The ABC sincerely apologised to the complainant for any distress caused by the term,' an official statement read.

'The ABC has a strong record for giving voice to Indigenous Australians and an ongoing commitment to helping reduce discrimination and prejudice.'

The complainant was also told the ABC and the external producers of the show weren't aware of the offensive language.

Bluey is the ABC's most downloaded show on Iview, having been watched more than 200 million times.

Outraged fans took to social media to slam the broadcaster for taking down the episodes. 'Can't people just enjoy Bluey as a wholesome cartoon?' one fan wrote. 'Can someone explain to me how 'ooga booga' is racist?' another added.

However others praised the decision and one woman explained why the term 'ooga booga' was racist. 'I well remember a time growing up in Western Sydney where the phrase 'Ooga Booga/s' was used conversationally to describe a dark skinned person/s,' she wrote. 'It was used in social circles, in movies or TV depicting black indigenous people as 'uncivilised fools'.

'I personally balked at hearing it used in Teasing , but never said anything because I thought it was maybe just me.'

The ABC will change the dialogue prior to future broadcast or publication of the two episodes.

SOURCE 





Melbourne University head says restrictions could do more harm than virus

Australia's "lockdown mindset" in response to COVID-19 risks doing more damage than the virus itself, particularly to the lives of young people, says University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell.

Professor Maskell, an expert in infectious diseases and the head of Australia’s wealthiest university, said Australia had to move beyond the lockdown phase of its response or risk experiencing even greater loss of life from poverty and suicide.

"At what point do the measures that we take to suppress the infectious disease rate actually start to do more damage than the disease itself?" Professor Maskell said.

"I’m very concerned actually that if we carry on in this kind of lockdown mindset for too long, we will seriously damage young people's lives."

The vice-chancellor made his remarks in an online forum hosted by the university’s faculty of science as part of National Science Week on Wednesday night.  "We already know that there are … some death rates that have increased, there’s more suicide going on at the moment," he said.

"If we have an economy that’s not functioning, we’ll have serious poverty problems which we all know, lots of studies show will lead to increased morbidity and mortality in society."

Pandemics and infectious diseases have occurred throughout human history, Professor Maskell said, but modern society has reached a point where we believe we can control natural disasters.

"Infectious diseases are part of the landscape," he said. "People die from infectious diseases all of the time around the world, it’s just that this particular infectious disease is a new one and when it first came along we didn’t know what it might do to us."

In a forum exploring the role of universities in crises, the vice-chancellor also took aim at politicians and social media for eroding public trust in scientific expertise.

"Every single person on the planet who has a social media account feels they have the right to not just comment on stuff, but have their comment taken seriously," he said. "And so the number of people you see commenting on complicated issues with simplistic sound bites is really quite frightening."

Politicians around the world also spurned scientific findings that clashed with their own interests and ideological beliefs, he said.

Coronavirus has so far infected more than 22.2 million people and taken 783,000 lives worldwide.

About 24,000 people in Australia have tested positive to the virus, with almost 500 lives lost, including 376 in Victoria.

The Andrews government has imposed a six-week, stage four lockdown across greater Melbourne in response to the second wave of the virus, which has been far deadlier than the first wave.

The national cabinet has also introduced strict restrictions on travel into and out of Australia.

These travel restrictions have destroyed Australia’s market for international students. Universities Australia has estimated the sector could lose $16 billion in revenue between this year and 2023.

Professor Maskell said his "primary objective is to ... make sure that this university survives the crisis".

This month the University of Melbourne announced it would shed 450 jobs, along with an unidentified number of casual roles, in response to an estimated $1 billion fall in revenue.

SOURCE 






Business groups push to open international borders for economic boost

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is on a collision course with Australia's biggest business lobby groups over tough international border restrictions they say hamper economic recovery and could see more jobs lost and global corporate deals languish.

Mr Morrison asked state premiers this week for "urgent solutions" to the havoc caused by interstate restrictions, but on Wednesday he said his international border position was "uncontroversial".

However, Ai Group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business Council of Australia are warning business activity and jobs growth are constrained by closed borders stopping the majority of arrivals and departures during the coronavirus pandemic.

Coalition MPs are also supporting an increase in the cap on how many people can arrive from overseas, as well as a robust quarantine system for returning Australians.

ACCI chief executive James Pearson said one in six businesses' trading conditions are significantly disrupted by border restrictions and more than half have been disrupted by both domestic and international travel restrictions. The ACCI is Australia's biggest business network.

"Opening our international borders is a critically important step in economic recovery for a trading nation like Australia," Mr Pearson said.

"Our domestic markets, disrupted by restrictions on the movement of people and goods and gatherings of people, will not be able to sustain high employment and living standards by themselves.

"We urge the government to provide assurance that the conditions under which borders will reopen are better known so that business can have more certainty."

He said there needed to be a clear plan on how - and when - the borders would open in a safe and controlled way.

The current limit is for 4000 people to arrive in the country on a weekly basis until at least October 24. To compare, in August 2019 there were 820,000 international arrivals and 950,000 returning Australians over the month.

There are growing calls for the government to review its ban on Australians travelling overseas, critics saying the policy makes Australia a prison island.

Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox, representing more than 60,000 businesses, is also pushing for international travel bans to be replaced by recommendations to allow companies to head overseas to look for business opportunities, negotiate deals and build relationships.

"The ban on Australians travelling overseas may have made sense as an early emergency measure but it is today a barrier to business that can be easily and safely removed," Mr Willox said, warning rejections to travel exemptions for businesses could cost jobs.

"Safely loosening outbound business travel restrictions would be a good start to getting business going again. "At the very least, the Government should signal a firm date on which such outbound travel restrictions will be reviewed and lifted."

BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott said the nation's success was built on being open to the world, in terms of attracting skilled migration and exporting products and services.

As a result, Ms Westacott said "we should safely ease travel restrictions as soon as we can".

"Business and governments must continue to work together to get the right national system in place to manage and suppress the virus, open ourselves back up and get on with creating new jobs to fuel our recovery," she said.

The BCA represents chief executives from major companies employing more than one million workers, including the major banks, Coles, Woolworths, Wesfarmers, Telstra, AGL and BP.

Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham declined to comment, however said on the weekend the "cautious approach" would remain important into the future as the restrictions helped Australia manage the crisis.

"We continue to review all of the health advice including as it relates to travel circumstances," he said.

"But we can't and won't put just random timelines in terms of advice as to when borders might reopen."

However, the international border situation may rely on the future of a vaccine. A report from Lowy Institute senior fellow John Edwards released on Thursday warns in a post-COVID world it would "take time" before business plans could be implemented and travel could resume.

"The resumption of mass foreign travel, unimpeded by quarantine, awaits not only the discovery and approval of a COVID-19 vaccine but also its distribution in millions of doses," Dr Edwards said.

SOURCE 






Cash relief on the way for Victorian landlords as protections for renters are extended

Small commercial property owners in Victoria will be able to apply for support payments of up to $3,000 under a suite of measures targeting both tenants and landlords announced by the State Government today.

The measures also include extending the ban on rental increases and evictions for both residential and commercial tenants until December 31.

Those moratoriums, introduced in late March to protect tenants suffering financial distress because of the pandemic, were due to expire on September 29.

"Nobody should be worried about losing a roof over their head right now, particularly given the circumstances around social distancing," Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said.

Land tax relief for eligible residential and commercial landlords is also being extended, and the potential discount has doubled from 25 per cent to 50 per cent.

"To get through this together, all of us — tenants, landlords, businesses, governments, banks — we need to work together," Mr Pallas said.

"And certainly these arrangements, which seek to strike that right balance, are aimed at ensuring that where the right thing is done by a landlord for a tenant, where they comply with the eligible criteria, then they too can expect that the state will provide them with relief as well."

Commercial landlords will now also be required to provide rent relief in proportion with the fall in turnover experienced by eligible tenants.

"Until now, that proportionality principle has been aspired to," Mr Pallas said. "But we will now make it a very clear and expressed intention that, if you're identifying a downturn in your capacity, your turnover, then you should have an expectation that that is similarly reflected in terms of the rent relief that you get."

Nearly 26,000 agreements for reduced rent have been registered with Consumer Affairs Victoria in the past four months, the State Government said.

The extension of the ban on rental evictions comes after some Melbourne tenants raised concerns about the September expiry date.

But the Property Council of Australia said the moratorium's extension "will push many landlords to their limits or beyond".  "Landlords cannot keep propping up the system," the lobby group's Cressida Wall said. "As the crisis goes on, we will need goodwill and action from both banks and governments to ensure that these businesses do not go under and take down the economy with them.

"We welcome the additional land tax relief announced and will work with the State Government on the technical detail of proposals to introduce additional obligations on landlords."

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here



20 August, 2020

Cancel culture and push to rename Queensland’s ‘racist’ place names must end now, writes Michael Madigan

Today we in Queensland are pondering the (hopefully faint) possibility that we will have to rename a series of Queensland cities and towns because they are allegedly named after people connected to slavery.

A petition from 400 people lodged with the Queensland Parliament has requested the move start with Russell Island – named for Lord Russell who allegedly voted against slavery abolition

Townsville, Mackay and Gladstone are just some of the places named after figures who supported the blackbirding which often resulted in South Sea Islander forced to work in sugar cane paddocks under appalling conditions for meagre, or sometimes no, wages.

The Palaszczuk Government says it will consider changing names associated with British aristocrats and politicians who were in favour of slavery.

Yet if we start walking down this track we’ll find it has no end, no point of finality.

For, if we were to be logical and consistent, we would have to start by renaming the entire state of Queensland. The “Queen’s Land’’ is quite definitely named after the British Monarch generically even if the name originated in the time of Queen Victoria.

And it was a British Queen (Elizabeth 1) who in 1563 helped kick off the African slave trade when she rented out one of her old man’s (Henry VIII) boats (it was called ironically enough, Jesus of Lubeck) to a group of British businessman who collected African slaves.

So the institution that is the British Monarchy is tainted with slavery and the very name of this state, by association, also carries the stain.

Yet it was also members of the British Monarchy (notably Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, now a title owned by Prince Harry) who joined the abolitionists led by William Wilberforce in the 19th Century to bring an end to slavery.

Places named after slave traders and their supporters:

Townsville - named after Robert Towns - revived blackbirding in Queensland in the late 19th Century

Mackay - named after Captain John Mackay - conducted many blackbirding expeditions through the Pacific and China between 1865 and 1883

Gladstone - named after British prime minister William Gladstone - supported the slave trade

Town of McIlwraith, McIlwraith Range - named after three-time Queensland Premier between 1879 and 1893 - tried to annex New Guinea for Queensland to promote easy flow of slave labour, supported the trade

Federal division of Dickson - Brisbane northside seat named after Sir James Dickson, currently held federal MP Peter Dutton - supported the trade of slaves to Queensland

William Gladstone’s family may have owned slaves, and he may have been an apologist for slaves, but he also attempted to rein in some of the more brutal treatment of the Irish.

Captain John Mackay may have engaged in blackbirding but he also led an expedition up from what is now northern New South Wales to present day Mackay.

That opened up the district to the agriculture which played a major role in developing the economy of present day Queensland.

As for Russell Island, a reader of The Courier-Mail has already penned a letter to the editor saying the allegations of Lord John Russell supporting slavery are simply wrong.

That Lord Russell was apparently not even born when his father Lord Russell made a speech supporting the regulation of the slave trade.

We just can’t go on doing this. We can’t go on posturing as moral arbiters of people who lived in times we can’t possibly understand.

And we can’t go on attacking people connected with slavery when almost every society on planet earth, for thousands of years, thought slavery perfectly acceptable.

Our own behaviour, which we might assume is perfectly acceptable, may be interpreted as utterly reprehensible by generations living a century on from today.

All we can hope is that future generations have the intelligence to understand that human beings are fallible, and the wisdom to know they share in that fallibility.

Brian Courtice is a former federal Labor politician from Bundaberg who knows more about the South Sea Islander blackbirding trade than most people in this state after studying it for decades.

His own property outside Bundaberg hosts the bodies of South Sea Islander who were often buried in the cane fields, where they fell.

Courtice, who has formally asked the British Government for an apology relating to the blackbirding trade which occurred under British rule, says changing a name or tearing down a statue resolves nothing.

“What we need is more statues, more place names,’’ he says.

“We need to own all of our history, not just part of it.’’

SOURCE 





'We are losing our rights over a virus with a 99% recovery rate': Defiant organiser of hippy drumming event at a Sydney beach vows to keep defying coronavirus restrictions

The organiser of a hippy drumming event has vowed to continue defying COVID-19  restrictions and labelled social distancing measures a 'totalitarian measure'.

Sydney Drummers founder, Curt Hannagan, organised a gathering that saw 200 people pack onto Mistral Point at Maroubra in the city's east on Sunday.

Mr Hannagan unleashed an explosive social media rant on Tuesday after he was fined $1,000 for breaching coronavirus restrictions.

'We are having our rights and freedoms taken away from us over a virus with a 99 per cent recovery rate,' Mr Hannagan wrote on Facebook.

Mr Hannagan, who also goes by Curt Alchemy, established a GoFundMe page to help pay for the event's fine and purchase new drumming equipment.

'Over 200 people gathered in Maroubra to collectively share their heart beat and connection to one another in a form of musical celebration for the human race and mother earth,' Mr Hannagan explained.    

He also added a post on the Sydney Drumming page that said the group would 'not submit to the current totalitarian measures here in Australia'. 

'These events are designed to heal ourselves, heal our trauma, and to create harmony within our body, mind and spirit,' Mr Hannagan said.

The drummer asked those who 'stand strong for you rights, for your freedoms' to 'donate any finances... so we can pay the fine and move forward.' He also shared plans to host another gathering and asked 'Who wants another secret location tribe fest in Sydney?'  'We will not submit, we will rise in community spirit,' Mr Hannagan said.

Maroubra residents called police after seeing the drumming party grow and officers arrived at about 6pm.

'Officers spoke with a 33-year-old man who was one of the organisers of the event.

'Police were able to disperse the crowd without incident,' a NSW Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.

NSW Police said they issued the 33-year-old man with a $1,000 fine on Monday for failing to comply with COVID-19 regulations.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the event organisers for comment.

According to New South Wales Health regulations no more than 20 people are allowed to gather outside in a public place.

The state recorded three new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases to 3,770. 

One was a returned traveller in hotel quarantine, one has been linked to the funeral cluster in South Western Sydney and another case remains under investigation.

There were 13,736 tests undertaken in the most recent 24 hour period and 122 people are being treated for coronavirus.

SOURCE 






Bullying, stress, anxiety: Why COVID is causing our kids to skip school

Record amounts of students have not returned to school across the country since the initial introduction of remote learning with principals feeling like they have their hands tied and that children are going to slip through the cracks permanently.

The Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA) has been told the number of students missing from school could be as high as eight per cent with teenagers refusing to return to school in some states.

According to APPA school refusal is usually around two per cent – as opposed to students occasionally being absent.

Bullying accounts for a large part of why students are truanting with one source telling News Corp Australia “it is not the classroom that is the problem, it is the playground.”

Previously school refusal students tend to be from lower socio-economic areas but the sky rocketing numbers are now including those from middle class families.

Anxiety and stress are playing a big part with students worried their academic performance has suffered from the school shutdowns earlier this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many are “too embarrassed” to go back to school as a result.

“We’ve noticed those who experienced social anxieties related to the classroom and playground have excelled with remote learning and are reluctant to go back to face-to-face learning,” Schools Program Manager at Les Twentyman Foundation Sarah Ryan said.

“The other cohort have struggled with attendance, fallen behind and now are even more reluctant to return as they’ve fallen further behind.

“Absenteeism is difficult to monitor at the moment, given the different platforms schools are using to monitor classroom engagement. We do know however, that those refusers who were starting to make progress pre-COVID are almost right back at square one.”

The APPA is calling for funds to help bring students back to school by working more closely with support agencies.

APPA principal Malcolm Elliot said too many students are slipping through the cracks and there is only so much school leaders can do by themselves.

“Schools currently have access to support such as social workers and school psychologists to support children and families, but there are issues with schools having the resources to pay for the requisite of such services and the further you move out of the urban areas the more difficult accessing this support becomes,” Mr Elliott said.

“We are hearing from school principals that there is a significant issue of children not returning to ‘face-to-face’ learning since remote learning was halted across all states, while official data is scarce during the COVID crisis on the numbers, there is suggestion that we may be looking at up to eight per cent of primary aged children still at home in some states.

“This is a national issue and was a problem prior to the added pressure of the coronavirus outbreak with research from the University of Melbourne suggesting that up to 50,000 children are not currently enrolled in school, with children for a variety of reasons unwilling to attend school, some related to issues in the home such as family breakdown, domestic violence, trauma, with an increase in anxiety also playing a major role.”

Cluey Learning’s Chief Learning Officer Dr Selina Samuels said they have seen a 30 to 50 per cent rise in senior students seeking additional support since COVID hit.

“There is no doubt 2020 has presented students with education challenges unlike no other,” Dr Samuels said.

“As schools moved to remote learning, we had a lot of senior students looking for or already using additional support such as online tutoring. They are looking for more one-to-one interactions in tandem with what they are getting at school.”

SOURCE 






Lives and livelihoods ruined in misplaced coronavirus response

It’s just over two months since Jacinda Ardern declared: “We are confident we have eliminated transmission of the virus in New Zealand.” She made the statement after revealing that, on receiving this news from her officials, she “did a little dance”.

To be fair, the New Zealand Prime Minister said that eradication of COVID-19 had been achieved “for now”.

She added: “Elimination is a point in time. It is a sustained effort. We almost certainly will see cases here again.” Which makes you wonder — how many “little dances” will Ardern undertake until COVID-19 goes the way of the Spanish flu during the previous pandemic in Australasia a century ago?

The sad news out of New Zealand this week is that a fresh COVID-19 cluster has been discovered and that more lockdowns have been implemented — the most severe in Auckland, the location of the current outbreak.

Until now, many disease experts and commentators in Australia have been urging the federal, state and territory governments to implement the New Zealand approach in tackling the virus.

For example, on July 14 ABC Online reported that “an elimination strategy would likely involve tougher lockdowns and has proved successful in New Zealand”. One of the commentators said that a really tough lockdown would prevent the need for a similar response at some later time.

Alas, this has not proved to be the case in New Zealand. It is not clear what is the cause of the resurgence of community transfer of the virus in New Zealand. However, Australian National University infectious disease physician Peter Collignon, is not surprised.

Speaking on Sky News’ The Bolt Report on Wednesday, Collignon said he “was always a bit concerned about this elimination term — because I think that’s very difficult to get but, more importantly, to sustain”.

Collignon is aware of the various theories about the virus cluster in Auckland. His essential point is that “one of the problems is that people who are young, 20s and 30s, often have minimal or no symptoms”. Consequently it’s easy for COVID-19 “to percolate below the surface for quite a long period … and then … it comes back”.

New Zealand had the toughest lockdowns in the whole of Australasia. But COVID-19 has not been eliminated. Victoria had the toughest lockdowns in all of Australia — but it has implemented an even stricter lockdown as it faces what appears to be a serious second wave of infection.

Meanwhile the economic consequences of the lockdown continue to wreak harm on Australia’s businesses and the nation’s mental health.

On Monday, The Mercury in Hobart led with a story about the impact of COVID-19 on Australia’s smallest state. Shelley Brooks, the director of Rodgers Reidy Tasmania, was reported as saying: “It is anticipated there will be a tsunami of insolvency appointments over the coming months and up to two years following.”

The Mercury reported that, of Tasmania’s 40,000 businesses, 95 per cent are considered to be small operators. They prevail in the retail and tourism businesses. Not much business there in the foreseeable future. Tasmania is in a statewide lockdown. Tourists and other visitors are not welcome. However, Tasmania is Australia’s least prosperous state and is dependent on money spent in the state from other Australians and foreigners.

If the islands of New Zealand cannot eliminate COVID-19, why should the island of Tasmania be expected to do so? If it cannot do so, on the current policies of the Tasmanian government the state may be locked down for another year or more.

What then will be left of the once thriving Tasmanian tourism industry and the businesses that benefited from it?

At the moment, virtually every state border is closed to other Australians except for the transmission of goods. It’s true that in 1919-20 Australia’s state borders were closed to prevent or slow down the impact of the Spanish flu.

But that was a century ago when Australians who lived in Albury could not readily work in Wodonga — likewise with Tweed Heads and Coolangatta. In short, closed borders then did not pose the economic, social and medical problems that they do today.

In NSW, Premier Gladys Berejiklian is doing her best in trying to keep open as much business and interstate trade as possible.

Certainly NSW closed its border with Victoria following that state’s catastrophic handling of quarantine procedures in hotels. But travel is possible from Queensland into NSW. The Berejiklian government seems the most focused — along with the federal government — on the need to keep the private sector going at a time of national and international recession.

It is no accident, as the Marxists were wont to say, that the two Australasian leaders in government who have been most willing to close down large sections of the economy — Ardern in New Zealand and Daniel Andrews in Victoria — have scant first-hand knowledge of the private sector.

Without question, COVID-19 is an insidious virus — especially for the aged. This is a reason to focus on the needs of older Australians and those who suffer from chronic illnesses.

But there is also a need to be mindful of those, especially in the small to medium businesses, whose lives are being destroyed by the response to COVID-19.

It is notable that the attitude to the virus by some physicians and surgeons in the private sector differs from the policies proposed by some health professionals in the public sector — including health bureaucrats who make policy recommendations to state and territory governments.

It’s much the same with the media. It seems that journalists with secure public sector jobs are more inclined than others to call for even tougher lockdowns.

In late July, Melbourne-based journalist Virginia Trioli called for a “New Zealand-style shutdown” for Melbourne. On Thursday, on ABC Radio National Breakfast, Fran Kelly gave the impression of urging federal Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Simon Birmingham to ease off in his wish that the borders between states and territories should be opened up as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, much of the private sector is dying or dead. There’s nothing to dance about in Wellington or Canberra.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here







19 August, 2020

Australia's top universities shoot up the international rankings

Since I have degrees from two of the universities highly ranked, I rather like this. I am particularly pleased about how highly UQ was ranked -- seeing it was my alma mater. Having UQ ahead of ANU is quite something.

The Shanghai Jiao Tong index is the oldest ranking system and is still highly respected.  It has been questioned because it gives a big weight to research but research is what distinguishes a university from a technical college and other teaching-only bodies so I think the criticism is tendentious


Australia's most elite universities have shot up an international rankings chart as their intake of China international students has surged.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities league table featured seven of Australia's Group of Eight universities in the top 100 list.

After the United States and the UK, Australia came third when it came to having the most number of universities in the upper echelons.

In 2003, Australia came ninth in the world - in terms of having the most universities on this top 100 list.

University of Sydney associate professor Salvatore Babones, a China expert and an adjunct scholar at the Centre for Independent Studies, said the Group of Eight universities also, between them, sourced 68 per cent of their international students from China.

'How did Australia climb from tied-ninth to third in the world in less than two decades in the world's premier research-based university rankings?,' he said.

'In two words: Chinese students.

'Until the coronavirus struck, they were the 'cash cows' that funded Australian universities.'

Last year, before coronavirus, Australia's education exports to China were worth $12billion.

The ARWU list is compiled by the Shanghai Rankings Consultancy, a commercial spin-off from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The University of Melbourne was ranked at No. 35, putting it ahead of the Sorbonne in Paris at 39.

The University of Queensland in Brisbane came in at 54.

Australian National University in Canberra was 67.

The University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales both came in at No. 74 in the world.

Monash University in Melbourne and the University of Western Australia both came in at 85.

The University of Adelaide was the only Group of Eight university not to make the top 100 but it was placed in the 151 to 200 band.

SOURCE 






China's targeting of Australian wine 'politically motivated'

This is another example of the stupidity and futility of picking on China.  China is a proud nation and will hit back.  China has done nothing deliberate to hurt us so why do we dream up petty quarrels with it? What end will it serve?

China's move to levy hefty import duties on Australian wine was "politically motivated" according to a leading winemaker, as Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said there was no grounds for Beijing's dumping investigation.

China's Ministry of Commerce announced on Tuesday morning it would begin investigating allegations the Australian wine industry was receiving subsidies and selling into the mainland market below cost.

The Australian Financial Review has been told officials in Canberra were notified in recent days about the impending investigation and local wine growers had been warned.

At risk is $1.1 billion in annual exports along with Australia's largest and fastest growing wine market.

In a statement Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said there was no basis for the claims being made by China. "This is a very disappointing and perplexing development," he said. "Our wine industry has worked incredibly hard to establish itself as a world-leading producer and export powerhouse."

Mr Birmingham denied Australian wine was being sold below market price in China and said exports were "not subsidised."

Shares in Treasury Wine Estates, Australia's biggest winemaker, were down more than 9 per cent as news of the investigation began to leak and were briefly halted on the ASX.

In its statement, the Ministry of Commerce said it had received an anti-dumping complaint from the local industry on July 6 and as a result would investigate all wine imported from Australia in containers of two litres or less.

China said the 2019 calendar year would be the primary focus of its investigation, but there would be a separate "industry harming" period from 2015 to 2019.

The investigations will begin on August 18 and would normally run for a full year. "Under special circumstances it can be extended to February 18, 2022," the Commerce Ministry said.

The Commerce Ministry said it had already conducted an initial investigation between 2015 to 2019, which found Australian wine took up a large percentage of the market.

Figures compiled by Global Trade Atlas showed Australia accounted for 37 per cent of China's imported wine by value in the year to May 2020, well ahead of France on 27 per cent, Chile with 13 per cent and Italy 6 per cent.

One winemaker in China said the investigation was politically-motivated as there was room in the local market for domestic and imported wine.

However, the person said, alcohol sales in China have been hurt by the coronavirus as consumers mostly drunk at public gatherings rather than at home.

"This is a political action," said a leading Chinese winemaker from the region of Ningxia, who did not want to be named. "Our winery has not complained about any Australian anti-dumping behaviour. We are surprised by this," the winemaker said.

The person said the market was big enough for both Chinese and Australian wines to survive and there was no competitive threat. "We don't need to exclude each other to survive," the winemaker said.

China's move follows warnings that wine imports would be restricted as punishment for the Morrison Government's support for a global coronavirus inquiry.

At the same time China is seeking to promote its local wine industry and focus more on boosting domestic sales of popular consumer products given weakening demand for its exports as coronavirus ravages the economies of its major trading partners.

State media have suggested over the past week that President Xi Jinping wants to embark on a so-called "dual circulation" strategy aimed at reducing reliance on global markets and generating more demand for local products from domestic consumers.

Details of this potential shift in Mr Xi's economic policy have been vague so far.

Australian wine exports to China were up 0.7 per cent to $1.1 billion in the year to June 30, according to Wine Australia figures.

The move to levy import duties on the wine industry follows Beijing imposing an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley farmers in May. At the same time it banned beef exports from four of Australia's biggest abattoirs.

SOURCE 






Google accused of spreading ‘fake news’ over claims it would charge Australians for search engine under new laws

If Google does impose charges or restrictions on Australians it would be a wonderful leg-up for Bing and Duck-Duck-go -- so it won't happen

Google has been accused of spreading “fake news” and “misinformation” after the technology giant claimed it would have to charge Australians for its search engine as a result of new Federal Government legislation.

The California-based search engine today published an open letter claiming the “news media bargaining code” proposed by the Federal Government could make Google hand over user data to news companies, “dramatically worsen” Google Search and YouTube and put the free services at risk.

The letter was addressed “to Australians” and signed by Google Australia managing director Mel Silva and was promoted on Google’s home page.

Shortly after its publication, Australian Consumer and Competition chief Rod Sims released a statement accusing Google of spreading misinformation about the draft news bargaining code developed by the ACCC.

“The open letter by Google today contains misinformation about the draft news media bargaining code which the ACCC would like to address,” he said.

“Google will not be required to charge Australians for the use of its free services such as Google Search and YouTube, unless it chooses to do so.

“Google will not be required to share any additional user data with Australian news businesses unless it chooses to do so.

“The draft code will allow Australian news businesses to negotiate for fair payment for their journalists’ work that is included on Google services.

“This will address a significant bargaining power imbalance between Australian news media businesses and Google and Facebook. A healthy news media sector is essential to a well-functioning democracy.”

Mr Sims said the ACCC would continue to discuss the draft code with interested parties including Google. Consultations will close later this month.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced last month that the code would allow media companies to join forces to compel major tech giants Google and Facebook to pay for content.

Today, Mr Frydenberg said the Government remained committed to introducing “this significant reform with a world leading mandatory code” that would “govern relations” between media and tech giants, “increase competition” and “strengthen consumer protection and ensure the sustainability of our media landscape”.

“The Government tasked the ACCC to undertake a detailed world-leading study over 18 months to examine the impact of digital platforms on competition in the media and advertising services markets,” he said.

“The inquiry found a significant bargaining power imbalance between Australian news media businesses that produce original content and the digital platforms.”

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the Government had taken a “careful approach” to the “policy issues which emerge from the market power that Google and Facebook have accumulated”.

Free TV chief executive Bridget Fair said Google’s letter was straight out of “monopoly playbook 101 trying to mislead and frighten Australians”, adding that the fact they had claimed Google might have to provide user data to news companies was “fake news”.

“Google has shown once again how important a free, strong independent news media industry is so that they can hold Google to account for pushing such deliberately inaccurate information to its users,” she said.

SOURCE 






Australia’s travel bans are looking less and less sustainable as the world opens up

Australians are increasingly prisoners of the government’s success fighting coronavirus, but it looks like we don’t have an exit strategy to get us mixing with the world and each other, writes James Morrow.

One of the most remarkable things about this whole coronavirus pandemic has been how one of the most extroverted nations in the world became, virtually overnight, a fortress.

Not only are foreign visitors (and returning Australians) forced to spend 14 days in dreary hotel quarantine at their own expense - reasonable, perhaps - but we Australians also have to apply, like naughty students looking for a hall pass, to leave the country.

Even if we are planning on staying away for months, or years, or hold a second passport of another nation.

It’s a bit like trying to get papers to get out of town in the movie Casablanca, except that everyone would have to scan a QR code to enter Rick’s Cafe Americain, and singing La Marseillaise would be banned because it might spread viral droplets.

(And no, I’m not comparing Australia to the collaborationist Vichy regime, but rather pointing out the absurdity of havng to apply to leave your own country, and risking a 75 per cent chance of rejection if you do).

But at some point we are going to have to get back to some degree of normal, with or without a vaccine. And that will mean being allowed to get back on a plane and go not just to Perth or Port Douglas, but LA or London or anyplace else that will have us. Which is an increasing number of countries, if only we were allowed to go.

But, I hear you saying, there’s a pandemic on, haven’t you heard? And we all need to do our part to stop the spread.

Yes, sure, except, of course, the higher education sector.

In a few weeks, 300 foreign students from Asia will be flown in via Singapore to Adelaide to test how universities might begin to cover the $3bn in losses they are expected to suffer for allowing themselves to become so dependent on overseas students in the first place.

It’s a sort of pragmatic authoritarianism that demands ordinary Australians give up their rights for the greater good (“keeping us safe”) and then bends the rules for others when there’s a quid to be made.

All this while countless Australians remain stranded overseas, in many cases paying well over the odds for business class tickets to improve their chances of getting on a flight.

And that’s before we talk about the absurdity of many of the state border restrictions, which have resulted in countless petty, bureaucratic cruelties.

Queensland’s premier said Monday she would not relax borders until there was zero community transmission in NSW or Victoria. Seriously.

Yet in the face of all this Scott Morrison seems to be loathe to do anything about it.

Particularly with his polls sky high, why risk a fight with the states, or cop the panicky criticism he would receive from the “lockdown until elimination” camp for re-asserting Australians’ freedom to travel?

But here it’s worth noting what epidemiologist Donald Henderson had to say on the subject.

Henderson, who died in 2016, is probably best known for essentially ridding the world of smallpox – which makes him about as good an authority you can get on this sort of thing.

In 2006, at the age of 78, Henderson swung into action when he heard about a program initiated by the George W. Bush administration which put together computer modellers with public health officials to work out how to lock down and quarantine society in the event of a future deadly influenza or SARS-like pandemic.

Henderson’s work was resurrected recently by Edward Stringham at the American Institute for Economic Research, who points out the great doctor spent his life “devoted to implementing the great discovery of modern virus theory that we need not flee but rather build immunity through science, either by natural immunities or via vaccines.”

“If particular measures are applied for many weeks or months, the long-term or cumulative second and third order effects could be devastating socially and economically”, Henderson wrote, before concluding “experience has shown that communities faced with epidemics or other adverse events respond best when the normal social functioning of the community is least disrupted”.

Ain’t that the truth.

Travel, both inbound and out, is a huge part of the Australian identity, and represents a massive benefit to the nation in terms of tourism and commerce.

Yet the disruption imposed on us by the reaction to the coronavirus has created a “new normal” that is anything but.

It’s time our leaders started to explain what the end game is here, particularly if there is never a vaccine. Australia’s a wonderful place, but we can’t stay trapped here - not just in our own country, but our own state - forever.

SOURCE 





Are they dying from the virus — or with it?

The coronavirus panic has been exaggerated by a simple counting confusion. Not all our nearly 400 dead were actually killed by the virus. Many almost certainly were dying already.

As a very senior leader of the fight against the virus confirmed to me, the official death count includes not just people “dying from” the virus, but those “dying with” it.

This became obvious last Friday, when Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced the virus had just killed the youngest Australian yet, a man in his 20s.

Sure, it suits some politicians to make healthy young Australians think this virus “does not discriminate” and can kill them, too, even though most of our dead were aged over 80.

That terrifies the young into obeying lockdowns, and excuses governments for not doing more to save the people overwhelmingly most likely to die – the very old, especially in nursing homes.

Only under questioning did Andrews admit this youngest victim may actually have had other comorbidities, saying it was up to the coroner to decide if he’d actually died of the virus, or just with it.

But how much more true is this of the more than 220 people – dozens aged more than 90, many extremely frail – who we’re told were killed by the virus in nursing homes, but may actually have died of other conditions?

We also know at least three other deaths in Victoria were of patients in a cancer ward. At least two were in residential care for the disabled. How many were really killed by the virus?

Britain last week checked exactly that with its own 46,706 dead, and lowered its official death toll by more than 5000.

Until then, Britain – like Australia – counted people “dying with” the virus among those “dying from” it.

I am not accusing our own governments of doing this to exaggerate the danger and spread panic. I’m told their motivation was “transparency”. They didn’t want to be accused of hiding deaths.

But now they should clear this up so we can calm down and better understand what exactly we’re panicking about.

How many of our nearly 400 dead would really still be alive today if this virus had not hit?

Could we have saved them all by smashing our economy so hard that suicides rose and a million Australian were thrown out of work?

SOURCE

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here






18 August, 2020

Australia, How Have You Let it Come to This?

Augusto Zimmermann

On August 2, Victorians began living under a “state of disaster” that has seen some of the world’s most severe restrictions imposed on its citizens and their fundamental freedoms. Leaving home after 8pm is banned with hefty fines imposed on those pulled over by police, who now represent the only cars on the road after dark. There are roadblocks to prevent citizens from moving interstate or, much closer to home, more than the permitted 5km from their their listed addresses.

The Victorian government has effectively become an elected dictatorship. It is August 9 as I write and the latest 19 COVID deaths have brought the state’s death toll to 247. These 19 deaths were of one man and a woman in their 50s, two men in their 70s, one man and six women in their 80s, and one man and seven women in their 90s.[1] (editor’s note: today, August 12, the daily death toll is 21, the overwhelming majority in aged-care homes.)

Approximately 99 per cent of all infections for coronavirus have been mild. Of the 515 people in hospitals across Australia with coronavirus, 496 are in Victoria. Most of those who have died were in their 80s and living in aged-care facilities.[2]

Unfortunately, none of these relevant considerations has prevented the Victorian government  imposing what is by far the greatest violation of fundamental rights in Australia’s history. Victorians have now been forced into stage 4 lockdown; almost 5 million people have been informed that the police can and will enter their homes for any reason and without a warrant. Police can also stop anyone anywhere at any time and demand to see their papers and determine  if they have a valid reason to be away of their homes.

These extraordinary rules imposed on the citizens of Melbourne will remain in force for at least the next five weeks. They include:

# The police can enter homes to carry out spot checks without permission or a warrant.

# Between the hours of 8.00 pm to 5.00 am nobody is allowed to leave their home except for work, medical care or caregiving.

# Daily exercise can only take place within a 5-kilometre distance of a person’s home.

# Apart from of maximum 1-hour of daily exercise, never in groups of more than two (even if they are members of the same household), a person is only allowed to leave home for essential supplies and food. Such shopping trips are permitted only once a day.

# In the whole of Victoria nobody is allowed to buy more than two of certain essential items, including dairy, meat, vegetables, fish and toilet paper.

# Schools, childcare and kindergarten have been closed until further notice.

# Golf courses and tennis courts have been closed; fishing is banned

# Weddings are no longer allowed, and funerals limited to only 10 mourners.

# Facemasks are mandatory for any activity outside the home. A farmer on his tractor, alone in the middle of an empty paddock, must be masked. Thius applies across the entire length and breadth of  the state.

# Nobody can receive visitors unless it is for the purpose of giving and receiving care.

The maximum fine for breaching any of these orders currently stands at $4,999. I am unaware of any state or country anywhere in the world which levies such enormous on-the-spot fines for leaving home without what the authorities regard as a legitimate reason. On just one day, August 6, Victoria Police conducted no less than 4,418 spot checks on homes, businesses and public places, bringing the total to 234,275 since March 21. Also on that very day, more than 50 people were fined for not wearing face masks, with a further 43 penalties issued for curfew breaches. One poor unfortunate, as VicPol gloated in a press release, was hit with a $1700 fine for leaving his home in the wee hours to buy “cigarettes and lollies”.[3]

Victorians in Melbourne are forced to remain in their homes for what the government sees as the ideal 23 hours a day. They are permitted out only for very specific reasons, namely a short period for exercise plus one trip a day for essentials. Police officers have been quick to tackle any locals on the streets without a ‘valid reason’, an approach reflected in the 17,682 vehicles whose drivers and occupants have been quizzed at checkpoints. “We had to smash car windows and pull people out because they wouldn’t give us details,” declared a senior Victorian policeman. “They wouldn’t tell us where they’re going!” [4]

Police issued 276 fines in a single day (August 9).  In the midst of these oppressive actions, police have fined a family with little children over a trip to the swings and slides of a local playground; five young friends were similarly penalised for listening to music in a suburban garage.[5] A 41-year-old man from outer suburban Mooroolbark and another from Chirnside Park have been charged with “incitement” and bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrate’s Court for the alleged crime of attempting to organise a protest against the arbitrary proscriptions detailed above. Images promoting their planned August 9 rally upset the Victorian regime by inviting concerned citizens to safeguard their traditional liberties and “fight the good fight”.[6]  The Spectator Australia points out that “curfews are tools of political oppression, of martial law, of military occupation. They are not part of living in a thriving parliamentary democracy.”[7] From 8pm to 5am the streets of Melbourne and its suburbs are deserted, save for police cars.

And the irony as Melbourne is transformed into Tumbleweed Town is that lockdowns don’t work. Evidence suggests the economic destruction they bring is worse than the virus, with large numbers destined to die because of the lockdowns and as a consequence of restrictions and enforced closures that are gutting the state’s economy.  Victoria’s mental health minister, Martin Foley, has actually confessed to a 9.5 per cent increase in reports of self-harm in his state compared with the same time last year..[8]

Victoria is in this mess because of the staggering incompetence of its government.  Businesses have been closed and jobs are being destroyed. Many shops and eateries will never open again. Many people who have lost their jobs will never work again. All this is happening while the government refuses to explain its actions to Parliament, which has been effectively been shut down since March.

We keep hearing that we are all in this together. But no public servant has lost his or her job and politicians continue to receive their six-figure salaries. Those who have no understanding of the productive economy are receiving pay rises. Research by the Institute of Public Affairs suggest that stage 4 lockdown will rob mainstream Victorians of almost $3.2 billion dollars every week in lost income, prosperity and diminished standards of living. We can expect as many as 300,000 jobs to vanish. Is this cruel and undemocratic lockdown proportionate to the risk? Will the poverty and mental health crisis be worth it?

One would suspect that, given these stringent measures, the streets of Victoria must be paved with COVID’s lifeless victims. In reality, Victoria has seen just 162 deaths attributed to coronavirus (the figure as I write). What is more, 137 of 162 those who died were in aged-care homes. There was much made last week about a man who died in his 30s, but Premier Daniel Andrews refused to say if he had any other medical conditions. Incredibly, having announced the death, the Premier insisted that releasing any further details would violate privacy considerations. His silence on this point is understandable. With the average age of those who have died standing at 82, the Andrews regime is frantic to both justify its Stasi-like approach to public health and obscure its inept hotel quarantine program by broadcasting the word that anyone can contract COVID and die, not just the elderly.

Step back, survey the actual death numbers and the only conclusion is that they are pathetically low. There were more deaths in Australia last year from flu, even with a vaccine, than from coronavirus this year without a vaccine. According to Health Department figures, 2019 saw 1,257 deaths from influenza, with more than 3,000 presenting at hospitals for treatment. Strangely enough, the most recent data reveals no flu-related deaths in Victoria so far this year during the so-called coronavirus pandemic.[9] This has prompted a Victorian joke: “Thank God for coronavirus. No one is dying from cancer, heart disease or anything else.”

Victoria has become a police state, but there is no legal basis for what it is being done. Under the so-called Disaster Act, any law in Victoria can be suspended with the stroke of a pen. Of course, such legislation is invalid as it contradicts basic principles of constitutional government. Indeed, the Victorian government has neither constitutional validity nor democratic mandate to introduce such draconian legal measures. Those responsible for them should be held legally accountable. It is they, not families in park playgrounds, who should be facing the full force of the law.

The Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, whose former crusade was to avert the “climate crisis”, recommended against parliament sitting because the government did not define it as an “essential function”. As noted by The Australian‘s Greg Sheridan, “his insistence that parliament should not sit is unambiguously a disgrace”.[10] Of course, if you can allow people to shoot up heroin, surely you can allow the state parliament. As reported by the Herald Sun, the government-operated supervised injection room located in North Richmond not only disrespect social distancing rules, but has been allowed to remain open well past the 8pm curfew.[11]

Premier Andrews has avoided any reasonable scrutiny and accountability by effectively abolishing democracy in his state.[12]  According to Sheridan,

there has never been a more arrogant episode of disdain for normal democracy than the Victorian Health Minister’s decision not to answer any questions on the virus … in the Legislative Council, sitting only because the Coalition and crossbenches insisted.[13]

Health minister Jenny Mikakos has refused to give a verbal answer to questions in question time. She made reference to a retired judge’s board of inquiry into the failed hotel quarantine system, although Jenny Coate, the woman in charge, explicitly stated that her inquiry is not a court, so “there is no general restriction or prohibition which would prevent a person from commenting publicly or answering questions to which they know the answers”.[14]

Of course, as also noted by Sheridan, there is no need for a “sham inquiry” to tell us that “every case of COVID in Victoria today stems from this government’s utter failure to design and implement an effective quarantine program”.[15] Under Andrews, “all the mechanisms of democratic accountability have virtually disappeared … [and] Victoria has become a dysfunctional one-party state with a mostly compliant local media,” Sheridan wrote.[16]  He list other failures, including a catastrophic ineptitude in managing the infamous quarantine hotels, and not fining those who attended the Black Lives Matter demonstration, thus “tacitly endorsing a huge event that broke social distancing restrictions and undermined the message”.[17]

The fact of the matter is that it appears most of Victoria’s second wave of the coronavirus apparently came from the breaches of hotel quarantine processes in Melbourne, not least the employment of security guards who were neither properly equipped nor trained.[18] The hotel quarantine program was designed to shield the state from the virus by placing returned travellers in 14-day isolation in hotels patrolled by private security companies.[19] Instead it encouraged its explosion.

Victoria is indeed a state of disaster due to the absolute incompetence of a Premier who behaves far more like a ruthless dictator than the leader of an authentic parliamentary democracy. Alarmingly, the Public Health and Wellbeing Act, the appalling piece of unconstitutional legislation conferring arbitrary powers on the Victorian Premier was passed by the state parliament in 2008 entirely unopposed by the Liberal opposition, ‘despite Labor then, as now, not having an upper house majority’.[20]  It is therefore no virtue for the opposition to complain about these authoritarian measures when Liberal state MPs allowed the enactment of legislation that provides for ruling by executive decree without democratic accountability.

Perhaps even more disturbing is Prime Minister Scott Morrison refuseal to criticise Premier Andrews, in keeping with his strong belief in “national leadership unity”.[21] This is despite Victoria’s bungled quarantine system, believed to be responsible for the outbreak of community transmission. As stated by Janet Albrechtsen in her column in the The Australian, the imposition of stage-four restrictions on Victorians, particularly those living in Melbourne, may lead to far ‘more people dying’, and also to ‘untold economic harm to millions of Victorians and damaging the economy, a dangerous spike in mental health illnesses especially among young Victorians, and negative educational outcomes’.[22]

However, the Prime Minister has publicly backed the Victorian Premier, including his imposition of de facto martial law across the state. Indeed, Mr Morrison not only has refused to criticise the Victorian Premier for being unable to stop the spread of the virus, he has further encouraged political arbitrariness and oppression in Victoria by, in his own words, “encouraging the Victorian government to ensure that there are appropriate penalties for those who do break public health notices.”[23]  Surely we should expect the leader of a Liberal government to be interested in protecting personal freedoms, not suppressing them. Yet we get this spineless guff instead: “Daniel Andrews has my full support … I will give him every support he needs”.  Offering such enthusiastic support to the authoritarian measures of the Victorian government is actually “the only thing that matters”.[24]

The Prime Minister is also on the record as stating that he is totally unconcerned about ongoing attacks on freedom of speech, because “free speech does not create a single job”. Well, Mr Morrison’ support for a premier’s oppressive measures that can only destroy the economy is certainly not going to create a single job either — at least not in the productive sector. To the contrary, federal connivance can only lead to more human rights violations as well as inevitable economic disaster and massive unemployment.

Granted, the Liberal governments in New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania have also been far too willing to rule by decree and impose their own arbitrary measures on citizens. But the fact that the federal government constantly endorses violations of our fundamental rights should not come as a surprise for those who have read the most recent Legal Rights Audit 2019. The main author of this important report, Morgan Begg, first explains that ‘fundamental legal rights are necessary to achieve justice within a legal system and act as a vital constraint on the coercive power of the state’.[25] However, he claims these legal rights have been explicitly breached by 381 separate provisions in Acts of Australia’s Federal Parliament. As Begg points out, the Morrison government is directly responsible. “The Coalition is trashing fundamental legal rights of all Australians, creating unprecedented challenge to individual freedom and human dignity,” writes Begg, a research fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs.[26]

Sir Robert Menzies would be appalled to see what has become of the party he founded. Menzies sincerely believed that the progress of our nation depended not so much upon the security provided by the State, but upon personal freedom. In a keynote speech delivered on January 21, 1943, ironically about the founding principles of Liberal Party, Menzies compared free and democratic societies such as Australia, to dictatorships such as Nazi Germany. Why then, asked Menzies rhetorically, would the Allies eventually defeat them at war? His answer was patently clear:

We shall defeat them by proving once more that a free individual living in a free community with a free tomorrow in front of him (or her) is worth a nation of slaves.[27]

Perhaps most disturbing thing of all is to observe how the Australian people, and Victorians in particular, appear to have developed a servile mindset and blind faith in government. In a free society, argued Menzies, there is instead an innate sense of distrust of government and a healthy appreciation of our basic rights and responsibilities which confer upon every citizen a certain measure of human dignity by making them effective contributors to the life of the nation. Hence, in his well-known Melbourne address to his fellow Victorians, on September 7, 1947, Menzies famously declared:

If we fought for freedom, and as we fought for it, did we secure it? Are we pursuing paths along which we will eventually end up by finding ourselves bond, or free? Why was it that in 1939 we said that the Germans were not free?… It consisted in that the German people, in return for that mess of pottage, had handed over to a few men their birthright and said to a few men: “You rule us, you govern us, you order us.

What Menzies was asking of his Victorian audience back then is precisely what we should be asking now. “When we have the all-powerful state,” Menzies argued, “the people will then be the servants of that state and the minds of those people will be servile minds, because there will only be only one master – the state inhuman but all-powerful!“[29]

This is precisely the challenge Victorians now face under their deeply oppressive Labor government. Australians at large face a similar challenge under a federal government dominated by a party that has become “liberal” in name only.

SOURCE 






Give low-income parents a school choice

We have to stop using private schools as a scapegoat for everything wrong with Australian education.

It’s recently been argued that to improve equity non-government schools should receive more public funding, in exchange for giving up the ability to receive fees from parents and select who they enrol.

But neither of these things are responsible for the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students. Sure, Australia’s school system suffers some inequities, but this is due to differences across post codes rather than school sectors.

Even if all selective, independent, and Catholic schools stopped charging fees or even closed down, , it would simply lead to more high-income families moving to areas with the best government schools (raising local house prices and not improving equity).

Australia is actually more equitable — in terms of the effect of student socioeconomic background on achievement and variance in outcomes within schools — than the OECD average, New Zealand, and some top-performing education systems like Singapore. This is despite the fact that Australia has one of the highest global proportions of students attending non-government schools.

So, fee-charging non-government schools aren’t the cause of inequity, but what about their ability to select their students?

The proposal that all non-government schools should be publicly-funded the same as government schools on the condition they give up control over their enrolments isn’t practical. For faith-based schools — especially the smaller, low-fee ones — flexibility in enrolment selection is essential in reflecting the values of their parent community.

What we need to do is expand school choice for low-income parents, not take away existing choice.

A charter school is one that’s publicly funded, but privately managed — meaning parents can have greater choice without facing the burden of cost. It also means that parents have more of a say in how schools are run, rather than enduring the inflexibility of a bureaucratic government-run school system.

Research from the United States — where charter schools are a popular option — shows they improve educational excellence, efficiency — and yes, equity. And the main beneficiaries of expanded school choice are actually disadvantaged students in normal government schools.

School class warfare isn’t going to help solve inequity. But giving low-income parents more choice will.

SOURCE 






Costly interstate licences ditched for millions of tradies, teachers and hairdressers in effort to boost employment in coronavirus crisis

This could be one good outcome of the virus

Tradesmen, teachers, hairdressers and other professionals will be able to work in any state with a single licence under a proposal to help lift the economy out of the coronavirus-caused recession.

Currently 20 per cent of workers require a licence issued by their state to do their jobs but many are not recognised in other jurisdictions.

This means a worker who wants to relocate or temporarily work in another state may have to spend time and hundreds of dollars getting a separate licence.

For example, a licensed ACT plumber who wants to work in New South Wales must complete a two-page application, have a criminal and financial history check and pay $320 for three years to work across the border.

The federal government believes the complex licencing system is holding back the economy and wants workers to be able to move freely to get jobs as COVID-19 restrictions ease.

The Council on Federal Financial Relations will oversee a deal between state and territory governments that would mean licences from all jurisdictions are recognised across the country.

The government wants the deal in place and state laws changed by January 1 next year.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said: 'The new framework will cut red tape, drive job creation and allow workers to move more freely around the country to where the work is.

'This will especially assist our tradies apply their craft around the country without having to get individual licences in each state or territory if they are working across borders.

'This reform sees Federal, State and Territory governments working cooperatively together to get people back to work as restrictions are eased and our economy reopens.'

Some professions already have licences which are recognised across state borders.

For example, an electrical contractor can work in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT with only one licence.

But under the new rules, they will also be able to work in all other states and territories under the same licence.

This would mean they would no longer have a pay $536 per year to work in South Australia or $173 per year to work in Western Australia.

Currently hairdressers can work anywhere without a licence except in NSW and SA where they have to hold state qualifications or face fines of up to $4,000 in SA and $2,200 in NSW.

Recruitment agents have to pay $1,114 to work in WA for three years and teachers have to pay $553 for a five-year licence to work in Tasmania.

The government believes a uniform scheme will make it easier and less expensive for businesses, professionals and workers to move or operate across Australia, thereby creating jobs, increasing output, competition and innovation, and resulting in lower prices for consumers and businesses.

Unemployment levels in July rose to a 22-year high of 7.5 per cent with more than one million Australians officially out of work for the first time ever due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is expecting the overall jobless level to hit ten per cent by the end of 2020, for the first time since 1994, and remain above seven per cent until the end of 2022.

SOURCE 






Australia’s Lockdowns And Green-Energy Shakedowns

Politicians have given Australia an impossible task – fight a COVID lockup while also enduring a green-energy shakedown.

A COVID depression is already locked in. Recovery dictates that we must reverse the lockdown and also rid our weakened economy of the Green parasites forever sucking our energy.

Australia seems to specialize in political stupidity.

Victoria’s scorched-earth policy has wrecked its economy. Despite this damage, they dream of replacing their nation-building brown-coal electricity with unreliable wind and solar toys.

Their once-free people cower in their homes while police and troops detain peaceful folk and demand papers. COVID will only decline when populations develop immunity. Lockups ensure that community immunity develops slowly.

South Australia has destroyed its manufacturing industry with uncompetitive employment rules and intermittent green energy. They dream of more Big Batteries to keep the lights on.

WA is protected from many Eastern fads and viruses by the mighty Nullarbor Plain. It quietly thanked the hard-working mining industry for funding both state and federal governments.

NT has made anti-fracking for hydro-carbons into an election issue while endorsing bizarre plans to waste billions erecting about 150 square km of solar panels to supply green electricity to Singapore.

This needs 720 km of land transmission feeding a 3,700 km undersea extension cord from Darwin, crossing the deep and unstable Java Trench, to Singapore Island. And for the times that NT is not sunny, it needs humungous battery storage.

Queensland has shut its borders to millions of customers and workers from interstate and overseas while discouraging new mines and reliable power supplies.

NSW is determined to kill coal and gas power with locked gates and bureaucratic obstructions.

Canberra plans to throw billions that it does not have at the Snowy 2 white elephant (a net consumer of both water and electricity) while endorsing industry-killing emissions targets.

The federal government is also undermining the federation with a centralizing “National Cabinet” and has taught a generation of youngsters that they can eat and party without working by getting onto the federal jobs replacement gravy train. Meanwhile, orchardists, farmers, and abattoirs cannot find workers.

Trusting people are mesmerized and traumatized by the COVID scare. Ballooning government debts and looming depression will haunt our children and destroy our savings.

Naturally, alcoholism, gambling, family violence, and mental problems are increasing.

Meanwhile, a smug cohort of people on government salaries, handouts, and safe pensions feels no pain. This includes politicians, the bureaucracy, academia, and the scare-a-day BC.

We need a new Eureka Rebellion dedicated to slashing taxes and government expenditure, opening interstate borders, repealing red and green tape, abolishing all emissions targets, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Dreamworld, and restoring our freedoms and our federation.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here





17 August, 2020

Paying for an epidemic of stupidity

Daily No. of "cases" tells us little and creates a false sense of urgency

Steve Waterson

Back in the good old days, the average person used to take pride in having a robust grasp of basic maths: enough mental arithmetic not to be overcharged at the shops, enough skill with pen and paper to make more complex calculations.

Not any more, it seems. Many of our finest minds are infected with a new innumeracy that, in today’s fevered environment, distorts our understanding of, and response to, the coronavirus threat.

In early April, as the disease was just beginning to bite, the team manning the ABC’s coronavirus news website promised to answer questions about the pandemic.

When a reader asked for help in interpreting some infection-rate statistics, it provoked a cheerful response, broadcast to the world: “This just sparked a heated newsroom discussion in which we all outed ourselves as being terrible at maths.” You don’t say.

They’re only — some might say barely — journalists, however. They don’t need the mastery of figures that our leaders display so magnificently. So for a moment of light relief, let’s examine the numbers that currently unnerve them. If we cancelled Victoria’s lockdown immediately, and its cases were permitted to grow at 1000 a day, the whole state would be infected in no time. By “no time”, of course, I mean 18 years.

No wonder they’re frightened: at that rate it could sweep through the entire country in little more than 70 years. Luckily, in recent times we have been adding 1000 people to our population every day. Phew. Dodged a bullet there.

Worldwide, excess deaths from COVID-19 (generously assuming every victim died from, rather than just with, the virus) are around 700,000. Given the roughly 60 million deaths the world records each year, it’s as though 2020 had 369 days in it, rather than 366.

If that thought chills you, congratulations! A lavishly pensioned, undemanding and unaccountable career in politics beckons.

The ultimate showcase of political innumeracy is the quasi-religious ritual of The Reading of the Cases. Witnessed and recorded by the faithful in the media (who love to have their work handed to them on a plate), it has become a farce within this bigger farce.

The sombre, priestly arch-buffoon blesses reporters with fodder for their blog updates, sprinkling them with numbers that look like information but withstand no scrutiny.

Cases, as a moment’s reflection reveals, do not equal sickness, much less hospitalisations. Until we are entrusted with the knowledge of how many are the results of tests on people who show no symptoms, they serve only to strike terror into the innumerate.

Indeed, why do we need to hear these figures at all? We don’t get daily updates for any other diseases. They serve no useful purpose, as we are not given sufficient detail to make our own assessment of their significance, decide on the level of risk they represent and tailor our activities accordingly.

Their primary purpose seems to be to post-rationalise our leaders’ devastating, simple-minded lockdowns and border closures, and to panic people into sporting their masks of obedience should they be sufficiently reckless as to leave their homes.

Perhaps the announcements, if they must continue, could give us real information: “There have been 637 new cases today, but happily 480 were young people who had no symptoms and didn’t know they’d been infected. Oh, and only two of today’s cases were serious enough to need to go to hospital.”

Maybe for context they could dilute their irresponsible scaremongering by including details of the other 450 people who die in Australia each day, including the victims of lockdown: the suicides and those who, too frightened to visit a doctor or hospital, are dying avoidable deaths through lack of screening and treatment (Britain anticipates as many as 35,000 extra deaths in the next year from cancer sufferers presenting late with correspondingly advanced tumours); and the people tumbling into despair, depression and other mental and physical illnesses.

Perhaps the premier could hand over to the state’s treasurer, who would read out the number added daily to the jobless lists, the businesses forced into bankruptcy, the mortgages foreclosed.

Then someone from social services could talk about the growth in homelessness, the “huge increase” in domestic violence reported by victim support groups, the marriage breakdowns.

But they won’t because of a mathematical and behavioural curiosity we’re all familiar with, if not by name: the sunk costs fallacy.

Imagine that last month you bought a ticket for a concert tonight. You’re tired, it’s pouring with rain, and you dread dragging yourself into town. The money’s gone whatever you decide, so logic says you should cut your losses and stay in, but instead you pull on your raincoat and call a taxi. The urge is irrational, but almost irresistible. The whole vile pokies industry is built on it.

Now imagine how much harder to alter course if your investment was enormous and everyone was watching, poised to ridicule you for changing your mind.

Here’s where our politicians find themselves, unable to admit their response to the virus — the ultimate blunt instrument of lockdown, brutally enforced — hasn’t worked, and will never work.

They can’t do so because it would mean all they have done up to this point has been in vain. How could anyone who had wreaked damage on this cataclysmic scale ever admit to themselves, let alone to the nation, that it was all for nothing? Instead, like the pokie addict, they have doubled down to unleash a runaway epidemic of stupidity. They’ve destroyed our economy and put thousands out of work; they’ve refashioned many of our famously easygoing population into masked informers; and we’ve handed control of our lives to a clown car packed with idiots.

If there is a clearer demonstration of the insidious overreach of the nanny state, infantilising and sinister, and the shameful acquiescence of its legions of time-serving bureaucrats, I’m not aware of it.

What’s more insulting, each day we are chastised for “disappointing” our leaders, as though they are our superiors and it is the citizens’ duty to please them. The infected are singled out, vilified and shamed as sinners, their scandalous movements — three pubs on a Saturday night! — tracked and condemned. It recalls the attitude towards AIDS victims in the 1980s, a divine judgment visited on wicked libertines.

But attempt to argue that the cost of our response has in any way outweighed the impact of the virus and expect to be labelled a virus denier. Then expect to be asked, accusingly, how many deaths you would find acceptable. No matter how often or how emphatically you declare “We should protect the vulnerable”, some will hear those words as “Let’s throw the old people to the wolves”.

On April 4 in these pages I wondered when life moved from being precious to priceless. An exaggeration, but more than four months on we’ve set the opening bid pretty high. Turn the question around and ask what we are prepared to pay to protect the elderly with comorbidities. Let’s assume we’d let the disease run its course, as Sweden did, and had suffered the same death rate. We might have lost 10,000 of the old and sick earlier than in a normal year. We’ve kept that figure down, but at what cost?

On this week’s numbers our governments have spent more than $220bn and put 750,000 people out of work; some of that burden would have been incurred whatever path we had followed, but most of it is self-imposed.

Is it callous to suggest that’s too high a price to prolong what in some cases were lives of no great joy? What good might we have done with just a fraction of that $220bn, artfully applied? Would it not have been far better to spend a smaller, but still significant, sum on protecting and caring for the vulnerable and elderly to the very best of our abilities, and then, crucially, offering them the choice whether to accept that care?

We could allow them, like sentient adults, to make a simple calculation: do I live a little longer in safe but miserable isolation, or do I spend my remaining days at some risk but embraced by the warmth of family and friends?

That’s not a decision for any politician, even a wise one, to make. It’s a matter of choice for the individual, or, if incapacitated, for those responsible for them.

Governments don’t exist to tell us how or when we can die; but if life is measured only by length, not quality, this is where we end up: imprisoned, supposedly for our own good, on the basis of flawed statistical modelling and even worse interpretations of that modelling.

Undismayed by the models’ failure to predict the future when the virus first appeared, self-styled experts have now contorted their fears into absurd, illogical predictions of a parallel present: if we hadn’t acted as we did, they say, then tens, maybe hundreds, of thousands more would have died. How can anyone possibly know?

As the statistics, and yes, bodies, pile up around the world, we are getting a clearer picture of the virus’s course and virulence, and the more data we have, the more similar the curves appear. If we accept Australians are not exceptional in their resistance to disease, then it appears we have some heartbreak ahead of us, no matter how hard we try to avoid it.

New Zealand is lauded as the perfect example of how to crush the virus, but would anyone be surprised if it too has to pay the price somewhere down the line? Four new cases locked down the 1.6 million inhabitants of Auckland this week in a monstrously excessive overreaction that would be comical were it not so destructive.

Meanwhile, the rest of New Zealand has shut down so completely it has effectively removed itself as a nation from the international community. It’s as though the country had never existed. Soon it will be reduced to a fading Cheshire Cat image of its Prime Minister’s saintly sad face.

Let’s hope for the Kiwis’, and everyone else’s, sake a vaccine is found soon, although the World Health Organisation now warns we may never have one. It’s a tired line to repeat, but even after 40-odd years of searching we don’t have one for HIV-AIDS.

Which, if anyone needs reminding, still kills 2600 people a day.

SOURCE 






‘Very real prospect’ Qld will enforce hard border closure again

Four people have been caught trying to sail from Byron Bay to Cairns as fears of a hard Queensland border closure grow in border communities.

Maritime Safety Queensland intercepted the boat near the Gold Coast Seaway about midday on Friday.

Those on board had no exemptions or border declarations and were fined $4000 each, sent into mandatory hotel quarantine and their sail boat was impounded.

On land 129 people were refused entry at the Gold Coast border, with 125 people turned back at five checkpoints.

It comes as cross-border workers endure chaos and confusion over the state’s latest lockout, police are preparing for the ‘very real prospect’ that the border could again be closed completely as it was in March near the start of the pandemic.

Sources say Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young’s warning this week that border residents should be making contingency plans in case Queensland shuts out all of NSW is a sign that a hard closure is “definitely on the cards”.

“Dr Young is very measured in what she says – her style is not to panic people,” a police source said. “This (her border warning) may be the first punch that’s coming from either a short distance or a longer distance.”

The Palaszczuk government closed the border to NSW and the ACT last weekend, just four weeks after reopening Queensland to all states except COVID-ravaged Victoria.

A special “border zone” was created, allowing Tweed and Gold Coast locals to freely crisscross the state line for any purpose. But travel is restricted to within the “bubble”, meaning Tweed residents cannot venture further north than the Gold Coast and vice versa.

It has prevented workers including doctors, nurses and tradies from working outside the border zone, such as in Brisbane.

Gold Coast civic and business leaders, who met with senior police this week, are increasingly worried that the border could be shut “hard” as early as next week.

Meanwhile, Stradbroke Island’s leading camping operator is not accepting bookings and will cancel or postpone existing bookings from visitors from eight southside postcodes – including inner-city suburbs like West End and South Brisbane.

CEO of the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation Cameron Costello told The Courier-Mail the decision was made to protect the vulnerable local community.

Economic modelling by peak business group, Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland, revealed the hard border closure fromMarch to July cost the tourism industry alone almost $17m a day. “Everyone is very nervous,” southern Gold Coast City councillor Gail O’Neill said.

Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce president Hilary Jacobs said the prospect of a hard border closure was a “massive concern” for the business community. She said she also did not believe that COVID-19 case numbers in Queensland or NSW justified it.

SOURCE 






Unemployed youth should be conscripted

For many older Australians, conscription is a dirty word as young Aussie men were forced to go to war – many never returning – reviving painful and heartbreaking memories.

In 1939, at the start of World War II, all unmarried men aged over 21 were called up for three months of military training. Conscription was then introduced in mid-1942, when all men aged 18-35 and single men aged 35-45 were required to join a citizens military force. Many fought against the Japanese in Papua New Guinea.

It’s against that backdrop of sending young Australian men off to war that we face our greatest challenge in 80 years – the health and economic threat of a coronavirus pandemic. Like war, it kills indiscriminately. It is our very own 21st century unseen enemy.

During such challenging times, it is important that our decision-makers think outside the box.

As Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said repeatedly, these are uncharted waters and we must throw the rule book out to meet the challenge.

Right now, on fruit and vegetable farms around Australia, farmers are struggling to get people to pick their produce.

Normally, 130,000 backpackers would swarm on to the farms, earning money to keep their holiday dream alive.

With COVID-19, those numbers have dropped by 50,000. There are fears some fruit may rot.

The sad reality is that just 8 per cent of those who pick fruit and vegetables in this country are Australians.

Now, the unions are muscling their way into the debate about seasonal fruit pickers.

An alliance of unions is calling for the end of the working holiday visa. The Australian Workers Union, the Shop and Allied Distributors Union and the Transport Workers Union want the visa removed, effectively stopping backpackers from picking fruit.

The horticulture sector estimates removing backpackers from the fresh food sector will cost the industry about $13bn.

The unions claim the backpacker program is rife with exploitation. They argue that the wages are so low that Australians won’t work. What bulldust.

The bottom line is that if farmers can’t use backpackers to pick their fruit, much of it will rot. Those who know these things say a good fruit picker can earn $1500 a week in the right conditions.

The sad reality is that many young, pampered Australians have an aversion to hard work. Nestled snugly into the comforts of home, their meals and washing is sorted.

They are happy to cop the $1500 JobKeeper payment until it runs out. It has now been extended until at least March next year.

Until we get young Australians working for a living, agricultural producers will continue to rely on backpackers.

So here’s the solution. Young, healthy Australians who live with their parents and receive a taxpayer-funded JobSeeker allowance should be conscripted to work on farms.

They should be tested for COVID-19 and, once cleared, pack their bags and be sent via bus to fruit and vegetable picking areas for three months.

They would learn new skills, earn good money and be a benefit to the country, rather than a drain on welfare. They may even make some new friends. Imagine that.

As for the unions, they need to butt out of this debate. They’ve done enough damage helping people like Daniel Andrews get into power.

SOURCE 






Qld.: Calls for Crime and Corruption Commission inquiry into police evidence disclosure

Des Houghton

Civil libertarian Terry O’Gorman wants a far-reaching inquiry into police evidence disclosure after a second case where previously suppressed evidence led to an acquittal, writes Des Houghton.

The council’s vice-president Terry O’Gorman also criticised the Crime and Corruption Commission’s inaction in a case where the crime watchdog referred complaints against police back to police to investigate.

Controversy erupted when I revealed concerns throughout the legal community that police, including those assigned to the CCC, were cherry-picking evidence to help gain convictions while omitting other evidence that may cast doubt on the guilt of a suspect.

O’Gorman has written to Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath and Police Minister Mark Ryan after the Queensland Court of Appeal found a “gross investigative failure of disclosure which constituted a serious breach of the presumption of a fair trial” in a historic sex case.

O’Gorman said civil libertarians were asking for a high-level inquiry by an eminent retired judge.

The inquiry should delve into the inadequacies of the evidence disclosure regime in Queensland, he said.

O’Gorman raised more worrying allegations in a separate case where evidence presented to court in a rape trial was inconsistent with the evidence a complainant gave on a police tape recording.

He said: “My law firm made a complaint to the CCC in October last year about a rape case where a tape recording of the complainant containing a version inconsistent with her statement and evidence before the jury was disclosed to the prosecution by the investigating officers only after the complainant had given her evidence before the jury.

“After hearing this formerly suppressed evidence, the jury acquitted the accused.”

O’Gorman was critical of the CCC.

Nine months later, the CCC “handed the complaint back to police themselves, and the matter remains outstanding and unresolved”.

O’Gorman raised other serious concerns about police practices, including “the very late disclosure, sometimes the last-minute disclosure at the door of the court, or even partway through a trial”.

This happened all too often in Queensland “because police know they will not suffer any consequences or penalty for failure to disclose all relevant evidence”.

O’Gorman said there was no proper system in place within the police force to ensure prosecutors were handed all the relevant evidence.

The controversy was blown open when Appeal Court president Walter Sofronoff, sitting with fellow Supreme Court judges Debra Mullins and Peter Davis, set aside guilty verdicts against Kenneth Ralph Ernst and ordered a retrial.

Sofronoff, Mullins and Davis agreed with Brisbane barrister Tony Glynn QC that there had been a miscarriage of justice in the Ernst case because an investigating officer did not disclose information given to police by a friend of the alleged victim to the prosecutor.

That information would have weakened the prosecution case and would have been passed on by the prosecutor to the defence.

Now there is speculation within the legal fraternity and police of more possible miscarriages of justice with police sent back to gather fresh evidence after a person had been charged, because the initial evidence was found to be unreliable or insubstantial.

O’Gorman told me he was drafting a submission to send to Queensland’s new Director of Public Prosecutions Carl Heaton QC, Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll and CCC chief Alan MacSporran QC calling for an overhaul of the disclosure laws “in view of growing evidence that too many police are routinely ignoring their obligations”.

“In the case of my firm’s complaint about the failure to disclose in a timely manner our submission that the police concerned should be charged with an offence under Section 202 of the Criminal Code, namely disobedience to statute law, remains outstanding nine months after the complaint has been made,” he said.

A person found guilty of this breach of the code faces up to a year in jail.

SOURCE 






Australia  on the verge of vaccine deal

The Sunday Telegraph reports the federal government is in final negotiations with a major vaccine manufacturer, believed to be AstraZeneca, to produce doses in Australia.

The vaccine, being developed in partnership with Oxford University, could be on the market within months. Researchers are due to report on clinical trials in September.

Meanwhile, Russia claims to have produced the first batch of its coronavirus vaccine. The announcement was met with caution from the global scientific community.

It comes after Victoria yesterday reported another fall in case numbers, suggesting the state’s harsh stage four lockdown measures are working.

SOURCE 





Adelaide universities to fly in international students in Australian-first coronavirus-busting trial

South Australian universities are poised to fly in 300 students from Singapore in a national-first pilot program aimed at reviving the $2bn education economy.

In a coup for the state’s tertiary sector, SA has trumped interstate bids to spearhead the return of foreign students stranded when Australia’s borders closed in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The flight from Singapore for South-East Asian students is expected to arrive in Adelaide in early September, in a test run for a larger-scale return nationally.

It is understood the final-year students will follow a strict hotel quarantine regime, paid for by universities and mirroring that in place for repatriated Australians.

Premier Steven Marshall said SA’s proposal had met the Federal Government’s stringent health and safety requirements and logistics were being finalised.

“We are looking forward to welcoming back students from overseas through this much-needed pilot program. International students are an important part of our community, adding to our state’s vibrancy and multiculturalism,” he told the Sunday Mail.

“South Australia’s handling of COVID-19 has put us in the ideal position to be a first-mover in bringing back international students.”

Plans to bring up to 2400 international students back to SA were revealed in early July but then swiftly derailed by Victoria’s disastrous COVID-19 outbreak that exploded that month. The NT and ACT also had proposals for pilot student entry.

Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Simon Birmingham said the pilot was an important first step in rebuilding Australia’s crucial $39bn education sector.

“International education is a huge export earner for Australia, supports thousands of jobs right here in SA and getting the sector going again will be vital to our ultimate economic recovery,” Senator Birmingham said.

The SA pilot is considered a major first step to demonstrate universities can safely manage the reintroduction of overseas students without igniting a coronavirus outbreak, giving them an advantage in fierce international competition.

Extensive quarantine measures are expected to include ensuring the arriving students are channelled through a separate area at Adelaide Airport so they do not interact with the general public.

Hotel quarantine also was used for the 94 close contacts of the now-contained COVID-19 cluster linked to Thebarton Senior College.

Before the Victorian second wave, authorities were planning to return to SA more than a third of the 6757 students stranded overseas after borders closed in March. They were to have arrived in three groups, depending on the success of the pilot program to return 800 students.

SA’s public universities, which support 8500 direct jobs, are facing a financial hole of hundreds of millions of dollars because of the coronavirus pandemic and loss of foreign student revenue.

Adelaide hosted more than 44,000 students from 130 countries and the sector was worth $2bn annually.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said borders were the first line of defence against COVID-19 while the pandemic raged overseas and interstate, “so any decision to allow international students to come to Adelaide must be based on the expert health advice and a careful risk assessment”.

Fewer than 10 people arriving in SA in June travelled on an international student visa, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Friday, compared with 1740 in the same month last year – a decrease of almost 100 per cent.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here






16 August, 2020

Tricky TEQSA

Bettina Arndt

Our university regulator, TEQSA, has proved once again that they are a toothless tiger, more interested in pandering to feminist lobby groups than addressing critical governance issues vital to the welfare of much of the student body.

Last year I exposed the fact that TEQSA was responsible for the campus kangaroo courts, having issued a “guidance note” in 2018 which encouraged the universities to introduce regulations to investigate and adjudicate sexual assault. They were responding to pressure from feminist lobby groups keen to ensure more rape convictions by using a lower standard of proof to determine the guilt of accused male students. In my May newsletter I pointed out Joe Biden was a key player in forcing American universities in this direction – and our universities, under the guidance of TEQSA, have simply followed suit.

Many of you will have seen the video of Senator Amanda Stoker grilling TEQSA bureaucrats about the appallingly unfair system that followed their careless advice. The regulations introduced by the universities contained barely a word about ensuring proper legal rights for accused young men. These students face secretive, unsupervised committees determining their guilt on the balance of probabilities with power to impose serious penalties including expulsion from the university.

But then came the Queensland Supreme Court case which determined these kangaroo courts were illegal followed by Dan Tehan’s advice at the TEQSA conference last November that universities should leave sexual assault to the criminal courts. See a summary of these developments here.
   
TEQSA shows itself to be captured - again

A few weeks ago, TEQSA produced a new 76-page document –  a “Good Practice Note” on this issue. This document, written by a group of authors who included two End Rape on Campus activists, mentions neither the Queensland Supreme Court case nor the Education Minister’s advice to TEQSA.

Instead, the TEQSA good practice note advises the universities that whilst they can’t conduct “criminal investigations” for sexual assault they can “deal with the matter under their own misconduct procedures,” providing advice about handling these investigations which neatly sidestep all the key contentious issues.

The university-imposed penalties for sexual assault are mentioned without any explanation of what laws permit universities to withhold degrees or suspend students from their studies. As Senator Stoker pointed out to TEQSA, sexual assault legislation does not include penalties which include robbing young men of degrees worth tens of thousands of dollars and many years of study. It’s notable that TEQSA fails once again to address the legality of these penalties.

The latest TEQSA document makes a token effort to address the lack of due process rights for the accused suggesting that the  nameless university administrators tasked with deciding the fate of accused students are now expected to receive appropriate training, provide evidence to the accused regarding the accusations, keep proper records and ensure their reports are procedurally fair.

But there’s no mention of the most glaring failure to provide basic rights for the accused – access to lawyers. Only three Australian universities definitively allow accused students to be advised by lawyers during their investigations.

Slap in the face for Dan Tehan

This deliberately deceptive document shows the arrogance of the university bureaucrats who feel no need to explain why they are encouraging universities to proceed with investigations deemed illegal and ignore the advice of their Minister. To proudly include End Rape on Campus activists amongst their predominantly female list of authors speaks to their sense of entitlement, their assurance that no one will question their right to prosecute these cases any way they damn well like.

As one tiny example of the subtle anti-male bias which permeates the entire document, I loved the advice on p35 regarding assistance to alleged perpetrators which suggests these young men should be referred to a Behaviour Change Counselling at the Rape and Domestic Violence Service. Hmm, the allegations have yet to be investigated and he’s sent off for behaviour change. Straight from the feminist copybook.

Time for action- can you help?

It’s a very good time to draw public attention to what’s going on here, with the universities facing a huge financial crisis and having muddied their copybooks with all manner of free speech scandals – think UNSW’s censorship over Hong Kong politics, Drew Pavlou’s suspension, and Peter Ridd’s battle with James Cook.

The Coalition has just announced legislation for their Job-ready Graduates package, which rightly focusses on improved transparency as well as sustainability in higher education.

I’ve prepared a draft letter for you to send to Coalition Senators and MPs, proposing  an amendment to the legislation instructing universities to focus on their core business rather than running illegal kangaroo courts involving expensive administrative processes but also exposing these institutions to potential lawsuits over failure to protect basic legal rights of the accused.

And given that TEQSA’s latest effort provides further evidence of the failure of the university regulator to properly advise the tertiary sector on this important issue, we are also suggesting the Education Minister institute a proper review into TEQSA’s operation, in keeping with the Coalitions’ call for greater transparency in higher education.

We need you all to step up so that we send letters to all Coalition members of parliament – as part of our ongoing campaign to alert key policy makers to this unjust system.

Bettina Arndt newsletter: newsletter@bettinaarndt.com.au





Queensland government backflips on plans to gag journalists reporting on corruption allegations against candidates in upcoming election

The Queensland government has backflipped on plans to prevent the publication of corruption allegations against candidates ahead of elections following a furious public backlash.

Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath introduced the amendments to parliament on Thursday, citing a report tabled by the Crime and Corruption Commission early in July.

Under the proposed changes, complaints about electoral candidates to the CCC would be kept under wraps until investigations became official, or three months had lapsed since the watchdog had been notified.

Breaching the law could land a person in jail for up to six months, or face thousands of dollars in fines.

The changes would have also allowed a candidate or the watchdog to seek an injunction to prevent further publication of allegations during the lead-up to elections.

However, in a brief statement on Friday the Queensland government dropped the proposal, citing time constraints.

'Given the limited time for the parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee to consider the law changes the CCC seeks... the bill introduced yesterday in state parliament is withdrawn,' Ms D'Ath said.

The backflip comes after criticism from unions and the Liberal National opposition, who accused the government of trying to silence whistleblowers before the October state election.

'This is another attempt by Annastacia Palaszczuk to cover up her government's appalling integrity record and silence whistleblowers,' shadow attorney-general David Janetzki said.

It comes after the LNP referred former Queensland treasurer Jackie Trad again to the CCC in July, under allegations the former minister interfered with the independent hiring process for the role of under treasurer in 2019.

Ms Trad was referred to the commission in 2019 over an investment property, and again last year over her involvement in the selection of a school principal in her South Brisbane seat.

She repeatedly denied wrongdoing but stepped down from her cabinet responsibilities in May.

SOURCE 





COVID-19 has led to increased deaths but only a tiny fraction were from the virus itself

The true death toll from COVID-19 may be 17 times higher than from the virus alone due to excess deaths from other causes during the pandemic with people avoiding doctors and hospitals.

Sick patients have been dodging treatment due to fear of entering health facilities and the deaths are believed to be the result of elective surgery bans, people refusing to visit doctors and hospitals or have medical tests during the pandemic.

Interestingly, our biggest killers – heart disease and strokes – fell but there were spikes in deaths from respiratory illness including pneumonia and flu, asthma, and emphysema (up by 226).

It might be that some of these deaths were COVID related but the patient was never tested for the virus. “There may well be some,” said Australian National University epidemiologist Professor Peter Collignon.

“But I think it’s very unlikely that those deaths are predominantly due to COVID, if they were due to COVID that means we would have had a lot more clinical disease,” he told News Corp.

“So, yes, it’s possible some of those cases were due to COVID but I think it’s much more likely that there may have been a delay in getting medical therapy,” he said.

Cancer deaths increased by 402, deaths from diabetes rose by 88 and dementia deaths increased by 220 compared to the five-year average.

By the end of April this year 91 people had died from COVID-19 but in the same period there were 1572 excess deaths from other causes.

On average 42,507 people die every year between January 1 and April 28 but this year there were 1572 more deaths than on average, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found.

Queensland suffered the highest number of excess deaths with extra deaths up by 7.11 per cent above average.

South Australia had the next highest 5.62 per cent more deaths than on average, in NSW the number of deaths was 4.11 per cent above average and in Victoria deaths were up by 2.67 per cent compared to the average.

There are grave fears economic distress, depression and loneliness caused by COVID-19 could see a spike in suicides but to date there is no evidence this has occurred.

Modelling by the The Brain and Mind Centre at Sydney University predicts the COVID-19 the crisis could cause up between 750 and 1500 additional suicides.

However, the Victorian Coroners Court suicide registry and it found “to date, there has been no increase in the frequency of suspected suicides in Victoria during the coronavirus pandemic”.

However, calls to Lifeline are up by 25 per cent and Beyond Blue said more than 500,000 people have accessed Beyond Blue’s Coronavirus Mental wellbeing service.

The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services has recorded a 33 per cent rise in children presenting to hospital with self-harm injuries over the past six weeks when compared to the same period last year.

Across all ages self-harm presentations increased by 9.3 per cent and National Mental Health Commissioner Christine Morgan there needed to be more community-based suicide prevention services.

In the construction industry every second day an Australian worker takes their own life but a groundbreaking suicide prevention service is helping stop the terrible toll.

Mates In Construction has been responsible for an eight per cent decline in suicides among people working in the construction industry.

The program which began 13 years ago trains people on how to keep an eye on workmates under pressure.

More than nine in 10 construction workers under pressure will never access a mental help service that’s why the people they work with are more likely to be able to support them, Mates in Construction CEO Chris Lockwood said.

“Some of the best people to actually help when things aren’t going well are those people we work with because they’ll know where you’re at,” he said.

In its first five years, the program was responsible for an eight per cent reduction in the rates of suicide in the industry.

“It doesn’t rely on sort of formal management structures or going through systems that people might not have trust in, you’ve got peers in the workplace, you can trust them and you are more likely to have an honest conversation, and then be connected not to help,” Mr Lockwood said.

SOURCE 






'Right moment': AGL unveils plans for at least 1000MW of batteries

Talk of MW ismeaningless. HOW LONG can the battery sustain that output?  Judging by the Souh Australian case, only for minutes.  What we need to know is its capacity in kwh

Energy giant AGL has lodged a proposal to build as much as 500 megawatts of batteries at its Liddell power plant and has plans of doubling that total across the nation.

AGL on Friday said it had lodged a so-called scoping report with NSW's Planning department to install the storage system at the Hunter Valley site by June 2024.

Markus Brokhof, AGL's chief operating officer, told the Herald and The Age the company would take a staggered approach, beginning with a 150MW-sized battery at Liddell that could be operating within 18 to 24 months.

Mr Brokhof said it was "the right moment" to expand storage plans with battery prices falling and a rush of new large-scale renewable energy plants vying to enter the market. "The new build of renewables is exactly what the driver is," he said.

AGL has planning approvals for a 500MW battery at Liddell, the ageing 1660MW power station that is slated to close by April 2023.

The Liddell battery is part of an 850MW multi-site storage plan to be installed by June 2024 that the company announced on Thursday along with its earnings.

AGL reported a 22 per cent fall in underlying full-year profit and disappointed investors by providing a gloomier-than-expected outlook for the current financial year.

That 850MW plan, though, excludes some 330MW in batteries already announced by the company, meaning the full storage total could top 1.2 gigawatts, Mr Brokhof said.

The other announced plans include a 100MW battery at Wandoan in Queensland and four 50MW units with solar farm developer Maoneng in the NSW Riverina.

Mr Brokhof said the company was also preparing planning applications for a battery connected to its Torrens Island Power Station site in Adelaide.

AGL was looking at other sites, including in Victoria, with storage at its Loy Yang coal-fired power station one possible location.

"Battery prices are coming down so they are starting to compete with gas peakers," he said, referring to the gas-fired power plants that can respond rapidly to changes in electricity demand.

"We want to be part of this energy transition" away from fossil fuels, Mr Brokhof said.

He declined to provide an estimate of the cost for the first phase of the Liddell battery, saying that would depend on the offers made by manufacturers.

The company will also see how the system performs before deciding whether the full build-out of 500MW will be completed the schedule closure of Liddell's coal-fired units in 2023.

Mr Brokhof said AGL's battery plan takes into account the federal government's plan to develop its Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project, which would add 2000MW of so-called dispatchable power to the grid.

John Grimes, head of the Smart Energy Council, said the scale of AGL's battery ambitions was "extraordinary".

Battery prices were following the path of solar panels, where each doubling of manufacturing capacity brought a 20 per cent drop in costs. For storage, the impetus is partly coming from a huge jump in demand for batteries as carmakers ramp up production of electric vehicles.

"This is a pretty sharp downward cost curve," Mr Grimes said.

AGL's decision also showed proposals to use taxpayer funds to bankroll an expansion of the gas industry to help revive the post-COVID economy was likely to leave many stranded assets, he said.

"The race has already been run and won," Mr Grimes said. "The market is showing what the market solutions are."

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here





14 August, 2020

Indigenous Australians 'farmed bananas 2,000 years ago'

Bananas originated in S.E. Asia so this is possible.  Note that this finding is NOT about Aborigines.  The Torres Strait Islands were and are inhabited by Melanesians.  And Melanesians have always maintained gardens

So it does not "dispel the myth that Australia's native peoples were solely "hunter-gatherers"".  Melanesians are not Aborigines. The two are very distinct races

The phrase "Australia's native peoples" is a deliberate attempt to cloud the identity of the farmers concerned.  Melanesians originated in New Guinea but some moved South into the Torres Strait.  They did not settle in Australia.  In a legacy from colonial times, the Islanders are now however Australian citizens


Archaeologists say they have found ancient banana farms once managed by Australia's Indigenous peoples.

The sites, which date back 2,145 years, were found on a tiny island north of the mainland in the Torres Strait.

Researchers found banana microfossils, stone tools, charcoal and a series of retaining walls at the site.

It further dispels the myth that Australia's native peoples were solely "hunter-gatherers", researchers said.

The findings from Mabuyag Island were released by a team from the Australian National University and the University of Sydney on Wednesday.

"Our research shows the ancestors of the Goegmulgal people of Mabuyag were engaged in complex and diverse cultivation and horticultural practices in the western Torres Strait at least 2,000 years ago," lead researcher Robert Williams said.

The archaeologists found gardening tools as well as retaining walls at the site

The agricultural system reflected the local regional diet at the time which included staples such as yams, taro and bananas.

"Food is an important part of Indigenous culture and identity and this research shows the age and time depth of these practices," said Mr Williams.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are widely misconceived to have been nomadic hunter-gatherers in the time before British colonisation.

SOURCE 






COVID restrictions hitting food supply

Aussie farmers are pleading for “agriculture permits” and exemptions to keep the country fed, as border shutdowns hit supply chains and spark fears of cost increases and food shortages.

Farming groups, including the National Farmers Federation, AusVeg, Shearing Contractors Association, Australian Livestock & Property Agents Association and Melbourne Market Authority, held emergency talks on Wednesday to find a way through the looming crisis.

Industry groups have called for a single “farmer permit” for Victorian farmers who need to cross into NSW or Queensland, and floated the idea of dedicated bridges for contractors crossing regularly.

Victorian Farmers Federation president David Jochinke said: “We don’t farm for New South Wales, we don’t farm for Victoria or South Australia — we farm for the whole country.”

Among the industry’s concerns are:

* A lack of seasonal workers to pick fruit and vegetables;

* Livestock across borders that farmers can’t access or care for could die;

* Pregnant sheep and cows being left unattended;

* Specialist workers like shearers being forced to travel through major city hubs and quarantine for two weeks; and

* Crops could be destroyed as farmers cannot access them to irrigate and treat for insects and fungi.

Mr Jochinke said burecreats had not consulted industry when imposing the harsh restrictions have left farmers battling red tape.

“Farmers are absolutely frustrated along with the whole agricultural industry,” he said.

“I have had farmers on the phone crying because they are worried about their livestock.

“It’s putting pressure on production and the food supply chain.”

A litany of complaints from farmers reveal that they have battled to easily access properties across borders, with one even told he could be granted a permit if he pretended to work as a bus driver.

Mr Jochinke said shoppers could see cost increases or shortages on supermarket shelves if the supply chain issues weren’t addressed.

“You can’t re-ripen fruit and you can’t stop wool from growing,” he said.

“When we see an area running short of shearers or where fruit is not being picked, you can’t get that back and all this relates to cost, relates to choice in the supermarket.”

Permits exist for workers to cross the border but some farmers say they have not been included in the eligibility criteria, have to repeatedly fill out permit force and, in some cases, cannot cross the border near where they live and must instead drive to 100km to enter interstate.

Some specialist workers have also been forced to fly to major hubs like Sydney and fear they are putting themselves at risk by entering “hot spots” rather than simply driving through country council areas with few cases.

Mr Jochinke said he did not “want a free for all” but the current restrictions needed to be changed to prioritise health and the industry.

AusVeg national public affairs manager Tyson Cattle said the lack of international workers would have a massive impact and could not be filled by the domestic market.

Currently seasonal workers have been given exemptions to move across borders but Mr Cattle said “ we expect it’s going to get really tight in November and toward the end of the year.”

“Pickers and packers are right at the start of the food chain, without that the rest of the supply chain falls over,” he said.

Shearing Contractors Association secretary Jason Letchford said workers were being forced to fly through major hubs and drive hundreds of kilometres to work.

In many cases, especially between Victoria and New South Wales, the permits were taking two weeks to process and being rejected.

“The problem is its a very transient workforce that follows the work and they can’t do that at the moment,” he said.

SOURCE 





Backpackers to pick fruit, mind children under pilot proposal by farm and tourism groups

The National Farmers' Federation and the Backpacker and Youth Tourism Advisory Panel are framing a proposal that would initially allow 150 backpackers to travel to Australia, as soon as October.

The proposal, which is yet to go to government, would permit holidaymakers from countries with low COVID-19 infection rates to travel to Australia.

It is not clear how the cost of quarantining the backpackers on arrival would be covered.

The ABC understands the pilot would be used to employ backpackers on farms or as au pairs, after the positions had initially been offered to local workers.

The Federal Government recently approved a similar pilot in the Northern Territory, which allows workers from Vanuatu on the seasonal worker program to enter the country, despite Australia's ban on international travellers.

Under the NT program, farmers are expected to cover the cost of two weeks in quarantine at a rate of $2,500 per worker.

About 170 workers are expected to arrive in the NT by the end of the month.

Australia's farm sector is heavily reliant on migration labour.

However, growers have become increasingly concerned about how they will harvest spring and summer crops under the COVID-19 restrictions that have reduced backpacker travel.

At a recent parliamentary inquiry into the working-holidaymaker program, NFF spokesman Ben Rogers said the number of backpackers in Australia had fallen from 140,000 in March to about 80,000 in June.

"We look at around 40,000 working in the sector per annum, so there would be enough provided they could move around the country and go to where that work is," Mr Rogers told the inquiry.

He said the NFF was working with the Backpacker Youth Tourism Advisory Panel to develop "a COVID-safe pathway proposal" that would allow backpackers into Australia in a "highly controlled manner".

"The rollout would have to be cautious.

"But with appropriate safeguards it's hard to imagine what rational objection their could be," Mr Rogers said.

In its submission to the same inquiry, the Australian Fresh Produce Alliance referred to a report from EY Consultants that found there were 50,000-71,000 short-term roles in fresh produce throughout the year.

AFPA said backpackers contributed $13 billion to the national economy and filled 127,000 jobs across the fresh-food sector, including in retail and manufacturing.

Australia isn't expected to open its borders to international travellers until next year, but in April the Government announced it would allow some foreigners already in Australia to extend their visas.

According to Home Affairs, 401 people on the working holidaymaker program and more than 3,550 on the seasonal worker program have been granted the extension.

Tourism-style campaign to lure workers

The working holidaymaker inquiry heard about different initiatives to attract workers to the horticulture industry, inlcuding a proposal by AFPA to pay Australians who were unemployed because of the pandemic $1,200 to relocate for work.

When asked about initiatives to incentivise workers Mr Rogers said the former Seasonal Worker Incentive Trial, which encouraged welfare recipients to work on farms, hadn't initially been a huge success.

But he said "circumstances have changed fairly dramatically, and in a few months the program could be rolled out again and given another go".

Committee member and Liberal MP John Alexander also raised several ideas, including a Tourism Australia-type campaign to attract workers.

SOURCE 







It's too early to pick a winner in the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine, Australian scientists tell the Federal Government

As pressure grows across the world to lock in a supply of a COVID-19 vaccine, the Australian Academy of Science's latest update to the Federal Government advises it is still "too early" and backs Australia's current wait-and-see approach.

The yet-to-be-published advice from 15 of Australia's most prominent researchers and scientists — which is currently being peer-reviewed — has been passed on to Australia's chief scientist Alan Finkel.

The scientists are part of Australia's COVID-19 Rapid Research Information Forum, which is helping guide decisions by Health Minister Greg Hunt and Prime Minister Scott Morrison on which vaccines to prioritise.

It is understood the latest review, the third so far since the pandemic began, will advise the Federal Government that no clear victor has yet emerged.

On Tuesday Russia became the first country to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine, despite less than two months of human testing.

The lead author of the Australian Academy of Science report, vaccine expert Tony Cunningham, said with about 30 vaccine candidates in clinical trials and a handful in phase 3 trials — amongst a field of 160 vaccine candidates worldwide — picking the right vaccine was still a guessing game.

"It's like betting on a horse race," he said. "You don't want to buy in and then pick the wrong one.

"The first ones across the line are not always going to be the ones to work".

Despite this advice, it is understood the Federal Government is moving swiftly to lock in agreements across the world, with Australia targeting a vaccine being developed by Oxford University.

The Oxford vaccine has entered phase 3 trials and the UK Government has moved to shore up its supply, reserving 100 million doses.

In the global race to find a cure for COVID-19, Australia has to decide which candidate it will back, but the Government is taking a wait-and-see approach.

In the US, the leading candidate Moderna, which is also in phase 3 trials, is being funded by the US Government's Operation Warp Speed program.

The Trump administration announced this week it had locked in 100 million doses, with the option to purchase another 400 million, at a value of about $1.9 billion.

Australia's Federal Government is yet to lock in any supply of any vaccine, but the global jostling for position has triggered some movement.

In addition to its previously announced backing of the University of Queensland's vaccine, the Government is understood to be pushing ahead with advanced talks with international firms, as well as manufacturers, with significant announcements imminent.

Billions are being poured into the race to find a coronavirus vaccine, with the winner owning a powerful political tool. During the last pandemic an Australian company got there first.

A spokesman for Health Minister Greg Hunt's office said the Government was taking "targeted action".

"Our strategy is four-fold: research, purchasing agreements, international agreements and onshore manufacturing," the spokesman said.

"Direct procurement with leading international vaccine candidates is highly advanced with multiple candidates."

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here





13 August 2020

Sydney dams start to spill after a saturated six months

The Greenies were telling us that the drought was due to global warming.  So does this show global cooling?

The fact of the matter is that rainfall in Australia is erratic but can be made adequate by use of dams

Sydney's dams have started to spill after the latest big rain event over eastern NSW filled most reservoirs to the brim, with more rain forecast.

By Tuesday, the storages had gained more than 10 per cent in a week, or a net 253 billion litres, to climb to 95 per cent capacity, WaterNSW data shows.

The giant Warragamba Dam, which accounts for about 80 per cent of Greater Sydney's reservoir capacity, had risen to almost 96 per cent full, or about double the storage of a year ago.

The smaller Nepean Dam on the Upper Nepean River has started to spill after gaining almost a quarter of its capacity in the past week.

Tallowa Dam is also spilling, into the Shoalhaven River, with flows contributing to the highest flood levels downstream at Nowra in 29 years.

At its peak spill rate on Monday, Tallowa was releasing water at the rate of 375 billion litres a day, WaterNSW said.

The near-full capacity comes just six months after the storages dropped towards 40 per cent before a huge three-day rain event in February doubled water levels. The jump in inflows allowed the Berejiklian government to ease water restrictions and delay plans to double the size of Sydney's desalination plant.

A spokesman for WaterNSW said Warragamba was not expected to spill as a result of current inflows generated by the rain event.

"However WaterNSW will be making small operational releases from the dam’s spillway gates in order to bring the storage back to target level in anticipation of further rainfall," he said.

The forecast rainfall for the coming weekend had been scaled back, including 5 to 15 millimetres for Friday, but those predictions could change, the spokesman said.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Olenka Duma said "we're not expecting a huge amount of rain" from the strong cold front that will move eastwards towards the end of the week. Still, there remains the prospect of thunderstorms over much of NSW as the front draws in tropical moisture from the north.

In addition, the bureau is putting the odds of a wetter-than-normal September-to-November period for the eastern half of mainland Australia at greater than 65 per cent.

Stuart Khan, a professor in the University of NSW's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said the rapid shift from water restrictions to full storage "is something we haven't seen since 1998".

Professor Khan said it was "pretty likely" Warragamba would start to spill soon. The Wingecarribee Reservoir, for instance, was 99.6 per cent full, and any spill from there would largely end up in Warragamba via the Wollondilly River.

The rapid rise inflows has meant NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey had been vindicated in her decision to stop work on preparations to double Sydney's desalination plant, he said. The high flows, though, should not put a halt to consideration of water-saving measures such as water recycling.

"It's exactly the time we should be talking about long-term water supply strategies," Professor Khan said.

SOURCE 





Australian doctor may have breakthrough coronavirus cure

Imagine if a renowned Australian gastroenterologist invented an effective, cheap, readily available treatment for COVID-19 and his own country ignored him.

That’s what has happened to Professor Thomas Borody, who is famous for inventing a cure for the bacterial infection which causes peptic ulcers, saving millions of lives around the world.

This time Dr Borody, of Sydney’s Centre for Digestive Diseases, has found a promising treatment for COVID-19 using Ivermectin, a drug that has been used safely to treat parasitic infections for half a century. He combines it in a “triple therapy” with zinc and the antibiotic Doxycycline to attack the virus from multiple angles.

Clinical trials on his Ivermectin ­triple therapy are underway in 32 countries and are about to start in California. Dr Borody says the trick is “treating patients very early”, within seven days of onset, before the virus spreads through their organs and makes them sick.

Already results using the drug off-label have been promising.

In Bangladesh, 400 patients with mild to moderate symptoms were treated and 98 per cent cleared the virus within four to 14 days.

In the Dominican Republic, in 1300 patients the average duration of infection fell from 21 days to 10 days.

Mortality in already sick patients at Broward County Medical Centre in Florida dropped by 48 per cent. The results have been so remarkable that the government of the most populous Indian state, Uttar Pradesh, last week approved the use of Ivermectin for COVID-19 patients and also as a prophylactic for health workers.

Dr Borody calls Ivermectin a “wonder drug”. But ever since he ­received the positive preliminary ­results of the overseas trials, he has been banging his head against a brick wall trying to get someone in Australia to take notice.

He has sent letters to the Morrison government and the Victorian government, urging them at least to make Ivermectin available to high-risk patients and as a preventive dose for frontline workers. “I wrote to the federal and state governments,” he said on the weekend.

“I wasn’t even responded to … It got to a certain level of the fortress, but I don’t think it got to the decision- makers. You can see how frustrating it is, whereas a big state of India says let’s use it. If nothing else, make it available in aged care homes immediately. Our elderly are at the highest risk and this is a very safe option, ­especially when we have nothing else except ventilators.”

He points out Ivermectin is on the on the World Health Organisation’s list of essential medicines, and has been safely used since 1975 to treat parasitic infections such as river blindness and head lice.

In fact, US President Donald Trump uses Ivermectin in cream form to treat the skin condition rosacea, ­according to his White House health records.

Dr Borody says he may absorb enough through his skin to protect him, despite people around him at the White House becoming ill.

But despite the drug’s proven ­safety record and promising results on COVID-19, “the government in Australia — and the US — does not have a curative plan”. It’s all about lockdowns and vaccines.

And because no “no large company is pushing it,” says Borody, the government won’t listen.

“Not only is it too good to be true, it’s cheap” he says. An Ivermectin tablet can cost as little as $2. “This isn’t going to make money for anyone. It just needs a doctor to write a script,” he said.

And therein lies the problem. The pharmaceutical industry doesn’t like cheap off-patent drugs such as Ivermectin because they don’t reap huge profits in the way that new drugs and vaccines do.

The demonisation of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine is a case in point.

After President Donald Trump ­described it as a promising treatment, “maybe a game-changer” for COVID-19 at a March 19 press conference at the White House, the media derided him as a quack and discredited the drug.

The negative publicity played into the hands of Big Pharma, who stand to make tens of billions from vaccines and new drugs. Hydroxychloroquine’s main competitor is the new antiviral Remdesivir, developed by pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences, which charges $US3120 per ­treatment.

Trump also praised Remdesivir at that press conference. Yet all the ­attacks afterwards were against ­hydroxychloroquine, while Remdesevir got a free pass. And, of course, the drug companies had the financial ­incentive to discredit hydroxychloroquine and the lobbyists to advance their interests.

Dr James Todaro, one of a group of rebel physicians calling themselves America’s Frontline Doctors, points out that Gilead’s stock plummeted after Trump’s press conference, wiping $21 billion off its market cap. The share price only recovered six weeks later after a promising clinical trial.

The jury is still out on hydroxychloroquine. But the campaign against it has been ferocious. Doctors can’t get results of studies published, and social media censors mention of the drug.

A flawed study on a small sample of very sick US Veterans ­Affairs patients received enormous publicity before it was debunked. Positive studies were buried. Two prestigious medical journals, The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine, had to retract a paper which used bogus data supplied by a shadowy company to discredit the drug.

The damage was done. Clinical trials stopped. WHO temporarily withdrew support for the drug.

In New York, hydroxychloroquine is banned for COVID use.

In Switzerland, where it was banned from May 27 until June 11, ­Politico reports this week that daily COVID fatalities jumped markedly during that period.

Dr Borody is anxious that Ivermectin doesn’t meet the same fate.

Without any institutional backing, he has joined forces with California researcher Dr Sabine Hazan, founder of Ventura Clinical Trials, to fund trials themselves, at around $3500 per patient.

Dr Hazan said on Sunday that she is “hopeful this is going to be a gamechanger for COVID-19”. But she is at pains to point out there is no “one pill solution” for everyone.

If the trials go well, with expedited FDA approval, the Ivermectin triple therapy could be on the market in blister packs before Christmas. That’s for patients in America. Australia will have to wait.

SOURCE 






Public mural sparks Shire censorship debate



It would certainly make me ill if I had to walk past it every day

It is the public mural that has divided opinion in Sydney's Sutherland Shire provoking two petitions, a social media debate and even a critique from the local mayor.

Critics have launched a campaign to remove the large mural, which is painted on a wall outside a retail shop in Miranda, claiming it is inappropriate and offensive. But the owner of the building says the mural was commissioned to prevent just that kind of content, and had succeeded in deterring graffiti and vandalism.

Painted outside Ferrari Formalwear, on the corner of an intersection near Miranda train station and Westfield shopping centre, the mural depicts three figures in different poses, including one smoking and another holding a glass.

Shire resident Yvette Graf has been campaigning to have the artwork removed for almost a year. Her cause gained renewed traction at the end of July when another resident posted a photo of the mural to the Sutherland Shire Council's Facebook page and started an online petition, which in turn sparked debate and a counter-petition.

Ms Graf said the mural was inappropriate because it normalised drunkenness and promoted "degrading imagery of women".

"My gut instinct is it's not respectful to stereotype women with dog collars. The three women have either bloodshot eyes or dilated pupils, indicating they've been drinking or taking drugs. We don't need that as role-models for our children," Ms Graf said. "I'd like to see an image celebrating the Dharawal people - something that makes you inspired and makes you feel good."

By Tuesday afternoon, the petition to remove the mural had 452 signatures and the counter-petition in support of it had 585 signatures. The original Facebook post attracted nearly 500 comments.

The counter-petition claims the artwork adds "both culture and flavour to our streets" and should be protected to ensure "freedom of expression and or free speech".

Sutherland Shire Council mayor Carmelo Pesce said he understood both supporters and detractors of the mural.

"It's probably not the best piece of art you could put up, but people interpret art differently," Cr Pesce said. "I've had a couple of the older councillors think it promotes abuse. I don't see that. I interpret three women who have gone out and had a big night."

Cr Pesce said he wished the building owner had consulted the community before commissioning the mural but council was ultimately powerless to censor artwork on private property.

"If that art there was in Newtown would we be having this discussion? Look at the demographics of who's complaining. The youth aren't really complaining," Cr Pesce said.

The artist, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of backlash, said he was bemused the mural had attracted controversy as he had painted it last year.

"As a young Indigenous artist, I am offended that these people are offended. It is an artwork that was never intended to be offensive," the artist said.

"When your intention is to combat illegal graffiti-writing on a problematic graffiti wall by means of painting a picture on it, that picture may resonate with the youth of today more so than with the demographic of people who claim to be offended.

"Unfortunately you can't keep everyone happy, especially with art. Seriously. This is a G-rated artwork."

The building owner, who also asked to remain anonymous due to the heated nature of the debate, said the mural was a "special commission" that had succeeded in deterring graffiti.

"My concern has always been the amount of graffiti that's put on that wall," the owner said. "I don't find it offensive, it's just not my flavour."

The most recent NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data shows the Shire ranks fourth in the state for police reports about graffiti behind Wyong, Lake Macquarie and Sydney local government areas.

SOURCE 






Australian state grants Whitehaven's controversial coal mine expansion

A New South Wales state regulator on Wednesday gave the green light for Australian miner Whitehaven Coal Ltd to proceed with the expansion of a controversial coal mine, in a blow to local farming communities.

Whitehaven applied in 2018 to expand the Vickery project, asking for approval to increase coal extraction by nearly 25%, increase the peak annual extraction rate more than three-fold and also expand the so-called disturbance area.

The state's Independent Planning Commission (IPC) said it had received 1,928 unique submissions regarding the application – with 40% in support, 57% against and 2% neutral – as well as 935 campaign emails objecting to the application.

However, the IPC said it found that the impacts associated with the expansion were "acceptable" and "in the public interest", when weighed against an increased disturbance footprint and additional environmental impacts.

Whitehaven welcomed the decision, saying the A$700 million ($498 million) expansion would generate jobs for 500 people during construction and 450 ongoing roles thereafter.

The Lock the Gate Alliance community action group described the outcome as bitterly disappointing and an indictment of the New South Wales state government's failure to protect farmland, communities, and water resources.

"Following this approval, if the company decides to proceed with the new 10 million tonnes per annum coal mine, it will irreparably alter the social fabric of the Boggabri farming community and hurt agriculture in the district," it said in a statement.

The IPC's decision comes ahead of its ruling due in September on a coal seam gas project at nearby Narrabri proposed by Santos Ltd.

The project has also drawn strong opposition from farmers and environmental groups due to concerns about potential damage to water supply and a state forest.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here




12 August 2020

Jeep finally faces up to its shitty past

It shafted a lot of buyers who had problems with Jeep vehicles

Jeep is on a road to redemption in Australia, and is not shying away from its problems.

Jeep has again vowed to reverse its five-year sales slide and win back customer trust after the coronavirus delayed its recovery plans.

After a record 33,700 sales in 2015, Jeep's annual tally dropped to just 5500 last year – and so far 2020 is not looking much better.

In fact, Jeep sold more cars in one month – in December 2014 – than it has sold in the first seven months of 2020.

Jeep's Grand Cherokee even did the unthinkable six years ago, outselling the iconic Toyota LandCruiser Prado for a full year.

However, the brand that goes back to the very beginning of four-wheel drive history is still struggling to claw its way up the sales charts – even though sales of SUVs and four-wheel-drives are booming.

Jeep's sales success five years ago was also accompanied by reports of poor quality control, numerous recalls, and dwindling customer satisfaction.

The weakening Australian dollar also since pushed prices higher.

With the brand on the nose with Australian consumers, Jeep has decided to tackle the issues head-on with a new advertising campaign.

The new campaign reboots the old ‘I bought a Jeep’ series, but takes a more serious and angle to acknowledge things haven’t always been paradise Down Under.

The advertisements bluntly acknowledge the brand's recent shortcomings, stating "owning a Jeep wasn't as enjoyable as driving one" and "when I needed help with it, it felt like nobody was listening".

Along with a new campaign and plenty of fresh metal in the lineup (Wrangler, Gladiator and Compass), Jeep Australia also has a new boss in the big chair.

Kevin Flynn comes to Australia after five years as the boss of Jeep in India, where he saw the new Compass through from development to showroom floor.

Built in a new manufacturing plant in Pune India, it has proved to be a huge success for Jeep on the subcontinent. Now, Flynn is here to do similar things for the brand in Australia.

“(Australia) might be an easier country to live in, but the commercial challenges have been colossal,” said Mr Flynn during a recent interview.

“The turn-arounds are what I enjoy. Really doing the analysis and deep dive, find out where the issues are and then face them up and turning them. We had to put a plan together before the end of last year, and go to global (headquarters) with that plan. We did that, we got full support in what we're doing and they're fully backing (us) up.”

A big part of the recovery plan is rebuilding trust with Australian buyers.

“I think the sort of steps we took to be honest with the market and say: look, you know, we grew too quick and didn't put the infrastructure in behind us to really take care of people in the way that we can now. And the way that we should have. I think was brave, but necessary,” said Mr Flynn.

He acknowledges the importance of addressing the problems this controversial campaign is unearthing.

“Of course we knew it was going to flush out all of those that were left unhappy, and with picking all of those up and we're dealing with every single one of them. It's a bit of a work load, but we have to do it. We have to heal some of these wounds,” said Mr Flynn.

As for current and future customers, Mr Flynn says he wants to improve the brand experience after driving off the showroom floor – and is not solely focused on sales numbers.

“We've really bolstered our technical side of the business. We've changed all the processes and the flows on how we deal with customers internally that have got an issue or need some kind of help," said Mr Flynn.

"(Jeep's customer service is) a lot slicker, and it's a lot more customer centric than I think it probably has ever been before,” he says.

Jeep has also made efforts to reduce the cost of 17,000 parts in its inventory, and has rolled out a capped-price servicing program.

Despite the complications of COVID-19, Jeep’s team of regionally-based ‘flying doctors’ is still operating around Australia, helping solve customer issues. Although, Tasmania’s travel restrictions did cause some complications for a short time.

"The reasons for not considering (the Jeep brand), we're doing our best to change those," he says. "But not just in noise and messaging, actually in reality. We've changed the company; significantly changed the company.”

SOURCE 






Victoria police goons

You would think that they had never heard of George Floyd.  A tall cop throwing a little lady around is pretty disgraceful.  Unlike George Floyd she survived but they could well have injured her

It appears that the police were confrontational rather than polite in their initial approach to her and she was confrontational back.  Not wise but understandable. The Vic cops could learn a lot from the traditional British Bobby, who was always polite


Disturbing footage has emerged showing a woman being choked by a male police officer during a violent arrest in Melbourne after she was caught not wearing a face mask.

The video, which was captured by an onlooker in an apartment building in the locked down city, begins with the male police officer speaking to the red headed woman in baggy jeans.

The woman can clearly be seen without a face mask, which is in breach of public health orders that were introduced on July 19 to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Residents in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire must now cover their face when they leave the house or face a $200 fine under draconian Stage four lockdown restrictions.

But the confrontation quickly turned violent when officer appeared to place his hands around her neck, clearly visible because of his lilac latex gloves.

In the first clip, which has been shared on Facebook, the pair seem to be arguing in the street when the officer grabs the woman by her arm but she resists.

There is a struggle between the pair when the woman appears to place her hands around the officer's vest, the officer then retaliates by placing his hands around her neck.

The woman attempts to free herself. 'What the f***?' she says.

'Get the f*** off me,' she screams.

A man with a purple scarf then appears, who is seen filming the incident from the footpath as another police officer shows up.

The female officer appears to try to speak to the woman as the male officer keeps his grip around her neck.

Police officer pulls the woman to the ground in an attempt to arrest her

He then sits on her and she questions what she is being arrested for

A friend then starts filming the arrest, telling the officer the woman has an exemption for wearing a mask

'He's choking me,' she can be heard saying.

As the officer pushes her against the wall the woman then punches the male officer before she kicks the female.

'F*** you,' she yells.

In the next clip the male officer can be seen sitting on top of the woman as he waits for back up to arrive.

The onlooker in the purple scarf continues to film the incident from different angles.

The woman can be seen struggling, with her feet flapping against the footpath.

The man in the purple scarf then yells for the officer to get off her, saying she has an excuse for not wearing a mask.

'She went to the doctor yesterday. Look what you're causing. You're f***ing hypocrites,' he said.

'Go f*** yourself,' the woman says again.

'Go f*** yourself officer.

'Why am I under arrest? Assault? I did not assault you, you grabbed me.'

In another clip, five officers can be seen surrounding the woman who is now laying face down on the footpath with the officer still on top of her.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Victoria Police for further details.

The footage comes after about 30 people attended a 'freedom rally' to protest the coronavirus lockdown in Melbourne on Sunday.

SOURCE 







Year 12 students claim ‘huge win’ after Victorian Government announces changes to ATAR system

Year 12s battling through remote learning have scored a “huge win” after a petition called on the State Government to cancel exams.

Victoria's secondary students will be tested against new standards as part of a major overhaul of the VCE. The state government is changing literacy and numeracy expectations ...
Victorian year 12s who will now be “individually assessed” for their VCE scores and ATAR rankings say the new changes are a “huge win” for the class of 2020.

Eltham High School student Tom McGinty said the compassionate approach gave him confidence he could secure a spot at university next year.

“I’m really stoked on the changes that have been implemented, As someone who has struggled with online learning this change brings me hope that I can actually obtain my desired ATAR score and get into my preferred course for next year,” he said.

Year 12 student Nathan Gunn petitioned to cancel VCE exams, saying he and his classmates had been burdened with the effects of COVID-19 and remote learning.

He launched the petition – which generated more than 4300 signatures – just days before Deputy Premier James Merlino announced every single VCE student would be individually assessed, with adverse impacts from COVID-19 reflected in their ATAR ranking.

“It’s a relief to know the Government has devised a new system of special consideration with the mental health of young people as a top priority,” the 18-year-old said.

“This new system is the first of its kind, which was crucial for all Victorian year 12s who are living and studying during a pandemic like none of us have ever seen.”

“We need physical interaction, we need to be there in the classroom asking questions,” he said.

Under the “extraordinary changes”, the Government will consider school closures and long absences as contributing factors to VCE students’ difficult year.

“We’ll look at things, for example, such as significant increase in family responsibilities as a result of COVID-19, and we’ll of course consider the mental health and wellbeing of students during this period,” Mr Merlino said.

“This year is like no other, it is an unprecedented year, and we need to support our students in an unprecedented way.”

Mr Merlino said the changes would help students go into their VCE exams, which start in early November, with confidence “knowing they will not be disadvantaged as a result of COVID-19”.

“This is a way that we can give every student and every parent of a VCE student the comfort and the confidence that their student will receive their final scores that take into account their individual circumstances. It puts them on a level playing field with every student across the state,” he said.

SOURCE 






Signs of healthy new life are growing out of coronavirus hell

It’s day 126 of lockdown in London and as I write, the dog is curled at my feet, the cat snoring on a cushion nearby. It should feel like Groundhog Day, time caught in a never-ending, repetitive loop but instead of cabin fever I’m flooded with an unexpected (guilty) contentment.

COVID-19 has taken its terrible toll the world over: more than half a million are dead, many more locked down, too many without enough food on the table or a decent roof over their head. And yet, despite the pain and fear, adversity seems also to have brought with it a new perspective.

Photographs of the world’s great cities empty of tourists have gone viral. People marvel over the return of wildlife to the metropolis, hearing birdsong instead of traffic and gazing into vast skies untrammelled by aircraft. Freedom from the grind of the daily commute to the office has liberated workers, others revel in the liberty to say “no” to relentless social demands.

Last week, a survey published by strategic consultancy BritainThinks found that just 12 per cent of people want life to return to normal “exactly as it was before”.

And Britons surveyed also flagged they are prepared to pay higher taxes to help turn the country into a kinder, more equal and supportive place to live after the pandemic is over.

Researchers were told that people want to find ways to keep this extra time they’ve had with their families and want government to focus on “ensuring high employment” and protection of the natural environment.

This made me wonder if Britons’ reluctance to abandon some of the changes forced by the pandemic was also felt in Australia, the US and other parts of Europe and Asia?

Had others found some silver linings in the viral gloom?

I decided to conduct a mini global poll, on Facebook, and the query appeared to strike an immediate nerve.

As an expatriate Italo-Aussie, colleagues and friends are scattered over several different time-zones but within a few hours, 160 had responded — all but two identifying things they want to keep, or are fearful they will lose, after lockdown.

In New York, Australian lawyer Katherine Mogg — newly appointed legal counsel to the city’s Green Bank — writes a long and enthusiastic list: “Morning exercise, gardening, cooking meals planned and organised, reading, art making … less manic socialising!”

Architect and interior designer Craig Longhurst, a fellow expatriate to New York, has fresh, non-consumerist priorities: “Less is more in life.”

From the wilds of Bellingen in New South Wales, leather artist Gabrielle Tindall says the quiet of lockdown has offered a “glimpse of how things should be”: “And no aeroplanes clogging up the beautiful blue skies.”

Professor Malcolm Fisher, the Sydney-based intensive care specialist who discovered an antivenene for the funnel-web spider, is enthused by the new way of communicating: “I always remember Dag Hammarskjöld (the Swedish economist and diplomat), writing in his book, Markings, that his isolation and loneliness was not about having no one to tell his troubles but because no one was telling him their troubles,” he wrote. “Every call is appreciated.”

Common themes emerge from Copenhagen to New Zealand, from Canada to The Philippines. A sense of release at not being forced to be productive all the time; not sweating the small things; valuing access to parks and nature; a return to old-fashioned pastimes like games and puzzles, away from screens.

Many reported that trying to mitigate physical distance led them to make more of an effort to pick up the phone or use video platforms to communicate with loved ones — and were doing so more often.

In Los Angeles, Branimir Kvartuc, the award-winning photographer who took the iconic shot of OJ Simpson’s police chase in 1994, agrees with the new effort to communicate more: teaching his mum to use FaceTime and more frequent conversation has been a big deal for him: “I use it with Mum all the time now. She’s much happier being more connected to the people in her life.”

While many reported missing the pub, restaurants and cafes in the earliest days of lockdown, most acclimatised to restrictions and say they’ve even enjoyed them.

A resident of the remote British crown territory, the Isle of Man, TV producer and journalist Mary Rose Trainor says she has “seen” and talked to many more friends during lockdown than ever before.

“I loved it that people have had time for each other,” she says.  Family meals, once rushed and rare, are planned, prepared and have become pivotal, communal moments in the “new normal” daily routine people fear they will lose.

Empty-nesters have reconnected with teenagers who returned home for lockdown while working parents have embraced being out of the daily home/office juggle. “All that time freed up from commuting to and from work. Priceless,” says Sydney political consultant Luis Garcia.

Most strikingly, all reported a sense of relief to be living at a slower, gentler pace and being able to return to hobbies and pastimes, the extracurricular things they love, without guilt. With the concert circuit closed, pianist Lisa Moore in New York says she has had time to learn to make bread and new piano sonatas for four hands (Faurè, Brahms, Beethoven) with her composer husband, Yale professor Martin Bresnick.

Wales-based theatre director and writer Clare Williams is painting and revelling in gardening and observing local birdlife.

The one caveat in the new-found joy came from those with younger children — and especially working women with children — who admitted the struggle of home-schooling can be wearing.

WHILE 14th-century Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio was crafting his great masterpiece, The Decameron, in Florence, an estimated 75 million people worldwide lost their lives to the Black Death. Between 1346 and 1353, Europe alone lost around 60 per cent of its total population to bubonic plague.

The Decameron is essentially a collection of stories told by 10 friends who were trying to keep each other amused with ribald tales while shielding from the plague together, and it contains observations resonant today.

Boccaccio observed that as the power of medicine and doctors’ advice appeared ineffective and useless, people responded very differently to the uncertainty and terror of the disease and the daily closeness of death.

Some, he wrote, felt the foul disease could only be kept at bay by enjoying life’s pleasures to the full, pursuing fun and laughter, satisfying all appetites without pause, mixing freely and drinking heavily. (Surveys in Britain have shown that alcohol sales in supermarkets spiked at the beginning of lockdown and have remained higher than normal.)

Others, observed Boccaccio, felt that living moderately and avoiding great excess would be more protective and they chose to hunker down, creating small, self-sufficient units to live in isolation from everyone else.

In the 21st century, in Western, developed democracies, our socialising with others is often conducted as much outside the home as within it and while many reported missing the pub, restaurants and cafes in the earliest days of lockdown, most acclimatised to restrictions and say they’ve even enjoyed them.

For Australian journalist and TV presenter, Edwina Bartholomew, and her husband, Neil Varcoe, having a young child during lockdown has allowed them a slower pace of life — and they’re loving it.

“Instead of rushing around to see everyone and do everything, we are perfectly happy in our little family unit,” Bartholomew says.  “I think there are only about 10 people I feel a huge compulsion to catch up with in person but I feel like I’m communicating so much more with my wider circle and taking the time to make phone calls and video chats. It’s actually nice.”

The former Democrat turned independent NSW MLC, Richard Jones, lives with partner Jo Immig in the rainforest around Byron Bay and says the slowing of life’s frenetic pace has been treasured: “We have strangely enjoyed not having the option to go out … and have a sense of relief when we get back home from a trip out.”

In Rome, retired Alitalia executive Giorgio Vernengo says he has rediscovered the pleasure of simply “being … and staying at home”.

“I also think, over the following couple of decades, it will bring forth a great flowering of innovative creativity.”
Just as the end of the Black Plague heralded the end of the Middle Ages and a cultural and social revolution, there are many people who hope that this 21st-century pandemic will spark significant, lasting change.

Best-selling British novelist Maggie Alderson echoed the observations of many who admitted a feeling of guilt for secretly enjoying lockdown. It has been particularly special family time for her as it has unfolded on the cusp of her 18-year-old daughter readying to leave home.

“I am realistic about how tough the next few years are going to be — particularly for my daughter’s generation — but I believe that just as WWII and living through the London Blitz shaped and strengthened my parents’ characters, I think the upheavals from COVID-19 will give my daughter and her contemporaries some very useful grit.

“I also think, over the following couple of decades, it will bring forth a great flowering of innovative creativity — in the arts, technology and thought — as adversity always does. Around 2041 will be an amazing era, as good as the 60s.”

We can only hope.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here




11 August, 2020

The Australian Press Council Is A Hive Of Climate Zealots

By Prof. Ian Plimer, geologist

As a result of an activist campaign, the Australian Press Council took exception to my article in The Australian on November 22, 2019.

They claimed that my statement that there “are no carbon emissions. If there were, we could not see because most carbon is black. Such terms are deliberately misleading, as are many claims” was false.

Journalists in the Press Council should know basic English and the difference between an element (carbon) and a compound (carbon dioxide).

This is elementary schoolkid’s science. For the Press Council to claim that this is factually incorrect shows breathtaking ignorance.

There are eight forms (allotropes) of carbon, one of them (diamond) is not black which is why the word ‘most’ was used. I was showing that to call the odorless, colorless, tasteless gas that is the food of life as ‘carbon emissions’ is Orwellian.

The Press Council objected to the use of ‘fraudulent’ in my statement about ‘fraudulent changing of weather records’.

It is clear that the council is not aware of the widely publicized fraudulent expunging of the Medieval Warming and the Little Ice Age by Michael Mann and failed court cases initiated by Mann. They are clearly not aware of the admission of fraud in the Climategate emails.

The Press Council wrote, “The Council considers that the statement concerning the Bureau of Meteorology fraudulently changing weather records is one of fact and implies an element of dishonesty or deception on its part.”

I made absolutely no reference whatsoever to the Bureau of Meteorology. I have been verballed. When can I expect an apology?

It was claimed that my statement, “unsubstantiated claims polar ice is melting,” was wrong. Polar ice concurrently melts, grows and moves and polar ice includes terrestrial ice and sea ice.

Changes in polar ice are due to a diversity of reasons and my point was that we only hear from activists who claim that polar ice is melting due to human-induced global warming.

We don’t hear that glaciers move due to recrystallization, that many glaciers are growing, or that there are more than 150 volcanoes and areas of hot rocks beneath the Antarctic ice.

The Press Council claimed that my statement “the ignoring of data that shows Pacific islands and the Maldives are growing rather than being inundated” was false.

There is a huge amount of scientific literature based on aerial photographs and satellite images showing that atolls are increasing in the area.

A ten-second Google search would have shown peer-reviewed publications supporting this statement. Why was this not done? Or maybe the Press Council has become yet another activist institution?

As soon as the words carbon footprint, emissions, pollution, and decarbonization, climate emergency, extreme weather, unprecedented and extinction are used, I know I am being conned by ignorant activists, populist scaremongering, politicians, and rent-seekers.

Pollution by plastics, sulfur and nitrogen gases, particulates, and chemicals occurs in developing countries. That’s real pollution. The major pollution in the West is the polluting of minds about the role of CO2.

There are no carbon emissions. If there were, we would not be able to see because most carbon is black. Such terms are deliberately misleading, as are many claims.

But then again, we should be used to this after the hysteria about the Great Barrier Reef. We’ve had reefs on Earth for 3,500 million years.

They came and went many times, thriving when water was warmer and there was an elevated CO2 content of the atmosphere. Reefs need CO2; it’s their basic food.

It has never been shown that human emissions of carbon dioxide drive global warming. Climate models have been around 30 years. They have all failed.

Balloon and satellite measurements show a disconnect from climate model predictions. We emit a trace atmospheric gas called carbon dioxide at a time in the planetary history of low atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Earth’s climate dances to rhythms every day, every season and on far larger lunar, oceanic, solar, orbital, galactic, and tectonic cycles.

Climate change is normal and continual. When cycles overlap, climate change can be rapid and large. Sporadic events such as supernovas and volcanic eruptions can also change the climate.

The main greenhouse gas is water vapor. It is the only gas in air that can evaporate, humidify, and condense into clouds that precipitate rain, hail, and snow. Earth is unevenly heated. Oceans hold most of the planet’s surface heat, not the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide is plant food. It is neither a pollutant nor a toxin. Without carbon dioxide, all life on Earth would die.

Plants convert carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight during photosynthesis into sugars, cellulose, fruit, vegetables, and grains, which animal life uses as food. Marine organisms also take up and use carbon dioxide.

Plants need almost three times today’s carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere to thrive. For decades horticulturalists have pumped carbon dioxide into glasshouses to increase yields.

The fossil record shows that a thriving and diversification of plant and animal life occurred every time the atmosphere had a very high carbon dioxide content.

In the past, warming has never been a threat to life on Earth. Why should it be now? When there is a low atmospheric carbon dioxide content, especially during very cold times, life struggles.

For the last 500 million years, the atmospheric carbon dioxide content has been decreasing, and if we halved today’s atmospheric carbon dioxide content, all life would die.

This carbon dioxide has been removed into the oceans and is sequestered into coral, shells, limey sediments, and muds and on the land into coals, muds, soils, and vegetation.

In our lifetime, there has been no correlation between CO2 emissions and temperature. Geology shows us again there is no correlation between atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature.

Each of the six major past ice ages began when the atmospheric CO2 content was far higher than at present. The idea that a slight increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide will lead to unstoppable global warming is demonstrably wrong.

In the past decade, China has increased its CO2 emissions by 53 percent, 12 times Australia’s total output of 1.3 percent of the global total. The grasslands, forests, farms, and continental shelves of Australia absorb far more carbon dioxide than we emit.

The attack on emissions of the gas of life is an irrational attack on industry, our modern way of life, freedoms, and prosperity. It has nothing to do with the environment.

SOURCE 







We’d be unwise to outsource democracy to judges

JAMES ALLAN

Not long after I arrived in Australia some decade and a half ago, the quest for a national bill of rights became a hot topic. I am a longstanding opponent of these instruments, not least because they remove significant power from the elected representatives of the people and hand it over to a lawyerly caste of judges. My view was, and still is, that when you buy a bill of rights you are buying the views of a committee of unelected ex-lawyers who resolve their disputes by letting the numbers count. They get a say or vote, while we no longer do. Four judges beat three, no matter the quality of the respective judgments. So the size of the franchise is somewhat reduced on a good many issues once you go down this path.

By contrast, George Williams, who wrote on this page on Tuesday, has long been an ardent proponent of adopting a bill of rights. Indeed, he was a moving force in Victoria’s adoption of a statutory version of one. This is the model proponents now push because Australians have twice, and overwhelmingly, rejected the entrenched, constitutionalised version in two section 128 referendums asking that question.

Williams and I at one point did a series of debates here and there on whether to adopt a bill of rights. Luckily, from my point of view, even the Rudd-Gillard governments gave up on the idea, no doubt more due to Bob Carr’s ­opposition than mine or anyone else’s. But much like a zombie, the push for these anti-democratic, let’s-empower-the-elite instruments never dies.

On Tuesday, Williams adopted the pandemic as his backdrop or rationale for urging the enactment of one of these things. He noted, rightly, that Australian governments have “imposed extraordinary restrictions on our liberties”. He gave us all a potted history of their post-World War II explosion around the world. He noted that the enumerated rights are never absolute. (Put differently, the unelected judges will do the balancing and weighing, not the elected legislators.) He claimed that “the difficulty for Australia is that we lack a national framework for resolving the inevitable tensions between individual human rights and public interests” and pointed to “uncertainty about how far governments can go in restricting our liberties”. And then, the piece de resistance, he suggested that a bill of rights provides “a yardstick for answering” these pandemic-induced questions and that it is unfortunate that one doesn’t “have more of a role to play in Australia”.

I don’t buy it. First off, big democratic countries such as Canada, the US and Britain that have been seriously locked down by COVID-19 all have potent bills of rights. Indeed, Victoria, perhaps the world capital of locking down and imposing “the greatest interference with our personal liberty in history” (to quote Lord Sumption, the recently retired British judge), has one of these bills (and let’s be honest, Williams basically wrote it). Yet what have any of these instruments done, anywhere, to undo these liberty-­infringing laws? Nothing.

That fact shouldn’t surprise you. In times of massive emergency — the once-in-a-century situation — the unelected judges will defer. This happened when FDR rounded up the Japanese-Americans during World War II and the Supreme Court signed off on it. It will always happen when the stakes are huge and you live in a democracy. It’s all the other times when judges will get the last word.

As it happens, I am a huge critic of the coronavirus response that we’ve seen from Scott Morrison and other Australian governments — too heavy-handed, too focused on virus deaths while oblivious to deaths caused by the lockdowns, too insouciant about the looming economic damage and far too wilfully blind about how the young are getting almost none of the benefits (since those under 45 have little to no risk from this virus beyond that which the regular flu poses) but are paying a massively disproportionate share of the costs.

But this is a political failing. It is not for seven unelected judges to alter or undo. You may not trust elected politicians but they are accountable through the ballot box. Judges deciding big-ticket social policy issues are not. Full stop. Nor does a bill of rights provide any yardstick at all other than what past judges somewhere have said. That’s because the rights in a bill of rights are articulated in vague, amorphous terms (“the right to free speech” for example) that leaves all the limiting and considering of community interests to the unelected judges.

If there were ever something that suggested the need for a bill of rights, it is not the pandemic. We should be thankful that here in Australia the elected politicians will make the calls — and they will eventually be held accountable for them.

SOURCE 





Fruit and vegetable prices set to soar by 60 percent as border closures shut out seasonal workers – as farmers call for subsidies to boost wages and lure the unemployed

Fruit and vegetable prices are set to soar by as much as 60 per cent as the coronavirus border closures lock out seasonal workers, leaving farms to either lift wages to attract local workers or leave the product unharvested.

The workforce is usually made up of young people from Europe and South East Asia on working-holiday visas but that labour source has largely dried up as they cannot enter the country, and many who were already here have been forced to return home.

The working holiday visa program accounts for 80 per cent of the harvest labour workforce.

Domestic border closures and restrictions also mean the industry cannot use the itinerant workers who move between states from harvest to harvest, according to the Australian Fresh Produce Alliance (AFPA).

'The reduction in workers we're seeing as a result of COVID-19, plus the issues we're finding trying to move workers across production locations is making it even more difficult for fruit and vegetable farmers to secure the workforce needed to continue to supply all Australians with fresh food,' AFPA chief executive Michael Rogers said.

A shortage of food due non-harvesting, or higher wage bills will result in higher prices, with Mr Rogers saying consumers should brace for spikes towards the end of the year, with November and December expected to be the most challenging.

AFPA has lobbied government to provide one-off $1,200 payments to lure the growing number of unemployed Australians in cities to move to farms for harvest work.

'Australians have always been encouraged to do this kind of work, but despite high unemployment we still see application rates from Australians for fruit and vegetable picking roles at 8 per cent or even lower,' Mr Rogers said.

There are currently only 70,000 harvest roles in Australia, with the usual number of backpackers sitting at 140,000.

On Tuesday it was announced that farm workers from Vanuatu will be brought into Australia to pick mangoes despite an ongoing travel ban on overseas arrivals.

Up to 170 of the foreign labourers will be brought into the Northern Territory ahead of next month's harvest despite burgeoning levels of local unemployed, and more will follow if the trial is successful.

All people coming to the country will face two weeks in quarantine, while the NT chief health officer will have final approval on recruitment.

Faced with the prospect of lifting wages to attract local workers, the industry will instead be able to keep production costs low by importing temporary staff.

'The Northern Territory's mango producers in particular are facing a rough road ahead without the workers they rely on for their harvest,' Federal Agriculture minister David Littleproud said on Tuesday.

'That's going to come to a head when the mango harvest starts in earnest in September.'

Mr Rogers said he welcomed the announcement from Minister Littleproud and appreciated the commitment 'the government has shown to finding solutions to workforce challenges'.

'Trials like this are important so industry can work with government to find practical solutions to any labour shortages,' he said.

'It is important to understand that harvest roles in industry support regional economies, full-time ongoing employment of Australians but most importantly underpin access to fruit and vegetables for all Australians.' 

SOURCE 





Ben Roberts-Smith: War hero’s lawyer admits personal relationship is ‘unwise’

A senior lawyer photographed holding hands and riding scooters with controversial former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has spoken out about their friendship.

News Corp Australia published photos of Mr Roberts-Smith — who is awaiting the outcome of an inquiry into alleged war crimes — spending time with his lawyer Monica Allen including holding hands and riding scooters in Brisbane’s Botanic Gardens.

Ms Allen’s boss Mark O’Brien from Mark O’Brien Legal said he had spoken to Ms Allen about the matter. “She and I agree that it was unwise to spend some time socially with him,” Mr O’Brien was quoted in The Age newspaper.

“The recent press is a distraction and the case against The Age and The SMH will continue to its conclusion.”

Mr O’Brien did not comment on the nature of the pair’s relationship, instead telling The Age it was “interesting that in 2020 people make assumptions about friendships between adults”.

News Corp Australia reported on Saturday how Mr Roberts-Smith, 41, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, now finds himself embroiled in multiple investigations and legal disputes.

On Australia Day in 2015, the controversial war hero gave a speech about his lifelong ambition to join the military. “Leave school, join the Army, and fight for my country. It was an uncomplicated, old-fashioned dream in lots of ways,’’ he said.

Five years on, that uncomplicated dream has become a complicated nightmare.

Mr Roberts-Smith’s marriage to Emma, the mother of his twin daughters, has imploded, and he is spending personal time with Ms Allen, who has been visiting him in his new apartment in Brisbane.

Ms Allen is part of the Sydney-based legal team representing Mr Roberts-Smith in his defamation case against the Nine media group over a series of articles about his time in Afghanistan.

He is the subject of an Australian Federal Police investigation relating to war crimes alleged to have been committed in Afghanistan.

And he is a key figure in the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force’s “Afghanistan inquiry’’, which is due to report next month after a four-year investigation into allegations Australian Special Forces soldiers committed war crimes, including, as Federal Parliament was told, “unlawful killings’’ and “cruel treatment’’ of non-combatants.

Mr Roberts-Smith’s employer Seven West Media did not respond to questions asked of him. He has always vehemently denied any wrongdoing in Afghanistan.

Ms Allen, who works for Mark O’Brien Legal as a senior associate, did not respond to News Corp questions. Emma Roberts-Smith declined to comment.

The IGADF report, due to go to the Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell next month, is being nervously anticipated by the Canberra establishment, which is expecting bombshell findings into the actions of individual soldiers, and the culture within the SAS in the years leading up to 2016.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds warned the report would make for uncomfortable reading. “This will be one of the most significant events in the history of the Australian Defence Force,’’ one senior source said.

The controversy has been turbocharged by the inclusion among the persons of interest of Mr Roberts-Smith – war hero, holder of both the Victoria Cross and Medal for Gallantry, former Father of the Year and chairman of the National Australia Day Council, and Australia’s only bona fide celebrity soldier.

His patron is Perth billionaire Kerry Stokes, a generous benefactor to the SAS, who is also chairman of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and has “personally guaranteed’’ a controversial $500 million redevelopment of the memorial will not run over budget.

Mr Stokes owns Seven West Media where Mr Roberts-Smith works as Queensland’s general manager.

Late last month, Mr Roberts-Smith and Ms Allen were seen strolling Brisbane’s South Bank hand-in hand, and riding scooters through the Botanic Gardens.

They were seen at his Brisbane apartment on several consecutive days. Mr Roberts-Smith is understood to be living in Brisbane after moving out of the Sunshine Coast home he shared with his wife and daughters.

Documents tabled in the Federal Court show Ms Allen is taking legal instructions from Mr Roberts-Smith.

In an order handed down in May, presiding judge Justice Anthony Besanko refers to a sworn statement Ms Allen has made about the impact of Nine’s reporting on Mr Roberts-Smith.

“The applicant (Mr Roberts-Smith) relied on an affidavit of Ms Monica Helen Allen sworn on 20 April 2020 who is a solicitor at the firm acting for the applicant in each of the four proceedings,’’ Justice Besanko said.

“A number of (Nine’s) articles are produced by Ms Allen. She states that she is instructed that the ongoing impacts of the publication of the matters complained of on the applicant and his family have been considerably exacerbated by the respondents republishing the allegations every few months.’’

The judge notes that Ms Allen has stated that since the publication of the stories, Mr Roberts-Smith had suffered “severe insomnia,’’ had stopped receiving speaking engagements, and was not invited to any events on Anzac Day this year.

“Ms Allen is instructed that each morning the applicant feels anxious and has a sense of dread about what allegations will be made about him by the respondents,’’ Justice Besanko stated.

Mr Roberts-Smith joined the military immediately after leaving school at the age of 17, and had an extraordinarily privileged early life. “He’s West Australian royalty,’’ a fellow WA resident told News Corp.

His brother is Sam Roberts-Smith, a highly-awarded tenor with Opera Australia, who has performed around the world.

His father is Len Roberts-Smith QC, a retired WA Supreme Court and appeals court judge who was himself a Major-General in the Army Reserve. He was the Judge Advocate General (JAG) for the Australian Defence Force and the Commissioner of the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Ben and Sam Roberts-Smith attended prestigious Hale School, which, according to its website has “produced six Premiers, an Acting Prime Minister, numerous recipients of the Orders of Australia, 13 Rhodes Scholars and influential pioneers of the State’s pastoralist, forestry and iron ore industries.’’

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here






10 August, 2020

Coronavirus: Australia’s covidiots and scofflaws are nothing more than more of the same

This article assumes that the current wisdom is correct and that lockdowns are helpful.  Many scientists have questioned that so the "Scofflaws" could simply be well-informed rather than being ratbags.

Sweden is the well-known example of a reasonable survival rate without lockdowns but there are many others.  The truth is that lockdowns sometimes go with HIGH deathrate, much higher than Sweden. See here and here


Feel the need for a Big Mac meal and a sundae? Why not drive 320 km from Melbourne to Wodonga and hit the drive thru?

Tested positive for covid but don’t want a pesky viral pandemic to cut into your busy social life?

Perhaps you have a party to attend, a sweaty danceathon where social distancing begins and ends with the swapping of bodily fluids only for the wallopers to arrive, leading to scenes not unlike the Roman raid of the headquarters of the People’s Front of Judea in The Life of Brian where the rebels hide very badly.

With Victoria commencing Stage 4 lockdowns this week and a night time curfew imposed, the media has been feasting on yarns of non compliance, driven either by unfathomable stupidity, gross negligence or calculated anarchy.

In the late, great Southern City there have been a total of 800 out of just over 3000 individuals who have tested positive for covid but thought quarantine was optional and instead strode out into the community with hacking, dry coughs.

Have Australians changed? Are we a bunch of criminally negligent scofflaws thumbing our noses at authorities?

Earlier this week, a 38-year-old woman allegedly assaulted two young police women after she was seen not wearing a mask at a shopping centre in Frankston in Melbourne’s south east. The alleged assault was so serious one of the police officers was treated at hospital for “concussion and significant facial injuries.” The 38-year-old woman reportedly has no criminal history.

Sovereign citizens and an imaginary Constitution

What on Earth is going on here? Victoria Police report they have encountered pockets of the sovereign citizen movement, a loose coalition of ultra libertarians who claim they have the right to opt out of the state’s laws whenever it suits them.

Aside from their amusing waffling about the Australian Constitution that they could not possibly have read or selective citing of the Magna Carta that they also have not read, events in Victoria show just how dangerous these people can be and how quickly noncompliance of temporary Covid laws can escalate into violence.

Both in the US and here the SovCit movement poses a significant threat to law enforcement. In the US, police officers have been murdered while undertaking routine traffic stops.

The FBI lists the SovCit movement as a domestic terrorist group.

Dangers, and rise, of SovCits

Senior police in NSW received briefings five years ago on the rise of SovCits which were estimated at 300 dedicated scofflaws statewide back then but in the midst of a pandemic with government imposing laws on social distancing, the numbers are bound to have risen.

The answer is to train and skill up police at the coalface so they can recognise SovCits and act accordingly.

VicPol Chief Commissioner Shane Patton reported that officers have had to break driver side car windows on a handful of occasions, one spectacularly involving the grinning covidiot, Eve Black who had been filmed refusing to disclose personal information while gloating at police at a checkpoint.

O’Brien’s windscreens are said to never have been busier.

For all that, I question that COVID-19 has changed the nature of our society in any permanent way, despite the covidiots who flaunt laws and regard wearing a mask as a fundamental breach of their human rights rather than an imposed measure of community obligation.

SovCits might be as mad as cut snakes but they remain in the absolute minority. They may be an alarming and growing group but they do not reflect the national character which oddly now is less of the anti-authoritarian and more of the docile and compliant kind.

During the Second World War, PM John Curtain railed at Australians’ unwillingness to support rationing of clothing, food, petrol and booze.

Almost every household had access to black markets. Many used them for special purchases or when the drinks cabinet was starting to run ominously dry.

The arrival of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1919-20, a disease that swept across the globe killing millions, had eerie similarities to that of COVID-19 in that it first appeared in the summer months in Australia. The second wave was more lethal, largely driven by political intransigence at state level. Sydney locked down three weeks earlier than Melbourne and then as now, Melbourne bore the brunt of infections and deaths.

By September of 1919, it was all over.

One story you probably won’t hear down at the War Museum is the only reason Australia was beset with a viral infectious disease was that returned service men from the First AlF jumped quarantine, spreading clusters of infection wherever they went.

Wearing a mask was compulsory in NSW for several months in 1919 but the rules were drawn up with gaping, noodle-scratching inconsistencies. Churches were locked down but Sydneysiders huddled together in trams to get down to the beach. They could pack in like tinned anchovies at the footy, too, but not the races. Go figure.

It is probably worth noting, too, that the decade immediately following World War One led to spikes in violent crime, serious assaults and murder the frequency of which the country had never seen before and would never see again although the 1980s came perilously close.

Then again if a pandemic struck in the 1980s, NSW police detectives from that era would have taken prevention into their own hands and whipped Sars-CoV-2 out past the heads for a spot of fishing.

Three men and a virus go out. Three men come back. Old Kooka, mate. Don’t make ‘em like they used to.

Australia’s national character has not changed very much and probably not at all.

Groups of scofflaws have always been here. In times of pandemic, their frankly oddball views of the world have received greater coverage and more scrutiny than these ratbags can handle. Nevertheless, the times we live in and the challenges we face with this pandemic make them far more dangerous than they’ve ever been.

SOURCE 





Border bubble: Residents of Tweed heads and Coolangatta can move from one to the other

This page contains changes to border restrictions that will take effect from 1.00am on 8 August 2020.

To cross the border you will need to obtain a Queensland Border Declaration Pass. Applications can be made at the border, however you may face delays.

Border restrictions Direction (No. 11)

A border zone resident is someone who lives in a community on the Queensland New South Wales border. See the map here (PDF). This includes both sides of the border – people who live in Queensland but work or go to school in their neighbouring border town, or people who live in New South Wales but come to work or school in their neighbouring border town in Queensland. Border zone residents can cross the border for any purpose.

Queensland border zone residents cannot travel outside the border zone in New South Wales (but can travel anywhere within Queensland) and New South Wales border zone residents cannot travel outside the border zone in either Queensland or New South Wales.

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State rivalries in virus response

In the middle of June, with coronavirus on the wane, South Australia relaxed its hard border restrictions with some states but left them in place for Victoria. This revived a fierce interstate ­rivalry that once played out in AFL State of Origin clashes when Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews retorted; “Look I don’t want to be offensive to South Australians, but why would you wanna go there?”

SA Premier Steven Marshall responded with a tourism video clip that mocked Andrews’s put-down. But his point was made more potently for him a few weeks later when Victorians were pursued, arrested and fined for fleeing across the border into SA, dodging police patrols bolstered by drones and helicopters intent on keeping Victorians out.

Melbourne-based Croweaters started returning to their home state and endured a fortnight’s isolation to escape an ominous coronavirus shambles in favour or an almost COVID-free existence.

Victoria’s 13,940 cases and 181 deaths dwarfs fewer than 500 cases and four deaths in SA. After allowing for population differences, Victoria’s toll is at least six times worse than SA’s.

In the AFL, Port Adelaide are now at the top of the table and the Adelaide Crows are at the bottom but everyone in the free-settler state feels they are winning the coronavirus challenge. So much for the federation, and so much for the national cabinet. In 2020, it is now every state for itself.

Thankfully, this is not absolute. During the week, Adelaide nurses flew out to put themselves in harm’s way in Victorian hospitals — but the essential truth is ­obvious. The response to this pandemic has exposed many of the weaknesses of federation rather than the strengths.

Despite the national cabinet, we have devolved, at least partly, into six colonies pursuing their separate interests.

Consider mendicant states such as Tasmania and SA, which are heavily subsidised economically by the larger states every year. Leading the charge on closed borders this year, they take additional federal subsidies to fund JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments, shutting out their fellow Australians while putting their hand out for even more of their cash.

And, sure enough, when Tasmania ran into strife with an outbreak, it called for federal help and eased its border restrictions to ­accept defence force assistance. Shunning the rest of the federation to keep the disease out; ­appealing to the federation when the problems arise.

When Scott Morrison generously threw together the national cabinet to co-ordinate the pandemic response, there was terrific co-operation between the states when it came to locking down ­society and accepting federal funding to support businesses and individuals. But when it came to fundamental decisions — such as keeping schools open or starting to ease restrictions — the states have tended to go their own way and resist Morrison’s urgings.

And, most consequentially, when the states were given the ­responsibility for funding and imposing quarantine on international arrivals, not all of them responded to the same level. The most crucial states (because of the numbers of arrivals) were NSW and Victoria; one used police to enforce quarantine, the other outsourced it to the private security industry.

We are all left to endure the consequences. (It is passing strange that the Socialist Left Premier should commit his most telling error through a penchant for outsourcing, while a right-of-centre government decided there are some tasks that government can do best).

This begs the question about the lack of national response and co-ordination. It exposes the impotence of the national cabinet and the fragility of the federation.

So one state had quarantine imposed by overseas students recruited as contractors via Whats­App, absent any training in their specialist task, without accountability, receiving below award wages and figuring it might be okay to go shopping, share a smoke or even have sex with the people they were supposed to be isolating.

The other appreciated the import of the task and ensured its health authorities and police force provided the oversight required.

One state kept closed its schools and exacerbated the economic pain within its borders while other states followed the ­national medical advice and kept schools operational. One state accepted the responsibility of keeping society as open as possible by tracing and contacting all people affected by sporadic outbreaks and isolating them, while others shut their borders to keep the ­bogeyman away.

Listen to the premiers. The pandemic response is about Queenslanders, Tasmanians, West Australians, South Australians, Victorians, and New South Welshmen. Suddenly no one wants to call Australia home.

In NSW, the government has done its best to stop mass gatherings such as Black Lives Matter protests; in SA, they gave the protesters a permit; in Victoria, they stood back and watched thousands gather without arresting them, but later they were happy to arrest and fine people protesting against wearing masks.

As a nation, we gave ourselves a critical opportunity to consider our next steps. The Prime Minister and the premiers deserve praise for flattening the curve and buying us that time.

What is deeply troubling now is that, as a nation, we are no closer to deciding what to do next. We have one state under lockdown, others pulling up the shutters, and NSW seemingly the only jurisdiction trying to do what we all need to do — live with the virus.

Having written in these pages for months about sustainability — the need to find a pandemic res­ponse that can last — it is depressing to see politicians who seem to think that endless shutdowns, endless debt and endless welfare are a viable outcome. Andrews keeps talking about getting to “the other side” as if Victorians must simply endure a few weeks of pain before they are delivered into the land of milk and honey.

But it has been clear for months that we might need to consider a future where a vaccine is not available for years; or might never arrive. We need to return to our initial discussion of flattening the curve and ensuring that the demands of the pandemic do not outstrip medical capability.

We spent billions of dollars boosting capacity from less than 2500 critical care beds to 7500 so we could cope with the pandemic demand. But COVID-19 cases have never used more than 100 on any one day, and even now are using only about 50 beds at a time.

Either the coronavirus is not as bad as we thought, or we have changed our strategy from flattening the curve to eliminating it, abandoning any semblance of cost-benefit analysis. Perhaps we are doing the pandemic equivalent of banning cars to minimise the road toll.

So far, 85 per cent of Victoria’s fatalities and about 70 per cent of the national death toll have occurred in aged-care homes. Our extreme efforts to suppress community transmission really exist to keep the virus out of aged-care facilities — we should be searching for smarter and more sustainable strategies.

It is deeply worrying that we are not hearing more about a ­medium or long-term strategy. Most countries in Europe and North and South America would happily swap with Victoria’s COVID-19 performance let alone Australia’s.

But can we stay isolated from the world forever? Can we tolerate or afford more lockdowns? At what rate of infection do we maintain control of the health system and keep society functioning? How can we protect the vulnerable while freeing up the rest of society? At what level of exposure do we approach herd immunity? What are the best treatments for coronavirus infection?

It is unfathomable that these questions are not dominating ­national debate. But there was one glimmer of hope this week.

It might have taken a missive from the largely discredited World Health Organisation to prompt him, but the ABC’s medical guru, Norman Swan, who has led the alarmist, reactive, hard lockdown rhetoric, finally conceded that we might need to live with the virus. A vaccine might be a pipe dream.

“This the conversation I think that Australia has to have,” Swan told ABC breakfast television. “We are behaving, and governments are behaving, in the hope, you can just see it in their eyes, in the hope that there will be a vaccine sometime in the next six to 12 months and there is no guarantee of that — we all hope, there are some very promising results, but there may not be, it is not an easy bug to actually get a vaccine to — so what if there’s not? Is that sustainable? What are we prepared to tolerate? I don’t have the ­answers, but I think we need that national conversation.”

It was an echo of this column a fortnight ago: “We might wait years for a vaccine, or never see one. To prepare for that, we need economic policies and public health responses that are sustainable … As always, it is for politicians to carefully weigh up costs and benefits.”

When the ABC is simpatico with this column on policy imperatives, the case must be strong.

SOURCE 





Australia’s sheep left without shearers as Covid halts travel from New Zealand

It’s a tradition that stretches back decades. Every year, hundreds of New Zealanders fly in to Australia for the spring shearing season – a huge mobilisation of workers essential to the success of the nation’s wool industry.

In dusty sheds on outback farms they join up with local shearers and, between them, relieve five million sheep of their fleeces over eight weeks. But this year, there is a spanner in the works.

Australia faces a desperate shortage of shearers for its 68 million sheep – and looming animal welfare issues – as hundreds of New Zealand shearers are barred from making their usual annual trip due to the Covid-19 pandemic, or are unwilling to do so as cases of the virus surge in parts of Australia.

The Australian industry is reliant on short-term shearing contractors from New Zealand and Britain, with at least 480 New Zealanders crossing the Tasman in August each year for the spring season. They bolster a local population that only numbers about 3,000 shearers, said Jason Letchford, a spokesperson for the Shearing Contractors Association of Australia.

“We’ve got two animal welfare issues looming … one is that shearing is facilitated at the right time, so that they’re in the right condition to deliver their offspring,” he said, referring to the current spring season, which started in August. “The second is going to be flystrike … If wool stays on the sheep for a longer period of time, we’re going to see an increased rate.”

Flystrike is a condition caused by blowflies laying their eggs on sheep; it can kill or require euthanasia of animals, and costs Australian farmers AU$280m (£154m) each year, according to Western Australia government figures.

Usually inhabitants of Australia and New Zealand – closely-tied neighbours – can move between the countries at will, with no visa needed, but the Covid-19 pandemic has led to strict border closures for both, with exemptions difficult to win. Only Australian citizens, residents and immediate family members can travel to the country, and they are required to quarantine for two weeks in a hotel on entry.

Even if New Zealand shearers were able to attain Australian government exemptions to cross its borders – no attempts have proved successful so far – the contractors face costs of up to A10,000 (£5,500) just for flights and quarantine upon arrival in each nation, Letchford said. New Zealand this week ruled that all those leaving the country for trips of fewer than 90 days – as many of the shearers would be – must pay for their own mandatory isolation on their return; they would also lose two weeks of income at each end of their trip while they quarantined.

“We can’t expect Australia and New Zealand citizens to pick up our quarantine costs but the governments have got to work out the costs to the animal welfare if shearing isn’t going to happen,” said Mark Barrowcliffe, the president of the New Zealand Shearing Contractors Association. “If Australia wants us there bad enough, do they want to pick up the quarantine costs?”

There are other problems: flights across the Tasman have dried up, with Air New Zealand halting new bookings until at least 28 August. And as the Covid-19 crisis escalates in the Australian state of Victoria in particular, said Letchford, the trip was no longer appealing for New Zealand shearers.

“We’ve gone from two or three weeks ago having all these New Zealanders busting to get over here, chomping at the bit,” he said. “Now there are very few of them … they’re reading the newspaper like everyone else.”

New Zealand has successfully quashed the spread of the coronavirus for now, with no known community transmission, while Victoria’s capital, Melbourne,has entered its strictest lockdown yet after a resurgence in cases. New South Wales is also struggling with community outbreaks.

Glenn Haynes, a Shearing Contractors Association spokesman in South Australia, had helped facilitate some creative proposals to Australian authorities for how New Zealand shearers could enter the country; one in which the shearers would work at a remote property – where they would essentially be in isolation due to their location, thus sidestepping a fortnight in hotel quarantine – was unlikely to be approved, he said.

Another where four New Zealand shearers were offering to pay for their own quarantine costs was being considered, he added.

But it was still a far cry from the hundreds of contractors who usually arrive for the season, and money would be tight for many in New Zealand, Barrowcliffe said, with some looking for other farm work. New Zealand would then face a shearing shortage of its own in November, with Australian and British contractors unable to enter the country, he said.

Crossbred wool prices were already at record lows, Barrowcliffe added, and some farmers might choose not to shear animals before they were sent to the abattoir if they could not find enough shearers. “The whole world’s jammed up at the moment,” he said.

Letchford and Barrowcliffe both said their governments had invested funds in training new shearers, but that would not happen quickly enough to save this season.

“How have we got to the point where we do not have enough people to harvest our primary production and we’re beholden to foreign labour? How did we drop the ball on that?” Letchford said. “The commercial reality is that we have this nice, fluid transient labour force where one in a hundred years it’s buggered up but usually it works really well.”

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here





9 August, 2020

Failed security guards hired for hotel quarantine in an attempt at social inclusion

Minorities hired regardless of their fitness for the job.  The result was a disastrous failure, with the virus being spread instead of contained

A senior Department of Jobs official has been shifted from their role as evidence mounts that the decision to use private security guards at Melbourne’s quarantine hotels was partly driven by a well-meaning attempt to provide jobs under "social inclusion" policies.

A leaked email from another public servant, the department's deputy secretary for inclusion, also paints a picture of how rushed the implementation was, describing "heroic efforts" over a weekend in late March as bureaucrats became "expert in the delivery of hotel concierge services".

Departmental sources insisted on Saturday that the official’s secondment to another senior job creation role was not a reflection on their performance in contracting private security firms for hotel quarantine.

The revelations will increase pressure on the Andrews government over whether it put too much emphasis on finding jobs for marginalised Victorians without ensuring that those guarding hotel guests were trained in infection control and supervised by authorised officers.

A spokesman for the Victorian Department of Jobs denied that job creation was the main driver: "Supporting an effective quarantine program was the department’s motivation, not job creation.”

Infection outbreaks among security guards at two quarantine hotels in Melbourne are widely believed to be responsible for the state's second devastating wave of coronavirus, which has killed dozens of people and put hundreds of thousands out of work.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald can now reveal that officials in the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions employment division and its international trade agency, Global Victoria, were responsible for engaging private security firms for hotel quarantine on the weekend of March 28 and 29. They also had an ongoing role overseeing the quarantine operation.

The task of contracting the security firms was given to the department’s executive director of employment, whom The Age and Herald have chosen not to name. The official has since been replaced by two acting directors on the latest version of the department's organisation chart. The officer has retained their senior role at the department.

Media reports from 2013 reveal the official had professional dealings with the Sydney-based security company given much of the hotel quarantine work, Unified Security, in their previous role as general manager of work and learning at the Brotherhood of St Laurence.

The charity and Unified established a partnership in 2012 to provide security training and jobs for marginalised people. The official also did some work with Unified in 2019 in finding a small number of positions under a Jobs Victoria project.

As an Indigenous-owned company, Unified satisfies the government’s criteria for contracts under its social inclusion procurement policy. It won the security contract for Metro Trains last year and specifically referred to its Brotherhood of St Laurence partnership in briefing documents supplied to government.

A Monday March 30 email written by the department's deputy secretary for inclusion, David Clements, refers to the rush to get arrangements in place to handle returning travellers over the weekend. Mandatory 14-day quarantines had been authorised the previous Friday by national cabinet.

"I have had a crazy weekend, getting roped in to helping with arrangements for 'standing up' the hotels accommodating passengers returning from overseas for their 14 days of quarantine," Mr Clements wrote in the email.

"Suffice to say there have been some heroic efforts from numerous of your colleagues across DJPR to make this happen – including from [the executive director of employment] who is now an expert on contracting hotel security; the Global Victoria team who are now expert in the delivery of hotel concierge services."

The revelation of Global Victoria’s role in hotel quarantine raises further questions for the government because the agency has no experience in security or public health measures. Global Victoria manages Victoria’s trade relationships and international marketing.

The hotel quarantine inquiry will examine the decision-making process that led to the hiring of security firms - and questions will be asked about who decided the Department of Jobs be given responsibility for contracting security providers and overseeing the rollout.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday said he was unable to explain how the decision to rely on private security guards was made and Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said on Friday he had found out about "rumours and reporting around deficiencies with the workforce ... when I read it in the newspapers".

The rushed procurement process to find guards for hotel quarantine resulting in contracts being awarded to three security companies: Wilson, MSS and Unified.

The appointment of Unified proved controversial because, unlike Wilson and MSS, it was not on the government’s preferred panel of security suppliers. Despite this, Unified ended up doing the bulk of the hotel quarantine work. All three companies had to rely on sub-contractors to supply their guards – some of whom were recruited via WhatsApp messages – at short notice.

In early April, well before COVID-19 began crippling Victoria, Mr Andrews and Jobs Coordination Minister Martin Pakula released a media statement highlighting the government’s role in creating jobs for 1300 Victorians whose employment prospects had worsened due to the global pandemic.

The press release specifically referred to 450 jobs being created in the hotel quarantine program “including transport operations, security and cleaning”. International students and temporary migrants were key targets under the jobs program.

Private security companies, including Unified, were also used in NSW hotel quarantine, but private security guards in Sydney were overseen by police or Border Force officials in each hotel. In Victoria, the government decided against using police or defence force personnel, and there remains considerable confusion in public service ranks and security companies about which department had ultimate responsibility.

The Age and Herald have previously revealed leaked emails in which officials from the Department of Jobs requested Emergency Management Victoria and the Department of Health and Human Services get police involved in hotel quarantine in late March amid doubts about the preparedness of private security.

Some senior police at that time were privately frustrated Victoria has not been declared a state of disaster by Mr Andrews.

Such a declaration would have empowered police as the state’s authorised officers to lead crucial aspects of the pandemic response instead of those powers remaining with health department officials under the less serious state of emergency provisions.

Mr Andrews declared a state of disaster recently when Melbourne was moved onto stage four restrictions.

The inquiry into hotel quarantine led by former state coroner Jennifer Coate will begin public hearings later this month. Ms Coate will deliver her report in November.

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 Chef puts out an advert for jobs in his restaurant and 470 people apply but only TWO of them are Australian - as he claims 'the youth of today simply don't work as hard as foreigners'

A chef says he has struggled to hire Australian employees during the coronavirus pandemic because they are happy receiving the JobSeeker payment.

Attila Yilmaz recently posted an advertisement for a couple of roles at Pazar Food Collective in Canterbury, Sydney's south-west. Mr Yilmaz was inundanted with 470 applications but only two of the candidates were Australian citizens, while an additional two were permanent residents.

'I don't want to sound like an old man, but I just don't feel like the youth of today are willing to do the work these foreign workers do,' he told the ABC.

Mr Yilmaz, who pays his workers above award wages and full entitlements, is concerned the JobSeeker payments are encouraging Australians to stay at home.

'It's been a very good deal for people in an industry that's been broken for a very long time,' he said.

The JobSeeker payment is financial help for Australians between 22 and the Age Pension age, who are looking for work.

The elevated unemployment benefit will remain at $1,100 a fortnight until September 27.

From that date until the end of the year the $550 coronavirus supplement will be cut by $300 to make the overall fortnightly payment $800.

The mutual obligation rules requiring people to search for four jobs a month restarted on August 4.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison previously claimed Australians were refusing to work because the JobSeeker payment was too high.

'Well, on JobSeeker, we doubled the payment with the supplement because we knew unemployment was going to be rising steadily and it has and that's been devastating,' he told 2GB radio in June.

'What we have to be worried about now is that we can't allow the JobSeeker payment to become an impediment to people going out and doing work, getting extra shifts.

'And we are getting a lot of anecdotal feedback from small businesses, even large businesses where some of them are finding it hard to get people to come and take the shifts because they're on these higher levels of payment.'

SOURCE 






Morrison prepares a natural gas plan to boost economy out of the pandemic

Not enough, say Greenies

Gas projects will gain federal support to drive down energy costs for industry and households in what Prime Minister Scott Morrison calls a broader plan to lift the economy through the pandemic.

Mr Morrison backed the use of gas to help Australian industry solve its energy challenges, signalling he would act "in the months ahead" to tackle the problems caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Three cabinet ministers are working on ways to cut gas prices, raising the prospect of measures in the October budget to address years of industry calls to boost domestic gas supplies.

The next test is a NSW regulatory decision due on September 4 on whether Santos can develop the Pilliga gas field in the state’s north on the condition all the gas goes to the domestic market.

Mr Morrison said the "energy challenges" were a factor in his goal of running the national economy in a "COVID-safe" way when there was no certainty about when a vaccine might arrive and the pandemic might end.

"I have talked a lot of times about what we need do in the gas sector and I’ll have a lot more to say about that in the months ahead," he said.

"What we’re doing in our manufacturing sector, what we’re doing to get infrastructure, getting almost $10 billion brought forward – that’s the plan.

"That can give the confidence and the assurance, because that plan goes in place, vaccine or no vaccine. Operating in a COVID-safe economy is then the challenge."

Greens leader Adam Bandt has attacked the government for backing new gas projects, following a series of leaks from the National COVID Commission chaired by Nev Power, former chief executive of Fortescue Metals.

The commission's manufacturing taskforce set out plans to put taxpayer support behind a significant expansion of the domestic gas industry.

"Gas is not only a toxic fossil fuel, it's becoming too expensive to compete with clean energy," Mr Bandt said.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor addressed the media on Wednesday about wanting Australia to capitalise on depressed global oil and gas markets to deliver cheap energy for industry and boost the strategic oil reserve during the coronavirus crisis.

"More and more, industrial users are keen to make the switch to renewable energy, but are being hamstrung by a government desperate to prop up dirty coal, oil and gas."

Industry Minister Karen Andrews, Resources Minister Keith Pitt and Energy Minister Angus Taylor are all working on the gas and energy agenda with a team from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.

Federal government sources named problems with red tape, environmental regulation and state moratoriums on gas projects as key obstacles to driving down the price and clearing the way for new power stations fuelled by gas.

While one option is an import terminal on the east coast, the other is federal approval for the Santos project under the Environment and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Santos is waiting on a decision from the NSW Independent Planning Commission by September 4 on whether the company can extract coal seam gas from the region around Narrabri, but the project must also gain federal clearance under the EPBC Act.

Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher said the company needed certainty about the Narrabri project after starting the process six years ago.

"Narrabri means more jobs and more investment in NSW and the local region, and lower gas and electricity prices for customers in the state," he said.

The Prime Minister's comments signal the agenda for the October budget after Mr Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg committed another $15.6 billion to fund JobKeeper payments for millions of workers through to March.

While the total cost of the JobKeeper scheme has now reached $101.3 billion to pay a wage subsidy to four million workers – albeit not all of them at the same time – the government is facing calls for a bigger stimulus.

Mr Morrison discussed new measures in skills policy with state and territory leaders in national cabinet on Friday, as well as agreeing a new freight code to keep food and other supplies moving despite Victoria’s business shutdowns.

The Prime Minister said the pandemic would force Australia to adjust the way it does business and named the digital economy as a potential opportunity.

"There is a broader plan when it comes to the economy and that continues to be rolled out, vaccine or no vaccine."

SOURCE 






Andrew Bolt leads lockdown dissent in Australia

Andrew Bolt has doubled down on his argument that Covid-19 restrictions should be lifted because they are destroying the economy “to save aged-care residents from dying a few months earlier”.

Writing in the Herald Sun this week, Bolt noted that most people dying of the virus were over 80.

“We don’t crash this economy just to stop the young getting a stuffy nose,” he said. “Note: 40 per cent of aged-care home residents die within nine months. The average stay is just under three years.

“So Victoria’s bans are doing huge damage to – essentially – save aged-care residents from dying a few months earlier.”

Attacked by ABC presenter Michael Rowland for his “disgraceful” suggestion, Bolt defended himself on his Sky program on Tuesday night, saying the breakfast host was indulging in “woolly thinking” and “fake sentimentality”. His critics were typically leftwing and did not have a good heart, Bolt said, but a “weak head”.

The chief executive of the Council on the Ageing, Ian Yates, said Bolt’s argument was totally unacceptable.

“It’s an attitude that certain kinds of lives are disposable,” Yates told Weekly Beast. “Logically the next step would be to ask, ‘Why do we have nursing homes at all, why don’t we just bang them on the head?’”

As the pandemic has worsened, Bolt’s rhetoric has sometimes been overtaken. “Not a single person under 40 has died,” he said on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, announced a man in his 30s had died.

“A lot of people are very upset with me,” Bolt said in an editorial on Sky News. “What I wrote was confronting, some thought it was brutal, but it was also absolutely true.”

Bolt’s rhetoric is echoed by Sky News Australia’s Alan Jones and the Australian’s economics editor, Adam Creighton. They all rail against Victoria’s stay-at-home orders, and the premier, Daniel Andrews.

Bolt’s stablemate at the Herald Sun and Sky News, columnist Rita Panahi, has said the health measures are “draconian” and people who back Andrews are “in the thralls of Stockholm syndrome”.

Jones says mask-wearing is “alarmism” and “ineffectual” and Australia’s death rate does not warrant it. “Only a mad person would believe a lockdown will wipe out the virus,” he said when masks were made compulsory.

Now in his fifth week of broadcasting a new show on Sky News, Jones is averaging around 70,000 viewers each night, which for comparison is one-tenth of the audience for ABC News at 7pm. Nine and Seven news bulletins at 6pm sit above 1.1 million.

But his somewhat strident takes are getting a wider audience through follow-up news stories on news.com.au and posts on social media.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here







7 August, 2020

COVID-19 kills Australia's sense of humour: Lottery ad is pulled for 'mocking social distancing guidelines' after complaints were made to watchdog

A lottery advert has been pulled from TV after a complaint made to the industry watchdog said it mocked social distancing guidelines.

The advertisement for a $25million jackpot first aired in November 2019 and showed a man exiting a bathroom stall after winning the lotto before he hugs a stranger without washing his hands.

A new version of the advert aired between July 5 and 7 and featured a re-done voiceover that said: 'There's Frank. Little does he know he's about to be hugged by a stranger in the toilet.

'There he is, enter stranger. He's won Oz Lotto. Forget the elbow taps, he's gone all in. Oz Lotto. Tuesday.'

A complaint made to Ad Standards said the advert mocked social distancing and hygiene regulations.

The watchdog found it to be in breach of the AANA's Code of Ethics which forced Lotterywest to pull it down.

SOURCE 






How we lost trust in our universities

The debate over standards has been going on for a long time.  Universities have been under informal pressure to give Chinese and other foreign students "leeway" in marking because of their often imperfect command of English.  And in a way that is fair enough.  In such cases the ability of the student is not well represented by the mark that he would otherwise be given. So the standards of the university are not compromised and the student can be expected to go back home and perform well

There has however always been internal debate about where you draw the line.  Are you making a fair allowance for a basically good student or are you giving a pass to a genuine dummy?  There is never much in the way of clear guidelines in some situations and some universities have been known to give out passes to very poor students from abroad. -- often to the disgruntlement of the teachers who know the student well.

One would think that it should be left to the markers to pass or fail the students but that is not always so. Admin sometimes increases the mark recorded.  That seems to me wholly obnoxious. There have been some well-known cases

I have myself once given an Aboriginal student marks commensurate with his poor performance only to be completely overridden by "higher-ups".  I made only a small fuss as I knew what I was up against.

But this latest development where there is a concerted campaign to lower standards is, I think, new.  It is of course completely foolish.  It just devalues whatever degree is awarded.  Such degrees will rapidly become known as "Chinese degrees" and will be disrespected by anyone in the know.  That is of course a huge disfavour for Chinese students who are genuinely up to par

The politicization of the universities mentioned below is a largely separate issue and I have already commented on the cases mentioned below.  Again it is not entirely new.  Judging by publications, my academic career could well have been stellar except for my conservative views


Australian National University vice-chancellor and astronomer Brian Schmidt, who is the only university leader in the world to win a Nobel prize (for physics), made a telling point in his annual Foundation Day address this week. Australia needs universities more than ever amid the COVID-19 crisis, he said. But they have possibly never been more distrusted.

In an interview with Tim Dodd earlier this year, Professor Schmidt identified what families want universities to be. That is, a place where “Australian students can get an education as good as any place in the world but distinctively Australian”. That aspiration should serve as a model for our universities, which, since the days of the Colombo Plan in the 1950s, have attracted students from around the world for their quality and for the experience most students enjoy.

For decades the sector built on that reputation to the point where last year education had grown into the nation’s fourth-largest export, worth $40bn to the economy. For now, at least, the coronavirus has smashed the business model centred on international students. But that is only one of a range of problems facing the sector, as serious revelations reported in recent weeks have shown.

Most of these come down to the issue of standards, which university leaders must improve and defend if their institutions are to serve the nation and retain (or recover) their international reputations. Contentious cultural issues of academic freedom and censorship also loom large.

Suspicions that some institutions have “gone soft” in marking the work of foreign students have been rife for years. Alarm bells should be ringing among university leaders after confirmation that lecturers are being cowed into lowering academic standards by organised networks of overseas students. Academics admit they have “dumbed down” courses to ensure foreign students can complete degrees. Lecturers who refuse risk being targeted by official complaints signed by up to 100 students, as reported on Wednesday. It is even more alarming that such complaints are taken seriously by university executives and have the potential to derail academic careers. Language barriers are a major part of the problem, as local students know from experience. In defending standards, universities must insist on proficiency in English.

Recent scandals also show how far universities have strayed from what should be central to their raison d’etre — free speech and academic freedom. As Australian Catholic University vice-chancellor Greg Craven wrote recently, universities have two types of problems with freedom of academic expression. One is corporate, “where an academic writes something that could rile a major stakeholder: a sponsoring corporation, a government partner or — frankly — China”. Vice-chancellors understandably, but not heroically, Professor Craven noted, “feel for their institutional wallet”. The second assault on academic freedom is more insidious because it is internal. “An academic strikes trouble because he or she writes something counter to the accepted wisdom of their faculty or university as a whole.”

Despite an admirable policy on free speech, the University of NSW resorted to censorship when it withdrew a tweet quoting adjunct law lecturer and Australian director of Human Rights Watch Elaine Pearson criticising China’s miserable human rights record in Hong Kong. UNSW vice-chancellor Ian Jacobs, to his credit, has apologised for the decision to delete the tweet.

The suspension of pro-Hong Kong democracy student activist Drew Pavlou by the University of Queensland also smacked of repressive censorship. Both universities’ approaches were anathema to Western ideals of free speech. But Chinese Communist Party propagandist media, unsurprisingly, were deeply critical of both Ms Pearson and Mr Pavlou. Such erosion of intellectual integrity has compromised universities’ credibility.

The treatment of James Cook University physicist Peter Ridd by his employers also was indicative of an increasing hostility to debate on campus. The cardinal sin that brought about Dr Ridd’s demise was his questioning of the rigour of university-linked research on the health of the Great Barrier Reef under climate change.

Last year’s campus free speech report by former High Court chief justice Robert French made the point that university codes of conduct could be hostile to the freedoms they purported to uphold. That is particularly the case in relation to opinions that challenge progressive norms among academics. But when it suits them, some faculties prefer to turn a blind eye to empirical evidence. For instance, too many education faculties fail to prepare trainee teachers to use phonics in teaching children to read, despite impressive evidence about the method’s effectiveness compared with trendier “whole-word recognition” systems. Nor should promoting “cancel culture” be academics’ focus.

Regardless of such problems, universities remain our prime drivers of ideas and scientific breakthroughs. As Professor Schmidt said, few people realise how large and direct a part the ANU and other universities are playing in the fight against coronavirus. During the enforced interruption in their operations because of the pandemic, vice-chancellors and other leaders have a chance to raise academic standards, reinforce the value of free speech and improve accountability to taxpayers and to the Australian students who primarily fund universities. Doing so would rebuild trust and enhance their international standing.

SOURCE 





Apartment owners win legal victory over combustible cladding

A group of apartment owners battling to have combustible cladding replaced on their buildings have won a landmark legal victory – giving hope to the thousands more facing similar dangers.

In an Australian first, a major building company which installed timber-PVC Biowood cladding on four multi-storey apartment blocks in Ryde has lost its appeal against being forced to rectify the work.

Further, if it doesn’t reach an agreement with the owners on a timetable for the remediation, a date will be set for them by the state authorities.

“This is a precedent for Australia,” said the victorious owners’ lawyer, Faiyaaz Shafiq of JS Mueller & Co Lawyers. “This is the first reported case where a court or tribunal has upheld a finding that a particular type of cladding is combustible.

“The outcome of the case represents a win for owners’ corporations and sends another timely warning to builders and developers that use of combustible cladding is fraught with risk and carries with it substantial consequences.”

Concern about combustible panels follows the catastrophic 2017 blaze at London’s Grenfell Tower in which 72 people died after fire raced up the building fuelled by aluminium composite cladding. In Melbourne, a cladding fire at the Lacrosse building in 2014 saw owners win $5.7 million in damages.

Currently, there are two class actions underway in Australia against the manufacturers of cladding, and a call went out earlier this week from the peak body for apartment owners, the Owners Corporation Network, for other affected strata schemes to join.

In this latest case, Lindsay Spencer, chair of the owners’ corporation of The Gardens at Putney Hill, developed by Frasers Property and built by Taylor Construction Group, said the owners and residents of the 148 apartments of the scheme were “pleased and relieved” at the verdict.

“They [Taylor and Frasers] appealed the original decision that they should replace the panels and now they have lost. We hope it ends here,” he said. “No one wants to live with this kind of risk to their safety.

“We hope this decision now makes the situation clearer for others living with combustible cladding. Others builders have to look at it, and deal with it.”

The Appeals Panel of the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) threw out an appeal by Taylor Constructions and Frasers Putney against an NCAT decision last year that the Biowood cladding was combustible, posed an undue risk of fire spreading and should be replaced.

It ruled that any fire spread via the external walls where the Biowood cladding is located could enter the building from the facade by windows and balconies from level to level.

There is one more possible appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision, but Taylor Construction would not say what it plans to do. “We have no comment to make at this stage,” said Stephen Williams, the general manager commercial. “We are still reviewing the decision.”

Calls to the representative for Frasers Property were not returned.

The companies argued to the NCAT Appeals Panel that the building had already been issued with an interim occupation certificate which created a presumption that the works performed in the building complied with statutory warranties and all the relevant codes and standards.

The Panel, however, ruled that occupation certificates do not prevent owners from suing for building defects.

Mr Shafiq said the decision has now set a precedent for the thousands more buildings with Biowood panelling, and other combustible cladding, across Australia. “It now means owners in my client’s building, and others, can have more certainty to get on with their lives,” he said.

“Combustible cladding presents a risk that if fire happens in a multi-storey building and you don’t have time to escape, then we saw what happened with Grenfell and the terrible sight of people throwing themselves out of windows with so many lives lost.

“This product may look aesthetically pleasing but people need to be able to safely sleep at night in their homes, and builders need to be careful.”

The two class actions currently running are against Germany-based Alucobond manufacturer 3A Composites and supplier Halifax Vogel Group, and against the Australian company Fairview Architectural, the supplier of polyethylene-core Vitrabond panels based in Lithgow, NSW. Last month (July) Fairview announced it had initiated voluntary administration.

OCN administrator Karen Stiles said if a building had cladding it could register to join the class action, which is independent of any other action the scheme might be taking.

“OCN supports owners’ rights to pursue their full legal rights in terms of building defects,” she said. “Of course, it is wrong that they have to – unlike other consumers saddled with faulty products like Takata airbags or Infinity Cable where the product is recalled by the manufacturer at their own cost.

“But that’s the current state of Australian play sadly. Hopefully our owner advocacy will improve the situation for future owners.”

SOURCE 






Australian government to reopen Christmas Island detention centre during Covid-19 crisis

The Australian government will reopen the detention facility on the remote territory of Christmas Island to house people currently in immigration detention on the Australian mainland.

The Australian Border Force confirmed on Tuesday evening that people currently in immigration detention woud be “temporarily” transferred to the centre at North West Point on Christmas Island, where Australians returning from Wuhan were held in the first weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.

Those transferred would include up to 200 detainees from Western Australia’s Yongah Hill detention centre, the Australian reported. The transfer would create space for detainees in eastern states to be transferred to Western Australia to avoid the risks of coronavirus infection in Sydney and Melbourne. After a period of quarantine in Yongah Hill, those detainees could be sent to Christmas Island.

On Wednesday, the Australian Border Force said on Twitter that no refugees would be transferred to Christmas Island. It said that only “those convicted of serious criminal offences” would be transferred there.

In response to criticism that Christmas Island lacked specialist medical care, Border Force said the contractor IHMS would provide primary and mental health clinics onsite, and other medical care would be provided by visiting specialists or referral to the Australian mainland.

The West Australian had earlier reported that refugees and asylum seekers would be transferred to Christmas Island from Victoria as early as this month, but later removed references to asylum seekers.

In a statement on Monday evening, Border Force said Christmas Island was being reopened “to relieve capacity pressure across the detention network in Australia”.

“With required Covid-19 distancing measures in place within the detention network, this is placing the detention network under pressure.

“The cohort being transferred consists of those who have been convicted of crimes involving assault, sexual offences, drugs and other violent offences. This cohort is detained because of their risk to the Australian community.”

Refugees and their advocates have raised concerns about the risks of infection and outbreaks in immigration detention settings, particularly as Melbourne has endured a brutal second-wave outbreak.

A staff member at the Mantra hotel in Preston, where around 65 refugees and asylum seekers who were transferred to Australia from offshore detention under the medevac law are detained, tested positive to the virus last month.

While Victoria has turned to extreme measures to contain its outbreak, Western Australia has very few cases and Christmas Island has remained coronavirus-free.

Refugee advocates, who have called for detainees to be released into the community, criticised the decision to reopen the facility as a dangerous response to the Covid-19 risks.

“The government clearly knows people are at risk in their crowded immigration detention centres – it beggars belief that they are going to such extraordinary lengths to avoid a humane and logical solution,” said the Human Rights Law Centre’s David Burke.

“By reopening detention facilities on a remote island, thousands of kilometres from specialist medical care, minister Dutton has chosen a dangerous and cruel response to a public health crisis.”

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s advocacy director, Jana Favero, said the organisation was “highly concerned” by the reports. The centre’s clients were experiencing “rapidly deteriorating mental and physical health” and needed to be released to go into lockdown to protect themselves, she said.

“Instead of following the advice of medical professionals, the government is resorting to removing people offshore to Christmas Island, intentionally out of sight and far away from their case workers, legal representation and community support networks, risking mental health even further,” Favero said.

The controversial Christmas Island detention facility was closed in 2018, only to be reopened the following year as the government threatened to send sick refugees from Manus Island and Nauru there instead of the mainland. That never happened, but the centre was kept in “hot contingency” with more than 100 staff.

In February, Australians evacuated from Wuhan in China because of the coronavirus outbreak were sent to Christmas Island to quarantine for two weeks before returning to the mainland.

The Tamil family of asylum seekers known as the Biloela family have been detained on the island for almost a year, but not in the facility that is being reopened.

Mother Priya Murugappan was recently returned to the island after travelling to Perth for medical care that was not available on the remote island.

Supporters of the family argued the transfer showed there was insufficient medical care available on Christmas Island, which does not have a tertiary-level hospital.

At the end of May, the latest date for which official statistics were available, there were 369 detainees at Yongah Hill. Guardian Australia understands that 15 New Zealand men who had been held at Yongah Hill were returned to New Zealand on Tuesday.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here








6 August 2020

Promising antibody response in Australians given Novavax COVID-19 vaccine

An early-stage trial of a promising coronavirus vaccine found high levels of neutralising antibodies in Australians who volunteered to get the experimental injection.

The US Biotech company Novavax announced the results of the Phase 1 trial on Wednesday, flagging its intention to start large-scale Phase III trials as soon as September and manufacture up to two billion doses of the vaccine in 2021.

The data – published on a pre-print site and not yet peer-reviewed – appears promising, but the findings are too preliminary to draw firm conclusions about how effective it may be at protecting the public from the COVID-19 virus SARS-CoV-2 and curbing the pandemic.

The trial tested the Novavax vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373 in a trial of 130 heath volunteers in Melbourne and Brisbane who received varying doses of the vaccine or a placebo.

Participants who received two doses of the vaccine three weeks apart had neutralising antibody levels roughly four times higher than a group of 32 patients who had recovered from COVID-19.

"We are extremely excited," Novavax research chief Gregory Glenn said. "At this point, it looks extremely promising ... We have a technology that is extremely good at inducing functional immunity. [We found] very robust and very strong immune responses that we know will neutralise the virus," Dr Glenn said.

"This virus is extremely infectious so it's our view that it is going to need an extremely functional immune response," he said.

The vaccine uses synthesised pieces of the surface protein of the coronavirus created in the laboratory that enables the virus to invade human cells, triggering the body's immune response by way of the production of antibodies to fight off the infection.

Some participants were also given Novavax's Matrix-M adjuvant - a substance designed to boost the body's immune response, which it claimed enhanced the effect of the vaccine in the trial.

Participants were given 5 microgram and 25 microgram doses of the vaccine, with and without the adjuvant. Novavax said it would likely move forward with the lower dose.

Among participants given two doses of the vaccine, roughly 80 per cent had pain and tenderness at the site of the injection. Overall, just over 60 per cent of participants had other side effects, the majority mild to moderate and most commonly headache, fatigue and muscle pain.

Eight trial participants experienced adverse side effects after receiving a second vaccine that was deemed "severe". None required hospitalisations. All side effects resolved in a few days.

Overall the vaccine was extremely well tolerated and had a very good safety profile, Dr Gregory Glenn said.

Dr Glenn said he hoped further trials of the vaccine would secure regulatory approvals as early as December.

The Novavax vaccine is among the first of a handful of programs singled out for US funding under Operation Warp Speed, the White House program to accelerate access to vaccines and treatments that can fight the virus.

Novavax is yet to bring a vaccine to market but has advanced trials under way for vaccines to protect against Ebola, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines (the most common cause of respiratory and breathing infections in children).

Australian-based company Nucleus Network conducted the Phase 1 trial. "The way we do that is not by exposing the volunteers to the virus in any way," said Nucleus Network Principal Investigator Dr Paul Griffin when the trial commenced in May.

"[Instead] we take blood tests from them and we test that in about half a dozen different ways, to show that this vaccine has hopefully provided the immune response that we need to protect people from COVID-19," Dr Griffin said.

The US government gave Novavax $US1.6 billion ($2.2b) to help cover costs related to testing and manufacturing the vaccine, with the aim of procuring 100 million doses by January 2021.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations also tipped in $US388 million ($401m) to fund its development.

SOURCE 





The silver lining that could recharge Australia's manufacturing

This is a very optimistic article.  It is true that Australia mines some of the rare earths used in electric car batteries but most such rare earths are mined more cheaply in China.  So there is no clear reason why Australia has any advantage that would cause the fabrication work to be done here

And the article assumes that the demand for electric cars will boom.  There is no good sign of that and as the poor performance of electric cars in cold weather and in cold climates becomes well-known, the boom is more likely to be a bust.  Anyone with shares in Tesla should sell them now

With the closure of Holden, Australia has reached the end of an era of car manufacturing domestically. Sadly, 100 Holden engineers finished up with the company in Port Melbourne last month, and another 100 are set to leave the company's Lang Lang proving ground in Victoria soon.

This news was so grim that Queensland MP Bob Katter turned up to Parliament House recently dressed as the Grim Reaper himself. Armed with a plastic scythe and flanked by a procession of classic Holden cars, Katter blamed the government for the death of Holden and Aussie manufacturing.

However, as one door closes another door opens. At the former Holden factory in Elizabeth, South Australia, global battery manufacturer Sonnen has opened a battery assembly plant, employing a number of former Holden workers in the process.

Workers like operations supervisor Craig Johnston, whose parents met at the Holden factory and who worked in car manufacturing himself for 25 years before starting a new career in clean energy in 2018. Craig left the Holden factory on a Friday and returned the following Monday to join Sonnen, helping manufacture batteries under the same roof where he once made cars.

Australia has historically had a large and productive manufacturing industry, but the past 30 years has seen this sector decline. Faced with the dual threats of COVID-19 and climate change, is now the time to revitalise Australian manufacturing?

In 2015, the world committed to act on climate change, with the aim of keeping warming below 1.5 degrees. This commitment has sparked a new industrial revolution in zero-carbon technologies such as wind, solar and renewable hydrogen, and zero-carbon commodities such as steel and batteries. Batteries in particular are going to play a substantial role in the global decarbonised economy, helping to power our homes, stabilise our electricity systems and drive millions of cars and buses around the world.

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, global energy storage is set to boom by 2040, and this represents a $662 billion investment opportunity.

The biggest area of energy storage growth will be in lithium-ion batteries, due to their energy density. In the next five years, demand for lithium for the global electric vehicle market alone is likely to increase fivefold.

BNEF anticipates that Australia is one of only 10 countries able to secure three-quarters of this global battery market. The reasons: Australia has the mineral deposits essential to the production of batteries, we are an excellent investment destination, we are an attractive market for small and big scale batteries, and we are close to major markets in Asia.

According to the WA government, Western Australia alone produces nine out of the 10 minerals needed to make lithium-ion batteries.

Now is the time to assertively position Australia as the world's leading battery nation. While we are already the world's largest exporter of lithium ore - spodumene - this just continues our trend of being a "dig it and ship it" nation. A new approach is required if we are to rekindle our manufacturing sector and ensure the full economic value of our resources benefits Australia.

TheAustralian Trade and Investment Commission found Australian lithium realised $213 billion in the global market in 2017, but only 0.53 per cent ($1.13 billion) of this wealth stayed in Australia.

Most of Australia's lithium is exported to China for processing. Afterwards it is sent to Japan and Korea and transformed into battery packs, which are then imported back to Australia and other countries.

However, in the past two years, we have seen the beginnings of an advanced manufacturing battery supply chain develop in Australia. Western Australia has seen the first lithium processing facility, Victoria the first battery recycling facility, and South Australia the first two battery assembly plants.

Then of course there are the thousands of households installing batteries, and the energy companies and governments who are following suit at a community and grid scale. In the ACT, the government is running a tender to deliver one of Australia's largest battery storage facilities, able to power 25,000 homes for two hours when needed.

The remaining gaps are battery component and battery cell manufacturing. The good news is that the Western Australian government's battery manufacturing strategy is looking to target the next step - battery cathode manufacturing. Up in Townsville, there is an ambitious plan to establish a battery cell "Gigafactory".

COVID-19 has demonstrated the fragility of many global supply chains. This in turn is leading to a national conversation about the importance of Australian manufacturing.

If we are serious about both increasing our economic resilience to global crises, stimulating the economy, growing new jobs now and into the future and revitalising this dwindling sector, we need to focus on manufacturing for a clean energy future - and an economic stimulus package for batteries would be a great place to start.

Targeted government support now will unleash a global battery powerhouse that drives investment and jobs right across the value chain from mining to refining, making and recycling.

In Europe, a focus on cleaning up transport as a stimulus measure has buoyed the electric vehicle market, and in turn the global metals and minerals markets.

SOURCE 





Adelaide man charged with sacrilege, a crime described as a 'throwback to a different time'

An Adelaide man has appeared in court charged with sacrilege, raising questions about whether such a crime deserves to still be on the books.

Police allege Shane Gray, 19, stole two guitars from the church in Adelaide's northern suburbs early this morning.

Mr Gray, of Elizabeth, was today granted bail in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court after the alleged theft from Elizabeth Park's Adelaide Chin Christian Church.

He has been charged with sacrilege as well as the lesser charge of dishonestly taking property without consent.

Sacrilege carries a maximum penalty of life in prison — the same possible sentence for murder.

Police said Mr Gray was spotted jumping the fence of the church on Shillabeer Road while carrying items from the church.

"Patrols quickly attended the scene and located property from the church on the ground. They searched the area and found a man carrying two guitars belonging to the church a short distance away," an SA Police statement said.

They also found a sound mixer on the ground outside the church.

Chin community persecuted in Myanmar

Adelaide Chin Christian Church pastor Chung Hnin said he was shocked to discover his community's church had been targeted by an alleged thief.

The Chin community are a persecuted, mostly Christian minority from Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Many who have arrived in Australia are refugees.

"We bought this church in 2016 and we have 1113 members… The church is everything for the Chin community," Mr Hnin said.

"The persecution was so severe, and they fled to India and Malaysia, from there after staying there for 10 years the government of Australia opened the way and they could settle in Australia.

"It is a bit shocking that in a very developed country like Australia we do not expect that somebody would steal things, but it happens."

Mr Hnin said he would spend the day working out if the congregation could still use their equipment caught up in the alleged theft. "It was a mess and very expensive stuff lying outside the church and it was really shocking, and when we entered the church… it was a mess," he said.

Sacrilege a 'crime of gravity'

According to Section 167 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act SA 1935, sacrilege is defined as when a person "breaks and enters into a place of divine worship and commits an offence" or "breaks out of a place of divine worship after committing an offence".

Sacrilege is different to aggravated theft, which carries a maximum 15-year prison term.

SOURCE 






Defamation overhaul seeks to rein in 'eye-watering' payouts

Capping awards will not work unless the cap is absolute for all cases except serious physical illness

Defamation payouts are likely to be reduced and trivial claims may be thrown out of court before a trial under changes to Australia's defamation laws.

But experts say the jury is still out on how many of the changes, including a new defence to protect public interest journalism, will work in practice.

On Wednesday NSW became the first state to introduce a nationally agreed defamation reform bill in Parliament. Other states and territories will follow suit shortly.

The adjustments include a new "serious harm" threshold, modelled on British law, aimed at weeding out minor cases before a trial, and changes to ensure courts stick to a cap on damages for non-economic loss.

The cap, currently $421,000, has been exceeded in cases brought by celebrities including Rebel Wilson and Geoffrey Rush. Separate damages for economic loss, also awarded in the Rush case, are uncapped.

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman said in Parliament on Wednesday "exorbitant" damages should not be awarded. Mr Speakman spearheaded the national defamation reform process and all Attorneys-General agreed on Monday to introduce the changes "as soon as possible".

In his parliamentary speech, Mr Speakman said the "serious harm" threshold would help filter out "trivial and vexatious" claims, including fights over low-level social media slurs. He said some minor claims "could be solved better over a coffee or a barbecue or even a handshake".

Victorian barrister Matt Collins, QC, who appears regularly in defamation cases, said the changes should be welcomed "but with some quite significant reservations".

The public interest defence was a "vast improvement" on a previous draft, based on New Zealand law.

Under the new defence, modelled on British law, a defendant must show a publication "concerns an issue of public interest" and they "reasonably believed" the publication was in the public interest.

However, the Australian defence also includes a list of factors a jury, or judge if there is no jury, "may" take into account. Dr Collins said the "incoherent" list would "distract" the judge or jury.

Dr Collins believed the "major impact" of the serious harm threshold would be symbolic. Lawyers would be able to point to it to deter trivial claims but, in his view, the threshold would not knock out many cases pre-trial but would be a lingering issue at trial.

He said clarifying the cap on damages for non-economic loss meant "we won't see those eye-watering sums, like in Rebel's case or in Geoffrey Rush's case, again".

The courts had previously said the cap did not apply if aggravated damages were also awarded, which meant Mr Rush received $850,000 in non-economic and aggravated damages, more than $400,000 above the cap. Ms Wilson received $600,000, almost $200,000 above the cap.

The amended laws say the cap remains in place, which is likely to mean a much smaller amount for aggravated damages awarded on top of the capped payment.

But Associate Professor Jason Bosland, director of the Centre for Media and Communications Law at Melbourne Law School, said it was unclear how the courts would interpret the new provisions including the public interest defence.

There was also no guarantee courts would not award "huge" sums in aggravated damages.

"You can legislate all you like but it's the way in which the courts interpret those provisions that is really where the work is done," he said.

Marcus Strom, federal president of the media section of Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said the union "welcomes NSW being the first jurisdiction to introduce legislation to update Australia’s defamation regime". However, there remained "outstanding issues" to be addressed, including "preventing plaintiffs using defamation to go after journalists' confidential sources".

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here





5 August 2020

Is coaching for exams beneficial?

The writer below is broadly right. There is no substitute for inborn IQ.  The results one gets from IQ can however be influenced to some extent by the child's environment. Families who send their kids to coaching probably already provide a good opportinity for intellectual development, however

The revamping of the selective high school entry examination will inevitably be viewed as an attempt to make the test less coachable. But why do we have such a problem with coaching?

When it comes to academic performance, Australian culture places a premium on natural ability. Yet in other endeavours, such as sport, we have no problem with systematic training. Few look at a star football player and remark bitterly: “Well, his mother was taking him to training since he was four.” Likewise, the ballerina who practises diligently 12 hours a week is a source of admiration for her dedication.

Even children feel the stigma, with many gifted students underplaying their amount of study in the belief that you are not really smart if you have to put in effort. Academic success that appears to come easily is more highly valued than that which is the result of hard work.

There is a perception among many that undeserving children who have been coached from an early age are stealing places at selective high schools from naturally bright students. Often coupled with racist undertones, this argument in part stems from a certain streak in mainstream Anglo-Australian culture which hates a “try hard”.

Coaching, many feel, confers an unfair advantage. This is certainly true from an economic perspective. Students whose parents can afford years of tutoring may gain an edge over an equally bright child whose parents lack the means for extracurricular support. Yet this applies to most fields of endeavour. Our footy star and ballerina also need parents who are able to pay for coaching.

So there’s a certain hypocrisy at play when parents are criticised for providing academic coaching but admired for supporting their child’s dream with other forms of coaching.

But before you rush out and enrol your child in the closest coaching college to get that “academic advantage”, consider the following. What can coaching focused exclusively on test preparation really do for your child?

Research tells us it can reduce test anxiety. If you have never sat a test before, then you are probably going to be nervous, especially if your parents and peers have whipped you into a frenzied belief that this is the most important exam of your life.

Most Year 4 students sitting the Opportunity Class exams have only had one experience of a formal assessment, NAPLAN, so the experience of going to a large hall at a different school can itself be overwhelming.

If you have sat tests before, then you know what to do and what to expect. You know how to manage your time and not spend too long on one question. You know that tests start with easy questions and that the harder questions are at the end. You know that you should read the whole question before answering. You know that with one minute to go, you should fill in “C” for any multiple choice you have not answered.

These are techniques that coaching colleges are adept at drilling and as the government's selective high school review confirmed in 2018, they could make the few marks’ difference between getting a place or not. However, they are also techniques you can learn by practising with a $15 book from your local newsagent.

I am yet to see any research that shows that coaching of any description can turn a child of average ability into a gifted child. Nor is there any evidence that children who have been coached wouldn’t have got into selective high schools on their own merits – and saved their parents a great deal of money in the process.

SOURCE






Folau only player not to take a knee as Super League returns

Catalans coach Steve McNamara has defended Israel Folau after the controversial former Wallaby was the only player not to take a knee before a Super League clash in England.

Folau’s Dragons were hammered 34-6 by a St Helens side boasting the returned James Graham, former North Queensland premiership winner Lachlan Coote and former Golden Boot winner Tommy Makinson in Super League’s first match back from a five-month lay-off.

‘‘As a club we are completely against racism and all for equal opportunity,’’ McNamara said after the match. ‘‘But there were some players and staff who made the decision not to take the knee, that was based on personal choice and we decided we would respect anyone’s personal choice on the matter.’’

Sporting competitions across the world have paid tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement since returning to action after the coronavirus shutdown including the NBA, Premier League and AFL.

Orlando's Jonathan Isaac, who is also an ordained minister, was the first NBA player not to kneel for the national anthem when that competition returned to action last week.

"Absolutely I believe black lives matter. A lot went into my decision ... kneeling or wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt don't go hand in hand in supporting black lives. I do believe that black lives matter, I just felt like it was a decision I had to make, and I didn't feel like putting that shirt on and kneeling went hand in hand with supporting black lives," Isaac said at the time. He was also backed by his coach Steve Clifford.

Folau's decision to remain on his feet drew attention on social media and was far from the first time the cross-code star has found himself in the firing line.

Super Rugby's all-time leading tryscorer, Folau's religious views first caused major controversy in April 2018, when he was asked by a follower on Instagram what God's plan was for homosexuals.

One year later he posted a meme warning that, among others, homosexuals were destined for hell, leading a code of conduct hearing with Rugby Australia, who had months earlier signed him a lucrative new four-year contract.

Folau settled his unlawful dismissal case with RA in December, which saw the governing body apologise to the 31-year-old former Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos speedster.

He signed with Catalans the following month, returning to the game where he made his name for the first time since 2010.

SOURCE 





Irrigators pushed for 'primacy' over the environment in water allocations

NSW's main irrigator lobby group pressed the Berejiklian government to place the state's water plans above the federal law and sought to tap water earmarked for the environment.

The demands are detailed in a letter obtained by the Herald and The Age the NSW Irrigators Council (NSWIC) sent to the state's senior water bureaucrat in April.

At the time, the government was putting final touches to new water sharing plans it has since submitted to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority for accreditation.

The irrigators sought the insertion of words that would "confirm primacy" of the plans over the 2007 Commonwealth Water Act, a move environmental lawyers say would trigger legal challenges.

The council also backed a narrowing of the definition of what constitutes so-called planned environmental water, a call it noted Water Minister Melinda Pavey had taken up.

The irrigators thanked the Planning Department for the removal of some environmental water rules, citing the Murrumbidgee River as one example.

The push to identify and allocate "underused" water for farming use may also open the way for legal challenges if such changes run counter to the $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Claire Miller, interim chief executive of the NSWIC, said her organisation stood by the letter's contents.

Emma Carmody, special counsel for the Environmental Defenders Office, said while it was normal for a lobby group to advocate its members' interest it was surprising to see them seek water sharing plan provisions at odds with the basin plan and Water Act.

"Water sharing plans are subordinate legal instruments," Dr Carmody said. "Like all subordinate legal instruments, they sit under, and must comply with, overarching statutes, not the inverse."

Independent NSW MP Justin Field noted the council had recently complained in a letter that their concerns were not being addressed. This leaked document, though, was "proof that they are being heard at the highest levels of government and are getting their way".

"This letter spells out that the Irrigators Council have successfully lobbied to remove significant amounts of water designated for the environment and these changes have made it into the final water sharing plans without other stakeholders having the opportunity to comment," Mr Field said. "That is an outrageous process."

The call for primacy of the state plans over the federal laws was "a gobsmacking request that shows them as bad-faith actors in the implementation of the entire basin plan", he said.

A spokeswoman for Ms Pavey said the government had "consulted widely on all changes to the state water sharing plans" over the past three years.

Other groups consulted included the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, key Aboriginal groups such as the Murray Lower Darling Indigenous Nations and Northern Basin Aboriginal Nations organisations, environmental interests and local councils.

"It shouldn’t be a surprise that the NSW government is committed to creating water policy that benefits water users, including the environment," the spokeswoman said.

It comes as the recently released Living Planet index found the numbers of such fish had plunged 76 per cent globally since 1970, including 59 per cent in Oceania.

Lee Baumgartner, an ecologist at Charles Sturt University and a lead researcher for the project, said fish numbers for many species in NSW were less than 10 per cent of their pre-European colonial times.

"We're dealing with severe water deficiencies," he said, some of which were caused by dams and other interventions.

"By fixing rivers for fish, you are by default fixing them for irrigators," Professor Baumgartner said.

SOURCE 





Indigenous activist who forced Coon cheese from the shelves now wants Pauls to scrap 'Smarter White' milk brand - because it's offensive to Aborigines



An indigenous rights activist who succeeded in having the Coon cheese brand scrapped will now campaign for Pauls to rename its 'Smarter White' milk.

In July, Dr Stephen Hagan convinced Canadian dairy giant Saputo to axe an 85-year-old moniker, named after American cheese ripening pioneer Edward William Coon, because of its racist connotations.

The former diplomat and academic, who now works as a social justice consultant, has now called on Pauls's French parent company Lactalis to replace the 'Smarter White' label, which has been used to sell low-fat milk since 2002.

'Aboriginal people are saying that there's an inference that it's for smart, white people, not for smart, black people,' Dr Hagan told Daily Mail Australia.

'There's a lot of Aboriginal people who take offence, who don't drink that milk because of the interference that it's 'smarter white'.'

Dr Hagan said 'these enlightened times' of the Black Lives Matter movement meant a name change was 'worthy of consideration'.

The soy milk drinker said lots of Aboriginal people had raised the matter with him. 'I recall having conversations with people who don't buy that because of the connotation 'white people are smart',' he said.

'A lot of people have raised it with me: they asked the question about the Smarter White milk - 'Why couldn't it just be Smarter Milk? Why does it need to put the 'white' in there?'

'If enough people want to bring it to my attention, I'm happy to write a letter to the owners of Pauls and say, 'Look, will you consider changing the name?'.'

Pauls's French owner Lactalis declined to comment. 'Unfortunately we're unable to make any further comment,' a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.

Indigenous Alice Springs town councillor Jacinta Price described the call to rename Smarter White milk as 'utter nonsense'.

'I don't know a single Indigenous Australian who is offended at all by milk being called 'Smarter White',' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'Indigenous Australian have far greater issues to be concerned with than the name of a brand of cheese named after its founder or what's written on a carton of milk.'

Ms Price, who ran as a Country Liberal Party candidate at last year's federal election, said affluent activists 'whose lives are easy' were inventing issues to feel like victims instead of addressing family violence and sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities.

'I'd advise anyone who chooses to be offended by such a ridiculous proposition to assess their priorities,' she said. 'The victim mentality is unhealthy and completely unhelpful in attempting to address the real issues.'

New South Wales One Nation leader Mark Latham described the campaign as idiotic and pondered as to whether cows would have to be killed for producing white milk.

'Kill all the cows for producing white milk? When he invents black milk he'll be smarter too.'

Hours earlier, Mr Latham has posted an image of a popular Pauls diary product to take a dig at left-wing, cancel culture activists. 'Surprised the mob haven't cancelled my favourite milk,' he said on Facebook.

'Evidence of the inconsistencies and hypocrisy of cancel culture where evil snowflakes randomly select their next victim.'

Mr Latham, a former federal Labor leader, isn't the only critic of corporate political correctness.

Peter Russell-Clarke, a former ABC-TV chef who fronted Coon commercials during the early 1990s, last month slammed Saputo's decision to kill off the cheese name that debuted in 1935 under Kraft and the Fred Walker food company.  'I think it's ridiculous,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'Are we going to change the name of the raccoon, do you think?

'Should we cut off the beaks of cockatoos to make sure the black beaks aren't offensive to the white of the cockatoo?'

Russell-Clarke said Coon's owners should be more concerned about maintaining the quality of their cheese than ditching an 85-year-old name to 'suit the whim of the time'.

The 84-year-old former host of ABC-TV's 1980s Come and Get It program has a grandson of African heritage and said ditching the Coon cheese brand would do nothing to address racism.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here






4 August, 2020

'Quantum shift': Ambitious new targets to improve Indigenous lives

Targets are all very well but how are they going to be met?  Nobody knows. We have only vague generalities below and it has all been tried before.  The truth is that Aborigines have been going downhill ever since the missionaries were forced out

Even the missionaries could do only so much.  Aborigines have some eerie abilities at perception and memory but they have one of the lowest average IQs in the world, and it shows.  Their educational performance is disastrous and that is fatal


Ambitious targets to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians by lifting school attendance, employment rates and university enrolments while dramatically lowering the number of children in out-of-home care and behind bars will be unveiled on Thursday.

A new national agreement on Closing the Gap, which sets 16 new national socio-economic targets to track progress, will put community-controlled Indigenous organisations at the centre of efforts to redress inequality between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and the broader community.

The plan will commit federal, state and local governments and a coalition of 50 peak Indigenous organisations to a significant reduction in suicides as well as a pledge to reduce the Indigenous adult incarceration rate by at least 15 per cent among adults and at least 30 per cent among juveniles by 2031. It will also aim to dramatically reduce the number of Indigenous children in out-of-home care in the next decade.

After more than 10 years of failings in many of the key targets, new independent and state-based reporting of results will be put in place. This will include the Productivity Commission undertaking an independent three-yearly review on progress, complemented by an independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led review.

The agreement has been written in a collaborative process overseen by Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt and Pat Turner, convener of a coalition of 50 peak Indigenous organisations.

Mr Wyatt said the historic plan would for the first time bring shared responsibility and joint accountability to efforts by governments, councils and communities to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the results are not good enough as he releases the Closing the Gap report vowing to make changes.

He said the new agreement represented a "quantum shift" from a decade of failings.

"Every word has been considered and debated, every target has been considered and debated," Mr Wyatt said. "We know that the best outcomes are achieved when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are equal partners with governments and when they have a direct say in how we are going to be successful in driving the desired outcomes."

The annual Closing the Gap report, released in February, showed a staggering failure to meet targets in improving levels of Indigenous childhood mortality, life expectancy, school attendance and employment.

The new agreement will focus on four priority reforms to change how governments work with Indigenous Australians, establishing formal partnerships and shared decision making, transforming government agencies, and improving and sharing access to data and information to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to make informed decisions.

Ms Turner said it would be the first time First Nations people would share decision making with governments on Closing the Gap.

"Our country has unforgivable gaps in the life outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians in all aspects of life including mortality, chronic disease, disability rates, housing security, education, employment and wealth," she said.

"These gaps have burdened our people and caused the erosion of health and well-being of generations of First Nations Australians. The national agreement represents a turning point in our country's efforts to close these gaps."

Federal and state governments agreed on draft targets in December 2018 for education, economic development and health as well as planning a new goal to reduce Indigenous incarceration within a decade.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the agreement was a new chapter. "The gaps we are now seeking to close are the gaps that have now been defined by the representatives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This is as it should be," Mr Morrison said. "By focusing our efforts on these more specific, practical and shared objectives we can expect to make much greater progress.

SOURCE 






New Zealand axes travel bubble plans with Australia

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says a trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia is now a “long way off”, given Australia’s new position in the fight against COVID-19.

After Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declared a “state of disaster” including harsh new restrictions, Ms Ardern said the country was no longer in a position to be thinking about a corridor across the ditch.

Speaking on The AM Show on Monday, the New Zealand Prime Minister said it will likely be “several months” before a trans-Tasman bubble will even be considered, let alone put into practice between both nations given the number of coronavirus cases in Victoria.

“The trans-Tasman bubble, obviously not anytime soon,” the Prime Minister told The AM Show on Monday.

“One of the things that we set as part of our criteria, is anywhere where we have quarantine-free travel, they have to be free of community transmission for a period of time – 28 days. That is going to take a long time for Australia to get back to that place, so that will be on the backburner for some time.”

Previously, a trans-Tasman bubble between both nations had been tipped for an opening anywhere from July to August, but it is now likely that will be delayed by months.

“Their numbers at the moment are very high. Dan Andrews himself said they were looking like being in that position for months, which is why they’ve gone into the lockdown,” she said, noting an exact time frame of a trans-Tasman corridor was “very hard to predict”.

In an interview with Newshub last month, Ms Ardern said she was eyeing off a corridor with the Cook Islands, given its zero reported coronavirus cases and proximity to New Zealand. The conversation comes as soaring coronavirus case numbers continue in Melbourne and fresh outbreaks sweep parts of NSW.

“It’s clear to us that opening up with Realm countries, keeping in mind they are New Zealand passport holders, will come before any opening up with Australia,” Ms Ardern told Newshub.

The Cook Islands, with a population of just over 15,000, is one of the few countries in the world that has reported no COVID-19 cases during the pandemic.

Ms Ardern would not comment on a possible timeline for a travel bridge with the South Pacific nation but said New Zealand airports were already working on the logistics of allowing for the influx of travellers.

SOURCE 






UNSW under fire for deleting social media posts critical of China over Hong Kong

The University of New South Wales is facing criticism over the deletion of social media posts seen to be critical of Beijing, after an online backlash and coverage by Chinese state media.

The official UNSW account on Friday tweeted an article that quoted Human Rights Watch's Australia director and adjunct law lecturer Elaine Pearson as saying: "Now is a pivotal moment to bring attention to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Hong Kong".

Several hours later, a further tweet was posted by UNSW reading: "The opinions expressed by our academics do not always represent the views of UNSW."

"We have a long & valued relationship with Greater China going back 60 years. "UNSW provides a welcome & inclusive environment & is proud to welcome students from over 100 countries."

Both tweets were later deleted.

The article posted to the UNSW Law website, entitled China needs international pressure to end Hong Kong wrongs, extensively quoted Ms Pearson.

Ms Pearson told the ABC the article was removed from the UNSW website on Saturday, but is now able to be accessed.

Chinese students reportedly wrote to the Chinese embassy calling for it to pressure the university into deleting the article and associated posts.

Ms Pearson said she was seeking clarification from UNSW about what happened.

"I did not write the article … I have my views on recent developments in Hong Kong and what the international community should do," Ms Pearson said.

"Clearly that hit a nerve for some pro-Chinese Communist Party supporters who aggressively and collectively pressured the university to remove the story."

The state-run Global Times tabloid reported that the tweet's deletion "failed to buy Chinese students" and that "they are still negotiating with the university, and demanding an apology for its twitter post".

"It's incredibly concerning to see an Australian university succumb to pressure to abandon their core values of academic freedom and free speech on campus," said Victorian Senator James Paterson in a statement. "UNSW is sadly just the latest example of how relationships with the Chinese Communist Party is compromising our universities.

Labor Senator Tony Sheldon tweeted: "How can @UNSW call itself a university if they allow this to happen? When respected voices like @PearsonElaine and @hrw are being censored we have a big problem."

"This is a genuinely harmful bit of imposed censorship — an entirely factual article about the dire situation in Hong Kong, removed for no good reason by @UNSW out of cowardice," tweeted deputy editor at Foreign Policy magazine, James Palmer.

"Should be a mini-PR disaster for them," he said.

In the article, Ms Pearson called the recent introduction of a controversial national security law in Hong Kong the "death-knell of the 'one country two systems' arrangement", referring to a system intended to give greater autonomy to the city after its governance was transferred from Britain to China in 1997.

Several teenagers were arrested in Hong Kong under the new laws last week.

"Safeguarding the human rights of Hong Kong citizens should not be something that should be controversial," she told the ABC.

Ms Pearson is a frequent critic of the Chinese Government's human rights record, including crackdowns on pro-democracy protests and the mass incarceration of Muslims in Xinjiang.

Ms Pearson said Human Rights Watch had documented threats to academic freedom in Australia resulting from Chinese Government pressure and "called on universities to ensure robust protection of academic freedom to deal with those threats".

Neither the Chinese embassy nor UNSW responded to the ABC's requests for comment.

The controversy comes amid deteriorating ties between Canberra and Beijing and reflects growing concern about the impact on academic freedom from Australian universities' heavy reliance on revenues from Chinese international student fees.

Students from mainland China account for almost a quarter of the UNSW cohort, numbering some 16,000 and representing a whopping 68.8 per cent of all international students, while the university has strong business and research ties to China.

University of Sydney sociologist Salvatore Babones has estimated that UNSW derives 22 per cent of revenue from Chinese international students' course fees.

SOURCE 






More funding needed in government push to cut 'green tape': industry

Resource and agricultural industries are welcoming plans to cut "green tape" and speed up project development by handing control of some elements of national environment laws to state governments, but they say changes cannot come at the expense of wildlife protection.

Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley announced in July plans for a "one-touch" regime that transfers to states the Commonwealth's legal responsibilities for protecting threatened species and ecosystems in assessments of major projects that come under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Ms Ley has ruled out financial support to help the states conduct extra work under a new system. But she has said states would have to show they could meet the standards required under the act, which include assessing complicated, long-term impacts of activities such as land clearing, coal mining or sinking wells for gas production, and impacts on flora, fauna and the water table.

Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable welcomed the opportunity to speed project approvals and said the mining industry relied on a "strong social licence" and for environmental assessments "to be done properly".

"The single-touch system is a huge opportunity because it gets rid of duplication and complexity in different systems that exist between state and federal governments," Ms Constable said. "But the department or body that has carriage of compliance must have the right amount of resources."

Federal administration of the act has fallen short since it was created in 1999. The list of threatened species and ecosystems has grown by a third – from 1483 to 1974. More than 8 million hectares of threatened species' habitats have been cleared in that time, mostly for project development, but 93 per cent of these were not assessed under the legislation.

A report last month from the Commonwealth Auditor-General found the Environment Department failed to protect endangered wildlife or manage conflicts of interest in development approvals, and 79 per cent of approvals were non-compliant or contained errors.

National Farmers Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said green tape was a "huge concern" for the farm sector, with uncertainty about different state and federal processing discouraging investment in activities that should be simply and quickly assessed, such as clearing regrowth of invasive species from a property.

"It is limiting innovation and expansion of farms. Put simply, people don't know what they can and can't do," Mr Mahar said.

He also called for more funding to bolster the system.

"Of course there needs to be more funding, for better engagement with industry about the act, and to make sure the regulations are working they way they were intended," Mr Mahar said.

The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association said the proposed changes could "improve certainty and flexibility for business, environmental groups and communities" and "provide greater flexibility when circumstances change while ensuring environmental protection is maintained".

The government's plans were announced in response a review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act by former competition regulator Graeme Samuel, who found the national laws were “not fit to address current or future environmental challenges” and that for industry they are "ineffective and inefficient".

Last week Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his initial meeting with state leaders had been "really positive" and he was confident that negotiations with state governments would lead to agreement for a new regulatory regime.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here





3 August 2020

Government warned on Chinese state involvement in Australian power grid

This is rather paranoid.  A transformer does just one simple thing:  Change the voltage of an electrical current.  There is no scope for China to subtly change that in some way.  It either supplies the correct voltage or is does not.  And if it does not you will soon know it.

It is true that electricity supply lines can transmit messages.  They do that all the time. But a transformer that added a gadget  to receive and transmit messages from China should be detectable.  Putting through a pulse to burn out such a gadget before installation should also be possible

And the bottom line is that the Chinese firm would lose all its sales if it were to get up to tricks


The federal government is being urged to conduct a review of Chinese state involvement in Australia’s electricity grid and consider the removal of some equipment amid fears of remote sabotage.

Influential South Australian senator Rex Patrick is behind the push as Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows China has overtaken Vietnam as the main supplier of transformers for the Australian electricity network in recent years.

Transformers are crucial parts of the grid that convert alternating current from one voltage to another, powering households and energy-intensive factories.

In 2018-19, Chinese companies supplied 29 of the 70 transformers imported by Australia. Of these, 16 were for use in Victoria. The Andrews government signed a memorandum of understanding with China in 2018 to participate in its controversial Belt and Road initiative.

The rise in China-sourced transformers has occurred since Beijing’s State Grid Corporation bought stakes in electrical transmission network companies SP Ausnet and ElectraNet, as well Melbourne-based retailer Jemena, in 2013.

Prior to those deals, in 2011-12, China supplied just eight of the 135 transformers imported into Australia. Vietnam supplied 33.

The increasing reliance on Chinese-built transformers has raised fears about the vulnerability of Australia’s electricity grid to foreign interference.

In May, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order to place tight restrictions on the use of foreign-sourced equipment in the electricity grid because of rising fears about the possibility of remote attacks and sabotage.

While Mr Trump’s executive order referred only to “foreign adversaries” targeting the US power system “with potentially catastrophic effects”, it was widely interpreted to be aimed at China and Russia.

Mr Trump’s order stated “the unrestricted foreign supply of bulk-power system electric equipment constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States”.

US authorities last year seized a large Chinese-built transformer en-route to a substation in Colorado and transported it to a government laboratory for inspection. The Chinese company that built this transformer also provides them for the Australian network.

Western security agencies fear foreign-built transformers could have malicious electrical components surreptitiously installed that could potentially allow another country to interrupt power supply on a whim.

Cyber-security expert Paul Dabrowa said it was possible for a foreign government to badly damage Australia’s electricity grid within two minutes. “It could take months to repair the damage … there’s open-source material about experiments that have proven this is possible,” he said.

Senator Patrick said the recent moves in the US to limit the potential for foreign influence in its electricity grid should encourage Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to use his powers under the Critical Infrastructure Act to reduce the risk to Australia.

“At the same time, the Australian government needs to bring forward its proposed changes to Australia’s foreign investment laws and commit to require the divestment from Australia’s power grid of all involvement by companies owned, controlled or significantly influenced by the Chinese government,” he said. “Given the change in Hong Kong’s status, such a policy should extend to companies registered in Hong Kong.”

Senator Patrick said particular attention should be paid to the State Grid Corporation representatives on the boards and in the executive ranks of its Australian electricity companies. Jemena’s executive team features a former deputy mayor of a Chinese city. To hold such an official position requires membership of the Chinese Communist Party.

In 2016, then treasurer Scott Morrison blocked a bid by the State Grid Corporation and Hong Kong’s Cheung Kong Infrastructure from buying a 99-year lease on a 50.4 per cent stake in NSW electricity distributor AusGrid. Mr Morrison said at the time that the decision was in the national interest and was backed by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Victorian electricity distributors Powercor and Citipower are majority-owned by Hong Kong-based CK Infrastructure. Although CK Infrastructure is privately owned, its chairman, Victor Li, is a member of the 13th Chinese Peoples’ Political Consultative Committee.

The Home Affairs Department said it had increased funding and introduced laws in 2018 in recognition of the risk of foreign influence in the national electricity grid.

Jemena said it operated in accordance to stringent rules under Australia’s “extremely robust” foreign investment regulatory regime. Its shareholders had no direct control over the day-to-day operations of the business and its directors adhered to “strict governance procedures”, it said.

Powercor said its executives were all Australian citizens and no one on its board was a Chinese Communist Party member.

Both Jemena and Powercor said customer details were kept in Australia.

SOURCE 






Australia backs plan for world’s biggest solar farm to power Singapore

The world's longest extension cord!  This idea has been kicking around for years but both the cost and possible politically motivated attacks on the thing make it just a dream

The Australian government has assigned major project status to a proposed A$22bn plan to build the world’s biggest solar farm in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT) and send the electricity through a 3,700-km-long undersea cable to Singapore where, promoters say, it will meet 20% of Singapore’s demand for power.
The 12,000-hectare solar farm, to be located near the town of Elliott in NT’s Barkley Region, will be visible from space, says Sun Cable, the start-up company formed to develop the scheme.

Electricity will be stored in a 30GWh battery – the world’s biggest, according to Sun Cable – allowing transmission at night.

From Elliott, the electricity will be sent by cable 750km to the coast at Darwin to begin its submarine journey to Singapore.

Sun Cable, which secured its first round of investor funding in November, believes the operation, called Australian-ASEAN Power Link (AAPL), can be up and running in 2027.

A final investment decision has yet to be made, and the scheme still needs various approvals.

However, in May this year Sun Cable awarded a contract to the company Guardian Geomatics to survey the ocean floor along the proposed cable route.

The company said the AAPL would link to Indonesia in the future, as well.

Sun Cable chief executive David Griffin told Australian broadcaster ABC that the project is feasible thanks to the emergence of high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) cable technology, which transmits electricity efficiently over long distances.

The government announced the award of major project status on Thursday, 29 July.

“This project draws on Australia’s world-class solar technology and our high-tech manufacturing capability to export renewable energy on an unprecedented scale,” said Karen Andrews, Australia’s Minister for Industry, Science and Technology.

She said the project would create 1,500 jobs during construction, and 350 ongoing jobs.

If it goes ahead, a new solar panel factory would be built in Darwin, with the panels made there coming to Elliott by the existing railway.

David Griffin called the government’s recognition a “significant milestone” for the AAPL.

It grants companies the support of Australia’s Major Projects Facilitation Agency, including a single entry point for federal approvals and help with state and territory approvals.

“This project is helping to grow a new industry, utilising intercontinental HVDC submarine transmission systems, to supply renewable electricity to major load centres in the Indo-Pacific and support the region’s low-emissions goals,” Griffin said.

SOURCE 





Apocalypse soon?

Joe Hildebrand

Right now we are lucky enough to still live in a generally orderly world but it would be foolish to assume that this will always be so.

It is not as though the signs aren’t there. Only a couple of years back the world was losing its mind over a potential nuclear war between the US and North Korea. Now we look back at those almost irradiated days with a dewy-eyed nostalgia.

In the past few months alone the USA, the once imperfect and impervious anchor for global stability, has been bisected twice over.

First it was between health and the economy – the axes of which are far more intertwined than the hard left or hard right are capable of seeing.

And then superimposed across this, like a giant pizza-cutter, was the racial divide that has tormented America’s history and psyche for so long and is now more jagged than ever.

Indeed, the US resembles more a giant bowl of gumbo, complex writhing masses of social and economic problems that have simmered over centuries. America is a dish that cannot be unmade.

But that is not how either the hard left or hard right see it, and that is why we may soon all be beyond Thunderdome and beyond salvation.

Crisis heightens the senses and sharpens our prejudices. In public debate almost every aspect of life in the US and Australia is now channelled through an increasingly partisan and extreme ideological lens.

A minor but telling example is the response to a couple of comments I posted within an hour on social media during the week.

The first noted that contact-tracing had been far more successful in NSW than in Victoria.

The second noted that aged care is a federal government responsibility.

Both statements were entirely factual and incontestable – indeed they ought to have been almost painfully banal. And yet each of these basic facts, easily verifiable and beyond dispute, were flatly denied by activists on either extremes with diehard conviction – even as each applauded the other with cheers.

This is obviously just a salient microcosm. All over the world in once advanced liberal democracies truth has been replaced by ideology, even in critical matters of life and death.

Already in America wearing a mask is for many not so much a matter of personal protection than a declaration of personal conviction. Those on the left both don and champion masks in the name of solidarity while those on the right eschew and condemn them in the name of freedom.

Meanwhile so-called peaceful protesters demand justice by setting fire to courthouses and so-called fascists and anti-fascists both take to the streets with guns. Make of that what you will.

In many areas the land of the free has descended into all-out anarchy and yet innumerable influential elites deny such urban wastelands are even real because they’re too busy tweeting about how important it is to stay home. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect tinderbox at the base of the ivory tower.

As it happens, the other day I was listening to a man whose German grandfather had kept a diary during the Third Reich recording the various atrocities and lies the Nazis had committed and begged his grandson to make it public at all costs.

Soon, the man observed, there will be no human on Earth who can recall those times. There will be no living memory of how easily the world can slip into the insanity of mass ideology that defies the power of reason, a world in which the deluded belief systems of fascism and communism led to wartime slaughter and genocidal death camps.

There was a sense at the end of last century that we had transcended these base ideologies and that rational centre left/right liberal democracy was the inevitable norm. Yet much of the partisan commentary that passes for political debate today could have been delivered via a warplane leaflet drop on the eastern front.

In short, we are confronting a universal and entirely apolitical threat which may yet be as deadly in the response it provokes from us as it is in itself. It is a threat that demands the most measured, rational and intelligent response and yet it confronts us in an era where hard facts have been atomised by angry opinions. The things we have learned are now outweighed by the things we have forgotten.

And the land of the blind can never see the apocalypse coming.

SOURCE 






Victorian coronavirus schooling rules for year 11 and 12 VCE students 'inflexible', unions say

Whining teachers again

The Victorian Government's requirement for all year 11 and 12 students to attend school in person is causing anxiety for school principals and making staff concerned for their safety, unions representing the education sector say.

Prep to year 10 students in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire have been learning from home since July 20.

Currently Victoria's VCE and VCAL students, as well as special school students, are required to attend school in person.

But the Australian Education Union (AEU) and the Independent Education Union (IEU) say the policy is inflexible and "failing our school communities".

There are 72 schools across Victoria which are currently closed due to coronavirus: 61 government schools, nine Catholic schools and two independent schools.

Nineteen early childhood services are closed.

The unions want the State Government to give school principals more flexibility and the power to implement home learning programs for their students when required.

AEU Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said many union members were concerned about their safety and the safety of their students.

"It is leaving our principals with the responsibility to manage incredibly difficult circumstances for their schools, without having the capacity to make important decisions," she said.

The Victorian Government's rationale for keeping year 11 and 12 students on campus was to avoid VCE students falling out of step with their counterparts outside of the locked-down areas.

But Ms Peace said many parents were keeping their children home because of health concerns anyway, particularly in special schools.

"So we already have significant inequity, because those students who are at home are not receiving a formal learning program — our kids with disabilities, in special schools, are receiving no learning program," she said.

Departmental guidelines were getting in the way of principals doing "the right thing", the general secretary of IEU Vic-Tas Debra James said.

"Too many people are required to be on campus when they could easily be working from home, and principals who are trying to minimise the number of staff or students in the senior secondary area are getting pushback," she said.

Ms Peace said some secondary schools had tried to implement flexible arrangements for their VCE students, such as keeping year 11s at home for part of the week.

But she said the Department of Education and Training told those schools to reverse those decisions, and other proposals put forward by the union had been rejected.

"We cannot have a circumstance where principals are trying to manage the growing anxiety and stress among their staff and students and parents, and yet they are not trusted to make very sensible decisions about how to manage their staff on site."

Ms James pointed to a senior secondary school in Melbourne's western suburbs which had recorded positive cases among students and staff and where a partner of a staff member was in ICU.

"This is serious stuff … we believe there is a different way, a better way, and this should be seriously looked at," she said.

The union leaders also said delays in contact tracing were causing a high level of "stress and anxiety" for schools.

"We've heard stories about people sweating over email all weekend, wondering if they should be preparing remote learning classes for their kids or whether they should be preparing to be on site, face to face," Ms Peace said.

"We can't sustain those kinds of workloads, we can't sustain that stress for our school communities."

Education Minister James Merlino said the settings in place at schools in Victoria were based on the Chief Health Officer's advice.

"Schools already have the flexibility at the local level for staff to work remotely and to provide learning support for students on extended absences," he said.

"Having VCE and VCAL students and those with a disability onsite ensures that those most impacted by remote learning still have access to face-to-face learning."

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here





2 August, 2020

Australia is on track to become the first country in the world to order Google and Facebook to pay for news content after a landmark code was unveiled

Tech giants will be forced to pay Australian media companies for their content and be forced into binding arbitration if parties can not agree within a three-month window.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg revealed the ACCC’s news bargaining code in Canberra, saying it was designed to create a “level-playing field” for Australian media businesses that were forced to work with the powerful multibillion-dollar firms.

The code comes one year after the ACCC handed down the results of an 18-month investigation into digital platforms that recommended tech giants share revenue obtained “directly or indirectly” from news content on their platforms, which generate billions of dollars in advertising every year.

“It’s about a fair go for Australian news media businesses, it’s about ensuring that we have increased competition, increased consumer protection, and a sustainable media landscape,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“Nothing less than the future of the Australian media landscape is at stake with these changes.

“It became apparent to us a number of months ago that we weren’t making progress on that critical issue of payment for content.  “Hence we are moving down the path of a mandatory code. A mandatory code that governs those relationships and covers issues such as access to user data, the transparency of algorithms used by the digital platforms for the ranking and the presentation of media content, as well as of course payment for content.

“We want Google and Facebook to continue to provide these services to the Australian community which are so much loved and used by Australians.

“But we want it to be on our terms. We want it to be in accordance with our law. And we want it to be fair. And that is what has motivated us with this mandatory code.”

The ACCC code of conduct will require Google and Facebook to compensate commercial news media businesses for the use of their content, with negotiations due to be settled within three months.

If they cannot reach an agreement, Mr Frydenberg said negotiations would go to “binding final-offer arbitration,” and laws are expected to be introduced to Parliament within months.

Mr Frydenberg said the code would also include substantial penalties if Facebook and Google sought to break the new rules, including fines of up to “$10 million per breach or three times the benefit obtained or 10 per cent of annual turnover, whichever is greater”.

“I think this is a better set of recommendations and a better pathway going forward than what we’ve seen elsewhere,” Mr Frydenberg said. “It’s the product of 18 months worth of work, extensive consultation, and our law will set up for a more level playing field.”

The news code will also force Google and Facebook to share some data with news businesses, including warning them about changes that affect the way they show local news content, and create a way for media organisations to contact the international firms.

Despite a long wait for its creation, the news code could make Australia the first country to force multibillion-dollar tech giants to pay media organisations for the use of their content after failed attempts overseas.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the regulator “observed and learned from the approaches of regulators and policymakers internationally that have sought to secure payment for news”.

“There is a fundamental bargaining power imbalance between news media businesses and the major digital platforms, partly because news businesses have no option but to deal with the platforms, and have had little ability to negotiate over payment for their content or other issues,” he said.

“We wanted a model that would address this bargaining power imbalance and result in fair payment for content, which avoided unproductive and drawn-out negotiations and wouldn’t reduce the availability of Australian news on Google and Facebook.”

Mr Sims also dismissed suggestions that Google could remove Australian news from its news portal and search results to get around the laws due to the way the code was structured and the fines built into it.

“That won’t make one jot of difference to this mandatory code,” Mr Sims said. “We really hope the platforms also recognise that this is a move whose time has come.”

But Google Australia and New Zealand managing director Mel Silva slammed the draft code, saying it did not offer “incentives” for digital platforms to innovate, did not take into account web traffic Google provided to Australian news outlets, and put Google services in Australia at risk.

“The Government’s heavy-handed intervention threatens to impede Australia’s digital economy and impacts the services we can deliver to Australians,” she said.

News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller welcomed the announcement, however, and called the draft code a “watershed moment to benefit all Australians,” as it had the potential to secure a future for Australian news providers.

“The tech platforms’ days of free-riding on other peoples’ content are ending,” Mr Miller said. “They derive immense benefit from using news content created by others and it is time for them to stop denying this fundamental truth.”

Mr Miller said the draft code of conduct also ensured Google and Facebook could not “walk away from negotiations with news creators” as they had done in the past.

Media and legal experts say the ruling could deliver an important “lifeline” to an industry vital to Australian democracy and one that had been hard hit by the growing dominance of two international firms.

Swinburne University social media senior lecturer Dr Belinda Barnet said Australian newsrooms had been “pummelled by digital giants” in the online advertising market and ensuring they received a fair cut of revenue was “critical to keeping democracy alive” and Australians informed.

But she warned there was still a risk the tech giants could seek to get around the new rules, simply to avoid setting an international precedent in Australia that could be used by other countries.

SOURCE 






Promising South Australian vaccine could be ready in ‘three or four months’

Adelaide scientists have been working overtime on a new vaccine which has already shown promising results after clearing its first phase of human trials. The drug named COVAX-19 was trialled on 40 volunteers earlier this month.

The vaccine is showing promising signs it “could actually save lives”, the developers of the vaccine said, who also predict it could safely be used in humans immediately.

In fact, vaccine developer Professor Nikolai Petrovsky claims there’s no reason it can’t be used in Victorian aged care homes now.

“We have something that we believe already has shown it can potentially save lives,” he told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.

“The data suggests it’s highly effective, we just need to finish the clinical trial programs and then seek approval for it.

Appearing on Sunrise, Professor Nikolai Petrovsky described the update as “very exciting”.

“Safety data from the clinical trials shows the vaccine isn’t showing any problems at all and is inducing the right type of immune response,” he said.

Mr Petrovsky said the vaccine had been shown to produce “very strong” antibodies which kill coronavirus in monkeys, ferrets and mice, and had been proven to induce an antibody response in humans.

While the Australian government “knocked back” Mr Petrovsky’s request for help funding the trial, he said he’s already negotiating with the Canadian and UK governments for funding.

SOURCE 







One in three schools agree to phonics reading check as critics sound alarm

One in three NSW public primary schools have signed up to an August trial of the controversial year 1 phonics screening check, in a sign of educators' growing support for a phonics-heavy approach to teaching reading after decades of bitter debate.

Some 518 of the state's 1600-odd government schools and 49 Catholic schools will do the check between mid and late August. Teachers will spend five to seven minutes with each student to listen to how they blend sounds to read 40 words.

"It will give us a lot of information," said Michelle Looker, the k-2 assistant principal at Kingswood South Primary. "I think it's really helpful."

It comes as the new K-2 curriculum arising from the NSW Curriculum Review is expected to embed a phonics – or sounding out of words – approach as the preferred way of teaching children how to read.

The debate over early reading instruction remains one of the most brutal in education. Opponents of the phonics check, who support an approach called balanced literacy, said they were disappointed so many schools had volunteered.

Both sides agree phonics is part of learning to read. But advocates of so-called synthetic phonics say learning to read is like cracking a code; students need to first learn the relationships between letters and sounds, then how to blend those sounds together to read whole words.

The phonics check is based on this approach, and includes 20 so-called pseudo or non-words such as "flisp" to check that students really know their letter-sound combinations, and don't just recognise the words because they have been repeatedly exposed to them.

Advocates of balanced literacy, which has been the dominant approach to reading instruction in schools and university education departments for decades, say synthetic phonics makes children read robotically, and argue finding meaning in words from the outset is paramount.

They say sounding out words, while valuable, should not be given too much emphasis, and disapprove of the check's pseudo words.

The NSW Department of Education's evidence centre in 2017 backed synthetic phonics as one of the keys to teaching reading effectively, and the department has been offering teachers training in how to use it.

The recent NSW Curriculum Review called for a "detailed and explicit" curriculum for the teaching of reading and pointed to influential research by Macquarie University cognitive scientists on the importance of synthetic phonics.

Phonics advocate Jennifer Buckingham said large number of schools signing up to the check was "a big deal".

"A couple of years ago we were having debates about whether the phonics check was a good idea, there was all this misinformation about the pseudo word component, all without much foundation," she said.

"The fact that 500 schools want to participate means that the right information is finding its way into schools about the value of doing this assessment."

Kingswood South Principal Sandra Martin said the school had a strong synthetic phonics program, and had seen students make progress in literacy as a result.

"We thought anything that could give us more information about how our students are progressing was worth doing," she said. "We can use it to see where our children are at, and that can help our teachers plan."

The learning support co-ordinator, Stephanie Lewis, said the check would involve students reading 20 real words and 20 pseudo words. "It shows us the strategies kids are using to decode a word," she said.

"Sometimes we don't know whether they know that word and are just remembering it. When we use the pseudo words, we can see that they are using those phonics skills to decode the word rather than relying on their memory."

The only other state that uses a year one phonics check – long advocated by the federal Coalition government – is South Australia. "[That trial] identified students struggling with decoding that they'd pegged as really good readers," Dr Buckingham said.

Balanced literacy proponent Robyn Ewing, a professor emerita of education at Sydney University, said she was disappointed that so many schools had signed up.

She said phonics strategies were important, but not helpful if "they're not making meaning and sense of what they're doing," she said. "It boils down to meaning – understanding that it's about meaning-making first."

SOURCE 






AUSMIN a thrilling, unexpected triumph for Trump admin.

This AUSMIN meeting was a triumph for the Trump administration which was rightly thrilled and probably a little surprised that Australia agreed to the White House’s request to come to Washington.

At this volatile moment in history, Australia has become the model ally for which the US is looking when it comes to confronting a rising and increasingly belligerent China.

The face-to-face annual AUSMIN meeting and press conference between the respective foreign and defence ministers – Mike Pompeo, Mark Esper, Marise Payne and Linda Reynolds – gave the administration the chance to loudly tout what Australia has done on China and in doing so, send a message to other US allies to copy Canberra’s lead.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a series of recent speeches, has been pleading with more democratic allies to stand up to Beijing, even if it hurts them economically.

From Washington’s perspective, Australia has ticked all of these boxes and more. It even led the US in banning Huawei and introducing foreign interference legislation several years ago.

More recently, the Morrison government has won plaudits in Washington for its call for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus.

In the face of persistent threats and intimidation from Beijing, the government this month boldly declared China’s absurd and hegemonic territorial claims in the South China Sea to be illegal.

It has also angered Beijing by suspending its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and offering citizenship options in Australia for residents of Hong Kong in response to China’s push to remove freedoms and human rights protections.

Each of these moves have led to threats of reprisals – sometimes implemented – from an increasingly angry Beijing. But they have been carefully watched and warmly welcomed by the US which views China through a dramatically different lens than it did just a few years ago.

During this US election China is under attack from both sides of politics in the US. It has no friends in Washington.

Donald Trump, who has waged a long and still unfinished trade war with Beijing, sees China as largely to blame for the coronavirus which has destroyed the US economy and severely harmed his chances of re-election.

His administration, led by Pompeo, has clashed with Beijing over Huawei, over its unfair trading practices and over its cyber warfare amongst numerous other issues.

It has tried to call China out over these many issues but has been frustrated by the sometimes tepid support it has received from many other allies, particularly in Europe.

Which is why Washington is so pleased that Australia has been willing to openly call Beijing out on some of these issues despite the obvious risk of economic reprisal.

Australia is not saying whether it will take the next step in challenging Beijing by joining the US Navy in freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea.

For now that may be a step too far, especially as China policy in the US becomes increasingly politicised as the US election creeps closer.

But at the AUSMIN press conference, Pompeo and Esper’s comments contained more ‘thank you’s’ than a wedding speech as they rattled off the list of Australian efforts to hold China accountable for its behaviour.

This was an AUSMIN meeting that went beyond the usual platitudes because both countries are so deeply engaged right now with the question of China.

Among the thanks you’s was the fact that two Cabinet ministers, two department secretaries and the CDF amongst others now have two weeks quarantine to face upon their return.

So was it worth the trip? The Americans certainly think so.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here






Postings from Brisbane, Australia by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.) -- former member of the Australia-Soviet Friendship Society, former anarcho-capitalist and former member of the British Conservative party.





Most academics are lockstep Leftists so readers do sometimes doubt that I have the qualifications mentioned above. Photocopies of my academic and military certificates are however all viewable here


For overseas readers: The "ALP" is the Australian Labor Party -- Australia's major Leftist party. The "Liberal" party is Australia's major conservative political party.


In most Australian States there are two conservative political parties, the city-based Liberal party and the rural-based National party. But in Queensland those two parties are amalgamated as the LNP.


Again for overseas readers: Like the USA, Germany and India, Australia has State governments as well as the Federal government. So it may be useful to know the usual abbreviations for the Australian States: QLD (Queensland), NSW (New South Wales), WA (Western Australia), VIC (Victoria), TAS (Tasmania), SA (South Australia).


For American readers: A "pensioner" is a retired person living on Social Security


"Digger" is an honorific term for an Australian soldier


Another lesson in Australian: When an Australian calls someone a "big-noter", he is saying that the person is a chronic and rather pathetic seeker of admiration -- as in someone who often pulls out "big notes" (e.g. $100.00 bills) to pay for things, thus endeavouring to create the impression that he is rich. The term describes the mentality rather than the actual behavior with money and it aptly describes many Leftists. When they purport to show "compassion" by advocating things that cost themselves nothing (e.g. advocating more taxes on "the rich" to help "the poor"), an Australian might say that the Leftist is "big-noting himself". There is an example of the usage here. The term conveys contempt. There is a wise description of Australians generally here


Another bit of Australian: Any bad writing or messy anything was once often described as being "like a pakapoo ticket". In origin this phrase refers to a ticket written with Chinese characters - and thus inscrutably confusing to Western eyes. These tickets were part of a Chinese gambling game called "pakapoo".


Two of my ancestors were convicts so my family has been in Australia for a long time. As well as that, all four of my grandparents were born in the State where I was born and still live: Queensland. And I am even a member of the world's second-most condemned minority: WASPs (the most condemned is of course the Jews -- which may be why I tend to like Jews). So I think I am as Australian as you can get. I certainly feel that way. I like all things that are iconically Australian: meat pies, Vegemite, Henry Lawson etc. I particularly pride myself on my familiarity with the great Australian slanguage. I draw the line at Iced Vo-Vos and betting on the neddies, however. So if I cannot comment insightfully on Australian affairs, who could?



My son Joe


On all my blogs, I express my view of what is important primarily by the readings that I select for posting. I do however on occasions add personal comments in italicized form at the beginning of an article.


I am rather pleased to report that I am a lifelong conservative. Out of intellectual curiosity, I did in my youth join organizations from right across the political spectrum so I am certainly not closed-minded and am very familiar with the full spectrum of political thinking. Nonetheless, I did not have to undergo the lurch from Left to Right that so many people undergo. At age 13 I used my pocket-money to subscribe to the "Reader's Digest" -- the main conservative organ available in small town Australia of the 1950s. I have learnt much since but am pleased and amused to note that history has since confirmed most of what I thought at that early age.

I imagine that the the RD is still sending mailouts to my 1950s address!


I am an army man. Although my service in the Australian army was chiefly noted for its un-notability, I DID join voluntarily in the Vietnam era, I DID reach the rank of Sergeant, and I DID volunteer for a posting in Vietnam. So I think I may be forgiven for saying something that most army men think but which most don't say because they think it is too obvious: The profession of arms is the noblest profession of all because it is the only profession where you offer to lay down your life in performing your duties. Our men fought so that people could say and think what they like but I myself always treat military men with great respect -- respect which in my view is simply their due.


The kneejerk response of the Green/Left to people who challenge them is to say that the challenger is in the pay of "Big Oil", "Big Business", "Big Pharma", "Exxon-Mobil", "The Pioneer Fund" or some other entity that they see, in their childish way, as a boogeyman. So I think it might be useful for me to point out that I have NEVER received one cent from anybody by way of support for what I write. As a retired person, I live entirely on my own investments. I do not work for anybody and I am not beholden to anybody. And I have NO investments in oil companies or mining companies


Although I have been an atheist for all my adult life, I have no hesitation in saying that the single book which has influenced me most is the New Testament. And my Scripture blog will show that I know whereof I speak.


The Rt. Rev. Phil Case (Moderator of the Presbyterian church in Queensland) is a Pharisee, a hypocrite, an abomination and a "whited sepulchre".


English-born Australian novellist, Patrick White was a great favourite in literary circles. He even won a Nobel prize. But I and many others I have spoken to find his novels very turgid and boring. Despite my interest in history, I could only get through about a third of his historical novel Voss before I gave up. So why has he been so popular in literary circles? Easy. He was a miserable old Leftist coot, and, incidentally, a homosexual. And literary people are mostly Leftists with similar levels of anger and alienation from mainstream society. They enjoy his jaundiced outlook, his dissatisfaction, rage and anger.


A delightful story about a great Australian conservative


Would you believe that there once was a politician whose nickname was "Honest"?

"Honest" Frank Nicklin M.M. was a war hero, a banana farmer and later the conservative Premier of my home State of Queensland in the '60s. He was even popular with the bureaucracy and gave the State a remarkably tranquil 10 years during his time in office. Sad that there are so few like him.


A great Australian wit exemplified



An Australian Mona Lisa (Nikki Gogan)


Bureaucracy: "One of the constant laments of doctors and nurses working with NSW Health is the incredible and increasing bureaucracy," she said. "It is completely obstructive to providing a service."


Revered Labour Party leader Gough Whitlam was a very erudite man so he cannot have been unaware of the similarities of his famous phrase “the Party, the platform, the people” with an earlier slogan: "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuehrer". It's basically the same slogan in reverse order.


Australia's original inhabitants were a race of pygmies, some of whom survived into modern times in the mountainous regions of the Atherton tableland in far North Queensland. See also here. Below is a picture of one of them taken in 2007, when she was 105 years old and 3'7" tall




Julia Gillard, a failed feminist flop. She was given the job of Prime Minister of Australia but her feminist preaching was so unpopular that she was booted out of the job by her own Leftist party. Her signature "achievements" were the carbon tax and the mining tax, both of which were repealed by the next government.


The "White Australia Policy: "The Immigration Restriction Act was not about white supremacy, racism, or the belief that whites were higher up the evolutionary tree than the coloured races. Rather, it was designed to STOP the racist exploitation of non-whites (all of whom would have been illiterate peasants practicing religions and cultures anathema to progressive democracy) being conscripted into a life of semi-slavery in a coolie-worked plantation economy for the benefit of the absolute monarchs, hereditary aristocracy and the super-wealthy companies and share-holders of the northern hemisphere.


A great little kid



In November 2007, a four-year-old boy was found playing in a croc-infested Territory creek after sneaking off pig hunting alone with four dogs and a puppy. The toddler was found five-and-a-half hours after he set off from his parents' house playing in a creek with the puppy. Amazingly, Daniel Woditj also swam two creeks known to be inhabited by crocs during his adventurous romp. Mr Knight said that after walking for several kilometres, Daniel came to a creek and swam across it. Four of his dogs "bailed up" at the creek but the youngster continued on undaunted with his puppy to a second creek. Mr Knight said Daniel swam the second croc-infested creek and walked on for several more kilometres. "Captain is a hard bushman and Daniel is following in his footsteps. They breed them tough out bush."


A great Australian: His eminence George Pell. Pictured in devout company before his elevation to Rome





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