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
This is a backup copy of the original blog
28 February, 2021
Panic attacks as kids taught not to use words ‘boy’ or ‘girl’
Gender language warriors are making kids frightened to say “boy” or “girl”, with one Queensland doctor warning we risk a generation scared “to admit they are heterosexual”.
The warning from Logan doctor Thomas Lyons comes as mums of two transgender children who say kids need support, not gender neutral language.
Midwives are also battling to head off the push to drop “breastfeeding” for “chestfeeding” and “mother’s milk” for human milk.
“If the push to eliminate gender from society continues we are likely to see a wave of suicidal adolescents who are too anxious to admit they are heterosexual and happy in the bodies they were born into,” GP Dr Thomas Lyons said.
The medic is angry that a non-binary blanket is being thrown over the wider community when the majority of the population has no problem with the words ‘boy”, “girl”, “father” or “mother”.
“Who are these fascists who assert authority over the lives, culture and values of the majority, This coup will fail,” the doctor said.
Dr Lyons admits that the drive to outlaw gendered language became a problem for him after an experience where he had six kids visit his surgery. When he was testing their sight with a chart showing the drawings of animals and people, four of the kids refused to say the words ‘boy” or “girl” and all six were stressed and panicky.
“These children, without the knowledge or permission of the principal and parents, had been taught by teachers that the words ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ had some kind of bad magic and to utter them would somehow harm people. The children knew what they could see and hear but could not reconcile themselves with the notion that this was wrong to see boys and girls as different. Watching a six-year-old have a panic attack over use of gender identifying language is disturbing,” he said.
Adding to the debate, two Queensland mothers who have lived the reality of raising transgender children are not fans of gender-neutral parenting.
“Most children are happy in who they are and to raise them in a world without the word ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ and letting them decide for themselves is putting undue pressure on young minds,” Meagan Hayes, mother of 16-year-old transgender daughter Emma, said.
“I respect those who make this choice but it is my experience that children are what they are and nothing will change that,” the Gympie mum told The Sunday Mail.
“My daughter tried to cut off her own penis at the age of four. At that very young age she instinctively knew she was a girl and told everyone that she was a girl.
“My parenting style or any restricted use of language would not change that in any way.”
Michelle Suters from Rothwell, north of Brisbane, is the mother of four children and two step-children. Her son Nate, 17, is transgender.
“My children were all raised the same. They could play with whatever toys they wanted whether trucks or dolls. Nate wasn’t interested in dolls, he wanted to be a superhero and loved worm farms. He wanted his hair short from when he was 10. We just accepted him as he was no questions asked,” Ms Suters said.
“I am not a fan of gender-neutral parenting. Most children are happy to be either a boy or a girl. I don’t think they need to be made frightened of being one of the other. Nature has a way or making things happen as they should. All any parent can do is support and love their child for what they are or what they want to be,” she said.
Both mothers agree that gender words should not be erased but children should be taught that their opportunities are not hindered by gender and it’s OK to buck stereotypes.
But on the flip side Nate Musiello himself told The Sunday Mail that he believes that in the future people will adapt to a world without gender. “I think my generation see things a bit differently and the world is ready for the shift. The use of the words ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ were hurtful to me as I grew up. I will raise my own children gender neutral and I think small things like removing the Mr from the toy Potato Head is a good thing. Why does a potato have to be a man?” Nate said.
Social commentator David Chalke said the bid to wipe out the words “girl” or “boy” in society is ludicrous. “Parents can raise children in whatever way they see fit but to throw out these ideas to fit the wider community is a mistake,” he said.
“No child should be directed to be scared of certain words and children are too young to understand the extreme message.
“This trend is a push by a minority that should not impact the whole community particularly children. I have a manhole leading up to my attic, is that going to be a problem?”
A push for midwives to use more gender-inclusive words like “chestfeeding” rather than “breastfeeding”, “feeding parent” rather than “mother”, and “peri-natal” instead of “maternity” is gathering momentum, but the Australian College of Midwives is standing firm against the drive, determined they will not wipe out “women” from the health system.
Maternity consumer advocates state that removing words such as “mother”, “breastfeeding” and “woman” from experiences that are direct experiences of women is “completely misogynist”.
“This is something that is coming to the fore and we hear about it regularly but our stance is that changing the vernacular to remove the word “women” is going to take us backward rather than forward. Women make up over 50 per cent of the population,” Ruth King, adviser to the ACM said.
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Outback road sign with Alice Springs crossed off and replaced with its Indigenous name sparks furious debate
The image showed the names Alice Springs and Hermannsburg on Larapinta Drive, in the Northern Territory crossed out with white paint.
'Mparntwe' and 'Ntaria' - as those towns are known to the respective local Indigenous communities, Arrernte and Western Aranda - were painted onto the sign.
The road sign was also graffitied with the letters ACAB - a political acronym that means: 'All cops are b*****ds'.
The Common Ground Australia Facebook page captioned the photo: 'Across Australia there is a growing movement of reclaiming traditional place names in First Nations languages.'
'Using traditional place names in conversation, on signs and any other references is an amazing step towards recognising the sovereignty First Nations people still hold across Australia.
'When we recognise and embed language, we centre First Nations people, culture and Country.'
But not everybody agreed and the post generated fierce debate, with several unhappy at what they saw as vandalism.
One man wrote: 'I applaud the spirit of the action however I feel the crossing out of European names spoils the message.'
'At this time of what hopefully is a transition and a bringing about of new values perhaps the names should have stood together so as to educate rather than challenge.'
Many people suggested a compromise - using both the Indigenous and English or Colonial place names.
They pointed out that bilingual road and street signs are common in many countries - including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand.
New Zealand's tallest mountain, Mt Cook, was renamed Aoraki/Mount Cook in 1998.
Some place names in Australia have been renamed over time too, most notably Ayers Rock which in was re-labelled Uluru/Ayers Rock in 1993.
In Adelaide, 39 sites including many of the city's parks were dual-named by 2003 in acknowledgement of the local Kaurna people.
Bilingual signage is common too in some of Australia's biggest cities were large immigrant populations live who may not speak English at home, or to acknowledge non-English speaking tourists - such Chinatown in Sydney.
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Cheering prohibited: Parents frustrated by inconsistent COVID-19 rules in schools
Over the swimming carnival season, some students have been banned from cheering their teammates, while others have not. Some parents have been allowed to watch their kids swim, while others have not.
But it’s not just sport. Tim Spencer, the president of the P&C Federation, said parents were becoming frustrated with inconsistencies in the application of all kinds COVID-19 rules between schools, especially when there were so few cases in the community.
But the NSW Department of Education said schools and parents could expect updated guidelines “imminently”.
Mr Spencer said parents had been complaining about different interpretations from different schools. “We’re certainly hearing things that are inconsistent,” he said. “There’s still P&Cs not allowed to meet on school premises, and they still need to meet virtually. “That rule hasn’t been in place since term four last year.
“The real problem is how that’s communicated to parents at a school level. The department is being reasonable in most of its applications, but it’s when there’s arbitrary restrictions - when the school down the road is doing the opposite.”
What is and isn’t allowed:
Field trips, excursions and camps are permitted
P&C meetings can be held indoors after hours with a limit of 30 people (in Greater Sydney)
For indoor events, audience members cannot join in singing or chanting
All singing, chanting, rapping and group activities must take place in large well-ventilated settings
School performances, productions, plays and concerts can continue
Interschool activities are permitted
At St Andrews Cathedral School, the usual cheer squads were suspended this year. “We followed the COVID-safe requirements of NSW Health,” said principal John Collier.
“These indicate that singing and chanting are activities which should be prohibited, as they are likely to spread a plume which if such a plume contains the COVID virus, can provide aerosol which is highly infectious.”
At International Grammar School, the carnival was staggered, with years 11 and 12 going first, then heading back to school and being replaced by years 9 and 10.
“Students supported each other through rhythmic drumming, sprays of vivid colour and some outstanding feats of aquatic mastery,” the newsletter said.
Students at Waverley College were told on Friday they would not be able to cheer at the upcoming high school swimming carnival.
Paul Galpin, the treasurer of the Balmain Public School P&C, said the COVID-19 restrictions have been a “source of great frustration. We’re really keen to be involved with our son’s school life but find the guidelines frequently prevent that.”
He said the school could not host in-person P&C meetings because the rooms were all too small. A cross-year buddy program was almost cancelled because of the interpretation of the guidelines.
“I have zero problem with a conservative approach when it comes to keeping my child safe,” Mr Galpin said. “When rules seem arbitrary and poorly thought out though it becomes a bitter pill to swallow.”
Craig Petersen from the Secondary Principals Council said the guidelines themselves could be difficult for principals to keep across. “It’s frustrating, and confusing and I’m not surprised there’s inconsistencies, particularly across sectors,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the NSW Department of Education said it was updating the guidelines for NSW schools in line with health advice. “We expect these to be finalised imminently,” she said.
“The guidelines are provided to all schools to support consistent and safe implementation. Public schools should be following these guidelines in a uniform way. “School events taking place at venues outside school grounds, like swimming pools, must comply with the COVID restrictions of that venue.”
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A record dry in Australia
Suggesting global cooling. Warming would produce MORE rain, not less
Overlooking the old family farmhouse on Gerard Walsh's farm is a hill covered in hundreds of dead ironbarks.
"Two years ago, they would have all been alive and flourishing. Basically every tree has died," Mr Walsh said.
Across all of 2019, his property at Greymare in southern Queensland recorded just 144 millimetres of rain — the driest in 100 years.
"Certainly the rainfall has changed, all for the lesser," Mr Walsh said.
For more than a century, the Walsh family have been recording rainfall on their farm Coolesha for the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM). "My mother Margaret Walsh, she would have done the weather for some 60 years, her parents before that," Mr Walsh said.
The long service was recently recognised with an award from the BOM.
The voluntary role has meant the Walsh family have been able to observe up close those effects of climate change on the Southern Downs region.
Rainfall at Coolesha has been below average for seven of the past 10 years, consistent with the BOM's most recent State of the Climate report.
"Income was more than halved during most of that period of time," Mr Walsh said.
Like many in the region, less rain has meant less feed for cattle and the Walshes have had to reduce cattle numbers.
Farmers in the Southern Downs are dealing with declining winter rainfall and the prospect of back-to-back droughts.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-28/queensland-family-100-years-of-bom-rain-records/13193442
************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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27 February, 2021
Economics professor Ross Garnaut says Australia voluntarily keeps hundreds of thousands unemployed
Greenie economist Garnaut appears also to be a fan of Modern Monetary Theory. He says government should maximize employment and to heck with everything else. In particular we should stop worrying about inflation.
It is true that for the last 8 years the USA has allowed levels of monetary growth that would once have been regarded as inviting roaring inflation. It is still a puzzle as to why U.S. inflation has in fact remained quite modest. Modern Monetary theory simply says "That's the way it is and so what?"
So Garnaut is saying that Australian governments too could spend up big and not worry. It's a logical position if you accept MMT as a rule rather than as a one-off happening.
It's clear that there IS a limit to government spending. The roaring inflation in Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Argentina show that. And in such economies the people's savings are destroyed, which is deplorable for several reasons.
So would big Australian government spending end up with us like the USA or like Argentina? That is the issue and the answer appears to be that you can go so far and no farther. How far is too far in the Australian case remains to be seen. But, as a short-term policy, Garnaut's recommendations could be beneficial
With weeks to go before the JobSeeker rate is cut, one of Australia's most respected economists has suggested there are potentially hundreds of thousands of Australians on unemployment benefits who shouldn't be there.
Professor Ross Garnaut, a Professorial Research Fellow in Economics at the University of Melbourne, has condemned Australia's economic policymakers for the situation.
But his criticism refers to how they've been running the economy for years, not just for the last 12 months.
He's referring to the federal government and the Reserve Bank.
He says their decision to "allow" hundreds of thousands of Australians to languish in unemployment in recent years, to suppress wages and inflation, as part of the country's broader economic policy settings, has immiserated people and cost the economy hundreds of billions dollars in lost economic activity.
In his new book, Reset: Restoring Australia after the pandemic recession, Professor Garnaut says our policymakers should drop that policy and return Australia to having genuine full employment.
He says that would mean an unemployment rate of 3.5 per cent or lower — the lowest it's been since the early 1970s.
The unemployment rate is currently 6.4 per cent.
He says it's hard to know for sure, but that lower level of unemployment will probably be the point at which wages finally start to rise and inflationary pressures emerge. But we would have to test it. It could be much lower than that.
"Certainly, it is lower than the 'well below 6 per cent' that Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said would trigger efforts to reduce the budget deficit," Professor Garnaut has written.
The problem with Australia's economic policy architecture
It's a scathing assessment.
Between 1946 and 1975, when Australia pursued an official policy of full employment, the national unemployment rate averaged below 2 per cent.
Successive federal governments (both Labor and Coalition) deliberately recorded budget deficits to achieve that full employment.
But since the 1980s, Australia's policymakers have accepted higher levels of unemployment, which they say are "natural" for prevailing conditions.
They developed a new definition of full employment: full employment would mean the level of unemployment that keeps a lid on inflation (i.e. that stops wages and prices growing too quickly).
The ugly term for that level of "full employment" is the NAIRU, or non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment.
When 'full employment' isn't
One of the Reserve Bank's targets is full employment, but back when that target was set it meant a very different thing to what does today.
Professor Garnaut says Australia's policymakers have repeatedly miscalculated the NAIRU in recent years, meaning they have often suspected the economy is getting close to full employment when it is far from that point.
For example, consider a situation in which the national unemployment rate was 5.5 per cent and falling, and the RBA suspected full employment (i.e. the NAIRU) was 5 per cent.
That means the RBA would expect inflation and wage pressures to start building soon, because the unemployment rate was apparently getting closer to "full employment," so it would prepare to start lifting interest rates.
However, what if, in this scenario, the economy was only going to be in genuine "full employment" when the unemployment rate was 3 per cent?
That means the RBA would start lifting interest rates prematurely, when the unemployment rate was 5 per cent (rather than 3 per cent), effectively killing the momentum in the labour market before everyone who wanted a job could find one.
Professor Garnaut says Australia's policymakers have to stop guessing where full employment could be.
"We can find out where it is by increasing demand for labour until wages in the labour market are rising at a rate that threatens to take inflation above the Reserve Bank range for an extended period," he says.
He says the difference between the actual level of unemployment and the lower level of genuine full employment represents people who are "unnecessarily unemployed."
"The number of unnecessarily unemployed people is actually larger than this, because more people would be encouraged to seek employment if unemployment rates were lower," he says.
He says the years since 2013 have been particularly bad.
"An average of several hundred thousand fewer people were employed [from 2013 to 2019] than would otherwise have been possible," he says.
"This is voluntary unemployment — voluntary for the Reserve Bank, because it is unemployment that the Reserve Bank chooses to allow.
"At current levels of economic activity, having several hundred thousand people unnecessarily unemployed holds annual gross domestic product [GDP] down about $50 billion below what it could be, and, all other things being equal, raises Australia's public deficits by nearly $20 billion each year."
Support for idea promoted by Modern Monetary Theory
Professor Garnaut says Australia should use as many resources as possible to get the unemployment rate down to 3.5 per cent by 2025, as a matter of national urgency.
He says the budget deficits needed to achieve full employment should be funded "directly or indirectly" by the Reserve Bank, "at least until full employment is in sight."
That puts him squarely on the side of people like former Prime Minister Paul Keating, and economists of the Modern Monetary Theory school, who say the RBA has the power to create money itself to finance the federal government's stimulus spending, so there's no reason why the federal government's deficit spending should be supported by an explosion in Commonwealth government debt.
Modern Monetary Theory explained
MMT attacks the obsession with government deficits and debt, and is gaining traction at a time when both are rising fast. Gareth Hutchens explains what MMT is, where it comes from and what its critics say.
As things currently stand, the Reserve Bank is waiting for Treasury to sell new Commonwealth government bonds (via the Office of Australian Financial Management) to private banks, pension funds, and insurance companies that comprise the so-called "secondary market", before buying those same bonds from those private entities at an agreed interest rate.
That traditional practice of "raising money" from the secondary market for government spending is what has led to the explosion of Commonwealth government debt over the last year.
Professor Garnaut says that's unnecessary.
"We're really arguing about angels dancing on a pinhead when we talk about a difference," Professor Garnaut told journalist Alan Kohler's Eureka Report this week.
"The only difference between the Government selling bonds into the market and then the Reserve Bank buying them is you give a margin to the small number of players in the bond market, to the banks that participate in that trade.
Can modern monetary theory knock out free market capitalism?
A white piggy bank sits in the centre of the image surrounded by rows and rows of pink piggy banks.
Modern monetary theory is taking on free market capitalism promising to end the "surplus fetish". But is it a brave new future or "voodoo economics"? "I'd say, let's take away their free lunch."
Phil Lowe, the RBA governor, has repeatedly dismissed suggestions that the RBA should be directly financing the Government's stimulus spending.
However, he's never said it's not possible. He's only said it's unnecessary.
"I want to make it very clear that monetary financing of fiscal policy is not an option under consideration in Australia, nor does it need to be," he said in July last year.
"The Australian Government is able to finance itself in the bond market, and it can do so on very favourable terms."
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Another white "Aborigine"
Tammy Baarat
Des Houghton
Hymba Yumba was unlike every other high-achieving independent school I have ever visited.
To begin with, the 280 students are not called students but jarjums, an Aboriginal word for children. And is it not uncommon to find a well-behaved Labrador or two sitting in a classroom with the jarjums. Each morning the dogs join humans in a sit-down “yarning circle” that finishes with students bowing their heads and closing their eyes in a meditation session.
The students at Hymba Yumba at Springfield, south of Brisbane, were assigned by an outside firm to train dogs for the disabled, especially the blind.
“The jarjums seem to develop a special relationship with the dogs,” said principal Peter Foster, a former state basketballer who previously taught at elite Brisbane Grammar and St Peter’s Lutheran College before accepting the job as principal at Hymba Yumba.
There was a surprise element to the “dog therapy”, Foster said. The animals reciprocate to the kindness shown to them. The dogs somehow recognize children who are having a bad day and sit at their feet. “They sympathise with them. It works.”
Eighty percent of Hymba Yumba students are Indigenous and they are streets ahead of other Indigenous and non-indigenous schools in literacy and numeracy. Foster said this was due to “a massive academic program” that worked hand in glove with “a massive wellbeing program”.
Urban Aboriginals are not always aware of their own culture, he said. An education at Hymba Yumba was the “start of the journey” to explore it.
“It’s about understanding who you are and where your mob is from,’’ he said.
Foster’s deputy Tammy Baarat, a Darug woman, said the wellness programs taught jarjums to respect their parents, their community, their country and themselves.
The programs helped stem bad behaviour. Years ago, one student arrived with so much pent-up anger she tore a classroom door from its hinges. She is now a top scholar.
“Wellness is a prerequisite for academic success,” Baarat said.
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Australia is set to lose a staggering 1.5million jobs within the next few years - and the economic catastrophe is NOT due to the pandemic
But 1.7million jobs will be created
More than a million jobs are set to be wiped from the Australian economy within the next few years as the shift towards an automated workforce renders some roles obsolete.
Job numbers across the nation are forecast to plunge 11 per cent by 2030 as artificial intelligence and automation reshapes workforces globally, according to a new report.
A study by global technology research firm Forrester analysed 391 occupations tracked by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and found 1.5million jobs would be slashed in some sectors as positions are replaced by digital technology.
Employees in finance, accounting, clerical roles, and human resources, who perform highly structured administrative tasks are most at risk, with automation likely to eliminate a million of those jobs first.
By 2030, it is estimated more than half of the jobs in this category will be replaced by automated systems.
While the demand for leaders to facilitate changes in organisations will remain unchanged, the need for co-ordinators in middle management is also expected to decline.
Although some industries will bear the brunt of transformation to the labour landscape, others are tipped to boom.
As automation becomes more advanced, 1.7million jobs will be created by 2030 while as many as one in three workers will transform into the online gig economy.
The next few years will see an increased demand for workers with digital skills, including tech specialists with skills in big data, process automation, human/machine interaction, robotics engineering, blockchain, and machine learning.
The growth will offset eight per cent of more traditional technology roles that can be fully automated.
The report also found employees for charities, social enterprises, and health and well-being services will becoming a significant new labour force, boasting more than 700,000 mission-based workers by 2030 as Australians seek to align person values and lifestyles with work.
'Some of the biggest challenges that firms face in embracing automation technologies relate to culture and change management,' Forrester principal analyst Sam Higgins said.
'It’s critical that policymakers and employers learn how to minimise the number of digital outcasts by measuring the ability of individuals and organisations to adapt to, collaborate with, trust, and generate business results from automation – or else over 1 million Australian workers may be left stranded beyond the next digital divide.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9293905/Australia-set-lose-1-5million-jobs-years.html
****************************************Youtube streaming of NT police officer Zachary Rolfe's murder trial raised as concern in court
The cop is in court because the deceased is black. No other reason
The murder trial of Constable Zachary Rolfe could be streamed on YouTube to Alice Springs and the remote community of Yuendumu, where 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker died in November 2019.
At a pre-trial hearing in the Northern Territory Supreme Court today, Chief Justice Michael Grant said the court's administration was hoping to allow the broadcast of proceedings. He said it would be streamed to the courthouse in Alice Springs and at the school in the community of Yuendumu, about 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs.
"There would be a facilitator [in Darwin] who would close down the broadcast whenever court is closed, whenever arguments are being made in the absence of the jury and otherwise, whenever the trial judge ordered," he said.
Crown Prosecutor Sophie Callan said the prosecution would not oppose the streaming of the trial to Yuendumu, but questioned whether other members of the public could access it.
"I think the question, your Honour, is whether it's some form of private YouTube channel or access to which others could, would be restricted," she said.
Constable Rolfe's defence lawyer, David Edwardson QC, said he had concerns about whether this would mean witnesses could potentially access the proceedings.
"We'd be most concerned if the public — the wider public — could access it outside of the hall," he said.
"How would the court envisage ensuring that nobody who accessed the hall, for example, at Yuendumu, was in fact a witness or potential witness in the proceedings?" he asked the court.
Justice Grant acknowledged the concerns but reminded lawyers that any member of the public would be entitled to come to court and watch the proceedings.
"I imagine it will be possible to have a police officer located in the school hall at Yuendumu, able to give effect to any order the trial judge makes for witnesses to remove themselves from the premises," Justice Grant said.
He said he would raise the matter with court staff.
The matter will return to court at the end of March.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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26 February, 2021
Brisbane flood victims awarded $440m settlement over Wivenhoe Dam disaster
Conservatives built a dam that should have ended Brisbane floods. But a Leftist government misused it catastrophically. To avoid building a new dam, the Bligh government used the flood compartment to store water. So when the floods came threre was nothing to contain them
On top of that the bureaucrats in charge of the dam failed to heed danger warnings -- because it was not in their manual. They killed a lot of people. An early discharge could have kept the flood within bounds. Morons all round
Almost 7000 people in a class action will be paid $440 million in a landmark settlement with the Queensland Government and SunWater, the dam’s operator.
The figure – the largest-ever in a class action in Australia – was announced to the ASX today by litigator funder Omni Bridgeway.
“This has been a hard-fought and extremely difficult case on behalf of approximately 6700 claimants, against determined defendants over many years,” Omni Bridgeway said.
Releases from the Wivenhoe Dam in January 2011 saw water levels rise up to 10 metres. Hydrologists determined the releases were the main cause of flooding in the riverine area of Brisbane.
The class action lawsuit represented some 6700 victims of the disaster.
SunWater and the Queensland Government have settled to split a 50 per cent share of the liability for the class action.
Another state owned enterprise, Seqwater, has not settled with the claimants, the statement from Omni Bridgeway said. Seqwater has been allocated the remaining 50 per cent liability for the disaster.
“Seqwater has been allocated 50% of the aggregate liability” by the NSW Supreme Court in the first instance, the statement said. The enterprise plans to appeal the finding in May 2021.
However, based on the current allocation of Seqwater’s 50 per cent liability, Omni Bridgeway estimate the claimants currently look to settle with the parties with a total value of $880 million.
The class action suit was previously estimated to reach a settlement between $130 to $170 million.
In light of the settlement, Omni Bridgeway said they now consider the previous upper level estimate to be “conservative”.
The settlement comes a decade after the 2011 Brisbane floods, which affected more than 200,000 people and caused $2.38 billion worth of damage.
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College principal defends teen thugs who attacked tradies
Comment from a social work reader:
"And the school principal calls his thugs “vulnerable” and “broken babies”.
I expect he is a soppy leftie, and maybe worse, a cunning and manipulative one.
"I worked with leftist forensic psychs who would justify crim’s crimes, coach them into believing they were victims of society’s artificial expectations, so they would continue to be crims after release, by telling them things like there is no truth, just perception and feelings, no right or wrong, just social expectations, and if you feel it, it’s true for you, and in another society you would not be in jail, you would be considered a good citizen, even a hero….
I would not be surprised if the principal and a number of his teachers are of the same sort of character as those psychs, committing crime by proxy through manipulating dumb thugs and crims, all the while acting themselves as if they are caring and wise"
A school principal has thrown his support behind the gang of thugs filmed savagely beating tradies during a wild rampage earlier this week.
The saga began on Tuesday, when two tradesmen arrived at SMYL Community College in Rockingham, southwest Perth, to fix a broken fire hydrant.
But soon after their arrival at the school for at-risk teens, a group of up to 10 students began surrounding the men and verbally abusing them, with footage of the incident livestreamed to Instagram.
The incident soon escalated, with around six teens seen throwing punches at the men while they are trapped in a corner, amid shouts of “bomb him, bomb that motherf …” and “keep going”.
Teachers soon arrived in an attempt to break up the attack, but as the incident was unfolding, another teenager was seen smashing the front windscreen of the tradesmen’s work vehicle after jumping on the bonnet and yelling “let’s smash his car”.
The attack made headlines across Australia and shocked the country – but despite the “appalling” violence, college director Sam Gowegati has defended the perpetrators, describing them as “broken babies” who needed help.
“The reason these kids are sent here is because they’re disengaged from mainstream education,” he told The West Australian.
“These kids are already vulnerable … and they do dumb stuff, that’s why they’re here, closed off in this area so we can manage that process.”
Earlier this week, Mr Gowegati told The West Australian some students had been suspended following the brutal attack.
“It is an atypical event. We’re just trying to figure out what happened and what triggered it,” he told the publication.
“A number of students have been currently sent home to decide what their futures are going to be.”
Mr Gowegati’s comments come after the publication reported that some staff were so concerned by student behaviour that they were “petrified” of going to work, with one teacher telling The West Australian some staff were “scared for their lives”.
According to the school’s website, SMYL Community College aims to “ provide an inclusive and supportive learning community that offers an alternative approach to education and training for young people aged 14 to 17 years of age who are at risk of missing out on opportunities due to their home life, health and other issues.”
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Nuclear Power Would Stabilize the Australian Power Grid
While the situation in Texas shows us the necessity of a resilient grid with a high peak capacity and a healthy mixture of energy resources, Australia has been ruminating on a decision that would allow the country to utilize one of its most abundant natural resources. As one of the world’s foremost uranium producing countries, it is strange that Australia does not use uranium for nuclear power production.
Australia does not have any nuclear power stations, and has never had one. Australia has 29 percent of the world’s easily recoverable uranium resources (procured for less than $130 per Kilogram). That is 1.174 million tons of uranium. In 2019, Australia was the world’s third largest producer of uranium after Kazakhstan and Canada.
Despite these resources, Australia has only ever had one nuclear reactor, and it was not built to generate power. It was a research reactor at Lucas Heights which was initially built as a test reactor to determine the suitability of materials for use in future power reactors. The reactor’s purpose has shifted since its 1958 construction, and it is now used for the production of medical isotopes and for other research purposes.
What’s Preventing Nuclear Power in Australia?
The Australian government’s ban on nuclear power is enshrined in two laws: the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 (ARPANS Act) and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act).
The ARPANS Act applies to commonwealth-owned entities and bans certain nuclear installations, namely nuclear fuel fabrication plants, nuclear power plants, enrichment plants, and processing facilities. In order for any commonwealth-owned entity to construct and use any of these facilities, the act would need to be amended.
The EPBC Act creates similar prohibitions for commonwealth corporations, commonwealth entities, the Commonwealth itself, or other people, which prevent them from taking “a nuclear action that has, will have or is likely to have a significant impact on the environment.” This and other parts of the act would need to be amended to create a framework for licensing projects.
The ARPANS and EPBC acts are products of a sense of national outrage arising after the United Kingdom used Australia and its surrounding waters as nuclear testing sites during the early years of the Cold War. The tests remain a sore spot between the former colony and mother Britain, but they also stained the conversation around nuclear projects with the taste of weapons development and colonial exploitation in Australia.
Understanding that these regulations are anchored in old conflicts now largely moot is the key to challenging them effectively for the good of Australians and the Australian environment today and in the future.
Efforts to Allow Nuclear Energy
In recent years, the impetus to change the law and create a pathway toward nuclear power in the country has grown. In 2019, the House Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy performed an “Inquiry into the prerequisites for nuclear energy in Australia.” The ensuing report made three recommendations.
“Firstly, the Australian Government should further consider the prospect of nuclear technology as part of its future energy mix; secondly, [it should] undertake a body of work to progress the understanding of nuclear technology in the Australian context; and thirdly, [it should] it consider lifting the current moratorium on nuclear energy partially—that is, for new and emerging nuclear technologies only—and conditionally—that is, with aprovals for nuclear facilities to require the prior informed consent of impacted local communities.”
These recommendations show that the tide may be turning for nuclear, and for energy freedom more generally, in Australia.
Australia has some of the highest energy consumption per capita in the world, and its efforts to decarbonize are stymied by its categorical refusal of nuclear power. It is illogical for a country with such a bounty of a valuable natural resource to preclude its use toward this end. Were a pathway created for licensing of nuclear reactors in Australia, energy developers would have a wider range of options for new power to replace some of the country’s aging coal plants.
The ideal way to determine the most efficient energy mix is to remove as many barriers to market operation as possible, and then allow the wheat to separate itself from the chaff. This requires that there be minimal subsidies and restrictions. Australia has done just the opposite, and that is why its attempt at an “energy transition” has been unsuccessful thus far. Attempting to force decarbonization through wind and solar, while outright banning nuclear power, is counterintuitive. Nuclear is less carbon-intensive than solar, and about as carbon-intensive as wind while using dramatically less land.
Even without allowing the construction of older technologies, if Australia followed the committee’s recommendations, and allowed new nuclear technologies, the added flexibility of technologies like small modular and advanced non-light water reactors will give the country the ability to confront the impending need to add new capacity to its aging grid.
https://catalyst.independent.org/2021/02/23/nuclear-power-australia/
************************************Redcliffe State High School’s trial of pronoun badges has divided the community
A state high school’s trial of gender pronoun badges has divided the community with some welcoming the new initiative and others saying the “world has gone mad”.
Redcliffe State High School’s LGBTIQ+ group launched the trial of the pronoun badges last week. It provides students an option to wear a badge with he/him, she/her or they/them on it.
A Facebook post shared by the school said: “(The) purpose is to display to everyone what those who are wearing them define themselves as. They’re also so that people know what to refer to the wearer as.”
A poll conducted by the Redcliffe Herald found 91 per cent, of the almost 2000 voters, did not think gender badges should become common practice at all Queensland schools.
Many readers said the school should focus less on this and more on the basics of education. William said: “No wonder our world ranking in math and science are going to the dogs”.
“How about teachers teaching maths, science and English and leaving all this rubbish alone. Teachers and the education system have no right or authority to start reading around with gender issues. That should only be the responsibility of the parents,” Peter said.
Philip, a teacher, supported the idea. “Regardless of what many people might think about the use of differing pronouns by people, this is an incredibly good idea,” he wrote. “As a teacher, having to recall the preferred pronouns for all my students has always been difficult. The uniform does not help you, nor does the hair style, etc.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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25 February, 2021
The media bargaining code has passed Parliament, but don't rule out another Facebook news ban yet
The highly contentious media bargaining bill, formally titled Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2021, passed both houses of Parliament. That means a radical piece of media reform — the bargaining code — will come into effect.
A joint statement from Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher says the code "provides a framework for good faith negotiations between the parties and a fair and balanced arbitration process to resolve outstanding disputes".
They argue it will be good for journalism. "The Code will ensure that news media businesses are fairly remunerated for the content they generate, helping to sustain public interest journalism in Australia."
But before that happens — or indeed ever does — there are a few steps on the path.
News businesses that want to be paid for content that appears on search engines or social media can sign up (provided they meet some conditions, including earning $150,000 per year in revenue).
At the same time, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg must consider the question of "designating" digital platforms like Google and Facebook and the services they offer, like search or news feed.
This means he contemplates whether they hold a significant power imbalance over publishers.
If he does decide to designate one, he needs to provide it with 30 days' notice.
After that ends, the platform will be designated, meaning it must start negotiating with news businesses about how much to pay them for content through mediation, or if that fails, arbitration.
That leaves Facebook and Google powerless to an arbitrator telling them how much they should pay — a risky proposition.
At the time, Mr Frydenberg said "none of these deals would be happening if we didn't have the legislation before the Parliament".
That is, according to the Treasurer, the threat of the law prompted Google to sign deals.
Not long after, Facebook indicated it wasn't happy with the way the law was drafted by blocking news content for Australians.
It has come around this week, reversing its decision to pull news from the platform.
After discussions with Facebook, including between Mr Frydenberg and founder Mark Zuckerberg himself, the government amended the law.
The announcement coincided with an about-face from Facebook, which committed to reinstating news for Australian users.
There was even a reported deal between Facebook and Seven West Media — an indication the social media giant may be committed to the new environment.
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Fight erupts over Defence moves to sack special forces whistleblowers
Whistleblowers are never popular and those who apply civilian standards to wartime are particularly reviled
A small number of special forces soldiers who blew the whistle on alleged war crimes at an official inquiry have been issued termination notices against the advice of the military watchdog.
The notices have set up a clash between the military hierarchy and the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force, whose most senior war crimes investigator, Justice Paul Brereton, recommended in his recent report that whistleblowers who had done nothing wrong should be promoted while witnesses who had honestly disclosed their own wrongdoing should not necessarily be sacked.
“It is crucial that their careers be seen to prosper,” Justice Brereton wrote last November of key witnesses who had engaged in no wrongdoing.
Others who had committed alleged war crimes themselves but had later helped the truth come out by giving truthful testimony to the inquiry, should be given special consideration, he wrote.
As the Defence Force continues to deal with the fallout of the Inspector-General’s report, delegates of the Chief of the Army Rick Burr have moved to sack at least three whistleblowers from the Special Air Service Regiment and commandos.
Asked about this process, a Defence spokesperson said: “The fact that some individuals assisted the inquiry is not disputed and regardless of any recommendation the inquiry made, it is ultimately a matter for Defence as to what if any administrative action is taken.”
The spokesperson also said that while termination notices had been issued, the responses from soldiers threatened with sacking would be considered before any final decisions were made.
Defence sources in Canberra, who were not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed that the office of the Inspector-General had been forced to issue “support” letters to help a small number of soldiers who were issued termination notices.
Multiple Defence sources aware of behind-the-scenes efforts to protect whistleblowers said at least two of the soldiers who were issued termination notices allegedly engaged in war crimes on the orders of more senior soldiers, and in both cases, these alleged crimes would never have been discovered without the disclosures, the sources said.
Some soldiers suspected of repeatedly lying about their own involvement in war crimes have also been issued termination notices, but were given no support from the Inspector-General. The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have confirmed this by speaking to more than a dozen serving and former special forces insiders.
In November, General Burr and Defence Force Chief Angus Campbell both publicly praised the role of special forces soldiers who disclosed alleged war crimes to Justice Brereton, who led the Inspector-General’s inquiry.
Justice Brereton ultimately found that Australian special forces soldiers allegedly committed up to 39 murders and recommended that up to 19 current or former soldiers should face criminal investigation, possible prosecution and be stripped of their medals.
Justice Brereton warned in his November report that “too often ... have the careers of whistle-blowers been adversely affected”. He urged the Defence Force to promote “cleanskin” whistleblowers – those who had observed or disclosed alleged war crimes but not participated in any alleged summary executions. Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell is yet to act on that recommendation.
Justice Brereton also urged General Campbell and General Burr to consider special treatment for those “whose conduct is such that they cannot be rewarded by promotion, but who, having made disclosures to the Inquiry in protected circumstances when they reasonably believed they would not be used against them, and whose evidence was ultimately of considerable assistance to the Inquiry, ought not fairly be the subject of adverse administrative action”.
“Again, it will be an important signal that they have not been disadvantaged for having ultimately assisted to uncover misconduct, even though implicating themselves.”
When he announced Justice Brereton’s findings in November, General Campbell described being “deeply appreciative of people who came forward to speak with concern of what they had seen, in some cases of what they had participated in”.
“It was a very brave thing for them to do, because in the climate and the culture I have described, they would have been very concerned for doing so,” he said in comments which suggested General Campbell was aware that key whistleblowers had also disclosed their own wrongdoing.
But since then, senior officers working under General Burr’s ultimate command have, in at least three cases, disregarded the advice from the Inspector-General and issued termination notices that inform a soldier they will be sacked unless they provide mitigating circumstances.
The question of how to deal with special forces veterans who have admitted to egregious acts is not simple. Even considering their assistance to the inquiry, their alleged conduct may be so serious that it warrants dismissal. However, that is the same workplace penalty suffered by SAS and commando soldiers who have been found to have repeatedly lied about their own role in war crimes only to have it disclosed by others.
The tension comes amid confusion about how the federal police and Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions will work with the new Office of the Special Investigator, which was announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in November to help prosecute those accused of war crimes. The Office of the Special Investigator (OSI), led by former Victorian judge Mark Weinberg, is analysing what information from the Brereton inquiry can be used in criminal prosecutions and what must be withheld because it was obtained under a special power that gives immunity to those who confess to wrongdoing.
However, the OSI is at risk of replicating steps already taken by the Australian Federal Police, which was referred war crimes allegations by Justice Brereton in 2018. Federal police agents have spent almost three years investigating former special forces soldier and Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith, who is accused of multiple war crimes, and are also investigating serious allegations against another soldier known as “Soldier C”.
Shifting these investigations to a newly created bureaucracy is potentially fraught if it causes delays, as witnesses’ memories fade or suspects find opportunities to collude. It may also leave some already traumatised witnesses dealing with new investigators with whom they have no prior relationship or who have no corporate investigation knowledge.
Former SAS soldiers said federal police agents had taken statements and built rapport with key witnesses in 2018 and 2019. Official sources in Canberra said it was unclear how many federal agents would be seconded to the new office, although it would involve at least some of the AFP taskforces set up in 2018 to probe war crimes.
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TGA bans Pfizer, AstraZeneca brand mentions in COVID-19 vaccine advertising
Pharmacies, GPs and healthcare organisations will be banned from displaying advertisements identifying whether they are using the Pfizer or AstraZeneca product in the national COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration, the federal body that regulates medical drugs and devices, has released strict guidelines stopping organisations from developing their own ads for coronavirus vaccines.
Businesses involved in the rollout are welcome to use government-approved materials to inform the public of vaccine availability but must be careful not to add “the tradename and/or active ingredient of the specific vaccine or other information that might enable consumers to identify the particular vaccine or the manufacturer of the vaccine”.
Individuals receiving vaccines will be able to get information on the brand of vaccine they are receiving, but providers will not be able to promote that they are using a particular brand, or compare one product over another.
It comes as the nation’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout begins, with the most vulnerable groups including front-line healthcare workers starting to receive doses of imported Pfizer vaccines this week.
Australia is taking a “portfolio approach” to vaccinating the nation, with doses set to come from a range of companies including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Novavax should that vaccine be successful.
The many options have prompted community comparisons of the vaccines, with Pfizer’s phase 3 data suggesting 95 per cent effectiveness, while AstraZeneca’s data showed effectiveness of around 70.4 per cent.
Health minister Greg Hunt has been clear that the two vaccines currently approved for use in Australia are both safe and effective, however.
“With both the two initial vaccines, the Pfizer and the AstraZeneca vaccine, the international evidence is that the safety impact for prevention of serious illness, hospitalisation, death has been determined to be up to 100 per cent,” he told the ABC on Sunday.
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Geelong police officer Sergeant David Magher found guilty on two counts of assault
A Geelong police officer has been found guilty of assault after kicking a man in custody three times to the side of his body.
Sergeant David Phillip Magher was charged with three counts of assault and suspended in 2018 by Professional Standards Command after kicking Andrew Birch as he was being transferred from a divisional van to a holding cell at Corio Police Station.
After a six-day contested hearing in the Geelong Magistrates' Court, Magistrate John Lesser found Sergeant Magher guilty of two counts of assault and dismissed a third count.
Magistrate Lesser said while in his view the first kick was "unnecessary", he could "not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt the kicking action was not proportionate and reasonable".
"The second and third kicks stand out as of a completely different character to the first," Magistrate Lesser told the court.
"The level of force inflicted on Mr Birch [was] entirely inconsistent with the other members at the time, who had apparently obtained a measure of control of Mr Birch.
"They stood out as gratuitous and unnecessary and could not be justified as reasonable and proportionate use of force. As a result, there can be no justification for the use of force in those two kicks … which were delivered with considerable force.
"In the heat of the moment, Sergeant Magher crossed the line from the reasonable and proportionate … to the excessive and disproportionate and unjustifiable and therefore unlawful use of force on Mr Birch."
On September 21, 2018, then 36-year-old Mr Birch was arrested outside Corio Village Shopping Centre over a suspected armed robbery involving a knife and taken to Corio Police Station.
Security footage from the police station, played to the court, showed Mr Birch lunging towards Senior Sergeant Ian Kerin as he exited a police divisional van.
Sergeant Magher, who has been a police officer for more than 20 years, then kicked Mr Birch as he and Senior Sergeant Kerin pulled Mr Birch to the ground.
Mr Birch received two more kicks from Sergeant Magher as he was lying on the ground on his stomach with his handcuffed wrists pulled straight out in front of him and legs straight out behind him.
Magistrate Lesser dismissed the first kick on the grounds it could have been used as a tactic to make Mr Birch comply but ruled the two other kicks were excessive and unjustified.
Ten police witnesses were cross-examined during the hearing. All officers involved in Mr Birch's arrest agreed he resisted arrest, spat at officers, and screamed profanities.
Defence lawyer Stewart Bayles argued the kicks were "reasonable" and "proportionate" and were used by Sergeant Magher to protect the officers and himself from Mr Birch kicking out and spitting and to stop him from escaping.
In his closing remarks, Mr Bayles told the court a reasonable use of force "should not be equated with perfect or even best practice".
Crown prosecutor Sarah Thomas argued the kicks were an "excessive use of force that was not needed to seek compliance" and were instead used to punish Mr Birch for resisting arrest.
"When you view the video the inescapable conclusion is that these were three acts of gratuitous violence … toward someone who had given the police officers arresting him a hard time," she told the court.
Ms Thomas argued Mr Birch had stopped struggling "many seconds before" Sergeant Magher kicked him the second and third time.
She said all the officers, including Sergeant Magher, appeared relaxed on the CCTV as they prepared to move Mr Birch to a cell.
"The suggestion Mr Birch was on the ground for a lengthy period of time because he continued to be non-compliant, the suggestion by Mr Magher [Mr Birch] was kicking throughout, that was simply not correct," she said.
The court was told Superintendent Craig Gillard and Acting Inspector Michael Ryan reported Sergeant Magher to Professional Standards Command after Sergeant Magher admitted he used capsicum spray on Mr Birch twice during the arrest and told Acting Inspector Ryan: "I just wish I could delete the CCTV."
Mr Bayles argued his client never said that and accused Acting Inspector Ryan of lying.
Sergeant Magher will return to court later this week for sentencing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-23/geelong-police-officer-found-guilty-of-assault/13183434
************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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24 February, 2021
The Brittany Higgins beatup
Bettina Arndt
What a week. My inbox is overflowing with emails from people bombarding me with commentary on the Brittany Higgins affair – comments they uniformly tell me they don’t dare express publicly.
It’s a very telling example of how readily our mainstream media hops onboard the prescribed feminist narrative, silencing anyone who challenges their view on how this should all play out.
For those of you living overseas, or under a rock, Brittany Higgins is a young woman who last week announced, through the media, that she was raped two years ago, when working as an adviser for the Defence Minister, Linda Reynolds.
As the story unfolded, it was used to mount a ferocious attack on the government. Note the timing – coinciding with the arrival of the Covid vaccine, which should have been a high point for the Coalition which is decimating the Opposition in the polls. It is also hardly a coincidence that Higgin’s current partner, David Sharaz, is a former press gallery journalist, now working for SBS and known to be a fierce critic of the government.
My correspondents, many of whom were women, made some very telling points:
“She may well be telling the truth, but the man has been convicted under ‘trial by media’. The same media who've repeatedly referred to the young woman having ‘been raped’ - an emotive term designed to ensure the man is denied the right to the assumption of innocence.”
“Yet another instance of allegation by public announcement which has the effect of creating a smear on all men who work in Parliament house. No proper investigation, no facts.”
“She was 24 years old - not some naive teenager. She was pissed out of her mind, and that’s how she excuses herself from culpability. He was likely pissed out of his mind – but no such excuses allowed there. She was counselled by the Minister to report it to police but didn’t follow through, which fact does not sit congruently with her alleged fear of losing her job. Now we can expect a huge compo claim, backed by all the woke activists. This crap makes me sick!”
“How close to the truth do you think this might be? Young woman starts out on Kingston ‘pub crawl’ with a date. Accepts drinks all night off another bloke from her workplace. She allows herself to get ‘shitfaced’...goes off with the latter in a taxi which stops at PH so bloke can duck into an office to get something. Rather than stay in taxi until he returns, she goes with him for non-work purposes. He signs her in going through security as she does not have her pass with her. They both finish up on a couch in a Minister's suite where they get it on. He leaves her to wear off the night’s activities & goes home to his own bed. She gets sprung sometime later half naked by a security guard. Caught in an extremely embarrassing situation, she makes the excuse ‘I was raped’. Now she is expecting politicians including the PM & others to salvage her dignity by doing what?”
“I notice that now, two years later, she has announced she wants a comprehensive police investigation - ‘in a timely manner as to date I have waited a long time for justice.’ Whose fault is that? Two Ministers urged her to go to the police, she made an initial report and then pulled out because she was concerned it could damage her career. And now this is the fault of the Ministers, The Prime Minister, the system, anyone but her. No one buys this twaddle except the female journalists conducting their ‘believe the victim’ witch hunt aimed at damaging the government.”
“I’ve been thinking about the Higgins business and relating it to the focus on sexual assault in universities. A major campus advocate is Sharna Bremner of "End Rape on Campus" – see below one of her recent tweets, responding to idea that police should have been called. As you can see, she advocates that police only be involved if that is emphatically chosen by the victim - part of being caring and kind. But the problem with that approach is that two years later the victim can change her mind and then the institution is placed in a difficult position - was there a cover up?”
Once again, ordinary people reach their own conclusions but in public remain silent, nervously watching what happens, even to those who do their best to dance to the feminist tune. A Prime Minister ripped apart for “victim blaming” as he bends over backwards to be sympathetic to Higgins, Linda Reynolds in tears in parliament after being savaged for doing the wrong thing when handling the complaint.
And barely a word about Higgin’s acknowledgement that she was so drunk she fell over even before going back to parliament. The rare exception was a carefully-worded comment piece by Jennifer Oriel, which laments our failure to stop “the scourge of rape” but bravely mentions a Royal Australasian College of Surgeons report showing excessive use of alcohol is related to about half of reported sexual assault cases. Drug and alcohol researchers point to large numbers of studies showing sexual assault is most likely to happen if both parties have been drinking.
Brittany Higgins has acknowledged she chose to speak out after seeing the Prime Minister congratulating Grace Tame, Australian of the Year, and a “survivor of sexual assault.” In turn, Higgins’ decision to speak out has inspired two other women to make allegations about the same man – both also claiming to be heavily intoxicated when the events took place – and now a fourth claiming he put his hand on her thigh whilst they were drinking in a favoured bar. And now there’s a petition which has attracted over 2000 testimonials from school girls who claim to have been sexually assaulted.
#Metoo seems to have fizzled out and been replaced by far more potent allegations about men’s abhorrent behaviour. 2021, the year of the rape victim.
Bettina Arndt newsletter: newsletter@bettinaarndt.com.au
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Amendments forced into media bargaining code undermine core principles, reinforce need for tougher regulation
Statement attributable to Chris Cooper, executive director, Reset Australia:
We are concerned that the amendments to the media bargaining code announced today undermine some its core guiding tenets.
It is deeply concerning that a couple of powerful foreign corporations can create such a powerful bargaining position with the Australian Government by holding the distribution of Australian news and information to ransom.
The point of the code was not just to force commercial agreements between the platforms and news publishers, but rather to force agreements that are made under the code. If the platforms and news publishers simply bargain outside the code, the power imbalance will remain and publishers will lack the guarantee the arbitration measures provide under the code.
We are concerned that the Treasurer's amendment shifts power away from fair and objective rules and toward ministerial discretion. Allowing the Treasurer to decide whether or not the code should apply to any given platform at any given time creates enormous potential for platforms to use their outsize power and influence to gain favourable decisions.
Ultimately what we need most are compulsory audits of the algorithms these platforms using to ensure they are complying with this Code mitigating the broader harms we know they create.
Press release. Contact: Chris Cooper 0403 353 621
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Fears illnesses other than COVID-19 will mar 2021 as RSV cases rise in south-east Queensland
The spread of a highly contagious virus with similar symptoms to COVID-19 has prompted warnings that 2021 could be a year of illness and disease as social distancing rules start to relax.
South-east Queensland is already facing a surge of the Respiratory Syncytial Virus, which primarily affects children between 18 months and two years.
Roger Faint, the head of the Sunshine Coast Local Medical Association, said paediatric wards on Queensland's Sunshine Coast had been relatively quiet up until now.
He said the increase in presentations was probably driven by children returning to school. "The hospital wards have not been busy in paediatric wards up until the last month or so," Dr Faint said. "There's been less diarrhea, less pneumonia, and less respiratory infection.
"As time has moved on, people got more relaxed — I suspect that's a large part of what's happening."
The Sunshine Coast University Hospital's emergency department recorded 12 cases of RSV so far this year. There were three during the same period last year and zero the year before.
Most children recover easily, but some suffer from a pneumonia-type infection that can put a small number in hospital.
Some of those will need to be treated in an intensive care ward and ventilated, because their breathing is affected.
Gold Coast University Hospital emergency medicine director David Green said an outbreak of RSV at his hospital was putting pressure on staff.
He said the rise of RSV cases was also impacting the Queensland Children's Hospital and others across the south-east.
Dr Faint said as Queenslanders begin to socialise and mix with confidence, and social distancing requirements continue to ease, there was a risk that 2021 could be a dangerous year for infections, including the flu.
"As those issues break down and we go back to our pre-COVID behaviours, then you're going to start seeing a spike of infections," he said.
Only 6,034 people were diagnosed with the flu in Queensland last year — a 90 per cent reduction on the year before, when 66,135 were diagnosed.
At least 37 people died from influenza in Australia in 2020, down from 921 the year before.
But Dr Faint said Australians now seemed less willing to go to work when they were sick. "Probably only 18 months ago, you were expected to tough it out and go to work if you've got a cough and a fever," he said.
"It may be that way from now on — we expect people to stay home and work from home if they've got a cough and a cold, just to protect our kids or protect each other."
Queensland Health is urging people to get inoculated once the flu vaccine becomes available. "It's vital Queenslanders book in for their flu jab this year," a spokeswoman said.
She said the best time to be vaccinated was between mid-April to the end of May, ahead of winter.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-24/rsv-cases-surging-in-south-east-queensland/13186788
*******************************State Government would face a community backlash if parts of Moreton Island are made off limits
The trepidation so many Australians felt when that ban was placed on walking up Uluru may well have been justified.
Today we have learned that access to a section of Moreton Island in the control of an indigenous group could potentially be restricted.
The information is not yet clear cut. But we do know management of the southeast section of the island is set to be shared between the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation under a new law set to go before the Queensland Parliament.
The QYAC have been unequivocal about their determination to allow the general public to visit and holiday in the area, and urged the State Government to educate non-indigenous people about the reality of native title laws.
“Native title is not accompanied by education or information for the general public, and other users tend to have concerns which are not correct at law and often are very damaging to Aboriginal people,’’ a spokeswoman has said.
But the QPWS have also been unequivocal in their negotiations with tourism operators active in the area _ closure of areas of Cape Moreton are “on the table’’ under this proposal.
It was in November 2019 that the Federal Court formally recognised indigenous ownership of Moreton Island.
Non indigenous Queenslanders have constantly been reassured that native title does not mean they will be barred from the island. But the new legal regime means indigenous owners could develop a monopoly control of tourism in that area recognised by law as in control of native title holders.
That suggests, at the very least, a range of areas could be placed off limits to the general public for traditional or spiritual reasons.
The trek up Uluru was something many ageing Australians had on their “bucket list’’ until October 2019 when it was banned - a ban which appeared to be accepted by the majority, even if some did so grudgingly.
The State Government must be aware that any similar restrictions on access to Moreton Island would not be taken so lightly.
Uluru is thousands of kilometres away in a desert environment. Moreton is a boat ride away, and a regular destination for thousands of Queenslanders, many of whom cherish a lifelong connection to the island.
And if the government is hoping a four-year term is a comfortable enough buffer for the outrage to die down until the next state election, it doesn’t quite understand the nature of its own electorate.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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23 February, 2021
Facebook to reverse news ban on Australian sites, government to make amendments to media bargaining code
Facebook will walk back its block on Australian news sites after the government agreed to make amendments to the proposed media bargaining laws that would force major tech giants to pay news outlets for their content.
The social media giant blocked Australian users from sharing or posting news last week
"The government has been advised by Facebook that it intends to restore Australian news pages in the coming days," a statement from the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said.
In the statement, Mr Frydenberg and Mr Fletcher said the government would make further amendments to the news media bargaining code.
Last week Facebook stopped Australian users from sharing or posting news links in response to the code.
A number of non-news pages were swept up in the ban, including community organisations and the Bureau of Meteorology.
Facebook said in a statement that it was "pleased" the company was able to reach an agreement with the government. "[We] appreciate the constructive discussions we've had with Treasurer Frydenberg and Minister Fletcher over the past week," it said.
"After further discussions, we are satisfied that the Australian government has agreed to a number of changes and guarantees that address our core concerns about allowing commercial deals that recognise the value our platform provides to publishers relative to the value we receive from them.
"As a result of these changes, we can now work to further our investment in public interest journalism and restore news on Facebook for Australians in the coming days."
Mr Frydenberg thanked Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for engaging in "constructive" discussions over the code, saying the company had "refriended" Australia. "It has been a difficult process, but these are really important issues," he said.
The Treasurer said Mr Zuckerberg had told him that he intended to sign commercial deals with news publishers.
"Facebook is now going to engage good faith negotiations with the commercial players," Mr Frydenberg said. "They are pretty advanced with a number of parties."
He said he hoped businesses would "sit at the table" and hopefully sign off on the deals.
Mr Frydenberg also confirmed the government was looking to bring back its advertising on Facebook after withdrawing it in the wake of the news ban.
Seven West Media, Nine, News Corp and the Guardian have all struck content deals with Google to show their content on its News Showcase platform.
Facebook wants to bring its Facebook News service to Australia, but has yet to sign any deals with local publishers.
The amendments to the code include a range of changes, including that final offer arbitration — something both Google and Facebook were strongly opposed to — is considered "a last resort where commercial deals cannot be reached by requiring mediation, in good faith, to occur prior to arbitration for no longer than two months".
Final offer arbitration would mean if a deal could not be reached, both the news publisher and the digital platform would present their proposed deals to an independent mediator, who would then pick one and that would become binding under law.
The Treasurer will also have to give advance notice to a platform if it is going to be "designated" or included under the code, and also has to take into account any deals the company has done.
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Unemployment benefits are about to undergo a major overhaul
The end of the coronavirus supplement is close, leaving jobseekers without a top-up payment.
The government has announced a plan for a modest increase to the base payment, but it falls short of what many have been calling for.
And more will be asked from recipients in exchange for the increase, including face-to-face appointments, more job searches and an intensive training scheme for the long-term unemployed.
Here's what we know so far.
The government has announced a $25 per week increase in welfare from April 1.
This means 1.95 million Australians who are currently on working-age payments will receive a boost, including those on JobSeeker, Parenting Payment, Youth Allowance and Austudy.
For individuals without children, the maximum payment right now is about $282 per week, paid fortnightly.
That will increase to $307, and other payments such as rent assistance and energy supplement will still flow.
However the coronavirus supplement — currently an extra $75 per week — will end so, overall, recipients will be worse off.
Recipients will be able to work slightly more before their payment starts to reduce, up to $75 per week from $53 per week.
The changes will have to pass Parliament before they are implemented.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash announced an increase in "mutual obligations" on recipients on Tuesday.
The government will reinstate face-to-face appoints with job services providers. She said these had been suspended during the pandemic.
The number of job searches a recipient must undertake will also rise from 8 per month now to 15 from April, then 20 from July.
Senator Cash also announced recipients would "enter an intensive training stage" after six months of receiving payments. She said this would be a short course "to enhance their skills or to do some work experience".
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the coronavirus supplement — which gave hundreds of thousands of Australians a financial boost — was temporary and would have to end at some stage.
He has been under pressure from business leaders, civil society and other political parties to increase the rate of the JobSeeker scheme.
On Tuesday he said the increase was "appropriate" as the country recovered from the pandemic. The changes will cost $9 billion over four years.
Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said the government needed to strike a balance. "We need a system that is fair and sustainable for the people who need it and the taxpayers who pay for it," she said.
Senator Cash also raised the supposed issue of recipients declining employment to remain on welfare. She said the government would introduce an "employer reporting line". This is set to allow employers to contact the Department of Employment if a jobseeker declines a job.
Senator Cash warned any reports may be followed up with recipients questioned why they said no. "In the event that they do not have a valid reason, they will be breached for that," she said.
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Anzac Day events to go ahead in Queensland as Chief Health Officer hopes life can 'return to normal'
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today announced ANZAC Day services, parades and commemorations will be held as normal this year.
Last year's restrictions saw thousands of Queenslanders stand on their driveways and light candles to pay their respects.
"Initially we were looking at alternative venues, whether we could do the march around a stadium, around the EKKA, and when we presented this to Dr Young, Dr Young said, 'Everything can go ahead as per normal, as in the past', so this is fantastic news," Ms Palaszczuk said. "This is going to mean a lot to families and veterans."
RSL Queensland President Tony Ferris said he was "overjoyed" at the news and expected this year's parade to be bigger than ever before. "The fact that we now have ANZAC Day back, it's hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck stuff," Mr Ferris said.
"The communities and our veterans will now be able to step out with their comrades and continue down the path of remembering those veterans who have served, those who have given everything and those that are currently still serving."
Dr Young said she was able to approve the return of ANZAC Day marches because of the continued lack of community transmission in Queensland. She said in April last year, there were more than 270 active cases in Queensland — and now the state has just seven.
"We do not have community transmission here in Queensland today, and we probably don't have any community transmission anywhere in the country today and that's what the difference is," Dr Young said. "So that's why we can move forward and quite rapidly really return to normal.
"We've got to start working through what we need to continue to do as we transition to a more normal way of life."
The COVID-19 vaccine has begun to roll out in Queensland, with 203 frontline workers vaccinated at the Gold Coast University Hospital yesterday.
The rollout will begin at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane tomorrow and at the Cairns Hospital on Friday.
Next week it will extend to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, the Sunshine Coast University Hospital and the Townsville University Hospital.
Dr Young said ANZAC Day events would go ahead no matter where the state was up to with the rollout of the vaccine.
"Remember these services are perfect in a COVID environment we know that the risk of spreading COVID-19 outdoors is very, very, very low," she said.
"So for the parades, the dawn services, the vast majority of those more formal events are outdoors.
"Once people go indoors the risk increases but we have processes in place that will continue to be in place."
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Construction union and boss Jason O'Mara threatened businesses to establish a cartel, prosecutors allege
The ACT construction union has been accused of threatening to "run businesses out of town" that did not meet its demands, on the first day of a hearing into charges the union tried to induce cartel behaviours.
Over 40 witnesses are expected to be called by the prosecution, including former union official Fihi Kivalu who previously pleaded guilty to blackmail
The charges against the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) and Canberra boss Jason O'Mara emerged after the trade union royal commission in 2016.
Prosecutor Rowena Orr told the ACT Magistrates Court that in 2012 and 2013 the union negotiated new pay deals, first with a group of steel fixers and later companies involved in scaffolding.
Ms Orr said the five steel fixing companies involved told the union they feared they could not afford the new agreement.
She said her case would show that the union, and Mr O'Mara, then allegedly suggested they could make an arrangement with each other to set a minimum price, so they could afford the changes.
The court heard a similar arrangement was allegedly suggested to the nine scaffolding companies.
Ms Orr told the court she would call nearly 40 witnesses, including for former union figure Fihi Kivalu, who was arrested for blackmail at the Royal Commission. He later pleaded guilty the crime.
Ms Orr said witnesses would tell the court how the minimum price arrangements were discussed. She said some witnesses would also give evidence about alleged comments made by the union leaders, including threats to anyone not sticking to the minimum price. "If the union saw anyone charging below the union rate they would run them out of town," she said.
She said it would be alleged that at one point the union said it would like the companies to send their tender documents to show they were keeping to the rates.
When charges were laid in 2018, the head of the consumer watchdog ACCC, Rod Sims, said cartel activity hurts consumers.
"It's, in general terms, where competitors get together to agree prices, to raise prices, or to restrict supply and have the same effect as raising prices, and that has obvious harm to consumers."
"The penalties … are either up to $10 million per breach, or three times the profit made, or 10 per cent of turnover.
"In terms of individuals, the maximum penalty can be up to 10 years in jail."
The hearing in the ACT Magistrates Court will assess if there is enough evidence for a trial
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-23/cfmmeu-construction-union-jason-omara-cartel-charges/13180530
************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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22 February, 2021
Covid Medical Network doctors issued with cease and desist by Therapeutic Goods Administration
A group of Melbourne doctors critical of the Andrews government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic have been hit with a “cease and desist” notice from the nation’s medical goods regulator.
The Covid Medical Network (CMN) – which has labelled the banning of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as an early coronavirus treatment option “unwarranted” – received the notice from Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration.
The CMN, which is based in Melbourne, has also raised doubts over the use of PCR tests, as they only give a positive or negative result rather than how infectious someone is.
The group has also claimed prolonged mask use could be harmful to someone’s health.
The Covid Medical Network confirmed on its website that it had received a formal “cease and desist” letter from the TGA to take down the “Early Treatments” section from its website.
“They have construed the information to be a form of advertising,” the doctors said.
“We are currently consulting with our lawyers and the TGA regarding how best to provide the information in a manner that would not reasonably be construed as advertising the medications associated with the safe and effective treatment of early COVID illness.”
The network also has a disclaimer on its website that advises people that any medical information is “merely information – not advice”.
It says the information on its website was for “educational purposes only” and should not be “construed in any way … (as) providing medical advice, promoting or advertising medications such as Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin and Doxycycline”.
“Research into potential treatments and preventatives for COVID-19 is a rapidly evolving space and there is a genuine need to keep consumers informed of research and advances in a balanced and measured way,” the doctors said.
The group of senior medical doctors and health professionals was formed during Victoria’s second crippling lockdown due to concerns over the health impacts of lockdowns in response to coronavirus outbreaks in Victoria and Australia.
They claimed at the time the Victorian government’s response to the pandemic was “doing more harm than good”.
“Many Australian doctors and other health professionals consider the lockdown measures to be disproportionate, not scientifically based and the cause of widespread suffering for many Victorians,” the doctors said.
A spokesperson for TGA noted it is an offence under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 to advertise prescription medicines to Australian consumers.
“The website ... is under review for compliance with the advertising requirements of the Act,” the spokesman said in a statement to NCA NewsWire.
“The TGA issued a warning letter requiring action on February 12. Significant changes have been made to the website and Facebook account.
“Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine are not approved in Australia or by comparable regulators for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19.
“The safety and effectiveness of these medicines for COVID-19 has not been established, and the use of unapproved treatments may cause serious adverse events, or inappropriately delay patients seeking definitive clinical care.
“The National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce, consisting of a large group of independent Australian clinical experts, is continuously updating treatment recommendations based on the best available evidence.
“They are currently not recommending the use of ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 treatment or prevention, outside of properly conducted clinical trials with appropriate ethical approval.”
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Facebook, Google, Twitter release industry code to fight spread of disinformation
Tech companies including Facebook and Google have released the final version of a long-awaited industry code to address the spread of misinformation on their services in Australia.
The release comes only days after Facebook blocked Australians from viewing and sharing "news content" on its platform, leading experts to predict that misinformation would spread more rapidly in the news vacuum.
The code could change the experience of using social media in Australia, with more pop-up warnings about fake news, as well as better systems to report misinformation.
Misinformation is false or misleading information, and disinformation is the same, but spread with an intent to mislead.
In December 2019, the Australian Government asked the digital industry to develop a code to address disinformation. A pandemic later, these companies, represented by the industry association DIGI, have now released a final version.
Under the code, which is voluntary, all signatories commit to develop and implement measures to deal with mis- and disinformation on their services.
The current signatories are Twitter, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, TikTok and Redbubble (an online marketplace for user-submitted art).
The emphasis of the code is on outcomes rather than specific actions: signatories will choose how to best address misinformation on their service.
The code gives examples of what they may do, including labelling false content, demoting the ranking of content, prioritising credible sources, suspension or disabling of accounts and removal of content.
The signatories will each publish an annual report on their progress.
The Australian media regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which is tasked with overseeing the development of the code, criticised this lack of specific measures or targets when DIGI released a draft version of the code in October 2020.
The ACMA has the power to recommend the government introduce mandatory regulation if the code isn't up to scratch.
But commenting today on the release of the final version, which experts say is much the same as the draft one, the ACMA was broadly positive.
ACMA chairwoman Nerida O'Loughlin said she welcomed the code as a flexible and proportionate approach to dealing with mis- and disinformation online.
"The code anticipates platforms' actions will be graduated and proportionate to the risk of harm," she said.
"This will assist them to strike an appropriate balance between dealing with troublesome content and the right to freedom of speech and expression.
"Signatories will also publish an annual report and additional information on actions that they will take so that users know what to expect when they access these services."
Government will be 'watching carefully' for action
The code also contains a range of non-mandatory objectives including having better systems for reporting incidents of misinformation, and disallowing fake news accounts from collecting advertising money.
The final version of the code adds an extra objective that was not in the draft: to provide greater transparency about the source of political advertising on platforms.
Facebook and Google already publish real-time data on how much money parties and other groups are spending on political ads.
Andrea Carson, an associate professor in communication at La Trobe University, said the code was a good start and the companies should be given a chance to show how they will address disinformation.
"It's too premature to speak too much about it until we give the code a go and see how serious and sincere the companies are," she said.
"The platforms are still teenagers and it's taken a while for the laws to catch up and now we're getting into that space."
The ACMA will report to the government no later than 30 June 2021 on initial compliance with the code and its effectiveness.
Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher said the government "will be watching carefully to see whether this voluntary code is effective".
The European Union oversaw the introduction of a voluntary industry code for disinformation in 2018, but is now looking at mandatory regulation.
A May 2020 independent review of the EU code found the self-regulatory nature of the agreement made it difficult for the platforms to be held to account for breaches in the code.
Reset Australia, an organisation working to counter digital threats to democracy, described the DIGI code as "pointless and shameless" and proposed in its place a public regulator with the power to issue fines and other penalties.
Reset Australia Executive Director Chris Cooper said companies such as Facebook were continuing to use algorithms that actively promote misinformation, despite committing to addressing the problem.
"This is a regulatory regime that would be laughed out of town if suggested by any other major industry," he said.
"Industry should never be allowed to just write its own rules."
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Government to escalate Facebook feud by pulling advertising spend potentially worth millions of dollars
The federal government is pulling all its advertising campaigns from Facebook, as the social media platform continues to block Australians from accessing news.
On Sunday, Health Minister Greg Hunt said his department would not be using Facebook for advertising campaigns.
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham, who oversees public expenditure, said on Monday that the ban would be extended across the government.
"My expectation is that we will pull back from advertising while they undertake this type of terrible activity of pulling down sites inappropriately, seeking to exert power or influence over our democratic systems," he told Radio National.
"We won't tolerate that, we will be standing firm on the legislation and looking at all those advertising points."
The government spent $42 million on digital advertising in 2019-20. The ACCC has reported around one quarter of all online advertising expenditure in Australia goes to Facebook, indicating the move may cost Facebook millions.
Speaking today, Mr Hunt said all of the budgeted funds for Facebook ads would be used in some way or another. "Some may be reallocated temporarily," he said. "We will continue to post on that particular channel [Facebook], we just won't be boosting [posts]."
The Health Minister said there were numerous other channels like television, radio and newspapers that the government was using to spread messaging about the vaccine.
The move comes after Facebook blocked news and news-related pages for Australian users last week.
Charity, health and government pages including 1800Respect, the WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services and the Bureau of Meteorology were "inadvertently" blocked as well.
Facebook's decision was prompted by a government bill to force digital tech giants to negotiate with publishers over how much to pay them for use of news in search results or on social media.
Mr Birmingham today said that Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had had further conversations with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
"We'd urge Facebook to acknowledge it should behave as we would expect any other re-publisher of content to behave," he said.
He added the government was committed to the current form of the bill, despite the ongoing discussions with Facebook.
Labor's communications spokesperson Michelle Rowland said she respected the decision to pull advertising, but feared misinformation may spread without the right messaging.
"I wouldn't say that this should be a blanket issue the government should take up," she said.
"There are very sound reasons to advertise in some circumstances and not others. It is unfortunate that this has come about at a time when we are in the middle of a pandemic."
A Facebook spokesperson said the company was engaging with the government on "our ongoing concerns with the proposed law".
"We will continue to work with the government on amendments to the law, with the aim of achieving a stable, fair path for both Facebook and publishers."
Deals between Google and publishers reported last week totalled more than $60 million.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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21 February, 2021
Queensland university students allowed to return to campus
University lecture theatres in Queensland will be allowed to return to 100 per cent capacity in time for the start of classes next week.
A late-night change to public health directions gave the green light for universities across the state to start making plans.
Under the rules, seating must be ticketed and allocated to students.
Other spaces like tutorial rooms and laboratories will not be subject to occupant density requirements but people should socially distance when possible.
Restaurants, cafes, and other businesses operating on campuses must continue to adhere to one person per 2 square metres, and maintain an electronic record of patrons who dine in.
University of Queensland Vice Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry welcomed the updated health directive.
"Uni life is certainly getting back to normal very quickly," Professor Terry said.
Preparations are now underway at the university to ensure the barcode sign in system is in place in time for next week.
But she said online classes would stay in place for the foreseeable future, given the number of students still interstate and overseas.
"We are very conscious of providing obviously as much support for them as possible — we hope as soon as we can to welcome those students back to Australia but conscious obviously of the health advice," she said.
University sector not in the clear yet
Data from Universities Australia showed 17,000 jobs were shed across the sector in 2020.
The University of Queensland had a voluntary redundancy program in place for staff last year, shedding employees at the height of the pandemic.
Professor Terry said while the university could not guarantee there would not be more, enrolment figures were strong and had put the university in a strong position.
The will be 15,000 new students at UQ this year, up from 10,500 in 2017.
"Overall our enrolment numbers are looking pretty good actually," she said.
"We've come into 2021 reasonably optimistic, but conscious of the fact that with the closed borders still in place that does pose challenges for our international students."
Professor Terry said while international student numbers were down, it was to some extent offset by a significant increase in domestic post-graduate students.
"I think graduates out there looking to ensure they're competitive for rapidly changing work environments," she said.
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Daisy Turnbull reveals her secret to raising happy kids
Put away the bubble wrap and get out the knives. Young children need risk in their lives and using sharp knives, lighting candles and falling off scooters are all excellent ways to build resilient, independent and confident young people.
Combating helicopter parenting and a “bubble-wrapped generation” of children, high school teacher Daisy Turnbull has written her first book titled 50 Risks to Take With Your Kids, offering practical suggestions for taking measured risks with your children up to the age of 10.
The daughter of former Sydney mayor Lucy Turnbull and former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, Daisy Turnbull (along with brother Alex, 39) was born in the 80s, a Millennial, who was allowed to ride her bike in the streets after school, walk to the shops without parents on the weekend or, thrillingly, take the bus with a friend to the movies. She remembers her childhood fondly with lots of outdoor play and family time.
Turnbull, 36, now has kids of her own – Jack, 7, and Alice, 4. But times have changed. Parenting has become more risk averse with children more sheltered and more parents who hover protectively. There is also seemingly plenty for parents, particularly mothers, to feel guilty about.
Turnbull says her idea for the book began “as a joke in a WhatsApp chat” in June 2019 with Hardie Grant book editor Arwen Summers, who was working on Malcolm Turnbull’s 2020 memoir A Bigger Picture.
Daisy Turnbull, who is director of wellbeing at independent Sydney girls’ school St Catherine’s and an accredited Lifeline crisis support counsellor, was chatting with Summers about a recent seminar she attended by American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt about resilience.
“Arwen has young kids as well … I was telling her all this stuff about resilience and how we want kids to be resilient,” Turnbull says.
“I said I wished there was a list of things to do for your kids to become good adults and good humans. So I just started writing a list and Arwen said it could actually be a good idea for a book.”
Turnbull began the project seriously in October 2019, finishing in April 2020.
Her 50 risks fall into categories of physical risks (that “may result in minor injuries”), social risks (that make them a better friend, family member and colleague) and character risks (using a child’s inner strength to develop identity and character) and progress in a general ascending order by age.
The first (she admits it might seem like the lamest of risks) is simply to lay your baby on a blanket on the floor while you have a shower or walk away for a few minutes.
For kids aged one to four, she suggests eating sand, playing with sticks, climbing a tree, being bored, getting out of routine, falling off a bike or scooter, and cleaning up their own mess.
Risks progress up to things such as starting conversations with people, learning to use a knife, lighting candles, keeping something alive (such as a plant or pet), going somewhere alone, catching the bus, cooking, writing a thank you note, and sleeping outside.
Her 50 suggested risks aim to do their part in developing children who are “confident, autonomous, compassionate and responsible” and being all-round “excellent humans”.
Turnbull says she is “not a perfect mother” and her children “are far from perfect children”, she writes. “But I do believe in developing autonomy in the kids and raising them to be kind, curious and critical thinkers. We want our kids to develop the skills to pick themselves up when they fall, to know when to ask for help and who to ask, but also to be confident that they can solve a lot of their problems themselves. Let them try, and fall, and fail.”
Writing in the book’s foreword, clinical psychologist Dr Judith Locke says the book gives parents a “crucial to-do list” to support their children in taking essential risks in an age group where parents can “exponentially build children’s future confidence and capabilities”.
Locke says children benefit from facing risks in terms of boosting confidence, learning to cope when things don’t work out and discovering fear is often a sense of anticipation and not something to necessarily avoid. It also increases the confidence of parents.
Turnbull holds a combined Bachelor’s degree in Arts/Commerce, a Graduate Diploma of Secondary Teaching and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies. Her interest in psychology has led her to begin a Master of Educational Psychology at The University of Sydney.
Last year, she separated from her husband James Brown, with the pair adopting a 50-50 co-parenting arrangement. She says she talks to her mum, known as Gaga to her grandkids (the former PM is Baba), every day. They often talk about the differences between generations and parenting styles. “I grew up in the 80s which was riskier in a good way,” Turnbull says.
“There weren’t so many concerns around kids walking down the street or bike riding around the block. On a holiday at (Sydney’s) Northern Beaches one year – I was about 11 or 12 – and I caught the bus with a friend from Palm Beach to Avalon to see a movie. Dad told us, ‘If you hit Wynyard (in Sydney’s CBD) you’ve gone too far, turn around and come back!’
“As a kid, I remember feeling really excited by the responsibility we were given and that we were trusted by our parents.
“For my own kids, I want them to be responsible, resilient, have autonomy and their own sense of judgment. We are learning that the more we over-protect kids, the less safe they feel as adults.”
Turnbull is a great believer in a quote from Jonathan Haidt who has said, “the goal of the parent is to work yourself out of a job”.
“The idea is you do less eventually,” she says.
“Kids should be doing things for themselves but we often forget that we need to teach them how to do those things – whether it’s making their own lunch or getting dressed in the morning for school.
“In (school) teaching you do something called backward mapping – we work out what we want students to be able to do by the time they finish modern history in Year 12. But first we look at what we want to be able to do at the end of Year 10 and Year 8.
“When I was writing the book, I was very much thinking in terms of what you want a Grade 7 kid to be able to do.”
But Turnbull is also adamant she doesn’t want her book to be its own cause of stress to parents who might feel “they now have 50 more things to do”.
“I hope a lot of the risks listed are actually reassuring to parents because they may have already done that with their child or they realise they could go a bit further.”
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Dismal understanding of democracy
The apathy young Australians have for our democracy can be traced to dismal knowledge of essential civics and citizenship.
According to the National Assessment Program – Civics and Citizenship, only 38% of Year 10 students (15-16 year olds) have sufficient knowledge of the importance of democracy and national values.
The report shows that it is not that students are disinterested — it is the call to action that’s evolving. Rather than understanding the implications of their choices at the ballot box, they’re more enthusiastic about joining social movements. They’re passionate about fashionable, progressive causes and influenced by social media rather than traditional sources.
The lack of basic understanding of our democratic system might help explain why the latest Lowy Institute poll on the importance of democracy shows that a significant 45% of Australians adults under the age of 30 would prefer a non-democratic government or are indifferent to the system of government they live under.
It’s little coincidence that young peoples’ declining knowledge about our democracy and nation is matched by diminished appreciation for it. This doesn’t bode well for the health of Australia’s liberal democratic society.
The results of the poll combined with the dire results of young people nearing the voting age proves exactly why we should reject calls to lower the voting age to 16. While it may be motivated by a desire to engage more voices in issues affecting them, it would simply worsen — rather than alleviate — existing problems. Ultimately, this means disenfranchising the rest of the electorate and would likely result in an explosion in protest votes.
Millions of young people will be voting for the first time in the upcoming election. The education system’s civics and citizenship results provide an early detection system for the health of our democracy. The apathy young Australians have for our democracy as shown in the results can be traced to dismal knowledge of essential civics and citizenship.
Having a democratic system of government is envied in many parts of the world. All the more reason that the responsibility is taken seriously as we are to live through the effects of the policies the elected government implements.
https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/dismal-understanding-of-democracy/
************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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20 February, 2021
Why shouldn’t Facebook block news?
A libertarian view
Facebook warned us in September that they would block news. Today they have followed through on their word and you can no longer read or share the news on Facebook. The ACCC wants to force both Facebook and Google to share a percentage of their profits with traditional news outlets, and so Facebook has responded to these new regulations in dramatic fashion.
The government should never force one company to subsidise another—or in this case force two businesses to subsidise an industry.
No one should be shocked Facebook has banned all new sources, both local and international, on Australian Facebook pages. Traditional media wants to use a kangaroo court arbitration system to make money off of the big kids on the block. Any business would struggle to thrive when, at any moment, the government could force them to hand over large portions of their profits to an industry in decline.
Instead of succumbing to the tall poppy syndrome, news outlets need to revamp their businesses models and make a profit. We all agree journalism provides value to society. Newspapers, radio, and television stations simply need to learn how to monetise that value in today’s world.
This new mandatory code of conduct seeks to correct “bargaining power imbalances.” In reality, this is nothing less than Facebook and Google having a successful business model and out-competing news outlets in the race for advertising dollars.
News sites no longer provide as much value to advertisers as media platforms. More people scroll through Facebook and use Google on a daily basis than read the news. These sites utilise mountains of data that help businesses put their products in front of the specific people most likely to make a purchase.
Newspapers simply don’t have those resources, but there remains a high demand for reliable news.
Facebook helps news outlets just like any other business to broadcast their product to millions. Of Australians, 52 per cent get their news from social media.
The ACCC’s regulations would stop millions from easily accessing news content. Hindering the public’s ability to access journalistic sources, would have problematic and compounding ramifications.
Many Australians wouldn’t seek out reliable news sources, but would instead get information second hand through their friends on Facebook. If Facebook were to take articles and other news sources off their site, Australians would become less knowledgeable about current events, less able to make informed voting decisions, and less engaged in issues affecting this country.
An informed public checks government power.
In Australia, government overregulation makes running a business increasingly expensive and risky. The ACCC’s action on big tech is no exception.
The ACCC’s regulations gave Facebook a choice between eliminating news content on its platform altogether or letting corporate news outlets leach, seemingly unlimited sums, off of their profits. Few businesses, even a big shot like Facebook, could survive writing government-mandated blank checks.
The implementation of these poorly thought-through rules would be messy and complex. Beyond that, we should not accept the premise that the government should have the power to force one company to subsidise another. Once the government sets precedent we cannot know where it will end. The parliament of Australia must vote down the ACCC’s regulations.
https://spectator.com.au/2021/02/why-shouldnt-facebook-block-news/
********************************"Millions March" rally against vaccine draws hundreds
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Hyde Park and around the country on Saturday to voice COVID-19 conspiracies and demonstrate against the vaccination rollout as part of the Millions March Against Mandatory Covid Vaccination.
There were 11 rallies around Australia, in Sydney, a group called Australians vs The Agenda helped arrange the gathering and their stated “mission” is to help create “mass-scale awakening of Australian citizens — a fully empowered, conscious and cooperative collective of individuals.”
The rally in Sydney was attended by people with signs such as “coronavirus is a scam” and “vaccines kill”. The convergence of many online conspiracies was evident in the signs and views people held against vaccines, 5G, lockdowns, government and Bill Gates.
Former celebrity chef Pete Evans was the star attraction in Sydney, taking to the stage mid-afternoon, without shoes, to speak about his political aspirations with ex-One Nation senator Rod Culleton’s micro party.
Evans excited the crowd with a speech offering self-determination, “no one is coming to save you, except you”.
“I don’t have the answers,” Evans, who was booted from Instagram for spreading falsehoods about COVID-19 this week, told the crowd. “I will speak the truth. Well, it’s my truth. Everybody has their own truth,” he said.
Anti-vaccine campaigners Frankie Winterstein and Taylor Winterstein told mothers they’re “on the front line” against vaccines as people held signs saying “The so-called vaccine is a permanent DNA modification”.
The crowd was a mix of older people and young families with their children who held signs that either rejected science or promoted independent thought such as “Let me learn to think for myself”.
The crowd was peaceful although in Melbourne several arrests were made.
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Independent schools defy COVID-19 downturn to record fastest growth
The independent school sector grew twice as fast as the public or Catholic sectors during 2020, scotching predictions parents would withdraw children because of the financial pressures caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Nationally, the independent sector - which is the country’s smallest - grew by 2.6 per cent last year, ahead of government schools’ 1.3 per cent growth and Catholic schools’ 1.2 per cent, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show.
Between 2016 and 2020, the independent sector’s market share grew by 9.5 per cent, ahead of public schools (5.9) and Catholic schools (1.5).
Almost two-thirds of the nation’s schools are government-run schools, 20 per cent are Catholic and 15 per cent are independent, ranging from low-fee suburban schools to high-fee grammar schools.
“There was enrolment growth in independent schools across all fee levels, with the strongest growth in low fee [schools] - below $6000 per annum,” Independent Schools Australia said in a statement.
The ABS classifies schools by religion, rather than funding category, so its Catholic data includes schools run by independent Catholic congregations such as the Loreto Sisters, the Good Samaritans and the Jesuits.
However, the federal Department of Education classifies those schools as independent, as they manage their own funding and, unlike local parish schools, are not run by the education offices of each diocese.
When the congregational Catholic schools are included in the independent category, the sector recorded its fastest-ever growth in NSW last year, adding more students than any other, calculations by the Association of Independent Schools NSW found.
AIS NSW chief executive Geoff Newcombe said 71 per cent of new students were enrolled in schools serving low- and middle-income families. “The median fee paid by parents in NSW independent schools is around $5200 per year,” he said.
Federal government predictions suggest independently-run schools will overtake the Catholic diocesan system as the second-biggest education sector in NSW next year.
Enrolment growth in Catholic system schools has been slowing over the past 10 years. The Mitchell Institute has argued that migration could be a factor, as new arrivals are more likely to attend a government or independent school.
Leaders have also blamed fee rises in some dioceses, as well as the sexual abuse scandals within the church.
Catholic education celebrated its 200th anniversary this week, and head of the Australian Bishops’ Commission for Catholic Education, Archbishop Anthony Fisher, wrote to parishioners acknowledging damage caused by the scandals.
“This damaged many children and families, as well as the credibility of church institutions, including schools, in the eyes of many,” Archbishop Fisher wrote. He said trust was being rebuilt as the failings were corrected.
The chief executive of Catholic Schools NSW, Dallas McInerney, said Catholic schools now taught more students than at any other time in its 200-year history, and 2020 enrolment growth in the sector was the strongest since 2015.
“We’ve successfully bounced back in recent years. We are expecting even higher growth in 2021 with many new and upgraded schools. We have invested $173 million in 2020 in high growth areas across Sydney,” he said.
NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos said the number of students in public schools outstripped the other sectors.
“Despite this, and projections showing a boom in public sector enrolments in the next two decades, public schools no longer receive a cent in capital funding from the Coalition government in Canberra,” he said.
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‘Official Socialism’ skulking beneath the cover of Covid
As COVID-19 hit these shores, the country’s medical bureaucrats must have felt like the members of a small and rapidly diminishing cargo cult when they finally glimpsed ships on the horizon.
Propelled onto centre stage, obscure officials suddenly acquired a notoriety rivalling that of ex-royals. With the nation hanging in suspense, their daily reading of the tea leaves received the weight antiquity reserved for the oracle at Delphi, determining whether we could go to work, eat out or travel. And as they lurched between shutting states down and opening them again, most of us, who a year ago could scarcely pronounce “epidemiologist” (much less spell it correctly), quietly accepted their verdict, getting on with life and trusting that governments would do their best.
No doubt, circumstances partly shaped that response. COVID-19 is potentially lethal and relatively contagious; particularly when it first appeared, there were good reasons to fear the threats it posed.
But while it would be wrong to dismiss the public response as irrational, it is clear its extent takes some explaining. Two inter-related trends seem to be at work.
There is, to begin with, a long-term rise in society’s aversion to risk that is apparent not just in social behaviour but in the very words we use. In effect, “security”, as it evolved from the Latin, originally referred not to the absence of risk but to its stoical acceptance as an inescapable aspect of the human condition. In a usage that remained current in most European languages until less than a century ago, to be secure was primarily to be serene: to have the peace of mind needed to face life’s contingencies and ultimate finitude.
Instead, in today’s world, the quest for security involves the demand to eliminate uncertainty, or at least reduce it to the point where the anxieties it causes hardly intrude — and in particular, where death, “the rude touch of the Terrible Surprise” as Philip Roth called it, is cauterised from everyday existence.
At the same time, assuring security became a task not merely for governments but for “experts” — a category that barely existed before the 19th century — and nowhere more so than in health. As enormous strides were made in medicine, health itself was redefined from referring mainly to a subjective condition — the feeling of being well — to an objective state verifiable only through tests carried out by professionals. And with the rise of “public health”, what had been largely an individual concern acquired an ever more pronounced social dimension, embodied in a sprawling network of institutions and regulations. That those trends helped bring improvements earlier ages would have found miraculous is obvious. But it is also obvious that the emphasis on rational, scientific expertise as a basis for legitimate authority had profound implications for social attitudes.
After all, while we submit to power, we defer to authority, where “to defer” means to accord a strong presumption of validity to the statements of those who are regarded as “authorities”. In normal discussion, only the substance of the argument is relevant; in a relation of authority, whether what is said is intrinsically convincing has less bearing than the status of the speaker. Indeed, merely to question the substance of an “authoritative” pronouncement is to claim for oneself the standing that the entire construct of legitimate authority exists to deny.
Kierkegaard, looking back on traditional monarchy, expressed the point succinctly: “Simply asking whether the king is a genius, with the implication that in such a case he is to be obeyed, is already lèse-majesté, for the question casts doubt on his authority.”
And much as Kierkegaard intuited, the transition to contemporary democracy did not ascribe to elected governments — which soon proved fickle, fractious and fragile — the omniscience and omnibenevolence the doctrine of the divine right of kings had attributed to the sovereign; instead, it vested those virtues in science’s official oracles.
Given that transposition, and the desire for complete shelter from life’s perils, the public’s widespread acquiescence in the officials’ dictates should have been unsurprising — the deference reflected shifts long under way. However, that doesn’t make it less troubling, for it is an unfortunate fact that omniscience and omnibenevolence are as sadly lacking among commoners — even when they are highly trained — as they ever were among monarchs. John Stuart Mill’s quip that “some are wise and some are otherwise” applies as surely to public health officials as to anyone else; without effective accountability mechanisms in place, nothing can prevent errors and abuses.
Yet the separation the crisis highlighted between power, which remains the domain of elected governments, and legitimacy, which rests with the expert advisers, dramatically undermines accountability by allowing one to hide behind the other — as has happened repeatedly in all states, but most egregiously in Victoria. And with accountability crippled, deference can readily slide into the passivity that allows authority to morph into its degenerate twin, authoritarianism — an authority that holds itself above being questioned.
That authoritarianism need not be of the brutal Chinese variety. On the contrary, as Tocqueville warned nearly two centuries ago, its more likely form in democracies involves the rise of “an immense, tutelary power”, which by constantly seeming “regular, provident, and caring, keeps [its citizens] irrevocably fixed in childhood, softening their wills rather than breaking them, and thereby reducing the people to a herd of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the loving shepherd”.
Perhaps that is the fate the pandemic foreshadows — the “Official Socialism”, which LT Hobhouse ridiculed in his vastly influential Liberalism (1911) as “a scheme for the organisation of life by the Superior Person”. This was, he said, a regime in which “the aristocracy of intellect which fills the civil service decides for each man how he should work, how he should live, and indeed, whether he has any business to be born”.
Good stuff, in theory, Hobhouse went on to add; but, while the “Superior Person’s way may be much wiser, it is not the ordinary man’s” — and the “ordinary man” is quite fond of making his own mistakes, rather than being told to make someone else’s.
One certainly hopes so; yet authority once gained is not readily relinquished. Moreover, comparing our experience, viewed as a whole, to that elsewhere, many Australians might draw the lesson that it hasn’t been as dreadful as all that. With the desire to be cradled from risk as potent as ever, those ships the Superior Persons were anxiously awaiting may indeed have finally arrived.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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19 February, 2021
The authoritarian Green/Left
A note from a reader in Victoria
Access to many beaches and sections of coastlines, river banks, walking and vehicular tracks through state forests, climbing sites,... all about the country and particularly in Victoria, one by one, are having public access banned, mostly for two reason - supposed safety reasons and because they are Aboriginal sacred sites.
Many miles of my own favourite coastline in western Victoria, The Kraggs, now has access banned because Aborigines used to collect shellfish there. Therefore no one is allowed to walk along the rocks and beaches there anymore.
Parts of the Grampians and Langi Ghiran National Parks near me have been made illegal to enter -- no public access -- either because the area was significant to Aborigines or with no explanation.
Venturing into state forest and National Parks in my area, it is not uncommon to be stopped by Vic Parks workers and grilled on what I am doing there. In a State forest near where I live I have even had my perfectly legal little cooking fire quenched, even though it was winter time and cold and wet, and the billy can tipped out, told to put my dog in the car, told I had no right to be there and told to leave.
I refused. Eventually they left. One of my martial art students worked for Vic Parks but resigned because he could not tolerate the us-and-them authoritative attitude of his colleagues towards the public.
In contrast with that, a radical leftist authoritarian greenie friend is applying to work with Vic Parks because she wants to "save nature from humans". She frequently utters opinions such as, "People should not be allowed to do that", and, "That should be banned."
Authoritarian freedom-hating greenies and leftists are attracted to working in Parks. They want to keep everyone except themselves out of the parks
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Secondary school students should be better taught Australian values, Indigenous history and citizenship studies to increase their knowledge of and engagement with civics and democracy, a bipartisan parliamentary report has urged
This is badly needed but the devil will be in the details, of course
An 18-month Senate inquiry into Australian nationhood, national identity and democracy has called for a wide-ranging review of the curriculum and the specific inclusion of more content about First Nations history and issues of citizenship for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
But the inquiry failed to reach a unanimous position on overturning the controversial laws which prevent dual nationals from being elected, which led to 15 MPs resigning during a constitutional crisis in the previous term of Federal Parliament.
Several recommendations - which were not all supported by Coalition members of the committee - also included proposals for engagement with the Uluru Statement from the Heart, increased public funding of political parties and candidates and a federal anti-corruption commission.
The inquiry was established in September 2019 against a backdrop of rising populism around the Western world and a perceived weakening of traditional institutions, often linked to global events such as the Global Financial Crisis in 2007, the election of former US president Donald Trump and Britain’s exit from the European Union.
The bipartisan committee agreed that schools should increase the time dedicated to civics and citizenship education to at least 30 hours a year, the topics should be compulsory in years 9 and 10 and be conducted by “appropriately trained” teachers. It would include resources developed by First Nations people and be made more engaging for students.
The civics and citizenship curriculum would be reviewed five years after its implementation to assess its effectiveness in increasing knowledge and engagement of young people, the report recommended.
Chaired by veteran Labor senator Kim Carr, the review made 18 recommendations including providing prospective citizens with an “engaging and informative” history of Australian democracy and system of government as part of their citizenship preparation process.
He said the report is a snapshot of Australia at a turbulent time in its history and that of the wider world.
“What is undoubtedly true is that the level of civic engagement and debate in this country is disturbingly low,” Senator Carr said.
The report, released on Tuesday night, recommends the federal government improve educational and school programs to tackle prejudice and build tolerance and “understanding, empathy, and an openness to diversity”.
The committee also recommended that the Australian government works with the journalists union, the Australian Media Alliance, to develop a national strategy to tackle fake news and misinformation. Coalition MPs on the committee, however, urged caution against any proposal which limits or regulates free speech and said the government had already taken steps through its digital platforms code and proposed online safety bill.
Labor and The Greens supported a recommendation the government investigate options to allow dual citizens to run for, and sit in, the Federal Parliament, but it was rejected by Liberal senators Sarah Henderson and Paul Scarr.
The crisis in the previous Parliament, arising from section 44 of the Australian Constitution, which prohibits parliamentarians from having allegiance to a foreign power, especially citizenship, cost several MPs their careers and brought the government to the brink.
In a dissenting report, senators Henderson and Scarr said they were troubled by the notion a dual citizen could sit in Parliament. “The act of renouncing citizenship is an act of renouncing allegiance to a foreign power; it is not a rejection of one’s heritage or multicultural origins,” they said.
“Yes, we agree that Australia imposes a strict approach to political citizenship. However, this we believe helps to engender the trust and confidence of Australian citizens in their political representatives, which is a fundamental tenet of our parliamentary democracy.”
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Presbyterian church head says Victorian ban on gay conversion practices should be ignored
The head of the Presbyterian church in Australia says its pastors will not be directed to obey the Victorian government’s new law banning gay conversion practices, calling the bill “a declaration of war on scripture”.
In an interview with Guardian Australia on Thursday, the moderator general of the Presbyterian church in Australia, Rev Peter Barnes, called the bill – which passed Victoria’s parliament earlier this month – “authoritarian” and said the church would ignore it on the basis that church leaders “don’t get our instructions from parliament house”.
“Civil authorities have a God-given right to govern, I’m not questioning that, but its authority is not open-ended,” he said.
“If the government passes legislation I don’t think is wise, that’s one thing. You’re not going to please all people all the time. If I think they should lower taxes but they raise them, I still pay my taxes.
“But there are limits, and this legislation puts itself very obviously against scripture. It was a declaration of war against scripture.”
The bill, which passed the parliament in February, outlaws practices that seek to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Penalties for those found to have engaged in conversion practices resulting in serious injury face penalties of up to 10 years jail or up to $10,000 in fines.
The bill also empowers the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to investigate reports of suspected conversion practices.
Advocacy groups including the Brave Network, the LGBTQIA+ committee of the Uniting church in Australia and Rainbow Catholics lauded the bill as the “world’s most significant achievement in legislation curtailing the diabolical influence of the conversion movement”. During a marathon debate on the bill in parliament, Labor’s Harriet Shing – the first openly lesbian member of Victorian parliament – said the bill helped to “recognise the pain and the trauma and the hurt of victims and survivors”.
The bill goes further than one passed in Queensland last year in that it prohibits harmful practices not only in healthcare settings but also in religious settings.
This includes “carrying out a religious practice, including but not limited to, a prayer-based practice, a deliverance practice or an exorcism”.
A number of religious groups opposed the bill when the Victorian government put the proposal out for consultation in October last year, or pushed to have it cover only conversion practices deemed to be carried out without consent.
That report quoted survivors of conversion practices who spoke about the lasting impact it had on their lives and mental health, including one anonymous submission which discussed feeling “shame to such a degree that my mental, physical and spiritual health all suffered” and experiencing “suicidal ideation” after attending a prayer therapy group which sought to fix the person’s “sexual deviance”.
Barnes published a statement on the church’s website earlier this month entitled “Where to from here?” after the bill passed. In it, he wrote that the church was “obliged before God to preach all that He has revealed to us, whether law or gospel, and to do so in a spirit of love and truth”.
“There is nothing unique in such legislation. When King Darius exceeded his God-given authority, Daniel did ‘as he had done previously’,” he wrote.
Asked by the Guardian on Thursday whether that meant he was advocating in favour of ignoring the legislation he said: “I’m saying that and a lot of people feel the same way.
“The official policy of the church is to preach the whole counsel of God – I was just saying that’s what we signed up for.”
During the debate around the bill, religious groups distanced themselves from older practices including electro-shock treatment or aversion therapy, and Barnes said he had “never heard of that happening”. But he said if someone “comes to me and asks me to pray for them or help them” he would not “turn them away”.
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One Nation's Malcolm Roberts calls for law making it easier to sack workers
The One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has called for legislation to simplify small business pay arrangements, allow them to more easily sack workers and defend unfair dismissal cases.
Roberts’ submission to the Senate inquiry into the Coalition’s industrial relations omnibus bill underscores the difficulty the government will have in winning crossbench Senate support for the bill.
The industrial relations minister, Christian Porter, has removed the most controversial plank that would have allowed pay deals that leave workers worse off, but all five crossbench senators have expressed other concerns.
Roberts submitted that the bill “could directly hurt everyday Australians and many Australian businesses”.
The One Nation senator complained that the award system of minimum entitlements “does enormous damage to small businesses” because “it is highly confusing, difficult to interpret and lacks the flexibility that small businesses need”.
He said small businesses were “constantly at risk of failing to meet their obligations” due to “the myriad of entitlements and varying rates of multiple applicable awards”.
“A simple small business modern award which links coverage to number of employees could make identifying the correct entitlements for employees much simpler, reducing the risk of underpayment, which is to employers’ and employees’ benefit, and will ease the administrative burden and anxiety of uncertainty for small businesses.”
A simpler award was one of the central demands of small business groups in the roundtable process but was rejected by Porter in favour of incremental changes more likely to pass the Senate.
Roberts noted that under the Howard government’s WorkChoices regime, businesses with fewer than 100 employees were exempt from unfair dismissal cases, but after the Fair Work Act was introduced claims “increased substantially”.
Roberts argued that businesses paid workers “go away money” because it was not commercially worthwhile to defend a case or engage in arbitration, “even where an employer believes they had good reason to dismiss an employee”. “This approach represents a failure for the current IR system.”
Roberts called for the small business code – which allows small businesses to sack workers on the spot if they have “reasonable grounds” to believe they have committed serious misconduct – to be “strengthened”.
The government must “ensure protections for small to medium business from costly court action that they can’t afford”, he said.
Roberts called for the provision allowing eight-year pay deals for new work sites to be extended to second-tier construction companies to enable them to grow. Unions oppose extension of greenfields agreements because they prevent workers renegotiating mid-project to win higher pay.
Roberts called for a “full review” of industrial relations laws after 12 months.
He shares concerns with the union movement and the independent senator Jacqui Lambie about the provision allowing employers and employees to determine who is a casual, regardless of whether they have regular and systematic hours.
Roberts submitted that “casual workers in the black coal industry earn less than their permanent counterparts” and workers cannot plan their lives, such as getting a mortgage or accessing paid leave.
“If left unchecked, we predict that there could be an explosion in casualised labour in the mining sector and beyond.
“Australian employers could be inappropriately enticed to shift their workforce to a labour hire model that will further weaken employees’ legal rights.”
The independent senator Rex Patrick told Guardian Australia it was “very unorthodox” for Roberts to make a submission to a Senate committee he himself can sit on.
Patrick has called for the bill to be split up, warning it will be difficult for Porter to win three of the five crossbench votes. He said he had “considerable concerns” about the remainder of the bill but would judge it if and when Porter won agreement from two of the other crossbenchers.
Lambie has warned that the bill encourages casualisation and deprives long-term casuals of the entitlements of permanent workers.
Stirling Griff has said Centre Alliance also has concerns about the clause that allows employers to use “the excuse of Covid” to change the location and duties of work for two years.
“We don’t see the reason for any form of extension of jobkeeper flexibilities: there are issues with the recovery in Victoria but not the rest of Australia,” he said.
On Thursday the Australian Council of Trade Unions president, Michele O’Neil, warned that the omnibus bill “is not fixed”.
O’Neil said the bill made “permanent changes” to the bargaining process, allowing employers to put proposed pay deals to staff without explaining them, and the 21-day time limit for the Fair Work Commission to approve deals amounts to a “tick and flick”.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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18 February, 2021
Governor General's staff to be asked to do woke 'privilege walk' so they can identify how entitled they are
Encouraging humility in people is fine and dandy. It's an important part of Christian teachings. But centering it on race is obnoxious. It is our personal characteristics we need to feel humble about. Making us feel humble about our race is a distraction. Like people, races can have both their good and their bad sides but no individual is responsible for either
It seems like only yesterday that Leftists were loudly condemning racism. Now they seem determined to bring it back. Condemning a person solely because of his/her skin colour was always stupid and obnoxious and it still is, whether the colour is black, white or brindle
The bureaucrats have been signed up to do bizarre activity which may require them to identify how privileged they are, but it has been criticised by previous participants as being too personal.
The exercise will require staff to step forward or backwards depending on their answers to prompts such as whether their parents have been arrested or addicted to drugs.
The training is run by Charles Sturt University (CSU), with over 330 staff at the Australian institute completing the exercise in 2019 and offering mixed feedback, reported The Daily Telegraph.
One participant remarked 'facilitators need to acknowledge some people may find the issues raised in the privilege walk (and open disclosure) too personal'.
Another said 'I think the walk of privilege needs more work - questions should be contextualised a little more'.
Some staff members described it as 'confronting but valuable', 'very effective', and 'interesting and revealing'.
In variations of the activity, attendees have been asked whether parents told them they were 'beautiful, smart, or successful', if they feel comfortable with others knowing their sexuality or if they worry about crime or drugs in their neighbourhood.
Questions around family may include whether parents have been incarcerated, been addicted to drugs or alcohol or are still married.
The exercise was developed from a 1998 essay by academic Peggy McIntosh titled 'White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack'.
The article used a backpack full of tools and maps as a metaphor for the advantages Ms McIntosh said white people have over others.
Psychologist Michael Mascolo wrote in Psychology Today that the activity can backfire and make people at the front of the 'privilege line' feel defensive.
He said while some people 'experience an enhanced awareness and appreciation of how they have been advantaged' others are offended and feel 'personally blamed'.
The exercise is one component of unconscious bias and inclusivity training run by CSU.
A spokesperson from the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General told The Daily Telegraph the 'training is not mandatory.'
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Another woke joke: Furious fans slam 'Kaftan Queen' fashion designer Camilla Franks' latest clothing collection featuring the Union Jack because it 'glamourises colonialism and genocide'
Fashion designer and self-confessed 'Kaftan Queen' Camilla Franks has come under fire for incorporating the Union Jack in her latest collection, with fans blasting the fashion icon for 'glamourising colonialism'.
Some of Australia's biggest influencers packed the opulent launch of the Mad Manor collection on Monday, including Tammy Hembrow, Ruby Tuesday Matthews, Tegan Phillipa and Nikki Westcott.
Photos and Instagram Stories show Franks donning a Union Jack blouse, with Union Jack bunting lining the walls of the Gold Coast luncheon.
But social media users were quick to call out Franks for using British themes in her garments, accusing the celebrated designer of disrespecting the plight of Indigenous people.
The launch was held just two days after Australia's National Sorry Day, which commemorates former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the stolen generation.
Reality TV podcast 'So Dramatic' posted a screenshot of a now-deleted post by @wethe_wildones, run by influencers Lucy Kate Jackson and Nikki Westcott, posing in Union Jack-themed garb and captioned 'back to our roots'.
'Influencers at Colonial-themed party with Union Jack clothing on Stolen Land, one day after the the national apology is not a vibe,' So Dramatic captioned the screenshot.
The gossip podcast's call-out post kicked off the wave of criticism, with hundreds of fans slamming not only Franks, but guests who attended the event.
'There's a lot of cultural borrowing from this brand, it's just tone deaf. How can they be inspired by African tribal and Native influences while holding onto a vision that represents British imperialism?' Said another.
The party was held on February 15, just two days after Australia's National Sorry Day which commemorates the day former prime minister Kevin Rudd apologised to the stolen generation.
The Mad Manor collection is described as where 'social worlds collide', combining 'ethereal dames, posh aristocrats, counter-culture icons'.
'Each dressed with particular aplomb, this season we explore all the eccentric characters so intrinsic to the English narrative,' the Camilla website states.
The 44-year-old designer was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer in 2018, just three months after welcoming her first child Luna.
In an emotional Instagram post shared in October 2019, Camilla said her battle with the disease left her in the loneliest place 'she has ever been'.
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Jobless rate continues to tumble despite COVID lockdowns
The normal Australian rate is just over 5% so 6.5% is remarkably good
Australia’s jobless rate fell to 6.4 per cent in January as 29,000 jobs were created across the country to start the new year despite a string of state-based COVID lockdowns.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday reported the jobless rate edged down by 0.2 percentage points, with solid falls in the nation’s two largest jobs markets, NSW and Victoria.
Economists had been expecting an unemployment rate of 6.5 per cent.
The ABS said full-time employment jumped by 59,000 while part-time jobs dropped by 29,800.
Over the past year, full-time employment is still down by 62,900 while part-time is up by 17,300. Part-time employment now accounts for almost 32 per cent of all jobs.
There was a 34,300 drop in the number of unemployed people to 877,600. Total unemployed is up by 156,000 over the year.
Scott Morrison believes the economy is rebounding despite concerns over what will happen when government assistance runs out at the end of March.
Youth unemployment was unchanged at 13.9 per cent while the participation rate edged down by 0.1 percentage points. The national underemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage points to 8.1 per cent and is now lower than before the pandemic recession.
ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said seasonally adjusted hours worked dropped 4.9 per cent between December and January due to more people taking annual leave over the Christmas and new year period.
“After a tough 2020, more Australians than usual took leave in the first two weeks of January, particularly full-time workers,” Mr Jarvis said in a statement.
“This fall in hours worked is different to the falls across April and May 2020, which resulted from the restrictions in the labour market, rather than people taking leave.”
There was a fall of 86 million hours worked over the month, or about 5 per cent, over January.
Mr Jarvis said this figure “reflects some ongoing effects of recent lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne”.
Across the country, the jobless rate in NSW fell by 0.3 percentage points to 6 per cent while it slipped by 0.2 percentage points in Victoria to 8.3 per cent. There is now a large gap in the participation rate in the two states, with Victoria’s rate 1.4 percentage points higher than NSW.
The biggest fall in unemployment occurred in Tasmania, dropping by 1.1 percentage points to 5.9 per cent.
But it jumped by 0.7 percentage points in both South Australia (to a national high of 7.1 per cent) and in the ACT which still has the country’s lowest jobless rate of 4.4 per cent.
There were 3.7 million employed people who worked fewer or zero hours due to annual leave, holidays or other leave arrangements in January.
But there were also 102,900 employed people who worked zero hours for economic reasons. This was down from 766,700 at the height of the pandemic in April.
In December, there were 64,700 workers who had zero hours of work over the month for the same reason.
While there were shutdowns over the Christmas and new year period and restrictions on travel, the ABS said the 40,000 rise was in line with what was seen in January 2020 before the pandemic.
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Liberal party frustrated as National party's energy revolt gains another backer
A Nationals revolt on climate change has gained support from the party’s Senate team in a challenge to Prime Minister Scott Morrison on whether to allow a new $1 billion fund to invest in coal and nuclear power.
Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie is joining the push to amend the government bill to set up the fund, arguing the law should be “technology neutral” rather than limiting options.
The move throws support behind former party leader Barnaby Joyce, who infuriated the Liberals on Tuesday night by preparing an amendment in the lower house to allow the fund to invest in high-efficiency, low-emissions coal-fired power stations.
Senator McKenzie told Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack of her plans on Tuesday night and has support from upper house colleagues including former resources minister Matt Canavan.
The Nationals senators were preparing to make their move on Wednesday to test the government on whether to allow the changes to a bill that has been planned for months, but the divisions forced a delay in the debate.
The government withdrew the bill from debate and is considering whether to bring it to Parliament in weeks or months to come, with some backbenchers speculating it could be delayed until May.
Liberal MPs are privately fuming at the Nationals’ move, arguing federal funds should not be put into new coal-fired power stations, but are avoiding public comment on the grounds a stoush would hurt the government.
Senator McKenzie said the government amendment needed to be changed. “The amendment is too narrowly focused, backing only one energy source for emission reduction,” she said.
Mr Joyce opened the policy dispute by lodging a formal amendment in Parliament to use a $1 billion Grid Reliability Fund, administered by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, to build a coal-fired power station.
Mr Joyce said his bill did not compel the CEFC to fund coal power but removed a restriction which prevented it from backing the energy source. “It’s not an obligation to do so, people can make a choice,” Mr Joyce said of his coal amendment. “But it shouldn’t be ruled out.“
Mr Joyce’s amendment would permit high-efficiency low-emissions coal plant projects to apply to the fund, which he said would boost greenhouse gas reductions. “Our largest sale as a nation is fossil fuels, like it or not, and I can’t see anything to change that,” he said. “The greatest thing we could do for emissions reduction is devise a technology for efficient use of coal.”
The bill the Nationals want to amend was brought to Parliament in August by Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor.
It would enable the CEFC to administer a new Grid Reliability Fund, which he said was needed to develop new energy projects and support reliability in the electricity network.
Mr Taylor told Parliament the bill would “not divert the CEFC’s existing $10 billion allocation” but would create a “trusted counter-party to investments, allowing the CEFC to support private sector involvement” in energy generation.
The CEFC welcomed the proposed changes, saying “critical infrastructure could be funded through the fund to improve the energy grid’s generation capacity and reliability”, and noted gas investments “may be technically eligible for funding” even without changes to legislation.
Labor climate change and energy spokesman Chris Bowen said delaying the bill was a “humiliating backdown” for the Morrison government.
“This now means the government is divided over exactly how many fossil fuel technologies the Clean Energy Finance Corporation should support – just gas, as proposed by Taylor, or gas and coal,” he said.
“The government announced the Grid Reliability Fund 15 months ago. Now, let alone deliver reliable cheap energy for Australians, the government can’t deliver a debate on the fund in the Coalition-controlled House of Representatives.”
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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17 February, 2021
Popular walking track that leads to an extinct volcano visited by thousands of hikers every year is set to be closed to protect the sacred Aboriginal site
Why should primitive superstitions govern what ordinary Australians do?
A popular walking track visited by more than 100,000 hikers every year is set to permanently close due to issues surrounding the cultural significance of the Aboriginal site as well as safety concerns.
The Mount Warning trail in the Tweed Valley in northern New South Wales could be shut to tourists as early as next November, state government documents have revealed.
The national park which is traditionally known as Wollumbin, leads to a breathtaking extinct volcano and welcomes hikers from across the country and around the world.
But documents shared by a pro-climbing blog, Right To Climb, have revealed the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) have planned a 'Final Wollumbin Closure Event' for the end of November next year.
The track has been closed since March last year due to Covid-19.
It was supposed to open up again to sightseers in May, 2021, but this is now under review.
A document titled, the 'Wollumbin National park Closure - Communications and Engagement Plan', suggested the trail needed to be shut due to an 'extreme risk of failure' from the chain that climbers cling onto in the last 100m of the summit.
An engineer who examined the chain in August, 2020, insisted the climb be closed in six months 'as the risk of further accidents or fatalities from a catastrophe failure is very high'.
The document also described the track as a 'sacred place of the highest significance' to the Indigenous community.
For years Aboriginal elders have called for the walking track to be scrapped, similar to the recent closure of the rock climb at Uluru.
'Current generations of Aboriginal Elders and community representatives see it as their responsibility to ensure sacred sites are protected and the traditional Lore and associated cultural protocols are upheld by all people,' the document says.
'Desecration, litter and toileting, particularly around the Summit is causing unacceptable physical and cultural impacts and damage.'
Mount Warning quickly become a track to tick off the bucket list for keen hikers because the peak's summit is the first place to see the sun in Australia.
For this reason the attraction is especially popular on New Year's Day and has sprouted a bustling mini-tourism industry in the Tweed Valley area.
But the influx of visitors hasn't sat well with many who have called the area home for centuries.
Bundjalung Elder Robert Corowa earlier said the closure of Uluru gave him hope the same thing would be seen at Mount Warning.
'I am very motivated by what I've seen at Uluru … we've been trying to pull the chains down and stop people climbing it for years,' Mr Corowa told The Courier-Mail in 2019.
'I'm ashamed to go there … it makes me really sad to watch people climbing it. I don't want to let people think they've got the right.'
The document said an interim closure would 'allow NPWS to consult with the Aboriginal community and key visitor economy stakeholders to deliver alternative experiences and plan a permanent closure due to ongoing safety risks and visitor impacts on Aboriginal cultural values'.
Marc Hendrickx, who runs the blog Right To Climb, has been left outraged by the 'bombshell' documents which he believes misleads the public over the safety issues of the track.
'Mt Warning/Wollumbin National Park is one of our Nation's true natural jewels and it is being treated as a political football by bureaucrats and Aboriginal groups,' the geologist and seasoned climber said.
The potential closure of yet another popular walking track comes after the world famous rock climb at Uluru was scrapped.
In October 2019 thousands of tourists flocked to Uluru to climb the monolith before a ban on climbing was introduced on October 25.
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If net zero emissions cost one job, then I’m out
By James McGrath (a Liberal Party Senator for Queensland)
As a senator I will not vote for any policy, target, or “measure” that comes at a cost of Queensland jobs. Likewise, I won’t vote for anything that hurts businesses in Queensland which is why I am sceptical about the rush to net zero emissions by 2050.
The Prime Minister’s recent statement that he would “prefer” to reach net zero emissions by 2050 kicked off discussion about climate change, international politics and our economy.
While these conversations leave some breathlessly tapping away on Twitter like semi-house trained woodpeckers, as a regional senator, I left home in January and I haven’t yet returned as I’ve been on the road listening to workers. Workers who know that zero emissions by 2050 is part of some bumper sticker strategy of the left who want to virtue signal rather than bring forward solutions.
I have seen these discussions play out around the patios and the local pubs and bowls clubs in regional Queensland. The message is loud and clear.
At the heart of the un-costed 2050 target should be a focus on jobs. Particularly jobs in regional Queensland. If we lose one job or one business then we should not support the targets. I won’t and neither should you.
The green left continue to drool on about “shutting down” coal mining as though it will provide an silver bullet to a long-term global problem. Any long-term plan for emission reduction should focus on opening up greater opportunities for Australians, particularly in regional areas.
If we are to make a plan for the next 30 years, the best way for us to have reliable and cheap energy in Australia while reducing our emissions is with a mix of coal, gas, renewables and nuclear power. This offers strong opportunities for us to take advantage of our resources, supercharge regional economies and build a more sustainable future for all Australians.
Jobs and businesses are more important than lefty claptrap bumper stickers about unrealistic targets.
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Google, Nine agree commercial terms for news content
Google has agreed to pay Nine Entertainment Co more than $30 million in cash annually for the use of its news content, in a major breakthrough for the search giant and media company ahead of the introduction of new bargaining laws.
Industry sources familiar with the talks, who spoke anonymously because of non-disclosure agreements, said Nine had signed a letter of intent with Google overnight for a deal worth more than $30 million in cash annually for five years. A final commercial agreement could be struck in the next fortnight and is expected to be larger than the deal Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media struck with Google earlier this week.
Nine is the owner of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
The sources said the five-year deal is for use of news articles on a variety of different products such as Google News Showcase and Subscribe with Google, a product that helps news outlets engage with subscribers, but a revenue sharing deal for use of content on YouTube is not part of Nine’s arrangement.
The agreement is significant because it covers content from Nine’s major newspapers, television, radio and digital assets, and will provide enough funding to support the newsrooms for the company. It will also mean Google will not be forced into a risky arbitration process with Nine under the government’s new media bargaining code, which will be debated in Parliament today. Google had previously threatened to turn off its search engine in Australia if the government did not revise aspects of the code.
Nine is the largest domestic media company to date to sign a letter of intent with the $1.8 trillion search engine giant. Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media announced at its financial results it has signed a letter of understanding with the tech giant for use of its content, a deal which Seven sources say is valued at more than $30 million. The terms of the arrangement were not disclosed, but industry sources have indicated a proportion of the money is in advertising credits and a revenue sharing agreement for use of content on YouTube.
The deals that Google will strike with companies such as Nine and Seven are not for use of content in search. However, organisations have been willing to accept them in principle because the amount of money on the table is worth the same, or a similar amount, to what a company would have received for appearance of content in Google search.
Industry sources said on Monday that letters of intent between Guardian Australia, Nine and the ABC were imminent. Guardian Australia and the ABC could both sign deals for their content as early as today. Talks with other outlets such as Daily Mail Australia and News Corp Australia are ongoing. News Corp, which owns a string of papers in Australia as well as The Wall Street Journal and The Times of London, is expected to sign a global deal for its content.
Any agreements struck by Google are crucial for the tech giant as it waits on the Federal Parliament to debate the media bargaining code legislation this week, which would force it and Facebook into mandatory arbitration with news outlets for payment for value they obtain from having news content in newsfeeds and search results.
If the letters signed by Nine and Seven turn into commercial agreements, they will allow Google to avoid a risky arbitration process, but media executives still believe the legislation is crucial to ensure tech companies pay for news content and contribute to funding public-interest journalism. It will also prevent Google from backing out of the arrangements.
“We continue to have constructive discussions with the digital platforms and when we have anything to announce we will do so to the ASX as is appropriate,” a Nine spokesperson said.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed the federal government had agreed to make some technical amendments to the bill on Monday following discussions with Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and Google boss Sundar Pichai last weekend.
He has also said he is waiting for deals to be signed before deciding whether to make the code applicable to Google’s search engine and Facebook’s main newsfeed, or through news licensing products Google News Showcase and Facebook News.
News Showcase is a newly launched product available through Google’s news app. Google pays publishers for certain behind-the-paywall articles that then appear on the platform. The deals with Nine and Seven are in addition to already struck commercial deals with local publishers for its Showcase product, including Crikey, The Saturday Paper and Australian Community Media, publisher of The Canberra Times.
Google’s ability to agree to terms with Seven and Nine will shift the focus to Facebook, which is yet to sign an agreement for the value it gains for news content on its platform. Scrolling through Facebook’s main newsfeed and looking up articles on Google search are the main ways people find news content online.
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A Melbourne bookstore recently suffered a sudden if somewhat retrospective infection with the dreaded “wokeness” virus
This occurred when it announced that it regretted promoting an appearance by controversial feminist author Julie Bindel three years ago.
In a statement, Readings bookshop said it apologised for “any hurt caused by highlighting the work of an author whose current stance is to divide our community.” Bindel does not believe transgender women are “real women” or that trans women who have not had surgery should be allowed in female spaces in places like hospitals, prisons and refuges.
You might think that she had a valid point but it was not one that the left wished to hear so Bindel was uninvited, three years after she spoke.
“Readings have cowardly capitulated to bullies,” Bindel said.
Someone who might agree with this summation would be Israel Folau who for one brief moment in time last week was a chance to take to the rugby league paddock in the colours of St George-Illawarra. Folau, of course, committed the grievous sin of voicing his conservative Christian views on homosexuality and then compounded it by quoting the Bible.
The St George-Illawarra opportunity vanished as quickly as it had appeared. It seems those who practise freedom of speech are not part of the “inclusiveness” of which the NRL is so ready to boast.
If only Folau had followed the fine example set by “included” rugby league players and gone to a nightclub, got drunk, groped a few women and started a fight, then all may have been forgiven.
The real shame of it all is that weakness has become a virtue.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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16 February, 2021
A new $20m hydrogen plant in Australia is part of an ambitious green agenda
We read: "LAVO™ is a solar sponge, using patented hydride to store hydrogen in metal alloy to enable the world’s first, long term capture, hydrogen battery within a secure vessel."
From what I can gather this is an extremely inefficient way to store low voltage DC current. Who would want that? It's a clever way to bypass the need for a massive pressure vessel but the "battery" is a massive object too and it would be hard to use the output
An Aussie firm that has pioneered one of the world’s first hydrogen energy storage systems plans to establish a foothold just outside Brisbane.
We learned on Monday that Sydney-based tech outfit LAVO expects to start production next year at a $20 million plant at Springfield.
Work on the facility, which will kick off later this year and create about 200 jobs, is just one part of a larger and highly ambitious green agenda promoted by Springfield City Group co-founder and boss Maha Sinnathamby.
Costing nearly $35,000, LAVO’s batteries are about the size of a big refrigerator, last up to 30 years and can be connected to solar panels, using the power to create hydrogen from water. The company also makes hydrogen-powered household goods.
They are part of a fast-growing global shift to renewable power, with the current $US150 billion a year spent on hydrogen expected to soar to $US2.5 trillion by 2050.
LAVO’s new outpost will be based at Springfield’s 40ha Vicinity business park and help the city achieve the lofty goal of producing more energy than it consumes by 2038.
“LAVO has the first and only commercial-ready hydrogen energy storage system in the world designed for everyday use by residential homes and businesses,’’ Sinnathamby said.
“We will work closely with LAVO to identify co-development opportunities, including the integration of LAVO technology into utility scale solar farms developed in Springfield City.”
Late last year Sinnathamby, in collaboration with French power group ENGIE, vowed to commit $3.1 billion to make Springfield “the world’s greenest city’’.
That means the current population of 46,000—which is expected to triple over the next 20 years—will all get their power from renewable sources and have access to electric vehicle charging stations.
Hydrogen-powered buses will provide public transport, solar panels are set to proliferate and at least a third of the city should remain as green space.
Meanwhile, Sinnathamby is also ramping up pressure on the federal government to help fund a range of initiatives that could create 20,000 jobs and help kickstart the post-COVID recovery.
He lobbied deputy PM Michael McCormack in person late last week for Commonwealth financial backing for at least a dozen shovel-ready projects in a planned new 120ha “knowledge and innovation district’’ expected to pump around $12 billion in to the economy by 2026.
McCormack, the Minister Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, toured Springfield for the first time and pored over a model of the city with Sinnathamby and his colleagues.
Accompanied by Senator Paul Scarr, he also met with a group of two dozen players in the health, education, defence and IT spaces across Queensland.
McCormack seemed pretty impressed with what he called the “national and internationally significant development going on in Greater Springfield’’.
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Australian National University hope to introduce gender-inclusive education
Utter nonsense that will go nowhere
Staff at Australian National University in Canberra have been asked by academics to stop using the word 'mother' and instead say 'gestational parent', alongside a list of other bizarre changes.
In a bid to introduce gender-inclusive teachings, ANU's Gender Institute Handbook also asked for fathers to be referred to as the 'non-birthing parent' and 'breastfeeding' to be replaced with 'chestfeeding'.
'Mother's milk' was also said to be replaced with 'human or parent milk'.
'While many students will identify as "mothers" or "fathers", using these terms alone to describe parenthood excludes those who do not identify with gender-binaries,' the handbook, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, reads.
'This non-gendered language is particularly important in clinical or abstract academic discussions of childbirth and parenthood, both to recognise the identities of students in the class, and to model inclusive behaviour for students entering clinical practice.'
Staff have been asked to 'correct' themselves if they accidentally use the wrong terms. 'Language habits take practice to overcome, and students respect the efforts you make to be inclusive,' the guide read.
But a spokesman for ANU, Australia's top ranked university, said the document is not an official policy of the institution.
The spokesman said the handbook was produced by experts who are allowed to 'research in their field of expertise under our policies on academic freedom'.
The changes come a week after a hospital in the United Kingdom told staff to use terms like 'birthing parents' and 'human milk' rather than just referring to 'mothers' and 'breast milk' to avoid offending transgender people.
Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust unveiled a blizzard of 'gender inclusive' phrases in a drive to stamp out 'mainstream transphobia'.
The Trust is the first in the country to formally implement such a radical overhaul for its maternity services department - which will now be known as 'perinatal services'.
Other changes include replacing the use of the word 'woman' with the phrase 'woman or person', and the term 'father' with 'parent', 'co-parent' or 'second biological parent', depending on the circumstances.
It said: 'Gender identity can be a source of oppression and health inequality. We are consciously using the words 'women' and 'people' together to make it clear that we are committed to working on addressing health inequalities for all those who use our services,' a policy document read.
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Minister says country has ‘human duty’ to stranded Australians
Health Minister Greg Hunt has argued the country has a “profound human duty” to help Australians abroad return home after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews questioned the practice.
Minister Hunt said there are “mums and dads coming home to see their sons and daughters, children who have been studying overseas, families that have been separated, people coming home to say goodbye to loved ones, some themselves who may have terminal conditions”.
It comes after Premier Andrews suggested Australia lower its arrival numbers and needed to have a “cold, hard discussion” of how best to keep new variants of COVID out of the country.
“With this UK strain – and we haven’t even got on to South Africa yet, because it’s just as bad – should we be halving the total number of people coming home?” said Premier Andrews last week. “Or should it be a much smaller program that’s based on compassionate grounds?
“That’s a conversation we should have, particularly given that we’re so close to being able to vaccinate those who, if they get this, will become gravely ill.
“It’s not for me to make announcements about how many Australians get to come back to Australia. That’s for the federal government. What I’m saying is the game has changed.
“This thing is not the 2020 virus. It is very different. It is much faster. It spreads much more easily.”
Meanwhile, The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that the federal government is on the verge of striking a deal to enlarge the quarantine facility in Darwin, currently accepting repatriations from selected government supplemented Qantas flights.
The centre is currently taking 850 people but has rooms for more than 3,000. Its capacity is currently limited by staff and health facilities needed to quarantine returning Australians.
“We have so far struck two deals with the Northern Territory and a third one is very close but it is simply dependent on their capability assessment of what is the safe carrying capacity for the third stage of the Howard Springs facility,” said Hunt.
On Monday, Australia’s arrival caps returned to their previously higher December 2020 levels, which were cut at the start of 2021 following a second COVID cluster in Sydney.
From 15 February, NSW will return to its weekly cap of 3,010 and Queensland to 1,000.
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The Australian property market is booming but the gains are generating a lot of debt
The Australian housing market is going gangbusters and all the signs are the boom is here to stay.
When property data firm CoreLogic tracked 1,191 auctions last weekend, it found 86.1 per cent of properties that went under the hammer sold, a 2.3 per cent increase on the week before.
The company’s head of research, Tim Lawless, says it is a result not seen since 2015.
“When auction clearance rates are high, you expect house prices to be rising and vice-versa,” Lawless said. “At the moment we’re seeing clearance rates well above 80 per cent. The last time we saw the same was in 2015, but you have to go back a decade to see auction markets as strong as this.”
House prices continued to grow strongly through January with CoreLogic’s Home Value Index recording price growth of 0.9 per cent nationally and regional areas growing at rates double that recorded in cities.
Nerida Conisbee, chief economist at global real estate company REA Group, said the situation was driven by a combination of cheap money, a high savings rate among those who held onto a job through 2020, a receding pandemic and an exodus from densely populated cities into regional areas.
“You’re watching a realignment as people work out where they want to live and where they want to be employed,” Conisbee said.
“The recession we saw with the pandemic is not quite like what we’ve seen elsewhere in the GFC where it was finance-led. What that’s meant for property is there’s no shortage of money. Interest rates are at incredible lows and those who had jobs were forced to save during rounds of lockdowns.”
However, while property values in regional areas like south Queensland and northern New South Wales have been growing, Conisbee said units and apartments in city areas have remained flat thanks to lower migration.
“When you have a look across Australia, you’re seeing price growth everywhere, but at a suburban level, particularly those closer to universities, rents have dropped and values have dropped,” she said.
The activity comes off record low interest rates of 0.1 per cent, a situation the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) expects to hold until 2024.
RBA governor Philip Lowe shrugged off any concerns that the country may be facing the start of a new housing bubble earlier this month, saying the growth was good news for an economy recovering in the wake of the pandemic.
“There’s a lot of focus at the moment on the fact that housing prices are rising again, and the stock market has been strong,” Lowe said. “Well, the national house price index today is where it was four years ago … and the equity market, we’re back to where we were at the beginning of last year.”
Other key factors include the government’s pandemic response plan.
To date, around 82,000 homeowners have subscribed to the homebuilder scheme at a cost of $2 billion, while other initiatives like the cash-flow boost program directly injected sums up to $100,000 into small-to-medium businesses earning less than $50m a year.
Prof Hal Pawson from the University of New South Wales said this “cheap money” has been a big driver in the recent price spike – and one that may prove disadvantageous to renters and those living in regional areas.
“Cheap money is the most important thing by far,” Pawson said.
“It’s the ability to take out $150,000 more on a mortgage than you could have had a year ago on the same salary. The concern about this is that, for lower income earners in regional locations, they’re going to be put under pressure as the result of these changes and it doesn’t flow through [to renters] immediately.”
The federal government is looking to boost the situation further by winding back responsible lending laws, Martin North, the principal of Digital Finance Analytics, said. The gains were not without risk as they relied on the “massive” creation of new debts, he added.
“Scott Morrison said three years ago he wouldn’t let prices drop and that is proving to be true, but we’re building these rises off the back of massive debts.
“Banks are lending six or seven times average incomes. They’re doing what they were doing before the royal commission. This is an unsustainable and a highly risky extension when we should be investing in more sustainable or longer-term solutions.”
Dr Cameron Murray, a post-doctoral fellow at the Henry Halloran Trust at the University of Sydney, said what is happening in Australia has to be seen in a global context.
Even without the pandemic, he says, the world is experiencing a global housing boom, while central banks everywhere have come to view the housing market – and the associated consumer spending – as a key plank of their economies.
“Our macro-stabilisation policy works by juicing house prices,” Murray said.
“This is a policy most central banks have adopted. Secondly, we’re just at that point in the cycle. The best parallel to the situation now is 2004. I think we’re in a very similar phase right now. Sydney boomed early, then it tapered off. Then the rest of the country shot up for four years in line with the broad global house price cycle.
“The economy runs in cycles and a lot of regional Australia hasn’t been through that boom cycle. Now it’s their turn.”
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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15 February, 2021
Scott Morrison to tear up Victoria's controversial Belt and Road deal with China in just a few weeks as declares there is 'no benefit' to Australia
Two fingers to China. Their attempt to bully Australia is a complete flop
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has claimed Victoria's controversial Belt and Road Initiative agreement with China has no benefits.
Victorian Premier Dan Andrews signed a memorandum of understanding in 2018 with China relating to its mega, $1.5 trillion 'One Belt, One Road' policy, but the deal - which would have given Beijing's funding and control of key Victorian infrastructure - came under heavy criticism.
Now the PM looks to have confirmed that particular deal is all but over, sending Andrews a blunt message on its future.
'I haven't seen the benefits of it,' Mr Morrison said to the Herald Sun. 'If there are benefits, what are they and what was paid for them? I don't have the answers to those questions at this point, but the assessment of those arrangements will continue.'
Andrews, and other state premiers and chief ministers, must detail to the commonwealth all agreements made with foreign powers by March 10.
Andrews has so far defended the agreement and had promised it would mean 'more jobs and more trade and investment for Victorians', but there has been concerned state deals could become a back door to foreign nations increasing their influence.
Morrison confirmed his desire to see Australian federal policy driving all foreign relations. 'That's a very important principle … There has to be consistency when national governments deal with other national governments,' Mr Morrison said.
'We didn't agree with it in the first place, still don't agree with it, and no doubt decisions on that will be made in due course,' Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said of the Victoria-China agreement.
The intervention was made possible when Federal legislation was passed in December allowing the foreign minister to review and scrap state, territory, local council and public university deals with other nations.
China responded by accusing Australia of 'putting bacteria' in the relationship between the two nations after Morrison tabled the new legislation.
When asked in Beijing on Thursday about the Australian government's plan to tear up Victoria's deal, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian sang the praises of the initiative and lashed out at Canberra.
'We hope Australia will view such cooperation objectively and reasonably, and stop putting bacteria into this relationship and do more to improve our mutual benefits,' The Australian reported. 'China's cooperation with the Victorian state under the BRI has enhanced the benefits for people on both sides of the deal.'
Australian National University Professor Rory Medcalf argued premiers and first ministers need the best possible advice on foreign interference and a greater say on Australia's national security policy, as rival countries 'show no respect for the niceties of federation'.
This included security issues related to critical infrastructure, as well as those associated with espionage, propaganda and cyber threats.
Professor Medcalf says federal security briefings to state-based counterparts - such as those which occurred on the BRI - are not always taken seriously enough, often because state officials are not cleared to hear all details.
According to the Lowy Institute, the Belt and Road Initiative is motivated by strategic as well as economic factors.
'The combination of strategic and economic drivers is not always easy to reconcile,' wrote Peter Cai, the institute's Project Director, Australia-China Relations.
'In some cases, China's strategic objectives make it difficult to sell the economic aspects of the initiative to China's neighbours.'
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Australian churches on collision course with the government over AstraZeneca vaccine
Major churches are at odds with authorities over the AstraZeneca vaccine, with religious leaders telling parishioners they are entitled to request a different jab but the federal government saying most people won’t have a choice.
Religious concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine arise from its use of decades-old aborted fetal cells in the development process, which is common scientific practice that some Christians find objectionable.
The stoush could frustrate or delay attempts to inoculate the country against further COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns as authorities prepare to start the vaccine rollout later this month.
While Australia will import 20 million Pfizer doses for high-risk populations, most Australians will be offered the AstraZeneca jab, with 50 million doses to be made locally and expected to begin in late March. A third vaccine, Novavax, should be available later in the year pending clinical trials and regulatory approval.
Catholic and Anglican archbishops told The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age that while it was ethical for people with concerns to take the AstraZeneca vaccine if necessary, they should be entitled to request a different jab.
On Friday a spokesman for Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher said he was a strong advocate of vaccinations but “like any medicine they must be safe and ethically obtained”. “Fortunately, the Novavax and Pfizer vaccines will be made available in Australia, they seem if anything to have higher success rates, and they are morally uncompromised,” he said.
“Anyone who is concerned about the ethics of the AstraZeneca vaccine should be confident in requesting an alternative, but also be confident that it is not unethical to use the AstraZeneca vaccine if there is no alternative reasonably available.”
A spokeswoman for the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli said the church would clarify its ethical position on the vaccines next week, but in the meantime referred to his remarks in a letter to the faithful last year.
“Where there is a choice, we encourage people to use a vaccine that has not been developed using human fetal cells deriving from abortion,” he wrote at the time. “The bishops accept that the use of an ethically compromised vaccine is acceptable if no other option is available.”
Sydney Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies was among the religious leaders who signed a letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison last year complaining the AstraZeneca vaccine “makes use of a cell line cultured from an electively aborted human fetus”.
“I was one of the church leaders who urged the Prime Minister to give Australians a choice, in order to assure the highest vaccination rate possible,” Archbishop Davies said on Friday.
“I welcome the fact that the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for distribution in Australia since this vaccine is free from ethical concerns in its production. This is a matter of individual choice for each Australian but I want to encourage widespread vaccination in our population throughout 2021.”
Asked about the archbishops’ comments, the federal health department referred The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age to remarks by secretary and former chief medical officer Brendan Murphy on February 4 in which he said most people would not have a choice of vaccines. “In the main, there won’t be a choice, and I think both vaccines are extremely good, and I would be very happy to have either of them,” Professor Murphy said.
About 70 per cent of Australians report some kind of religious affiliation in the census, including about 50 per cent who identify as Christian, though not all would hold concerns about abortion or the use of an aborted fetus in vaccine production.
A spokesperson for Australian Christian Churches, which has more than 375,000 Pentecostal followers, said the ACC “does not hold an official ethical position on the use of vaccines and encourages individuals to make a decision based on personal conscience”.
Church newsletters have also contained commentary raising concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine. For example, in the December issue of the Sydney Anglican magazine Southern Cross, Bishop Chris Edwards warned of “problems” with the vaccine due to its use of the aborted cells. “The ethical issues around this are very complex,” he wrote.
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Australia suspends travel bubble with New Zealand after Auckland lockdown
Australia has suspended its quarantine-free travel arrangement with New Zealand following the detection of COVID-19 in a couple and their daughter in Auckland at the weekend.
After initially saying there would be no change to the travel bubble, Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly convened an urgent meeting late on Sunday with the chief health officers from NSW, Queensland and Victoria.
“It was decided at this meeting today that all flights originating in New Zealand will be classified as Red Zone flights for an initial period of 72 hours from 12.01am on 15 February”, a statement from the Department of Health reads.
“As a result of this, all people arriving on such flights originating within this three-day period will need to go into 14 days of supervised hotel quarantine.
“The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee will consider further updates from New Zealand tomorrow and provide advice to the Chief Medical Officer regarding the management of travel arrangements between New Zealand and Australia.”
It comes after New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a snap three-day lockdown on Sunday night following the detection of the new cases, New Zealand’s first since late January, when a returned traveller tested positive after leaving quarantine. At the time, Australia temporarily suspended the travel bubble with New Zealand and mandated 14-day hotel quarantine for arrivals.
The news comes as NSW recorded its 28th day without a local case of COVID-19, its longest stretch since the pandemic began.
During an earlier press conference on Sunday, Professor Kelly said that, for the time being, there would be no change to the green-zone flights coming from New Zealand as the risk was perceived to be “very low”.
“But of course we will and we have looked at what those exposure sites are in New Zealand and we’ll be looking at that for anyone coming across the border from New Zealand,” Professor Kelly said.
However, in the later statement, he said he had convened an urgent meeting with the chief health officers of states to discuss the three-day lockdown.
“States will determine how to manage people who have already arrived in Australia from New Zealand and who may pose a risk of transmitting the COVID-19 virus,” the statement reads.
“The National Incident Room will assist states and territories by seeking relevant flight manifests.”
Caps on international arrivals in a number of states, including NSW, are also set to return to previous levels on Monday after being cut by half in January following the emergence of a highly contagious strain of the virus in the UK.
Weekly arrivals were capped at 1050 in NSW, 500 in Queensland and 512 in Western Australia for a month, after a national cabinet meeting on January 8.
On Monday, those caps will return to previous levels of 3010 people a week in NSW and 1000 people in Queensland. Western Australia’s cap will remain at 512.
However, Victoria has temporarily stopped accepting international arrivals during its lockdown. Its cap was originally due to increase from 1120 to 1310 on February 15.
A NSW Health spokesperson said strong arrangements were in place between multiple government agencies, including NSW Police, to effectively manage the return to the previous daily arrivals cap.
NSW’s 28-day milestone came amid new requirements that anyone who returned to NSW from Victoria after midnight on Friday, February 12, must comply with the five-day “circuit-breaker” lockdown in place in Victoria after more than a dozen cases were linked to a cluster originating at the Holiday Inn quarantine hotel at Melbourne Airport.
“The previous longest stretch without local cases was 26 days, when there were no cases diagnosed in the reporting cycles between 8pm on November 6 and 8pm on December 2,” NSW Health reported on Sunday.
NSW has recorded no new local cases of COVID-19 for 28 consecutive days, the longest stretch of no community transmission since the start of the pandemic.
“While this milestone is pleasing, it does not mean we can drop our guard. Cases are present in other states and are regularly being detected among international travellers arriving from overseas.”
Lyn Gilbert, a professor and senior researcher at the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity at the University of Sydney, said the chances of the infection spreading to NSW were “quite small” but the state’s success in maintaining no community transmission would depend on contact tracing and luck.
“In NSW, we’ve got a pretty good record of finding people who are contacts but there’s always a possibility that it will spread, it’s a tricky virus,” she said.
“It’s always a combination of a really good system and fast responses and, to some extent, luck. And this is just going to have to continue until everyone’s vaccinated and even then, the vaccine won’t have 100 per cent uptake or effectiveness.”
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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14 February, 2021
Goodbye Andrew O'Keefe
Bettina Arndt
For those of you who haven’t followed this story which broke late January, Andrew O’Keefe was a former Channel Seven host but, more importantly, one of the founders of White Ribbon, a domestic violence organization which recruits men to denounce violence against women.
O’Keefe has been out there for years promoting misinformation about domestic violence, denying women’s role in family violence, and twisting statistics to promote feminist myths shaming men. Here’s Mark Latham [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OQsnFqckx0] debunking O’Keefe’s misrepresentation of our official statistics. And you might enjoy Latham having a very lively few rounds with O’Keefe here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQxC7iCP6Ac]
I had my own run in with O’Keefe when I was involved in organizing media interviews for the filmmaker Cassie Jaye, when she was in Australia speaking at an international men’s issues conference and promoting her movie The Red Pill. O’Keefe was then one of the hosts on the breakfast show Sunrise, and blatantly lied during the interview with Jaye, claiming they hadn’t been sent the movie. I then released the email correspondence with their producer from many weeks before, which included links to the documentary.
Watch O’Keefe’s appalling attack on Jaye. This performance almost led to him being fired, after over 10,000 people signed a petition demanding he lose his job. But he survived… until now.
O’Keefe’s chickens come home to roost
On Jan 31, came news that he’d been charged with domestic assault of his partner, Dr Orly Lavee. According to The Daily Telegraph, police will allege O’Keefe punched Dr Lavee in the face, pulled her hair, kicked her in the back of her legs and spat on her.
Channel 7 immediately threw him under the bus with an announcement that he was no longer with the network, stressing that he had departed before getting into this spot of bother.
Next came White Ribbon hastily explaining that, “White Ribbon Australia went into liquidation in 2019 and was relaunched under new management in 2020. Andrew O’Keefe has no role in this new chapter of White Ribbon Australia that has seen many changes to our approach and activities. We stand in solidarity with every victim and survivor of men’s violence against women, and believe men who use violence must be held to account.”
O’Keefe’s lawyer announced Dr Lavee’s allegations would be contested in court, stating that “O’Keefe was certainly not the aggressor in the situation. And Dr Lavee will have a lot to answer for.”
Orly responded that she was devastated that O’Keefe had implied she was the aggressor. “It was a reckless thing for the lawyer to say and is totally baseless,' a Lavee friend told the Daily Mail.
You may like to watch Janice Fiamengo's new video commenting on the whole saga. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jq9Ws5O5dk]
So, here we are. Who knows the truth about what happened that night in Lavee’s Randwick apartment? Perhaps O’Keefe is telling the truth and wasn’t the aggressor, or at least not the only one?
But this arrogant male feminist is about to discover he’ll be up against it convincing the courts, let alone the press, that he, a man, is telling the truth about what happened. He’s about to learn that whatever happens, most people will believe Dr Lavee with the result that his reputation, his career, his life will never be the same. Like men across the country, he’ll learn the consequences of the dangerous feminist rhetoric he’s been promoting for nearly a decade.
For me, the most amusing aspect of all this was that all the initial news stories mentioned the fact that Andrew O’Keefe in 2017 had received an Honours award, in part for his work with White Ribbon. But not one press story demanded his award be rescinded. Not one editorial, not one ABC commentator. Not one word from the Attorneys General and politicians who lined up to condemn me for allegedly misrepresenting the truth about domestic violence.
The deathly silence from the woke, finger-wagging NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman is particularly telling.
Bettina Arndt newsletter: newsletter@bettinaarndt.com.au
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Cornavirus pandemic making students anxious, depressed, with suicide fears, new report finds
National Mental Health Commission chief executive Christine Morgan yesterday warned the COVID-19 pandemic is making young Australians anxious and depressed.
Ms Morgan, who is also national suicide prevention adviser to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, said children and young people are suffering due to repeated lockdowns, lifestyle restrictions and disruptions to school and sport.
“I’m concerned about increases in self-harm among young people – that is a sign of distress – and I’m concerned about … suicidal risk,’’ she told News Corp Australia.
Commission data reveals that Lifeline, Kids Helpline and Beyond Blue fielded a record 112,000 calls for help last month – 23 per cent more than in January 2020, before the start of the pandemic, and 38 per cent more than in January 2019.
Ms Morgan said high school principals had raised concerns about the “increasing number of young people at risk’’.
“For teenagers, this is the time in your life when you’re finding your place, pushing against parental restrictions and wanting to find networks,’’ she said.
“A lot of that has been impacted not just by lockdowns but a sense of ‘my future is being impacted by something I can’t control’.
“(The COVID-19 restrictions) impact on their ability to engage with others, to make choices, it impacts their families, their school and their future.’’
Australian Education Union president Correna Haythorpe said all schools need qualified counsellors on staff, as children and teenagers wait months to see psychologists or psychiatrists for help with high anxiety or depression.
Ms Haythorpe said a “significant number’’ of teenagers had dropped out of school as a result of COVID-19 shutdowns last year.
But she warned there were not enough school counsellors, or outside psychologists and psychiatrists, to “make sure students have access to the help they need’’.
“Teachers shouldn’t give psychological advice – they should refer students to appropriate services, but we need to have the appropriate services in place,’’ she said.
“There is not enough provision of services.’’
“We need to have fully trained and qualified counsellors in schools, with teaching qualifications, who can work with children around anxiety and mental health issues,’’ she said.
“At the end of last year teachers were chronically fatigued in terms of the pandemic, looking after student health and wellbeing, and managing their own needs.’’
Stress on teachers during the pandemic has also been exposed by University of Sydney Associate Professor Rachel Wilson, in a study for the Centre for Strategic Education.
The study found that teachers were overworked with extra hours, student welfare issues and paperwork, and anxious about the risk of catching COVID-19 in classrooms.
At least half of teachers were not confident students were learning well, and felt most students were “not positively engaged’’ with online classes.
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NSW dumps education proposal to let students progress at their own pace
The NSW government has abandoned one of the boldest recommendations in the NSW Curriculum Review, dumping a proposal for “untimed” syllabuses that let students progress at their own pace instead of grouping them by age.
The plan grew from concern students were moving ahead without mastering key skills, but Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the government would instead reduce syllabus content to give teachers more flexibility to help students falling behind in their class.
Ms Mitchell said 200 expert teachers had been recruited to help with the curriculum reforms by advising on whether the new syllabuses work well in the classroom. The first new syllabuses, for kindergarten to year 2 maths and English, are due to be taught in schools from the beginning of next year.
“Streamlining and updating the curriculum is more than just removing content – the curriculum needs to be ‘teachable’ in the classroom, so as to enable teachers to meet the needs of their students,” Ms Mitchell said.
The NSW Curriculum Review, which was billed as the biggest in 30 years and involved two years of consultation and preparation, made three key recommendations when it was handed down last June: cutting content, streamlining the HSC, and ‘untimed syllabuses’.
Professor Geoff Masters, the review’s chair, said untimed syllabuses would involve redesigning content so students could progress at their own pace rather than being grouped according to their age and studying a two-year, stage-based syllabus.
Professor Masters’ concern – one echoed by many teachers – was that huge differences in ability within each year group led to some students moving forward without grasping key concepts, which left holes in their learning and some were unable to ever catch up.
But there was little detail about how this might work in practice. The government accepted the proposal “in principle” when the report was handed down, but said it would seek further advice from the NSW Education Standards Authority.
Ms Mitchell told the Herald that the stage and year-based syllabuses would remain, but reducing the amount of content would give teachers more time to ensure students of different abilities were across the concepts they needed before moving forward.
“While we will be retaining a year and stage-based syllabus, by streamlining and decluttering we will give teachers far more bandwidth and flexibility to teach students at various stages,” said Ms Mitchell.
Secondary Principals Council president Craig Petersen said he was not surprised by the decision to abandon untimed syllabuses. “They’re good in theory – the idea students progress as they achieve the outcomes,” he said. “There’s no point getting you to do calculus in year 11 when you can’t even do multiplication yet.
“The difficulty is, given the current structures and resources, it’s difficult to see how we would do that in practice.”
But Greg Whitby, the head of the Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta, said the exciting element of the curriculum review had been “a clarion call to do more than tinker around the edges, and for educators to think completely differently about schools and learning.
“Continuing to segregate learning by chunking students into year groups and stages based on age doesn’t create flexibility – it just puts more barriers around learning.” He also said the state’s best teachers should spend more time teaching rather than less.
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China's trade sanctions on Australian agriculture force farmers to find new markets
Barley growers say they are getting good prices from markets in the Middle East and Asia, while wool, wheat and dairy are largely unaffected by the trade bans and, despite impacts on some abattoirs, red meat sales to China remain high.
Cotton growers are also making some inroads in markets including Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh and the wine industry has been active in finding new markets.
But the lobster industry has struggled to fill the gap caused by the loss of the China market.
The Department of Agriculture will not say what the cost to farmers has been of higher tariffs and unofficial customs bans across a range of commodities, including barley, beef, wine and cotton.
"China has not imposed sanctions on Australian agriculture, fisheries and forestry products," a spokesman said.
It is also careful about how it refers to the row: "Australian agricultural, fisheries and forestry exports faced a number of challenges, including drought, bushfires, COVID-19 and disruptions to regular trade flows for some commodities into the China market."
The National Farmers' Federation has speculated farmers could lose more than $35 billion over the next decade because of the trade fallout, although it is unclear how the lobby group arrived at the figure.
Signs of recovery for barley exports
Eight months after China introduced hefty tariffs on barley, Australia's largest grain handler, CBH Group, says growers are being paid similar prices to when its most valuable customer was buying.
"For the Australian barley industry, yes it has been a tough 2020, but we're certainly recovering here and prices have recovered to basically the same levels as pre the anti-dumping tariffs," CBH Group chief marketing and trading officer Jason Craig said.
On the road back
Jason Craig from CBH Grain hopes a trial to send barley from WA to Mexico will help fill the void left by China.
Mr Craig estimated a bumper 13 million tonnes of barley had been harvested across Australia this summer.
He said strong demand from feed markets in the Middle East and Asia and an Australian-first trial to sell premium malting barley to brewers in Mexico had helped to replace lost trade to China.
"Currently it's one shipment of 35,000 tonnes that's worth more than $10 million, so it's an important trial," he said.
Red meat still selling into China
Exports including, wool, wheat and dairy are so far largely unaffected by the trade spat and, despite some abattoirs being restricted, sales of red meat to China remain high.
In 2020, six Australian abattoirs were suspended from the trade over labelling issues and claims of meat contamination.
A further two meat plants in Victoria are also waiting to resume selling beef and lamb to China after staff were infected with COVID-19, but prices for Australian cattle are at record highs.
"Yes, there was disruption, but the material impact on overall exports wasn't that great," Mr Strong said.
Australia's recovery from drought has seen the price of cattle soar to record levels, and Mr Strong said, "finding a home for beef not going to China isn't a major challenge".
China was Australia's third most valuable market for red meat last year.
"We sent them 197,000 tonnes of beef, so that was the second biggest year by quite a bit that we've sent to China and they were only number three by about 25,000 tonnes less than the US," Mr Strong said.
Cotton spreads risk, returns still high
Australia's cotton industry has diversified since China stopped buying
"It's not all doom and gloom" says cotton analyst Pete Johnson about China's exit from the Australian market.
Cotton growers are also expected to receive high returns for their produce in 2021, as the industry expands into markets across Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Bangladesh.
Australian growers and shippers claim Chinese spinning mills were told last October to stop buying Australian grown cotton, and the billion-dollar a year trade essentially stopped.
Toowoomba-based cotton trader and industry analyst Pete Johnson estimated growers would lose a $10-$20 a bale premium without China in the market, but that returns to growers this year were expected to be "historically high".
"Would we prefer the Chinese were there to take our cotton? Absolutely, but [we are] spreading our risk into a range of other markets throughout the subcontinent and Asia," Mr Johnson said.
"Spreading that risk is ultimately not a bad thing for the industry.
"While the price is good for the growers, and we're able to spread our risk further. It's not all bad news and its not all doom and gloom," he said.
Winemakers look to new markets
In the two months since China introduced tariffs on Australian wine, the value of exports fell by $250 million when compared to the same time last year.
The loss of such a lucrative market is disappointing for New South Wales winemaker Bruce Tyrrell, who spent much of last year looking for new customers.
"We're opening markets in the 'Stans'— in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan," Mr Tyrrell said. "They're not going to be massive, but they're good markets — wealthy countries building their level of sophistication, so as that happens, wine drinking goes with it," he said.
The Australian wine industry will also look to other Asian countries, into parts of Africa and the US.
Mr Tyrrell said 60 per cent of Australian wine is exported, and while it might be nice to think the domestic market could absorb some of the loss, it was unlikely.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-14/farmers-find-new-markets-after-china-trade-spat/13148704
************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
***************************************
13 February, 2021
China loses trust of some its closest allies after punishing Australia
I predicted this. China had been on a charm offensive to the rest of the world and that made sense. But it just needed Morrison to utter a sharp rebuke to China over the coronavirus for Xi to lose it and try to punish Australia. Xi could very easily have simply ignored Australia so Xi must have been thin-skilled to react as nastily as he did.
At any event China has now lost what it had been aiming for -- a good "face". It is now seen as a bully and there is no obvious way back from that. Instead of respect China has now generated hostility to itself
China is losing the trust and respect of some of its closest allies and neighbours who are increasingly worried about the superpower following its punitive trade embargoes against Australia.
Beijing’s anti-Australia measures like blocking our coal have already backfired on a number of fronts, with coal supplies running out, residents struggling to heat their homes in the coldest winter in 50 years, and Australian exports booming as other economies like Japan and India fill the void.
Michael Shoebridge, the director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s (ASPI) Defence, Strategy and National Security Program, told news.com.au the measures were “not about Australia”, rather they were about sending a message to the world — that smaller countries should not dare go against China’s interests.
He said China is even prepared to let its own people suffer to make a point.
But if China is trying to impress other nations with its tough stance, it is failing miserably according to damning new survey of its closest neighbours.
The study from the think tank ISEAS canvassed views from 1032 academics, policymakers, business people, civil society leaders, the media as well as regional and international organisations from 10 ASEAN member states — which have a combined population of 655.51 million people — and it raises significant concerns for China.
Despite Donald Trump ruffling feathers on a global scale over the past four years, more than six in 10 respondents now say they would choose the United States over China if the grouping was forced to align with either power.
This is an increase from last year’s survey, where 53.6 per cent were in favour of the US. In contrast, only 38.5 per cent chose China, down from 46.4 per cent last year.
Nations like Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and the Philippines said they their support for the US over China has increased.
In a slap in the face to China’s economic posturing against Australia, only military-run Myanmar, Brunei and Laos now say they prefer working with the Asian superpower.
The survey found that although China was overwhelmingly regarded as the most influential economic power in the region, the people who live there are not happy about it.
Among those who see China as the most influential economic power, 72.3 per cent are “worried about its growing regional economic influence”.
Respondents were also asked if they had confidence that China will do “the right thing” to contribute to global peace, security, prosperity and governance. This year, 63 per cent said they either had little confidence or no confidence that China would do the “right thing”.
The simmering distrust had increased from 51.5 per cent in 2019 to 60.4 per cent last year.
Researchers directly linked the Asian superpower’s economic showboating with the decline in trust, combined with its increasing military power.
The respondents saw these factors as a potential threat to their respective country’s interest and sovereignty.
“The region’s best hope is for China to take the mantle of leadership in a manner that does not impinge on the sovereignty and strategic autonomy of its neighbouring countries,” said the researchers.
Here in Australia, the ASPI’s Mr Shoebridge said the results show that China’s economic muscle-flexing with Australia was spectacularly backfiring.
“It shows that China is losing trust on a global stage, and that trust in America has risen,” he said. “It proves to me that other smaller nations are looking at how China has treated Australia and they do not like what they are seeing.”
The trade stand-off is having worrying repercussions for China domestically too, with an eye-watering surge in prices for coal, supply shortages and its residents struggling to heat their homes in the coldest winter in 50 years.
In a desperate bid to shore up its supplies, the government has curtailed electricity to businesses to make sure there’s enough supply for home heating – leading to a surge in orders for portable generators and extra demand for the diesel that fuels them.
Not only is the coal shortage affecting everyday citizens, it is hitting China’s industries hard as factories are forced to use poor-quality domestic coal.
Steel mills in particular were reliant on using high-grade Australian premium hard coking coal – a crucial raw material for steel making.
Now they are forced to use expensive low-quality coal that is highly polluting to nearby residents. It also damages the equipment used in the process and can lead to the production of brittle steel products.
In other circumstances, they have been forced to pay steep premiums for imports from farther afield – like US, Russia, Canada and Mongolia – on top of prices that have risen 84 per cent since mid-year, according to the The Wall Street Journal .
In a further slap in the face for China, its punitive measures designed to hurt Australia have had precisely the opposite effect. Other major buyers like Japan and India have stepped in to fill the void, and Australia’s coal prices have boomed.
Another additional unofficial Chinese ban on imports of Australian-mined copper imposed in November may also come back to bite China.
The South China Morning Post reports that the superpower is facing a potential shortage with disruptions in the production and transport of copper from key producer Peru.
Mr Shoebridge said it was clear China didn’t care about the impact of the trade stand-off on its own people. “They claim to be doing this on behalf of the Chinese people, but clearly that’s not what it’s about. Chinese people want coal for the winter to heat their homes,” Mr Shoebridge said.
“But I don’t think they are bothered by Chinese people not having energy to heat their homes because they don’t want to course on their message to the rest of the world.”
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Biden confronted China in call to Xi - and that’s good for Australia
If anyone was unsure whether Joe Biden would adopt a hard line on China, his first phone call with Xi Jinping should leave no one in doubt.
Biden’s posture on China, so far, has been good for Australia.
There seemed to be a view floating around in sections of the Australian commentariat in recent weeks that Biden’s re-engagement with Beijing could leave Canberra in the dark.
Former public service chief Martin Parkinson on Wednesday said the election of the new US President would make it even more difficult for Australia to manage its deteriorating relationship with Beijing because the US had maintained open channels of dialogue.
But in his phone call with the Chinese President this week, Biden criticised Beijing for its “coercive and unfair economic practices”. This has been widely interpreted within the Morrison government as Biden standing up for countries such as Australia that have been hit by trade strikes from Beijing for standing up to its coercive behaviour.
Biden also underscored his fundamental concerns about China’s “crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and increasingly assertive actions in the region, including toward Taiwan”.
It is worth comparing the readout of Biden’s call with that of his predecessor, Donald Trump, four years ago.
In his first chat with Xi, Trump made no mention of Xinjiang or Taiwan. In fact, it contained no criticism of China at all.
The White House readout said: “Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honour our ‘one China’ policy”. The discussion was described as “extremely cordial” and both leaders looked forward to “further talks with very successful outcomes”.
The stark difference between the two calls is partly due to the centre of gravity in Washington shifting immensely over the past four years on the question of how to deal with China’s rise.
Biden has shown from the outset that while he is prepared to have constructive engagement with Beijing, certain topics are non-negotiable. These include China’s democratic crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, militarisation of the South China Sea and growing assertiveness against Taiwan.
This is what Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan and Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell have called “competition and cooperation”.
What many didn’t grasp, if they weren’t paying attention during the US Presidential campaign, was the display of strength Biden planned to show towards China.
None of this is to say Biden’s approach will provide a silver bullet for the Morrison government to improve relations with its biggest trading partner. Australia is in the diplomatic freezer and needs to find a way out on its own.
US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Scott Morrison reaffirmed the alliance between the US and Australia during a phone call today.
But it is in Australia’s interests to have an America that accepts the optimistic assumptions underpinning the four-decade-long strategy of diplomatic and economic engagement with China have failed, and that the US is now in competition with Beijing.
This competitive posture needs to be pursued in a way that is strategic, coordinated with allies and avoids confrontation and potentially conflict.
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International students receive exemptions to travel to Australia for study
More than 1000 international students have quietly been allowed to “jump the queue” and enter Australia during COVID-19, while a whopping 40,000 Aussies remain stranded overseas.
Figures obtained by NCA NewsWire reveal the Australian Border Force Commissioner has granted 1050 foreign nationals an exemption from Australia’s international travel ban since the start of August.
The federal opposition has blasted the decision, saying the 40,000 Australians should be Scott Morrison’s priority.
“Instead he’s letting international students and business investor visa holders jump the queue,” Labor senator Kristina Keneally said.
“If Scott Morrison had implemented a national quarantine plan from the beginning of this pandemic, Australia would be in a position to safely welcome international students without their arrival coming at the expense of stranded Australians.”
An Australian Border Force spokeswoman said people seeking an exemption must provide evidence of a “compelling case” and meet exemption categories, which includes students in their final two years of study of a medical, dental, nursing or allied health profession university degree.
Those students must also have a confirmed placement at an Australian hospital or medical practice that starts within the next two months.
One university in the Group of Eight had at least half of their 65 international medical students granted a travel exemption.
Group of Eight chief executive, Vicki Thomson, said the universities had provided supporting evidence for students that fitted the exemption criteria.
She said about 600 international graduates entered the workforce every year but COVID-19 had caused serious disruptions.
“If medical students can’t get back into the country, then this will impact the pipeline of new doctors into the system over the next few years,” Ms Thomson said. “There will be a shortfall.”
She said there was also a risk that if international students deferred their studies now, the intern system would not be able to handle the influx when they returned.
A Universities Australia spokesman said some PhD students may have also received exemptions on the grounds they must return to complete research critical to their degree.
International Education Association of Australia chief executive Phil Honeywood welcomed the limited travel exemptions made available.
However, he said they were only the “tip of the iceberg” compared to the number of third and fourth year students that remained offshore.
“Whether it be travel challenges or gaining approval for the exemptions, we are still way behind competitor countries such as Canada, the UK and New Zealand,” Mr Honeywood said.
Nursing degrees are popular among international students from South Asia, while dentistry and medicine attracted students from across the globe.
High commissions are also understood to have written supporting letters to boost student exemption applications.
But Mr Honeywood said he was aware of dentistry students in Canada that were unable to return to their Melbourne University courses.
Education Minister Alan Tudge was last week asked if a cohort of international students should come to Australia.
“Our priority from a national government is on bringing Australians home,” Mr Tudge said. He did not respond for comment about the exemptions.
More than 210,000 people have returned to Australia through hotel quarantine arrangements.
At least 35,000 foreign nationals have been granted an exemption to travel to Australia since the March ban to January 31.
Sixty-three students arrived in Darwin under an international student trial held in November last year.
South Australia is also planning to bring in up to 300 students in pilot early this year.
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Microsoft president says the US should make Google and Facebook pay publishers for news like Australia
Microsoft has urged the US to consider a version of a proposed Australian law that would force Google and Facebook to pay publishers for news because it would 'strengthen democracy' and 'support a free press'.
The Australian law would have Google and Facebook give internet publishers an indeterminate fee for including links to news articles on their platforms.
News publishers say it's unfair that Google and Facebook get to run the links for free, boosting their own traffic and in turn making more money through ad sales.
According to Australian watchdogs, for every $100 spent on online advertising, Google gets $53 and Facebook gets $28.
The proposal hasn't yet been adopted but is being heralded as a solution to the declining ad revenues newspapers and outlets face, especially after a crippling economic year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Google is fighting it in court. The company is even threatening to pull out of the country if the law is passed. It has proposed an alternative - News Showcase - where it would select stories from news outlets to project and pay them only for those stories. Facebook says it will stay in Australia but is considering stopping users there from being able to share news stories on their accounts.
Microsoft, which runs a rival internet search engine Bing, has vowed to stay, pay the fees - even though it wouldn't be bound to by the law - and, in turn, take over the market if Google leaves. Microsoft already pays media outlets through licensing deals with MSN.
The Silicon Valley giants have traded insults over the issue for weeks and on Thursday, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith delivered the latest blow, saying not only should Australia go ahead with the law but that the US ought to make one of its own. 'The United States should not object to a creative Australian proposal that strengthens democracy by requiring tech companies to support a free press. It should copy it instead
'What is wrong with compensating independent news organizations for the benefits the tech gatekeepers derive from this content?' Smith wrote.
He said that Google and Facebook have a 'bargaining imbalance' that favors them and crushes others, and that President Joe Biden should not intervene on their behalf in Australia if he's asked to.
'Australia’s proposal will reduce the bargaining imbalance that currently favors tech gatekeepers and will help increase opportunities for independent journalism. But this a defining issue of our time, going to the heart of our democratic freedoms.'
Smith hinged his arguments on the recent Capitol riot and said America's democracy is more fragile then ever. 'As the dust slowly settles on a horrifying assault on the Capitol, it’s apparent that American democracy is in a fragile state...Technology has been both a positive and negative force for democracy...
'Without new and greater restraints, there is a growing risk that more politicians and advocates will exploit the algorithms and business models underlying social media and the internet to turn disinformation into a new political tactic of choice.
'There is another side of this disease, and it’s the erosion of more traditional, independent and professional journalism,' he said.
After Google threatened to remove itself from Australia if the law is imposed, Smith and Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella contacted the government there and made it clear that they would stay and be happy to abide by it.
Microsoft would clean up if Google left the country. Now, it controls just 5 percent share of the market there, while Google dominates. But if Google left, Microsoft would stand to soak up the internet users it abandoned.
Another side of the argument that is drawing ire is that if Google leaves, the many businesses that rely on it for advertising could fail.
Google hit back at the Smith's comments and said that it does support a free press, but wants to know what it's paying for.
'We’re not against providing support to the industry. The question is, what are we paying for? 'And are those arrangements structured in a way that is fair and equitable to the full ecosystem of publishers as well as to our commercial deals with those publishers?' Richard Gingras, vice president of news at Google, told Bloomberg.
Australian lawmakers have said the law is needed to help media firms stay afloat and so will press forward despite the threat, which Google formalized in a securities filing last week that stated forced bargaining 'could result in our having to alter or withdraw products and services'.
Final passage of the legislation could come as early as next week.
Google is pitching its own payment program with terms it can better control, and last month reached a deal with major publishers in France as well as Reuters.
In Australia, Google users, advertisers and business partners have begun to worry about losing Google, which has a 94% share of the country’s search market.
The interconnected nature of Google’s products means that devices including Android phones, Chromebook laptops and Nest smart speakers could be impaired without search.
'If Google’s search function no long longer exists in Australia, that will remove a lot of the features I use on Google Nest,' said Margaret Morgan, a screenwriter from Sydney who keeps a speaker in most rooms of her house and owns a Google Pixel smartphone.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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12 February, 2021
Australia’s vaccine sovereignty has received a boost, with the only jab produced onshore to enter its final manufacturing stage shortly
Australia’s onshore COVID-19 vaccine capacity has received a boost, with the AstraZeneca vaccine to reach its final manufacturing stage in Australia next week.
Drug manufacturer CSL has confirmed the first two million doses produced at its Melbourne facility are on track for release by the end of next month, subject to approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday morning toured the facility, which he said would be dispatching over a million doses per week from mid-March.
“That’s a big production effort. And that is going to change the country for the better,” he said.
“People here have been working long hours for a long time to deliver this, and they are doing it to deliver for Australians.
“I want to thank them very much for that. Our vaccination program is on track and it is sovereign.”
Fifty-million doses of the AstraZeneca jab will eventually be manufactured at the site as part of an around-the-clock manufacturing push.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the gargantuan effort proved “CSL can do just about anything”.
“It was almost impossible (at the beginning of the pandemic) that they could retool, that they could divert their entire processes and they have done this,” he said.
CSL chief scientific officer Andrew Nash said he was “incredibly proud” of the development.
“Reaching this milestone would not have happened without around-the-clock work from our skilled team … with ongoing support from AstraZeneca,” he said.
“While the work isn’t over, we are incredibly proud to be on the cusp of delivering a locally made vaccine for Australians.
But Dr Nash warned “some of the most critical work is still to come”, with each batch to undergo an “extensive quality check process” conducted by CSL, AstraZeneca and the TGA.
Mr Morrison said the thorough process should give comfort to Australians who will receive the jab.
“They check it, and they check it, and then they check it again,” he said.
“(That) makes sure … you can have great confidence, not just in the vaccine itself but the Australian production process that actually got it to the clinic.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended the AstraZeneca vaccine to immunise against COVID-19 on Wednesday.
The WHO recommended its use in people over 65 despite some fears over its efficacy in that age group.
The AstraZeneca vaccine would account for the bulk of Australia’s vaccine rollout under the government’s plan.
It argued producing the majority of Australia’s vaccines onshore reduced vulnerability on overseas supply chains.
The development comes just a day after the European Commission confirmed it had rubber-stamped the first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine to Australia.
Australia had ordered 20 million doses of the jab, the only vaccine approved for use by the TGA.
But there were fears their arrival could be delayed after the European Union placed export controls on vaccines produced within its territory, including the AstraZeneca and Pfizer jabs.
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Missed chance for civics
The current review of the national Curriculum seems an almost covert operation, and neglects the pressing need to elevate Australian Civics and Citizenship.
The latest CIS paper, A 2021 education resolution: keep an eye on the Australian Curriculum, assesses the potential opportunities at risk of being neglected in the review.
Australian students and their teachers deserve the best possible curriculum, but the trajectory of the review doesn’t inspire confidence.
A clever country would shine a probing spotlight on this national education project, which claims to ensure the nation’s ongoing economic prosperity and social cohesion.
The paper follows recently released results of the National Assessment Program – Civics and Citizenship, which revealed 62% of Australian students nearing school-leaving age didn’t achieve the proficiency standard, and 87% couldn’t interpret the results of a hypothetical federal election.
For this reason, the review must chart a balanced approach to the nation’s heritage as a Western liberal democracy and must redress a curriculum that is currently completely lacking in intellectual and cultural firepower.
There are replicable examples of curriculums that prioritise a ‘love of country’, particularly high-performing Singapore. Closer to home, this is also a common theme in the education and broader aspirations of Indigenous Australians but can barely be detected in the wider curriculum.
This is the time to recast Civics and Citizenship — ironically, the subject that few seem to care or know much about — as the major integrating feature of the Australian Curriculum.
Centring the curriculum around our cultural and intellectual heritage would mean a far more solid foundation, but there should also be room for schools and teachers to weave in material appropriate to local students and communities.
This would help ensure students can meet the objective of becoming successful lifelong learners who can make sense of their world and think about how things have become the way they are — as the goals outline.
However, there has been no widespread public consultation to determine priorities and there is only a brief window of opportunity to comment on proposals for changes.
Every Australian has a stake in this review, especially as the country works to recover from the consequences of the pandemic and position strongly for the future.
https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/missed-chance-for-civics/
****************************************Australia ‘dead against’ climate tariffs, declares Energy Minister
Energy Minister Angus Taylor has declared Australia is “dead against” carbon tariffs as Prime Minister Scott Morrison awaits an invitation from United States President Joe Biden to climate talks in April.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed on Thursday that Australia would push back against Britain’s bid to use the G7 leaders’ summit in June to establish climate tariffs, arguing the sanctions would be a new form of protectionism designed to shield local industries from free trade.
Asked whether he opposed carbon tariffs, Mr Taylor said: “We have always been against tariffs in this country under this government.”
“We’ve actually made great gains in entering into free-trade agreements to eliminate tariffs,” Mr Taylor told Sky News on Thursday. “We are dead against tariffs and we believe in the role of trade in driving prosperity.”
“We will work with the United States, with Japan, with Korea, with the UK, with other countries around the world, to invest in the technologies that are really going to move the dial, because that’s how we reduce emissions without smashing our industries.”
Mr Biden will host a climate leaders’ summit on Earth Day, April 22, when he is likely to outline his carbon-reduction commitments under the Paris agreement.
“America must lead in the face of this existential threat. And just as with the pandemic, it requires global co-operation,” Mr Biden said last week.
The Biden administration has not yet said whether the summit will be held in person or online.
Mr Morrison would be expected to travel to Washington, DC if the talks were in person, potentially making his first meeting with the US President on the fraught issue of climate change, and raising the prospect of the Prime Minister doing 14 days’ quarantine shortly before the May budget.
Mr Morrison has been eyeing a more ambitious target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 despite unrest within the Nationals, but plans to push back on Britain and the European Union’s plan to impose carbon tariffs.
Australia’s ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, said on Thursday the Biden administration was “serious” about climate change, with plans for net-zero emissions by 2050 and decarbonising the power grid by 2035.
“Among his [Mr Biden’s] first executive orders have been a slew ... to review things like oil and gas drilling on federal land, to start to implement new environmental regulations [and] reverse some measures from the previous administration which impacted on the ability to address climate change,” Mr Sinodinos said.
“What they’ve done is they’ve said ‘we will marry our infrastructure commitments with our clean energy targets’ … so they’re seeing it as both a job creation program as well as a clean energy program.”
Britain and the EU are looking to settle on plans to impose carbon tariffs in the coming months, while Mr Biden has pledged to implement a “carbon-adjustment fee” at the border. The move would establish levies on energy-intensive imports from carbon-price-free jurisdictions such as Australia.
The Morrison government will argue carbon tariffs are not aimed at combating climate change, but rather at economic objectives including protecting local industries such as British and European meat, cheese and wine.
A briefing prepared for the European Parliament found carbon tariffs would not amount to protectionism provided they did not discriminate against one particular country and were set at the correct rate.
Tony Wood, director of the Grattan Institute’s energy program, said the tariffs were actually about “levelling the playing field” and could encourage other countries such as Australia to boost their domestic climate policies.
“If the British government imposed a carbon price on their own producers and then imposed a border tax on overseas producers for the same thing – then it would give an incentive to countries which did not have a carbon price to do it,” Mr Wood said.
Opposition trade spokeswoman Madeleine King said Australia’s major trading partners were moving towards establishing climate border levies “aimed at countries like Australia that have weak climate change policies”.
“This government has its head in the sand about carbon borders. Our exporters, with the jobs they create, will pay the price,” Ms King said.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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11 February, 2021
Peter Ridd case to go to High Court
He dared to say that Greenie scare stories about the barrier reef were not well founded in the facts
A former James Cook University professor fired over his comments about his colleagues’ climate change findings will have his case heard in The High Court.
Academic Dr Peter Ridd was speaking “hard truths” but should have been protected from being sacked by his contract, the High Court heard as it granted his case special leave to be heard.
Dr Ridd was fired from James Cook University in 2018 for making disrespectful comments about his colleagues when he claimed their findings on climate change could not be trusted as they were too “emotionally involved”, breaching the university’s code of conduct.
The case, which has become a flash point for freedom of speech and intellectual freedom, will be heard by the High Court later this year after it agreed on Thursday to hear the case.
Counsel for Dr Ridd, Stuart Wood QC, said his client’s enterprise agreement granted protection from the code of conduct’s requirement for respectful and courteous behaviour towards colleagues, as well as not bringing the university into disrepute.
“It’s freedom... for academics to go about their work which involves the robust exchange of ideas and to be... protected from the university,” he said.
“One of the provisions (of the code of conduct)... an academic must be respectful and courteous to other members of staff, that obligation cuts across section 14 (of the enterprise agreement).”
Mr Wood said as long as his client did not “harass, bully, vilify or intimidate” his colleagues, his intelligence and academic freedom was protected by the enterprise agreement.
He said it was agreed his client had breached the code of conduct by his “extremely disrespectful” comments about his colleagues, but that the enterprise agreement protected him from disciplinary action when he was speaking within his field of expertise.
“The purpose of the clause... is to allow academics to robustly exchange ideas without being censured. That purpose was ignored,” he said. “Section 14 (means) you can speak hard truths as long as you don’t harass, bully, vilify or intimidate.
“The court should be very troubled by the facts of this case. The commitment from the university to protect the academic freedom was resiled from and Dr Ridd was punished for doing what he should be doing.”
Dr Ridd said he was not surprised, but still relieved by the court’s decision. He said the case would determine the future of academic freedom in Australia. “If we go down... essentially academic freedom doesn’t effectively exist,” he said.
“Academics will always be wondering, actually, can I really say that. They will just zip up. “If universities are not there to have robust debate, then what the hell are they there for?”
Dr Ridd said there were times when intellectual freedom and respectful debate could not occur side-by-side because respect was a broad term. “It can mean from bare tolerance to almost adulation,” he said.
Acting for JCU, Brett Walker SC said the code of conduct and enterprise agreement should be read together, allowing intellectual freedom while treating colleagues with respect.
“It’s a long bow indeed that facts don’t support... that suggests behaving with respect for others is in incongruence to the exercise of intellectual freedom,” Mr Walker said.
“If you assume in your interpretation that intellectual freedom includes freedom from all modes of complying with norms of conduct, such as respect, courtesy, lack of abuse, we have a detraction in the code of conduct.”
Mr Walker said the code of conduct was not simply a tool of the university, but its existence was required by law, though the Public Sector Ethics Act.
He said there was no disagreement between the parties that Dr Ridd breached the code of conduct and if it was found the code and enterprise agreement could be read together then Dr Ridd had “no right of complaint”.
The case will be heard at a date to be set.
The Institute of Public Affairs welcomed the historic judgement.
“This will be the most significant test case for academic freedom in a generation to be settled by the highest court in the land,” IPA director of policy at the IPA Gideon Rozner said.
“Today’s decision continues the David vs Goliath battle on the fundamental issue of freedom of speech, against a university administration backed by millions of taxpayer dollars.”
A 2019 court decision found Dr Ridd had been unfairly dismissed and awarded him $1.2 million in compensation. However JCU won an appeal in the Federal Court last July.
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Andrew Bolt: ABC proves it’s blind to the facts
Who can you still trust to tell the truth about saving yourself from the coronavirus? Not Paul Barry, host of Media Watch on the taxpayer-funded ABC.
On Monday, Barry gave a stunning example of how malice and bias blinds our Leftist national broadcaster even to facts that could save your life.
He joined the bizarre media pack-attack on Liberal MP Craig Kelly, and also criticised Sky News.
Thundered Barry: “Sky has regularly given Kelly airtime to tout unproven treatments he claims can beat COVID-19 — the head lice drug ivermectin and the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.”
Bad Sky! Hadn’t Australia’s COVID-19 taskforce banned hydroxychloroquine, and recommended against ivermectin? So how dare we on Sky let Kelly point out that dozens of studies suggest these drugs do help stop people getting sick, when used early, before the virus gets to the lungs, and when used with zinc.
Barry fumed: “Andrew Bolt allowed him to rubbish the work of Australia’s COVID-19 taskforce.” Kelly told me it had looked at less than 10 per cent of the evidence on hydroxychloroquine.
Barry should have checked if that was true. And whether the taskforce relied on studies where the drug was given too late, or in an overdose.
Instead, he found an academic who’d already trashed Kelly, claiming, “we know for sure that hydroxychloroquine doesn’t work”. As for ivermectin, “there’s no evidence that it works”.
What! We “know” hydroxychloroquine doesn’t work? False. Just last month, the American Journal of Medicine published a paper saying it did.
There’s “no evidence” ivermectin works? False again. Just last Friday, the technical lead of the World Health Organisation’s fight against the virus confirmed what Kelly has said — but what Barry damned as dangerous “misinformation”. She said 11 studies showed “promising” results for ivermectin, and 56 more were coming.
In fact, even the COVID-19 taskforce last week quietly admitted it would now examine five new studies on ivermectin, which it failed to admit all suggested the drug worked. As Kelly said.
And on the day Barry attacked Kelly, the Herald Sun reported senior doctors had “called on Australia’s COVID-19 task force to consider letting doctors prescribe both hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin as a cure against coronavirus”.
So experts believe these drugs may work, but journalists like Barry still savage any conservative who dares tell you. Facts are dead. People, too.
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Australian expert claims coronavirus likely started in China following WHO investigation
An Australian virus expert who recently travelled to China to investigate the coronavirus pandemic is convinced it originated there.
NSW Health infectious diseases expert Professor Dominic Dwyer was part of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) 14-strong virus investigation team which visited Wuhan for two weeks to study the outbreak’s source.
While the investigation did not definitively declare China as the source, Prof Dwyer, who is now in quarantine following his return to Australia, told Nine he believed COVID-19 “started in China”.
“I think the evidence for it starting elsewhere in the world is actually very limited. There is some evidence but it’s not really very good,” he said.
The WHO team visited a number of placed linked to the initial outbreak, including the Huanan Seafood Market, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Hubei Province Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Hubei Provincial Hospital.
Prof Dwyer also added bats were the “most likely” source of the virus but that it had been active in the community for “weeks’ before the outbreak connected to the wet market in late 2019.
It comes as NSW Health researchers uncovered a virus breakthrough which will help authorities across the globe contain coronavirus outbreaks faster, after experts from NSW Health Pathology successfully grew the live virus from NSW patients.
“Early and accurate diagnosis of infectious and deadly viruses is critical because undiagnosed patients can unknowingly transmit it to others,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard said following the announcement.
“But unless clinicians understand the epidemiology of the disease – how it behaves and replicates – they can’t develop reliable diagnostic testing to identify and contain it.
“A team of elite NSW researchers have achieved this by undertaking genome sequencing of the virus and growing the live virus from real patients as opposed to using synthetic materials.”
Prof Dwyer, who is NSW Health Pathology’s director of Public Health Pathology, said the discovery would save lives.
“This cutting-edge work will expand access to faster, reliable diagnostic testing for infected patients, not just here in NSW but around the world,” Prof Dwyer said.
“Being able to cultivate the novel coronavirus with samples from NSW patients as opposed to trying to mimic it from synthetic specimens is a terrific breakthrough.
“Synthetic virus tools don’t offer the same high degree of diagnostic accuracy needed to help us develop effective antiviral drugs that can be used to treat infected patients,” he said.
“We’re proud to be able to share our discovery with the World Health Organisation, and international researchers and clinicians, so together we ultimately help save lives.”
It is almost a year since WHO officially declared coronavirus a pandemic. It has so far infected 107 million people around the world and killed 2.35 million.
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No law to set target: Ministers stare down Nats’ complaint on carbon
Federal ministers are planning to neutralise a backbench threat on climate change by making sure a new carbon target will not be mandated by law, avoiding a vote in Parliament that could rock the government.
The Morrison government is aiming to achieve the contentious target of net zero emissions by 2050 by pledging billions of dollars on energy projects without a mechanism that requires majority support from a divided backbench.
But the plan could undermine business confidence in the path to matching other advanced economies, with a top economist saying company chiefs would need the certainty that comes from a mandate set by law.
Australian National University Professor Warwick McKibbin said a binding emissions target was one of several critical policies required to achieve lower emissions with the least economic harm.
“If you don’t have a legislated target built into the system then the private sector won’t risk capital to hit the target,” said Professor McKibbin, a former Reserve Bank board member.
“You need a target at the core of policy, but it has to be measured over the long term as an average over time.”
Australian Industry Group principal adviser Tennant Reed said the organisation’s members overwhelmingly supported a clear 2050 net zero target.
“The more specific the government can be the better, and a net zero target by 2050 is something many, many of our members have said they are happy for us to advocate for,” he said.
United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres this week told member nations “the drive to net zero emissions must become the new normal for everyone, everywhere” and said the target had to be backed with credible plans to achieve it.
The warning came as three former Nationals ministers – Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and Bridget McKenzie – warned they would reject a net zero target that imposed costs on rural Australia.
The moves put Prime Minister Scott Morrison on notice about the unrest within the Nationals over his declaration last week that the government would “preferably” set a target of net zero by 2050.
The government’s current stance is to reach the net zero goal sometime between 2050 and 2100, a position seen as inadequate by European leaders who argued against Mr Morrison speaking to a London climate summit in December.
Senator Canavan, a former resources minister, said he would vote against a net zero target for 2050 because it would cost too much to achieve. Senator McKenzie, a former sports minister, also warned against the target but acknowledged it might not come to a vote.
Mr Joyce, who was Nationals leader and deputy prime minister for two years, said he was willing to cross the floor on the issue.
But Environment Minister Sussan Ley played down the prospect of a vote in Parliament to put the target into law, the point at which Nationals might cross the floor.
“I don’t know that it’s a legislative issue,” Ms Ley told radio station 2GB. “I don’t know whether it’s appropriate for it to be legislated – if it is, it is, and we will work through that along the way.”
Others within the government said Mr Morrison did not intend to legislate the target and had already ruled out a scheme that imposed a burden on regional Australia, the issue that sparked the backbench concerns.
One of the key questions is whether to include farming in the target, but Ms Ley signalled on Tuesday the Nationals could not expect the sector to be totally exempt from policies to cut emissions.
“Agriculture needs to be at the table for the discussion,” she said, adding that many farmers were already reducing their emissions.
“They’re not on the back foot. They’re well and truly on the front foot,” she said.
The unrest within the Nationals’ backbench – no ministers joined the calls – sends another warning shot to party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack after complaints that he does not stand up for the Nationals against Mr Morrison.
Mr Guterres said net zero must be a focus for every country, company, city and financial institution, as well as key sectors such as aviation, shipping, industry and agriculture.
“The world remains way off target in staying within the 1.5-degree limit of the Paris Agreement,” he said.
“The global coalition for net zero emissions needs to grow, to cover more than 90 per cent of the emissions. This is a central objective for the United Nations this year.”
Mr Reed said it was a widely held view among Australian businesses that not only would the private sector be better able to plan and allocate resources with a clear target, so would federal government agencies such as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Professor McKibbin also said a market mechanism, in the form of either a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme, would be required to give polluting industries the means and flexibility to switch to lower emissions systems and comply with the target.
“But a safety valve is required. You have an institution called a carbon bank that can issue permits to stop the costs of emissions rising above a threshold,” he said.
”The scheme has to have credible flexibility, like the way we run monetary policy where a carbon bank has a mandate to smooth costs and monitor what is happening in the economy and inform the market – so industry can change the way they generate or use energy.“
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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10 February, 2021
AstraZeneca vaccine: why Australia is forging ahead as South Africa tackles Covid variant
Medical experts say the jab is effective against severe infection, as researchers work to adapt vaccines against variants and experiment with mixing inoculations
Australian health authorities have moved to calm concerns about
the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine, after a small-scale study suggested its efficacy against mild to moderate infections from the the South African variant of the virus could be as low as 10%.
AstraZeneca is going through the Therapeutic Goods Administration approval process now and is slated to be rolled out from April. This is what experts are saying.
You should still get the AstraZeneca vaccine
That’s the advice of Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Paul Kelly. He has urged people not to put too much stock in the results of the South African study, which he stressed was both limited in scope and had not yet been peer-reviewed.
Kelly told reporters on Tuesday that people should be wary of “taking small amounts of information quickly, without looking at it carefully, and making conclusions”.
“At the moment, I can absolutely say – and this may change in future, and we will be nimble in the way we look at that information and putting that into our planning – but at the moment, there’s no evidence anywhere in the world that AstraZeneca effectiveness against severe infection is affected by any of these variants of concern. And that is the fact.”
His comments were echoed by Prof Mary-Louise McLaws, an Australian epidemiologist and advisor to the World Health Organisation on Covid-19.
“I commend your readers to get any vaccine that is offered to them, because it will reduce severity,” McLaws told Guardian Australia. “Any vaccine is better than no vaccine. If you do get the virus it will improve your outcomes, your response, and you may not get severe Covid.”
There is also evidence from another unpublished study in Israel on the Pfizer vaccine, which suggested that people who are not protected by the vaccine nevertheless had a reduced viral load. So even if a vaccine had a reduced efficacy, there is evidence to suggest it will reduce the extent to which a person spreads the disease, McLaws said.
AstraZeneca, unsurprisingly, also played down the study on the South African variant, saying it was a small phase one or two trial, which showed limited efficacy against mild disease from the variant.
“While we have not been able to properly ascertain its effect against severe disease and hospitalisation given that subjects were predominantly young, healthy adults, we do believe our vaccine will still protect against severe disease for the B1351 variant, particularly when the dosing interval is optimised to 8-12 weeks,” AstraZeneca said.
What the South African study actually showed
The study was a small-scale trial of 2,000 people aged 31 which showed the AstraZeneca vaccine had as little as 10% efficacy in preventing mild to moderate infection against the South African variant of Covid-19, B1351. However the researchers expressed hope the vaccine would still offer significant protection against more serious infection, which is the goal of the global vaccine program.
The study is yet to be peer-reviewed or published. The South African government has paused its planned rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine in response.
It is not the only vaccine to show reduced efficacy against the South African variant. Trials of the Novavax vaccine also showed 60% efficacy against the South African variant, compared with an 89% efficacy overall – 95.6% against the original coronavirus and 85.6% against the UK variant.
Kelly said Australian authorities will be looking very closely at all information which comes out about the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but said there was to date no information to suggest it did not protect against severe infections from the South African variant.
He said Australian authorities will be talking closely with the UK, where AstraZeneca has already been widely distributed.
“This is a very good vaccine, very safe, and once it goes through those processes, of safety, quality and efficacy, we will be able to look to roll out that vaccine as well – as always, subject to the TGA advice,” he said.
Yes, but it will take time. AstraZeneca said it has already started adapting its vaccine against the South African variant, “and will advance rapidly through clinical development so that it is ready should it be needed”.
Novavax responded to the lower results in South Africa by saying it would immediately start developing a new vaccine aimed specifically at the South African variant.
AstraZeneca is a viral vector vaccine, which relies on the use of an RNA molecule – the same part of the virus as used in the mRNA Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Novavax is a more traditional protein-based vaccine, and they take longer to modify.
Kelly said mRNA and viral vector vaccines can be adapted more quickly than protein vaccines, but even if they are able to be adapted,” it is another issue to make nine billion of them”.
“If we’re going to vaccinate the whole world, it’s going to take time,” he said.
Why don’t we just all take the Pfizer vaccine?
That would be a great option, says McLaws. Except we don’t have enough, and there is significant pressure on the global supply. Australia recently secured an additional 10m doses of the Pfizer vaccine, taking the total contracted amount to 20m doses by the end of the year.
That’s enough to administer the required two doses to 10 million people, or just under 40% of Australia’s population. The first 80,000 doses of the Pfizer are still on track to arrive in Australia by the end of February, Kelly says, and authorities are hoping for weekly deliveries thereafter. People in the highest-risk cohort – frontline medical staff, hotel quarantine workers, aged and disability care home residents and staff – will get that vaccine.
The balance of the population is likely to receive either AstraZeneca, which is manufacturing 50m doses in Melbourne that are expected to be administered from March, pending TGA approval, or the Novavax vaccine, which is several months away.
What are the other options?
Well, we could mix vaccines. That concept is being trialled in the UK – they called for volunteers just last week – and will involve giving 820 unvaccinated people over the age of 50 a first dose of either the AstraZeneca or the Pfizer vaccine. Half the group will have their vaccine switched for the second dose, and the other half will get the same again.
It is an option worth considering, McLaws said. Without it, the risk is that people vaccinated with AstraZeneca – largely the 20- to 39-year-old cohort – may not be fully protected against Covid-19. That’s a problem because that age group, while not at highest risk of serious disease or death, made up half of all people who contracted Covid-19 in Australia last year. They are highly mobile and more likely to be underemployed and working multiple part-time jobs, which increases their risk of exposure.
Even without considering new variants, AstraZeneca has a lower reported efficacy than Pfizer and Novavax, the other options in Australia’s stable. It sought regulatory approval in the UK on the basis that it has about 70% efficacy.
“The risk is that if our 20- to 39-year-olds are vaccinated with AstraZeneca, we have at least a 30% risk of them not eliciting an immune response without the additional problem of a variant,” McLaws said. “This is an opportunity to look at how we protect the unknown 30-odd percent. And that may be to mix up the second dose with something that doesn’t have such low efficacy for the South African strain and the Brazilian strain.”
What does this mean for borders and other restrictions?
To date there have been no reported cases of the South African variant in the Australian community.
But the risk remains. Since Friday there have been 87 samples of B117, the UK variant, detected in hotel quarantine in Australia and 18 of B1351, the South African variant.
But the vaccine results solidify what epidemiologists have warned for some time: that life will not instantly go back to normal once the majority of the population has been vaccinated
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Climate risk sees bank divest from Port of Newcastle, the largest thermal coal terminal in the world
The port is the largest thermal coal terminal in the world, last year exporting 160 million tonnes and accounting for 99.2 per cent of its exports by volume.
ANZ was previously a major lender to the port as part of its $950 million debt pile, but in November the port refinanced and ANZ took the opportunity to divest.
It is understood the bank deemed the port too risky an investment which could end up a stranded asset in a world that is quickly shifting away from coal.
Last year the bank also announced an ambitious net-zero emissions action plan which adopted the issue of climate change as a condition of lending.
Analyst from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, Tim Buckley, said ANZ's decision was not surprising and in the best interest of its shareholders. "It will absolutely end up a stranded asset if the world is able to deliver on the Paris Climate agreement, and my conviction that the world will deliver on the Paris agreement has never been stronger," Mr Buckley said.
"The world is moving 100 miles an hour to address this critical global issue of climate risk and ANZ is understandably working with all of its customers to transition."
The United States has committed to rejoining the Paris Agreement to drastically cut carbon emissions, while large coal consumers like Japan and Korea have set net zero emissions targets for 2050, and China 2060.
The National Australia Bank, among several others, have meanwhile stepped in to underwrite the Port of Newcastle as it plans to diversity into non-coal operations in the long term, particularly container cargo.
"We are working with responsible lenders who are interested in helping businesses like Port of Newcastle become more sustainable and diversify," it said in a statement. "This is crucial to a business that supports our local, regional, and national economies."
The Federal Minister for Trade Dan Tehan said he was disappointed by ANZ's decision and described the port as a viable and strong business.
"I'm very pleased that it looks like there's going to be alternative finance that will be secured because it's an incredibly important business. It supports 9,000 jobs and plays an important role in our export mix," he said.
"It's incredibly important to understand that our coal is the cleanest coal exported in the world and if we're not exporting our coal other countries will be, and that will add to emissions."
When asked, Mr Tehan did not acknowledge that there was any need for the port to diversify its activities in the long term as demand for coal declines.
The port itself has openly acknowledged the need to diversify, but its push to develop a container terminal for general cargo has so far been hampered by the NSW Government.
When selling Port Botany and Port Kembla, the state implemented laws that would restrict any container traffic through Newcastle for the next 50 years. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) deemed the move anti-competitive and illegal, and the matter is currently being dealt with in the Federal Court.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-09/climate-risk-sees-anz-divest-from-port-of-newcastle/13136462
**************************************MGA Thermal, a start-up born at Newcastle University, hopes to revolutionise the storage of energy and accelerate the shift to renewable power
"This is our lab where our manufacturing currently happens at the University of Newcastle," MGA Thermal's Alex Post tells the ABC as he takes us into a workshop in the engineering faculty.
The young engineer has the dual titles of chief technology officer and chief disruption officer at the company.
He's a protégé of Erich Kisi, a professor of materials science at Newcastle, who pioneered a technology for storing energy as heat in "bricks" made from an alloy of recycled metals.
Alex Post explains a process that's remarkably simple. "We stack the bricks up into large energy storage systems; we heat them with waste heat from industry or with electricity from the grid when we have too much solar, and these bricks store all of that energy as heat.
"Six to eight hours later we can use all that stored heat to drive an industrial process or create steam to run a power plant and put energy back onto the grid." It's modular, scalable and carbon emissions free.
The main applications for the technology will be powering factories and providing storage for solar power plants that use concentrated solar thermal power, but it could also be used to turn the turbines in former coal-fired power stations — without burning coal.
It's the kind of clean technology that groups working on the transition from coal see as the future of this region.
"Our vision is that, by 2030, the Hunter is the electric motor of the Australian economy and possibly the global economy," says Sam Mella, Hunter engagement lead for the think tank Beyond Zero Emissions.
"We have everything we need to electrify industry using renewable energy and create thousands and thousands of jobs."
Another business, Energy Renaissance, is looking at manufacturing large-scale lithium-ion batteries for storing clean energy.
The Hunter Valley has also this week been announced as a centre for the development of hydrogen fuel — a clean energy when generated from renewables — that could become a multi-billion-dollar Australian export to Asia.
Newcastle, the city that was synonymous with BHP's giant steelworks for decades until it shut down in the late 1990s, is now looking at manufacturing steel again — in blast furnaces powered by renewable energy.
The great legacy of the coal industry and the old power stations is a massive network of electricity transmission infrastructure and a vast rail freight network going directly to a deep-water port.
"We'll have massive renewable energy industrial precincts making green steel, green aluminium, carbon-free batteries and we'll be exporting all of this through the port," says Sam Mella.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-02/coal-transition-climate-change-hunter-region/13109642
****************************************Cold snap blamed for mass deaths of tree martin birds in WA's South West
What! No global warming?
Conservationists have blamed a summer cold snap for the widespread deaths of a small native bird in Western Australia's South West.
A low pressure system brought unseasonal cold temperatures and heavy rainfall to southern WA for several days from the weekend.
Parks and Wildlife conservation officer Ben Lullfitz said after the cold weather people had found dead tree martin birds from Augusta to Bunbury.
"It's a small bird which looks a bit like a swallow, basically they are insect feeders which don't like cold weather in the summer … which has caused them to get into quite a bit of distress," he said.
Mr Lullfitz said the birds were unable to feed or regulate their body temperature during the cool conditions.
"We don't know how many exactly have died but it's been a widespread event," he said.
"We haven't had any reports of other species not surviving this cold weather but generally [birds] will find a spot to shelter and wait out," Mr Lullfitz said.
He recommended local residents dispose of any dead birds they find. "If animals are still alive and in distress take them to the nearest vet or call the wildlife helpline," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-09/cold-weather-blamed-for-mass-tree-martin-bird-deaths/13135174
************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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9 February, 2021
Victoria gives $10m for hydrogen hub which will study storage and clean energy vehicles
Idiots. Where are they going to get the hydrogen from? It is all about us but separating it out needs energy, electricity. And where is the electricty coming from? From fossil fuel power stations, mainly. It is just an indirect way of using fossil fuels
And what about the cost and weight of the massive pressure vessels needed to store it? Whatever it is, it is not environmentally friendly
The hub will be based at Swinburne University of Technology and study both clean energy vehicles and hydrogen storage.
The government says about 300 jobs will be created and construction is expected to take about 18 months after it commences in 2022.
Swinburne will partner with the CSIRO to establish it.
“This hub will help give Victorians the skills and experience we need to unlock the hydrogen industry – driving down emissions while creating green jobs in a growing industry,” Victoria’s energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said on Saturday.
The CSIRO said that as part of the arrangement it would get $1m to help develop a refuelling station for hydrogen vehicles.
“As Australia considers energy alternatives, we know hydrogen is clean and will be cost-competitive, but a major barrier to it becoming a fuel source for cars and trucks is how to refuel, and the lack of refuelling infrastructure,” the CSIRO’s executive director, Nigel Warren, said.
“The refueller is a significant step towards removing that barrier.”
Swinburne university’s vice chancellor, Pascale Quester, thanked the government and said the hydrogen hub would demonstrate the ways in which technology can “create a better world”.
A sister site will also be built in Stuttgart, Germany.
The Victorian government is also expected to release a hydrogen industry development plan in the coming weeks.
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Demand for arts and humanities still high despite Coalition university fee increases
Demand for arts and humanities university courses has risen in some states, despite the federal government’s fee increases aimed at pushing students into more “job-ready” degrees.
Students appear willing to pay increases of up to 113%, with university offers for society and culture degrees up 25% in Queensland among year 12 school leavers. Offers for the creative arts are also up 11.3%, according to early data from the Queensland tertiary admissions centre.
In contrast, offers for information technology, which had its student degree cost slashed from $9,698 to $7,700, are up only 18.8%, and engineering, with the same discount, is up 15%.
In New South Wales, preferences for society and culture rose 5.7%, and nearly 2,000 more students applied than at the same time last year.
Despite student fees more than doubling from $6,804 a year to $14,500, 40.6% of NSW prospective students chose it as their first preference, by far the largest cohort, although the figure is down slightly on 41.3% in 2020.
However, in Victoria the number of applications (at any preference) to study arts and the humanities fell 7.3%, to 15,494 – even as total undergraduate applications rose 1.5%. Arts and humanities still made up 23% of all applications.
Commerce and law, whose fees also rose, had a drop in Victoria. Commerce applications dropped 3.4% and law applications 3.6%.
Final enrolment numbers will not be known until after the census at the end of March. Until then, students can drop out or change courses without being charged.
Higher education expert Andrew Norton, from the Australian National University, said it appeared the government’s changes to student contributions were not having a “dramatic” effect on students’ choices.
“[Applications] are up overall, including in some states’ arts degree fields that have more than doubled in price,” he said.
In June last year, the architect of the Hecs scheme, Bruce Chapman, predicted the fee rises would not move students into the areas the government wanted to prioritise.
Norton said the dip in applications in Victoria was among any preferences, not just first preferences, which made its data different from NSW.
“In Victoria the number of arts applications at any preference level is down – $14,500 a year might be too much to pay for a second or lower preference course,” he said.
“But we have to wait for enrolment data to see the true effects of changed student contributions.”
Under last year’s changes, fees were reduced for agriculture and maths by 62%, teaching, nursing, English and languages by 46%, and science, health, architecture, IT and engineering by 20%. The cost of humanities rose 113%, and law and commerce 28%.
The then-education minister, Dan Tehan, said the changes would “incentivise students to make more job-relevant choices … by reducing the student contribution in areas of expected employment growth and demand”.
“It’s common sense,” he said in a speech to the press club. “If Australia needs more educators, more health professionals and more engineers then we should incentivise students to pursue those careers.”
In NSW, overall applications rose 7.5%, meaning the percentage of humanities applications out of the total dropped slightly from 41.3% to 40.6%.
Applications for health degrees rose 13.5% and architecture rose by 10%. Information technology rose 5.7%, and natural and physical sciences rose 4.3% – both slightly less than society and culture.
Applications for creative arts and management and commerce, which both had degree costs raised, were the only areas to drop – by 1.2% and 2.1% respectively.
In Queensland, offers for education rose 35.2%, natural and physical sciences rose 30%, architecture rose 18.8% and agriculture rose 8.8%.
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They may be bigots, but here’s why we can’t gag Israel Folau or Margaret Court
Pru Goward
He’s baaack! Just as we had gotten used to the idea that a so-called religious bigot had been awarded Australia’s highest honour for being Australia’s greatest ever tennis player of any gender, another religious figure, with a similar antipathy for homosexuals as Margaret Court AC, is in the news.
Yes, Izzy Folau, having been banished by Rugby Australia, is looking for the honour of playing NRL. How dare he seek the adoring roar of the crowds and the big bucks again with views like his, you may well ask.
Margaret Court may have been the female equivalent (and more) to Don Bradman for at least a generation of Australian women, who, like me, knew of only two other famous women: the Queen and Dame Pattie (Menzies). Mysteriously, Court had never received the same recognition as the wondrous but silent Ken Rosewall or Rod Laver.
Not for we girls of the 1950s were there female government ministers, world-leading scientists, a dazzling array of sporting stars or even women reading the news on radio, let alone television, to admire and emulate. But there was always Margaret Smith, as she was then.
I haven’t heard the outcry from political leaders who want Israel Folau removed from public life again, or threats from famous fans to tear up their NRL membership tickets if he’s allowed back with St George Illawarra – albeit with a gag order in his proposed contract – in the same way others have rejected their honours over Margaret Court, but no doubt they’re warming up in the wings.
For all I know, Izzy has been in isolation at a re-education camp for the past 12 months, contemplating his reduced income and the attractions of discretion; we have heard little of his views since he was dragged from the scene, taking with him the head of then Rugby Australia chief Raelene Castle.
Eddie McGuire was in danger of being condemned in the same way over his, in my view, much more ill-judged remarks about racism at Collingwood Football Club but, since he had attached no theological belief to it, recanting was painless and swift.
Now we are flagellating ourselves yet again, wondering aloud how Australia could allow two people as undeserving as Court and Folau to prosper on our watch.
The country that finally threw off the shackles of religious convention in the ’60s, when the pulpits ruled and unspoken sins were roundly condemned (they never were spelt out by the preacher, or more of us teenagers might have tuned in for the naughty words), has gradually replaced it with another sort of equally religious puritanism, with exactly the same effects: silenced debate, silenced freedom of speech, reduced tolerance, reduced trust.
Maybe it’s a post-COVID trauma and will pass. The emergent parochialism of the states (except our own) has been breathtaking and premiers have clearly fed off opinion polls that told them their electorates enjoyed seeing other states as the enemy far too much. In 2020 we found out what cancel culture really meant, and it wasn’t great. But we’re at it again, seeking to cancel people we don’t agree with.
Calls to disgrace people who offend us were the warm-up acts of dictators and the early warning signs of totalitarianism in places as disparate as the old South Africa and the Soviet Union.
It is not as if people have an unfettered licence to insult and defame individuals or groups; unlike the United States, Australian human rights law is very clear on vilification and the inciting of others to commit crimes or acts of terror. Our defamation laws are extremely tough by the standards of other democracies.
While I share Julia Gillard’s “murderous rage, really” – her description of how she felt about those men who attacked her with snide references to gender – and while I have a large group of male dolls in my head I regularly stick pins into, to cancel them is a dangerous descent into censorship which must be fought until there is no breath left in the frail body of democracy.
That goes for Wednesday’s refreshingly basic biffo over vaccine “crazy conspiracy theories” between Labor’s Tanya Plibersek and the Liberals’ Craig Kelly
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Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk reveals response to youth crime crisis
Queensland will launch a major crackdown on young offenders as it’s revealed a 400-strong group of teenagers is responsible for half the state’s juvenile crime.
Justice authorities have consistently said youth crime figures are falling but they fear a small cohort has held the state’s police force under siege, with just 10 per cent of young offenders responsible for nearly 50 per cent of juvenile crimes.
The alarming statistic combined with deafening community outrage has led to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk enlisting the state’s anti-terror boss to clamp down on the crisis gripping the Sunshine State.
Under new laws announced on Tuesday, repeat youth offenders will be slapped with GPS tracking devices and bail conditions will be toughened.
The death of a pregnant couple in Brisbane on Australia Day allegedly at the hands of a teenager in a stolen car thrust youth crime concerns back into the spotlight.
And the fury in the community has continued to escalate, culminating in the death of Jennifer Board, 22, on Friday night in Townsville during an alleged wild vigilante chase of teens in a suspected stolen vehicle.
“The community expects us to do more and that is exactly what we will do,” the premier told reporters, announcing she will appoint Assistant Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon to take charge of a Youth Crime Taskforce.
“Families have been shattered and lives have been lost. And that is why today we are taking very strong action. “They have no concept of the consequences of their actions and no fear of the law.”
Ms Scanlon, a 33-year police veteran, will set upon the 10 per cent of repeat youth offenders who police fear have zero regard for consequences as the Palaszczuk government adopts a plea from the Queensland Police Union who wanted this group of about 400 offenders slapped with GPS tracking anklets.
This measure will be implemented in a new trial and used in Morton, North Brisbane, Townsville, Logan and the Gold Coast for 16 to 17-year-olds as part of bail conditions.
The presumption of bail will also be removed for serious indictable offences such as breaking and entering, serious sexual assault and armed robbery.
“The courts will be empowered to require repeated offenders to give reasons why they should have bail instead of requiring prosecutors to prove why they should not,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“Where courts can seek assurances from them that the offender will adhere to the bail conditions or bail will not be granted.”
The breakdown of the new rules to be introduced later this month include:
Require fitting of electronic monitoring devices (GPS Trackers): As a condition of bail for recidivist high risk offenders aged 16 and 17
Create a presumption against bail: For youth offenders arrested for committing further serious indictable offences (such as breaking and entering, serious sexual assault and armed robbery) while on bail
Seek assurances from parents and guardians that bail conditions will be complied with before an offender is released
Strengthen existing bail laws: The Youth Justice Act will be amended to include a reference to the community being protected from recidivist youth offenders in the Charter of Youth Justice Principles
The announcement comes a day after the opposition called for the immediate reinstatement of breach of bail offences for juvenile criminals.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli admitted the supposed youth crime crisis requires a nuanced and holistic approach, including early intervention support schemes and improving cultural connections with Indigenous youths.
But he demanded Ms Palaszczuk remove bail exemption provisions in the Youth Justice Act on the first day of the parliamentary sitting year in two weeks. “I don’t want to rush, I don’t want to make mistakes. I want to fix what we see as the core tenet of the problem,” he told reporters on Monday.
The chorus of demands follows a desperate plea from Ms Board’s close friend and police officer, Luke Matthews, who said something had to change after the death of his “loveliest” and “most innocent” friend.
“Myself and my fellow officers deal with these same offenders all the time, and the current youth justice process does not work,” he said in a detailed Facebook post.
“Stop letting these criminals out on bail. We need to start acknowledging that despite the fact they’re juveniles, their actions have very serious consequences, and if they they’re committing these very serious offences of the exact same nature, over and over again, why are they even being released?
“This should have been prevented.”
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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8 February, 2021
Bike riders should be held more accountable for carnage they cause
Riding two abreast was once banned. It is a curse to other road users
Cyclists should pay a fee to be registered and licensed and be banished from footpaths and arterial roads because they are a danger to themselves and pedestrians.
The massive pandemic-led surge in cyclists on our roads has sparked fresh calls for bike riders to be more accountable. It may well signal the end of the MAMIL (middle aged men in lycra). Many are saying enough is enough.
If it’s good enough for those getting around on motorised scooters to be registered – they too don’t lack anything in the aggression stakes – cyclists should now be subject to the same laws as vehicle users.
If a cyclist can be charged with being drunk on our roads, why are they not subjected to the same stringent rules that apply to motorists? Some may suggest registering and licensing cyclists and banning them from main roads is going overboard. But this is deadly serious.
They are a menace to themselves and others. In 2018, 82,000 people signed a petition to stop cyclists being able to ride two abreast. It follows legislation in NSW which now requires motorists to leave a minimum gap of one metre when passing a cyclist when the speed limit is below 60 km/h. Loss of demerit points and fines apply to motorists who do not adhere to the law, angering some car bodies.
But what of the rights of pedestrians and motorists? Take the example last year of a 93-year old man who was fatally struck by a cyclist while out walking. Charlie Embrey was struck by a cyclist as he walked near his home in Burpengary, on Brisbane’s northside.
The cyclist was a man, 43, who was not injured. Police said they collided when travelling in opposite direction near Reynolds Court. Surveys conducted by Victoria Walks – which represents walkers – show 40 per cent of the elderly say they don’t go on footpaths because of cyclists.
“In crashes between pedestrians and cyclists the most serious injuries are sustained by the pedestrian because of secondary impacts such as a head hitting the ground,’’ a Victoria Walks report said.
In the 12 months to June last year, 48 cyclists died on Australian roads, up from 34 in the corresponding year, with fatalities doubling in the past three years. Queensland is a wonderful state for cycling, and there has been a big spike in bikes being purchased and used during the pandemic, sparking suggestions Brisbane was in its biggest cycling renaissance since the 1970s.
Contributing to the popularity boom is the way in which councils have spent tens of millions of dollars on new and improved cycleways, aimed at getting bike riders off the roads they share with vehicles. A joint state and council committee has been established to focus on cycle safety after a spate of bike deaths in recent years.
The Active Transport Advisory Committee has been meeting regularly for seven months, and the main concern appears to be regulation of heavy vehicles. But the reality is that heavy vehicles will never be banned from using roads because the transportation of groceries and goods in this decentralised country of ours is vital.
So where does that leave cyclists, many of whom are playing Russian roulette on the roads with cars each day? It’s simple. They need to be banned from major roads. For their own protection, as much as the motorists who are faced each day with dodging them.
Major thoroughfares such as Gympie Road, Wynnum Road, Ipswich Road and Abbotsford Road are death traps for cyclists. Motorists are now funding cycleways through rego taxes. Councils are pandering to these cyclists by annexing sections of roads, causing even more congestion for car and truck users.
We need to stop the cyclist carnage on the roads. The best way to do that is banish them from busy roads altogether and introduce laws where they must stick to the cycleways.
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Leftist olive branch to Christian voters
OPPOSITION leader Anthony Albanese will seek to offer an olive branch to religious voters who turned their back on Labor in 2019, saying “respect of their views” and potentially conscience votes on some contentious issues would be a part of a Labor Government led by him.
Mitochondrial donation, a cutting edge treatment for a rare disease also known as “three-person IVF”, would be an example of where conscience votes could be offered.
Labor’s election post-mortem found religious voters and Christians in particular had been turned off the party, with party insiders having said “they were scared of us”.
In the wake of the review, Labor members including Deputy Leader Richard Marles began holding began holding roundtables with religious organisations, but the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions curtailed much of this.
Mr Albanese told The Courier-Mail that he had continued to meet with leaders of different communities, including Catholic, Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches.
“People are looking for respect and for respect of their views,” he said. “I’m someone who, I don’t try to go out there and put my views out there. But I was Catholic raised and engaged there. “But I also engage with religious leaders across the board.”
He said he was support of conscience votes on appropriate issues. “I’ve been a strong supporter of conscience votes and have argued that consistently within the Labor Party and publicly for a long period of time,” Mr Albanese said.
The Mitochondrial donation was an example of where he would support a conscience vote for the Labor Party. Mitochondrial disease is a potentially fatal genetic disease in children which robs the body’s cells of energy.
Mitochondrial donation is an assisted reproduction treatment which uses DNA from three people, with donated eggs, to prevent parents transmitting the disease to their children.
Health Minister Greg Hunt told the Coalition party room last week that a laws to legalise the process would be coming up in the parliament and they would be allowed a conscience vote on the issue.
Mr Albanese said he too believed it was an issue that should be appropriately dealt with through a conscience vote.
The UK in 2015 became the first country to legalise the process.
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How Scott Morrison's huge 'Fortress Australia' gamble to stop endless Covid state border closures and let the lucky country thrive could mean we're cut off from the world for YEARS
Scott Morrison's decision to keep the international border closed has been hailed by business leaders as the key to Australia's economic success - but may leave Aussies banned from going abroad for at least another year.
While other nations struggle under the weight of growing Covid cases and mounting deaths, Australians are - with a few exceptions - going about their normal lives, other than flying overseas.
On Friday, Mr Morrison signalled millions will soon enjoy even greater freedoms as he looked to end snap border closures that have left families separated and people fearing booking interstate travel.
His decision to close Australia's international borders on March 20 last year is fast approaching its first birthday, and some of the country's top CEOS - including Qantas CEO Alan Joyce - have said it is the key to the nation's economic health.
But Mr Joyce also called for more consistency with snap border closures after some states locked down entire cities after recording a single case.
'We're a victim of our success, in a way. We have state borders slamming shut with just one case. Now, some will argue that's how we stay successful, but the NSW experience shows otherwise,' he told the AFR.
He explained the airline is supportive of the hard border system continuing if it allows domestic travel to stay open across the country - calling snap closures 'confusing and confidence sapping'.
While Qantas' domestic flights are set to return to 60 per cent capacity of pre-Covid levels, snap lockdowns could see this fall to a even lower level.
'I think we need to put more trust in the testing and tracing systems we've built through COVID and the incredible levels of co-operation shown by the community,' Mr Joyce said.
Mark Steinert, chief executive of Stockland, also called for more consistency between states, and asked others to adopt an approach similar to that seen in New South Wales - where border closures are avoided in all but the most serious outbreaks.
'Once state borders remain consistently open, with a targeted approach to deal with community transfer, we are confident we will see a further increase in economic activity and jobs growth,' he said.
Elizabeth Gaines, who heads up Fortescue Metals, also backed the government's hard international border closure, calling it a 'considered, thorough approach'.
While border closures between states could soon be a thing of the past, a reluctance to allow in foreign travellers is weighing heavily on universities which relied on international students.
Universities lost an estimated $1.8billion in revenue and had to cut 17,300 jobs last year compared to 2019, according to Universities Australia.
On top of this, the tourism industry has been decimated thanks to the lack of international tourists, as well as domestic closures.
The lost of international flights has cost the economy more than $61billion since the pandemic began, and overall the value of Australian tourism is expected to fall from $138million to $83billion, according to Tourism Research Australia.
But thanks to the international border closures, Australians have been able to spend millions in their own backyard by taking trips in their own state, as well as eating out at restaurants and cafes.
Mr Morrison recently hinted international borders could open sooner than the predicted 2022 date if it's proved the vaccine is stopping transmission and not just illness and deaths.
'The key thing I think is going to impact on that decision, is going to be whether the evidence emerges about transmissibility, and how the vaccine protects against that,' the prime minister told News Limited during a Facebook Live on Wednesday.
'If it indeed does stop transmission between people, then that could be quite a game-changer, but that will not be evident for some time yet.'
Chief Medical Officer, Brendan Murphy, last month said he expected the hard borders to be shut for the remainder of the year.
During the Facebook live, he echoed Mr Morrison's statements, and said it would be a waiting game to know how effective vaccines were in stopping transmission.
'If, as we suspect these vaccines are effective at preventing transmission, the sooner we get the population vaccinated, the sooner people - not only will they be protected, but we will get on this path towards good herd immunity, and that will speed up the return to international travel,' he said.
Under a taskforce led by Philip Gaetjens, Secretary for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, new strategies are being put forward in alignment with the rollout of the vaccine to return life to normal.
Mr Morrison said the country would soon be able to treat Covid-19 like other virus, such as the flu, which does not require lockdowns or even social distancing - although this isn't expected to change the government's hard stance on international borders anytime soon.
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Home affairs failing to meet Australia's freedom of information deadlines, watchdog finds
The home affairs department is failing to meet lawful deadlines in a huge proportion of freedom of information cases, a problem exacerbated by the involvement of ministerial staff, poor training and the need for greater senior-level departmental support, an investigation has found.
The freedom of information system is a critical plank of transparency and accountability in Australia, but data shows it is currently deteriorating considerably, with delays, complaints and refusals all on the rise.
The department of home affairs is by far the biggest recipient of FOI requests but frequently struggles to meet its obligations to process requests within lawful timeframes.
In October 2019, after receiving a series of complaints about home affairs, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner started an own-motion investigation of the department’s FOI handling.
The report released on Friday found the department missed the lawful deadline in more than half of the FOI requests for non-personal information it received each year for the past four years.
It found there were “inadequate processes” for escalating requests and finalising decisions, and the department was using non-FOI staff with inadequate training to work on some requests.
“The department has implemented an approach for processing FOI requests for non-personal information that requires significant engagement by the staff in the business areas to which a relevant FOI request relates,” the report found. “The training and resources made available to those staff does not facilitate processing FOI requests within the FOI Act statutory processing periods.”
The department also lacked “senior-level support for embedding policies, procedures and systems for compliance”, the investigation found.
The involvement of media teams and the minister’s office in FOI requests also “limits the ability of the department to meet” its deadlines.
The OAIC recommended the department immediately appoint an “information champion” to make sure the department is complying with the FOI act. It should also prepare an operational manual to instruct staff on how to process FOI requests within the lawful timeframes, train its staff in FOI, and conduct a broader audit of its performance.
The department said it accepted all recommendations and has had a program of continuous improvement under way since October 2019 to improve its performance.
“As a result of the continuous improvement program, the department more than doubled the finalisation of requests for non-personal information in 2019-20 compared to 2018-19 (1,789 compared to 870),” a spokesman said.
It’s not the first time the department has come under fire for its FOI handling.
In 2019, the Guardian revealed that its delayed handling of FOI requests had led to almost 8,000 requests being automatically refused.
It has also been accused by a whistleblower of breaking freedom of information law to withhold documents about alleged legal breaches during pay negotiations with staff.
When the independent senator Rex Patrick asked about the department’s compliance at Senate estimates in October 2019, the home affairs secretary, Michael Pezzullo, said he was attempting to “spread finite resources across every single piece of legislation this parliament sees fit to pass”.
“It’s within it’s your prerogative to pass laws as you see fit,” he said. “Like my colleagues in the portfolio and more generally across government, I have to apply finite resources, which allow us to comply to the maximum extent we can.”
Patrick said the report had “properly rapped Mr Pezzullo over the knuckles”.
“As the principal officer for home affairs responsible for FOI, his performance does not meet the expectations and professional responsibilities for the chief executive of a federal government department,” Patrick said.
“But I live in hope and will be following it up at March’s estimates committee hearings.”
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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7 February, 2021
Taxi service under fire for ‘Australian’ driver requirement
I use Taxis a fair bit and most drivers I encounter are Indians with very limited English. It can be very frustrating when you are trying to give directions and keep them on the right path. So having drivers who spreak good English would be a relief
But we should nonetheless be thankful to the Indians. It is a dangerous job and not many "old" Australians are willing to risk it. I was myself a taxi-driver many years ago and, although I was wary enough to avoid getting hurt, there were some hairy incidents. Something like half of one's customers are drunk
A taxi company is under fire after revealing it only hires Australian drivers whose first language is English.
Eureka Taxis launched its service in Ballan, about 78km northwest of Melbourne, on Monday, announcing the news to locals by posting in a community Facebook group. In the post, Eureka Taxis’ Matthew Matters said people in Ballan would be able to book a taxi and “be picked up by an Australian driver”. “All drivers are: Australian drivers, fully insured (and) have current working with children checks,” he wrote.
The majority of commenters seemed excited about having a new taxi service but not everyone was impressed with the prerequisite for drivers. “Up your arse I’m a wog,” one person wrote.
Co-owner Vivian Wilson responded to the man, pointing out she is from a European background and has no problem with the requirement for drivers to have English as a first language. “I have no issues when businesses ask for drivers to have English being your first language. I personally don’t take offence to it,” she said.
On another post Mr Matters made about Eureka Taxis, a few other locals questioned what the “Australian drivers” requirement meant. “Australian drivers means that English is their first language and they hold an Australian driving licence (not an international licence),” Mr Matters responded.
Ms Wilson clarified to The Ballarat News that English as a first language was a strict requirement for drivers but they could come from any background.
She said there are a lot of “multicultural drivers” where the company is based in Ballarat and Eureka Taxi’s requirement for their drivers to hold an Australian licence was based on customer demand.
“You’ve got drivers that will sit there and talk their own language while they have customers in the car which is quite rude,” she told the publication.
“The attention to the customer isn’t 100 per cent, so we are fulfilling that gap.”
Phony emission targets
Lofty emission reduction “plans” are to virtue-signalling governments what positive life-affirmation mantras and essential oils are for trainwreck alcoholics.
You can wear all the crystals and dreamcatcher tattoos you want – but it won’t clean the back of the taxi after last night’s shenanigans.
After winning the 2019 election by promising not to follow Labor’s path on climate policy, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has now started musing on Australian carbon neutrality by 2050.
A closer look at our nearest neighbours reveals their emissions plans are bulk ambition, a bit of pragmatism and doused in so much positivity gibberish that it would challenge even Oprah.
New Zealand, where 43.5 per cent of emissions are from the country’s dairy and sheep herds, celebrates “net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases” – except for the methane produced by cows and sheep.
New Zealand’s methane emissions are higher per capita than ours in Australia (5.83 t per capita versus 4.95 t per capita).
But we are the bad guys according to New Zealand because we haven’t adopted a net-zero emissions policy – even though they haven’t either.
Being the positive-thinkers they are, New Zealand legislators have kept their target open for review every few years on the chance that scientists find a way to stop cows burping.
Fiji, which slammed nations who hadn’t signed up to the net zero 2050 target when it did as “selfish”, has just 117,561 vehicles in the whole country and doesn’t expect all households to swap open fires for electric ovens until 2030. And they conveniently exclude emissions from international flights full of tourists that buoy its economy.
We can see what Fiji looks like without tourists. COVID-19 closed international borders and left 115,000 people newly unemployed or on reduced hours. That’s a third of Fiji’s workforce, with around a third of those women.
And who picked up the bill? We did. Australia provided $304.7 million to help Fiji run during COVID-19. And they call us selfish …
Fiji’s climate change strategy includes costings of USD $600 million to buy efficient new planes and notes it will need “international help” to pay for them.
If Fiji can exclude international flight emissions to protect their biggest industry (tourism), and New Zealand can exclude methane emissions to product their nation’s dairy industry – then Australia can sign up to a 2050 “net zero emissions” too – so long as we ignore all emissions from the industries that make us money, primarily mining and agriculture.
Wollongong Council, which launched its net zero policy with the ABC headline “Australia’s steel city commits to be carbon neutral by 2050”, actually only commits to reducing emissions from council operations by 25 per cent.
Their own policy says: “That Council is submitting this target on behalf of the community … and that Council is not solely responsible for the implementation of actions to achieve this target.”
Wollongong, still the home of the steelworks, is expanding a gas capture system over the town dump.
It’s a tangible development that could have been celebrated without pretending to magic away all emissions.
Sydney City Council, which in 2008 launched plans to be an urban oasis by 2030, has promoted its ”zero-waste city” for more than a decade – but the actual target, buried in the fine print, is just 70 per cent recycled waste.
You can profess all the holiness you like, but you are not emissions free, or greenhouse gas free, or even “net zero”.
It’s the equivalent of showing off your kale and gratitude smoothie on social media in the hope your mates forget you were thrown out of the pub again the night before.
NSW Minister for Carbon Tax Matt Kean leans on Norway’s electric car case studies for his net zero by 2050 strategy, but fails to mention that the Norwegian taxpayer subsidises them by nearly $20,000 a car.
Norway, about four per cent the size of Australia, hiked taxes for other new vehicles to the world’s highest, while subsidising tolls, parking and road taxes for EV drivers.
But Kean blames NSW’s limited public charging points, the $45,000 price tag for the cheapest barebones Hyundai hybrid, and that “most garages in Norway are powered to prevent vehicles from freezing during winter”.
He also doesn’t mention that an electric car in NSW is in fact a coal-powered car because our grid is 70 to 80 per cent coal.
If we can learn anything from the “net zero” commitments of councils, states and neighbouring countries, it’s that they believe the universal laws of attraction free them of their emission addiction as long as they repeat it enough.
Universities facing $2 billion loss as job cuts total more than 17,000
Australian universities axed at least 17,300 jobs last year and more losses are expected this year, as the sector braces for a further $2 billion revenue shortfall caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Peak body Universities Australia, which has calculated the financial hit to the sector over the past year, will use the new figures to urge the Morrison government to develop a long-term plan for research funding ahead of the May budget.
Chief executive Catriona Jackson said the scale of job and revenue losses varied between universities but no institution was spared financial pain, with the decline in international student revenue the major cause of budget pressures.
“As a sector, universities have gone from being $2.3 billion in surplus in 2019 to being $369 million in deficit in 2020,” Ms Jackson said. “Budgeting was really tough right across the sector. A very large city university with lots of international students will have had a big hit. In some universities in regional areas there are very serious challenges around delaying really important capital works.”
Universities Australia, which represents the country’s 39 universities, calculated at least 17,300 jobs were shed from Australian campuses in 2020 - slightly lower than the 21,000 jobs it estimated were at risk in April. The figures comprise full time and casual positions.
It found universities’ operating revenues fell 4.9 per cent, or $1.8 billion, compared with 2019 figures, and predicted a further $2 billion decline this year.
Foreign students’ fees are a highly lucrative revenue source for universities, which collectively banked $10 billion from these fees in 2019, accounting for 27 per cent of their total operating revenue.
But the ongoing uncertainty around Australia’s international border, which has been closed for 10 months, has exposed the over-reliance by universities on the fees to cross-subsidise research programs.
In December, many universities reported steep declines in early applications and enrolments for semester one, fuelling concerns Australia was at risk of losing market share to rival countries such as Canada and the UK, which have opened borders to offshore students.
Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge warned the sector last month that it would be “very difficult” for international students to return in large numbers to campuses this year as he appealed to offshore students to begin their studies online.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews similarly described the prospect as “incredibly challenging, if not impossible”, while NSW has shelved plans to return 1000 international students each week.
Elite research universities, including the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne, and the Australian National University, were among the institutions that slashed hundreds of jobs through voluntary or forced redundancies programs last year.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack says the Government might consider excluding agriculture from future long-term climate change targets
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared his goal is to reach net zero emissions "as soon as possible, and preferably by 2050", although he has not committed to it.
Mr McCormack said Australia could follow New Zealand's lead in exempting emissions from the agriculture sector.
"Indeed, that could well be one of the options, but as I say, it's a long way off," the Nationals leader told Sky News.
"New Zealand, well yes they've said that 2050 is a target but they've also had that caveat with their agriculture.
"Well if that's what it takes, well that's what it takes, but we're not going to hurt regional Australia, we're not going to hurt those wonderful people who've put food on our table."
New Zealand has set a 2050 target of reaching net zero emissions "of all greenhouse gases other than biogenic methane".
McCormack 'not worried about what might happen in 30 years'
Mr McCormack said he did not want to see regional areas disproportionately affected by Australia's climate change response but argued his immediate focus was on other issues.
"There are huge challenges in 2021 and we're not worried, well I'm certainly not worried, about what might happen in 30 years' time," he said.
"The concentration at the moment indeed for me, for the National Party and indeed for regional Australia is getting back on our feet after what's been a very challenging year."
Asked whether agriculture should be exempted from a potential 2050 target, Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles said Australia needed to reach carbon neutrality "across the economy".
"That's what Paris requires and that's the commitment that we have made," he told the ABC's Insiders program.
"Labor has made a commitment, we didn't hear that from the Government this week.
"I'm not sure what he heard from the Prime Minister, it might have been a hope, an aspiration, 'inching' I think is the word, but what we did not hear was a commitment."
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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6 February, 2021
Bob Brown Foundation loses Federal Court bid to end native forest logging in Tasmania
The Bob Brown Foundation took the Federal and Tasmanian Governments, along with Sustainable Timber Tasmania, to court in what environmentalists billed as "the great forest case".
It argued the state's Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) contradicted federal laws and was therefore invalid. It submitted Tasmania's RFA did not protect endangered species, particularly the swift parrot.
The foundation posted on social media saying the decision was "just a setback" and did not change its campaign to end native forest logging.
Bob Brown said "this will simply invigorate our campaign to protect Tasmania's forest and wildlife". "Tasmania's forests will be free of chainsaws before too long," Mr Brown said.
He said the foundation would now look at options to appeal to the High Court.
The foundation's case came after the Federal Court ruled last year that state-owned timber company VicForests breached environmental laws by logging sections of the Central Highlands inhabited by the critically endangered Leadbeater's possum.
The forest industry and government ministers said the decision was a "win" for forestry workers.
Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries Jonno Duniam said Mr Brown must now accept the judgement. "This is a victory for every hard-working man and woman in forestry across the nation," Senator Duniam said in a statement.
"Bob Brown said himself that 'it's time for a big winner' when it comes to the native forestry industry, and today's decision confirms forestry is that winner."
Tasmanian Forest Products Association chief executive Nick Steel said the outcome was good news "for Tasmanian jobs, the environment, and the Tasmanian community".
"Regional Forest Agreements were set up to provide an appropriate balance between the environment and jobs and to provide certainty to all parties, and the public can now be reassured about this balance by today's decision," Mr Steel said.
Tasmania's forestry industry employees more than 5,000 people, both directly and indirectly.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-03/tasmania-bob-brown-landmark-forestry-decision/13116326
Australia makes HUGE move against China as it offers $10million for a key industry the communist government has dominated for decadesThe Tasmanian Government will put $10million towards helping to revive a King Island mine to produce tungsten, a mineral seen as critical to national security.
China currently controls about 83 per cent of the world's tungsten production - a near monopoly on global supply.
The Trump administration in 2018 declared tungsten one of 35 minerals 'essential' to the United States' economic and national security, though the country does not have a mine producing tungsten.
Australia meanwhile currently only has a small working deposit, located in Tasmania, leaving the two countries vulnerable to controls on exports.
The King Island Scheelite company's Dolphin Mine has been closed since 1992 due to a downturn in global tungsten prices. It had been producing Scheelite, a form of Tungsten since 1917 on the island, located halfway between Tasmania and Victoria.
The price of tungsten, the second hardest mineral after diamonds, has rebounded in recent years with the mineral used widely in automotive and aerospace industries.
Tungsten is used to manufacture passenger vehicles, fighter jets, weapons, drill bits used in the mining industry and in mobile phone screens.
'Tungsten is a strategically significant metal and a key input to industries that are vital to national security,' King Island Scheelite Executive Chairman Johann Jacobs said.
'We note that several Western governments have recently identified a crisis in the supply chain for critical minerals, particularly tungsten, for which North America currently has no mines in production.
'We see a close alignment between the company's development objectives, the Tasmanian Government's interests in maintaining and growing both Tasmanian jobs and export revenue, and the strategic objectives of the Australian Government as implemented by Austrade and the Critical Mineral Facilitation Office.'
Tasmania's minister for state growth, Michael Ferguson, said the government had offered a $10 million commercial loan, repayable over 10 years, to help progress the Dolphin Mine.
'King Island Scheelite's Dolphin Tungsten Project has the potential to generate significant investment, create jobs and boost the economy on King Island,' he said.
'While the project is still contingent on a number of other requirements, which the company is progressing, this is an important step in moving it forward. 'This will allow the company to continue the additional capital-raising necessary to bring it to fruition.'
Mr Ferguson said the company estimates the project could create up to 90 full-time equivalent jobs during construction and about 55 ongoing full-time equivalent jobs. 'It would be great to see a clever, job-creating mine up and running again under this proposal, producing significant social and economic benefits for the King Island community,' he said.
King Island Scheelite is still hoping to obtain $15million in federal government funding and further money from equity and debt markets.
China’s Ministry of Education has issued another warning to students wanting to study in Australia
Chinese students have again been warned against studying in Australia in a move that could worsen the already strained relationship with Beijing.
State-owned media has reported that China’s Ministry of Education on Friday told students to make a “full risk assessment” about studying in Australia following reports of racism and concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
“It noted that a series of vicious attacks on Chinese students that have happened recently in multiple places in Australia have posed a serious threat to their personal safety,” the Global Times wrote.
“The raging pandemic also makes international travel risky.”
Australian universities rely heavily on the Chinese, who make up the largest cohort of international students.
Beijing first cautioned students about racist incidents against Asians and the pandemic in June last year in the midst of Australia’s plans to allow international students to return to the country.
However, the burgeoning number of Australian citizens wanting to return from overseas and restricted quarantine capacity has thrown a spanner in the works of returning planeloads of international students to campuses nationwide.
The Global Times reported that the education department warning was evidence that Australia had “poisoned” the relationship with China.
Shanghai-based Australian scholar Chen Hong – who had his visa cancelled by Australian officials after an intelligence investigation – said the “worsening discrimination problem” that Chinese students face in Australia has reached “an alarmingly high degree”.
“The Australian government’s continuous attacks against China, which have been echoed by the media especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, has misguided the local Australian people to generate hostility toward the Chinese,” he said.
The Scanlon social cohesion study released this week found there was a “relatively high level” of negative opinion towards Asian Australians in 2020.
Three in five Chinese Australians responded the racism in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic was a ‘very big’ or ‘fairly big problem’.
The UK and Canada have been raised as alternatives for Chinese students wanting to study overseas, heightening concerns from Australian universities that they could lose their pre-pandemic share of the market.
Google opens paid-for Australian platform in drive to undercut Government's proposed content payment laws
Google has launched a platform in Australia offering news it has paid for after striking its own content deals with publishers.
It's part of a drive to show that world-first legislation proposed by the Federal Government to enforce payments is unnecessary.
Only rolled out previously in Brazil and Germany, the News Showcase platform was originally slated for launch last June.
But Alphabet-owned Google delayed plans when the Government moved to make it a legal requirement for Google and Facebook to pay Australian media companies for content.
The tech giant, still lobbying the Australian Government in private meetings, has previously said was the legislation was "unworkable" and would force it to pull out of the country altogether if implemented.
With the legislation now before a parliamentary inquiry, the launch of News Showcase in Australia will see it pay seven domestic outlets, including the Canberra Times, to use their content.
Financial details of the content deals weren't disclosed, and Canberra Times publisher, Australian Community Media, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Google said it looked forward to striking agreements with more Australian publishers, whose position has been bolstered by Canberra's aggressive push back against Facebook and Google.
"This provides an alternative to the model put forward by the Australian Government," said Derek Wilding, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney's Centre for Media Transition.
"What remains to be seen is if larger publishers sign on to the product."
Last month Reuters said it had signed a deal with Google to be the first global news provider to Google News Showcase. Reuters is owned by news and information provider Thomson Reuters Corp.
Google declined to add a further comment when contacted by Reuters.
Last month, Google and a French publishers' lobby agreed to a copyright framework for the tech firm to pay news publishers for content online, in a first for Europe.
Crushed: Digital giants vs Australian media
Within a couple of years the likes of Google and Facebook will devour more than half local ad revenues, leaving only crumbs for traditional media players.
Under the proposed legislation in Australia, Google and Facebook would have to pay publishers and broadcasters for content included in search results or news feeds as well.
If they failed to strike a deal with publishers, a government-appointed arbitrator would decide the price.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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5 February, 2021
Corrections officer charged over shooting death of Indigenous man
Why? It was part of an officer's duty to fire on a fleeing offender to prevent him escaping. The Aboriginality of the offender explains the charge. Blacks are innocent, don't you know? All shootings of blacks are therefore suspect
It is true that shooting a fleeing felon in the back is disallowed for police -- with some justification. But prison officers have their own rules and they are allowed to shoot at a fleeing felon if the felon would otherswise escape.
And the guy fleeing in this case was a real bad egg who had previously got away with heaps. So there was no call for mercy
A NSW Corrective Services Officer has been charged with the manslaughter of an Indigenous prisoner who was fatally shot while handcuffed outside a hospital in northern NSW.
Wiradjuri man Dwayne Johnstone, 43, was shackled and running away from two corrections officers at Lismore Base Hospital when he was shot in the back on March 15, 2019. He was immediately treated in hospital but died a short time later.
Richmond Police District established Strike Force Degance to investigate.
Mr Johnstone’s death was the subject of an inquest before State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan, who on the third day of proceedings referred the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Police say that, following extensive inquiries, a 57-year-old man attended Lismore police station on Friday and was issued with a court attendance notice for an allegation of manslaughter.
He is due to face Lismore Local Court on March 29.
The inquest heard Mr Johnstone, who had a history of escaping custody, had been taken to hospital while on remand after having an epileptic seizure in the cells of Lismore Court House, where he had been denied bail on assault charges.
As he was escorted back to the van by two corrections officers – one of whom was armed with a revolver – he “elbowed” the unarmed officer who had a grip of his pants, throwing him off balance, and started running. The officers cannot be named for legal reasons.
The inquest heard the armed officer fired three shots, and the third shot hit Mr Johnstone in the mid-back, going through his aorta, liver and diaphragm.
Counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer told the inquest in October that armed corrections officers carry guns but, unlike police, are not equipped with non-lethal weapons, such as Tasers, extendable batons or capsicum spray.
She said corrections officers might legally discharge firearms in a number of circumstances, including “to prevent the escape of an inmate” – with a number of provisos, including that a warning must be given and there cannot be reasonable grounds to believe the shot could hit another person.
Morrison government rules out subsidies in electric vehicle strategy
Australian businesses will be encouraged to invest in plug-in hybrid and electric car fleets in an attempt to increase private uptake by flooding the second-hand market with new vehicle technologies at lower prices.
The Morrison government has ruled out offering taxpayer subsidies for the private uptake of plug-in hybrids and battery electric cars, arguing in its long-awaited strategy that subsidies would not represent value for money in efforts to drive down carbon emissions.
Energy Minister Angus Taylor will argue a “fleet first” strategy for new technology passenger vehicles is the smartest way to help Australia’s “planned and managed” transition to low-emission cars, while ensuring charging infrastructure and the national energy grid can support a switch.
Low-emissions vehicles are a key plank in the government’s technology road map, which it will rely on if it is to meet both its Paris emission targets and a potential commitment to net zero by 2050.
Releasing a discussion paper informing the development of Australia’s Future Fuels Strategy, the federal government has identified five priority initiatives it says will make the most impact, including commercial fleets, essential infrastructure and improving information to motorists.
The strategy argues subsidising cars for private sales would cost taxpayers $195 to $747 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent, depending on the vehicle type and usage. It said that figure did not present value-for-money when compared to the Emissions Reduction Fund price of $16 per tonne of carbon emitted.
Mr Taylor said it was clear the future of road transport in Australia would be a mix of vehicle technologies and fuels and that Australians were already making the choice to switch to new vehicle technologies where it made economic sense.
“We are optimistic about how quickly the technology cost will reduce for other electric vehicles compared to traditional cars, making it an easier choice for consumers,” Mr Taylor said.
Hybrid sales almost doubled in Australia in the past year, increasing from 31,191 vehicles in 2019 to 60,417. Hybrids made up about 70 per cent of Toyota’s Camry and Rav4 sales, and about half of all Corolla sales in 2020.
Industry experts have criticised the federal government outlook for electric vehicle uptake over the next decade. They argue projections of 26 per cent in December’s Australian greenhouse gas emissions trends to 2030 were overly optimistic because it assumed numbers would spike despite a lack of policy and new state taxes slugging clean cars.
Several car manufacturers, including General Motors, have pledged to end production of petrol engine vehicles within the next decade while Britain has set a 2030 target to ban combustion engines.
The EV sector has also claimed the decisions by Victoria and South Australia to aim road-user taxes at drivers of electric vehicles would prevent the states from reaching their goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The plan justifies a focus on fleets because business vehicles generally travel greater distances than private vehicles, delivering better value-for-money through fuel and maintenance savings from new technologies and offsetting the price premium of buying the new technology.
“Supporting commercial fleet investment in new vehicle technologies will also drive uptake from private users, as fleet vehicles are generally replaced more regularly than private vehicles,” it says.
“This benefits the second-hand market and provides private consumers with second-hand vehicles at lower prices.”
Mr Taylor said the strategy would be underpinned by “significant” government investment, including the $74.5 million Future Fuels Package to invest in charging infrastructure at workplaces and in regional “blackspots”.
A move to electrify Australia’s passenger vehicle fleet was a centrepiece of the 2019 federal election campaign as the Morrison government aggressively criticised Labor’s election pledge that half of all new cars sold in 2030 would be electric.
How is Australia travelling with the switch to electric cars?
Mr Taylor said the Coalition’s policy was focused on enabling consumer choice and supporting natural uptake, with government modelling showing Labor’s EV policy would have increased the price of cars by up to $4863 to “force people out of the cars they love and into EVs”.
The transport sector makes up 18 per cent of Australia’s carbon pollution with passenger vehicle emissions projected to drop 1.2 per cent every year to 2030 amid greater uptake of hybrid, electric and fuel-cell vehicles in the national fleet.
Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari has described the federal government as out of step with other leading economies over its electric car future.
Following leaked details of the strategy in December, he said Australia was “miles behind” in the transition.
“In the US, drivers are offered a $10,000 tax rebate for buying an electric vehicle, and American consumers get access to much cheaper electric vehicle options because of their long-standing vehicle emission standards,” he said at the time.
'World-leading' bill banning gay conversion therapy passes Victorian parliament amid a VERY heated debate
No freedom of choice if you want to escape deviancy
A 'world-leading' bill banning gay conversion practices has passed Victorian parliament, despite a last-ditch attempt by the opposition to pause its progress.
The Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill passed the Legislative Council 29-9 just after 10.30pm on Thursday following a lengthy debate.
Labor had the support of crossbenchers Rod Barton from the Transport Matters Party, Andy Meddick from the Animal Justice Party, Reason Party MP Fiona Patten and Samantha Ratnam of the Greens.
The bill outlaws practices that seek to change or suppress a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Those found to have engaged in conversion practices that result in serious injury will face penalties of up to 10 years' jail or up to $10,000 in fines.
In supporting the bill, Mr Meddick described himself as the proud father of two 'perfect' transgender children.
'They do not need fixing. Nor do any other children or adults who do not fit an often religiously held belief that sexuality and gender are binary only,' he said.
Labor's Harriet Shing, the first openly lesbian member of Victorian parliament, acknowledged conversion therapy victims and survivor groups who have advocated for the ban for many years.
'(Their experiences) have had the effect, directly or indirectly, of breaking them or of trying to break them,' she said.
Ms Shing called out the 'cognitive dissonance' and 'doublespeak' of MPs who were opposing the bill despite supporting a ban on conversion practices.
'It is not acceptable that in a debate like this victims and survivors and our communities - my communities - are denied the opportunity to have our equality, our pain and hurt and trauma, on a footing which is of the utmost importance,' she said.
Ms Shing's speech was interrupted by Liberal MPs when she began naming coalition members who abstained from voting on the bill in the lower house.
'She is the only person in this chamber from an LGBTIQA+ community. As such, deserved a hell of a lot more respect than she got,' Mr Meddick said.
Ms Shing told AAP the Liberal MPs were 'literally shutting down the speech of the first and only openly gay woman in the Victorian parliament'.
The coalition did not oppose the bill but moved a number of amendments that failed, including one to pause its progress for further consultation.
Liberal MPs Bernie Finn and Bev McArthur voted against the bill.
Advocates including the Brave Network, the LGBTQIA+ committee of the Uniting Church in Australia, and Rainbow Catholics, have described the bill as the 'world's most significant achievement in legislation curtailing the diabolical influence of the conversion movement'.
The bill goes further than one passed in Queensland last year in that it prohibits harmful practices not only in healthcare settings but also in religious settings.
This includes 'carrying out a religious practice including but not limited to, a prayer based practice, a deliverance practice or an exorcism'.
A number of religious leaders have raised issue with the bill, including Melbourne's Catholic Archbishop Peter Comensoli and Bishop Brad Billings of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne.
Medical professionals have also raised concerns it could compromise the practice of psychiatry and psychotherapy.
'This bill does not outlaw prayer. It does not prevent health professionals from doing their job. It does not stop parents from talking to their kids about their views about sexuality or gender,' Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said. 'To suggest anything to the contrary is rubbish.'
The legislation will now go to the Victorian governor for royal assent. It will not come into effect for 12 months.
Read the 'sexist' real estate agent advice for 'single ladies' on how to buy a home which has gone viral for all the wrong reasons
A bit old-fashioned, I suppose. But there are a lot of old-fashioned people around. We are not all "woke"
A 'sexist' real estate article offering tips for 'single ladies' who are trying to get on the property ladder has sparked outrage online.
Bathurst Real Estate in rural New South Wales posted the 'Buying as a single lady' guide to Facebook in an attempt to help women snap up their first home - but the article was labelled 'disgusting and backwards'.
The independent agency who were forced to delete the viral post later revealed the outsourced blog post was actually written by a woman.
The article starts off by saying that being content to 'not have a ring on your finger' means you won't have the 'emotional and financial back-up of a spouse' when it comes to buying a home.
It also suggests that purchasing property can be more difficult when there is 'no man beside you to offer logic to the situation'.
'Both single and married women are well known for reasoning with their hearts, not their heads,' the article said.
The blog post also stresses that women can 'go wild' when hunting for a home so it urges potential buyers to not spend over 30 per cent of their after-tax income on a mortgage.
'Whatever you do, stand by this number (rather than a man),' the article said.
Commenters savaged the independent agency calling the post 'offensive'.
'Obviously Bathurst Real Estate think that women are complete idiots and can't function without a man!' one female Facebook user wrote.
'Whoever wrote it and whoever agreed to it, need to lose their jobs and join the 20th Century.'
Others wrote: 'this is the most offensive piece of s**t I have ever read' and 'this is so misogynistic it's almost comical.'
Bathurst Real Estate said the article was not written by anyone at the local office.
'This article was actually written by a woman, who Bathurst Real Estate outsource our blog posts to and we were unaware that this post had gone live on our website,' the real estate posted on their Facebook page. 'We had it removed from our website as soon as it was brought to our attention.'
They offered an apology and said the post is in no way reflective of the team's personal views.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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4 February, 2021
Another white Aborigine
A Pilates instructor who's proud of her indigenous ancestry has blown up on TikTok at followers who questioned her Aboriginal heritage.
Lily Hodgson, 23, who posts under the account Thrlils, recently got a tattoo of the Aboriginal flag on her arm, prompting some social media users to dispute her racial identity.
One commenter said: 'You are white! Stop pretending like you understand the struggle that a real Aboriginal has been through, quite insulting.'
But the proud Wiradjuri woman hit back at trolls, calling them 'rude, uneducated, ignorant and racist' - and said being Aboriginal has nothing to do with skin colour.
The TikTok star from the New South Wales Central Coast told Daily Mail Australia she felt the need to speak out after copping a 'magnitude of bigotry' on the platform.
'It's tiring that others feel the need to pressure me to explain myself or any other indigenous individual,' Ms Hodgson said.
In a video posted on social media, she told her critics: 'You don't know that my father was part of the stolen generations and you don't know that my aunts and uncles were beaten and raped.'
'Being Aboriginal has nothing to do with my skin colour. I have 60,000 years of blood within me.'
Her aunt Elizabeth Hodgson is an acclaimed author who wrote Skin Painting - a memoir which examines the struggles of Indigenous Australians.
The book reflects on the stolen generations, a period between 1905 to 1967 when a number of Aboriginal children were removed from their families by church missions on the orders of the Australian government.
'The stolen generation was basically to bleed the Aboriginal blood out of society so there could be a supreme white Australia,' Ms Hodgson said in one of her TikTok clips.
'Hence the reason why I don't have beautiful dark hair, dark eyes or seriously dark skin… because they tried to bleed us out.'
A flood of TikTok users had repeatedly pestered the content creator with requests to show photographs of family members with dark skin.
Although Ms Hodgson said she feels in no way obligated to prove her identity to 'a bunch of people on the internet', she eventually showed followers a photo of her indigenous father.
'It's tiring how people, who have absolutely nothing to do with Aboriginal culture think that they can dictate and gate-keep race to people like myself,' she said.
The outspoken activist created controversy in a previous video where she appeared to say that Europeans have 'no culture'.
She later clarified the comments in another clip saying her mother's side of the family, who are non-indigenous, do not have any 'cultural connection' to Europe.
'People are thinking I'm saying Europeans have no culture. I am not saying that,' she said. 'I understand that in genealogy they have English, Irish, Scottish or whatever and that's fine, but my family do not celebrate anything like that.
'Her (ancestor's) family were sent to Australia on a boat to work in service.'
Ms Hodgson said it's important for Australians to look beyond appearance when it comes to Aboriginality and be more respectful about cultural identity.
'If somebody tells you that they are Aboriginal and they don't fit whenever your idea of what an Aboriginal person is supposed to be… it is not an invitation to pic that person's life apart,' she said.
Annastacia Palaszczuk under pressure to approve New Acland coal mine
Pressure is mounting from both sides of politics on the Palaszczuk Government to step in and approve the long-delayed New Acland coal mine expansion with hundreds of jobs on the line.
There are calls urging the State Government create new laws protect and push forward with the mine’s expansion, as the Bligh Government did in 2007 with the Xstrata Wollombi mine.
It follows the High Court sending the controversial case back to the Land Court for reconsideration, despite the saga having lasted almost 14 years.
There are fears continued delays could scare off international companies looking to invest in resources projects in Queensland.
But the Oakey Coal Action Alliance, behind the court challenges, say they will continue to fight to “protect water and land … for future generations”.
There are 125 jobs on the line, with the existing operations nearing their end later this year, while the project’s proponents say $7 billion and 450 direct jobs will be created if it goes ahead.
New Hope, the company behind the mine, is seeking an urgent meeting with the Palaszczuk Government, with its CEO Reinhold Schmidt saying the departments had all the information they needed to make a decision.
“What we need from the Government is a road map for how we get the project up and running because more delays equates to more job losses,” he said.
Federal Labor MP Shayne Newman and Senator Anthony Chisholm renewed their consistent calls the state to act to sign off on the project. Senator Chisholm said a solution was urgently needed in the economic circumstances. “I have been consistent for years now urging for a solution to be found so that jobs aren’t lost,” he said.
Mr Neumann said urged the Palaszczuk Government to do everything it could to facilitate the expansion. “There’s billions of dollars and hundreds of jobs on the line here,” he said
Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt said it was a classic example of activists using courts to delay projects, but there were options available to the State Government to resolve the issue.
“There is an opportunity for Annastacia Palaszczuk to follow the lead of her predecessor Anna Bligh who introduced legislation in 2007 to protect Xstrata’s Wollombi coal mine and the 190 jobs it provided,” he said.
LNP Senator Paul Scarr, who has a business background in developing mining projects overseas, said the ongoing case sent a terrible message to investors. “If this is the result of the Queensland mining approval process, then the system is broken,” he said.
Acting Premier Steven Miles said the government would be looking at the High Court decision closely and consult with the department. “We’ll abide by the court decision,” he said.
New Acland mine worker Andy Scouller said he feared there would be more redundancies coming. “There is life after mining but I guess the frustrating part is that we’re a viable business and employ a lot of people here who contribute to society, and that’s just all going to be wiped out basically with the stroke of a pen,” he said.
The High Court on Monday unanimously ruled that the future of the site’s stage three expansion go back to the Land Court for reconsideration, despite what one judge referred to as “the unfortunate history of this appeal”.
The initial hearing in the Land Court was held five years ago, with a new directions hearing set for February 11.
The first hearing lasted 100 sitting days spread over more than a year in what Justice James Edelman referred to in today’s judgment as “the longest hearing in the history of that court”.
The judgement was made on the basis that previous appeals had been impacted by the apprehension of bias from an earlier judgment.
A cheap, blood-thinning drug could kill off COVID-19
Australian researchers have turned a cheap 100 year blood thinning drug into a nasal spray that could block COVID-19, stop it spreading and treat the illness.
The team of Melbourne scientists, which includes Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton, is seeking funding to test the product, containing the blood thinning medication heparin, on people in hotel quarantine — to see if it works.
It comes as human trials begin to gauge whether AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 injection also works as a nasal spray.
Australia’s leading science research body, the CSIRO, had tested the vaccine as a nasal spray in ferrets — ahead of the human trials — and was waiting for the publication of promising results showing its impact on stopping infection spread.
“We’re confident. We have preclinical studies which are impressive at the moment,” CSIRO’s Rob Grenfell told News Corp.
“We also understand that our colleagues in the UK are conducting various ways of administering, in particular the AstraZeneca vaccine to demonstrate … whether or not it can actually cause what we call nasal neutralisation,” he said.
Another COVID-19 busting nasal spray being developed by Australian company ENA was also in preclinical trials.
And, Melbourne-based pharmaceutical company Starpharma hoped to roll out a nasal spray in Europe next month that is 99.99 per cent effective against COVID-19 when applied before or after exposure.
Nasal spray formulations would work as an accompaniment to COVID-19 vaccinations.
In the case of heparin, Australians would still receive COVID-19 vaccines but the nasal spray would be used three times a day during virus outbreaks, long haul travel and by frontline health and quarantine workers to provide immediate protection by blocking the virus entering the body through the nose.
And, unlike vaccines, heparin would work to block even mutated forms of the COVID-19 virus.
The medication is off patent, so would cost just $10 per bottle to produce and likely retail for $20 a bottle.
“The concept is that the intra-nasal heparin will, in fact, prevent the virus from locking onto the ACE2 receptor (in the nasal passage), and prevent it from being internalised and replicating and be associated shedding and spreading,” Monash University pharmacy expert Professor Michelle McIntosh said.
“We’ve been able to show in a petri dish that this concept works. And we have commenced some animal studies,” she said.
The team working on the heparin spray includes researchers from the Peter Doherty Institute the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, University of Melbourne, St Vincent’s Hospital, Northern Health, Monash University and the CSIRO.
They needs $4 million for clinical studies, which would see the nasal spray tested on 100 people in hotel quarantine in Melbourne and at the Howard Springs centre near Darwin.
The trials would focus on whether the spray blocks the virus and stops infected people shedding the virus.
Majority of Australians in favour of multiculturalism but also integration, survey finds
This is another Scanlon report so you can be sure that the data from the survey was twisted to within an inch of its life to deliver a pro-immigration finding. They are past-masters of leading questions
Australians overwhelmingly think that having a multicultural society is a good thing, but only if people who immigrate here adopt "Australian" values and integrate, a report has found.
As the nation was in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scanlon Foundation conducted two national surveys to assess the state of Australian society and resilience when faced with a crisis.
One survey was held in July and another in November, involving more than 2,500 and 3,000 individuals, respectively.
The report found 84 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that "multiculturalism has been good for Australia", while 71 per cent believed that "accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger".
But it also found "substantial negative sentiment" towards people from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, with a majority of respondents opposed to the Government providing assistance to ethnic minorities to maintain their own customs and traditions.
"Endorsement of multiculturalism does not extend to majority support for cultural maintenance," the report found. "Irrespective of the exact question wording … majority opinion continues to favour the ideal of integration."
This year's results showed that 60 per cent of people agreed with the statement that "too many immigrants are not adopting Australian values", which is slightly higher than 2019.
It found 47 per cent of respondents held negative views towards Chinese Australians.
Asian Australians also expressed the highest level of concern about discrimination, with 39 per cent of participants born in an Asian country reporting that it had increased during the pandemic.
Nearly half of all participants also expressed negative feelings towards Iraqis and Sudanese, and above 40 per cent held negative attitudes towards Lebanese Australians.
When it comes to religion, intolerance towards Muslims remains far higher than any other faith group with 37 per cent indicating a "negative view" towards those who follow Islam.
Minister for Immigration and Multiculturalism Alex Hawke acknowledged that racist attitudes persisted in Australia. "There are too many racist views … that we see towards particular communities, particularly Asian communities and still Muslim communities," he said on Sky News. "The Government rejects racism and racist views.
"Overwhelmingly there has been an increase in support for immigration and support for multiculturalism and I welcome that.
"The Government's got a lot of measures in place to enhance social cohesion and this year we will be announcing more measures to enhance social cohesion."
Opposition multicultural affairs spokesman Andrew Giles has used the findings to demand the Morrison Government implement a national anti-racism strategy.
The Scanlon Foundation has conducted research on social cohesion, immigration and population issues for 13 years.
This year's surveys were both conducted with participants randomly recruited via their landline or mobile phone through Australian National University's Social Research Centre.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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3 February, 2021
NSW Irrigators' Council calls for honest conversation as its research shows inflows to river systems have halved
It looks like basic science is too much for the irrigators. A warmer climate would produce more evaporation off the oceans, leading to MORE rain, not less. So whatever the reason may be for reduced rainfall, it is NOT due to global warming
Chief executive officer Claire Miller called for an open and honest conversation to be had about about general security water allocations and how much water was held back to safeguard the river in times of drought.
"What we've done is we've taken the inflow records since 1895 from Water NSW and we've had a look at what's happened in the last 20 years there," Ms Miller said.
While research found inflows halved right across the basin, it also predicted there was a long-term warming and drying trend.
"The same pattern has been happening across the basin over the past 20 years and if it it keeps up it does present some very confronting issues around allocations, water security and availability, and finding that right balance to keep irrigated agriculture going," Ms Miller said.
"This warming, drying trend is consistent with climate change predictions."
Ms Miller said it would invoke some honest conversations about risk appetite when it comes to drought reserves, and that some irrigators had copped successive policy decisions that hampered their operations.
"All of these come together, and you've just got like this death by 1,000 cuts to New South Wales general security allocations," she said.
The fact that irrigators are talking about climate change and about having open, honest and difficult conversations regarding water availability was welcomed by the Murray Darling Association.
Murray Darling Association chief executive officer Emma Bradbury said there was a new maturity in the negotiations over water. "To see NSW Irrigator's Council talking about water inflows, availability, management of allocations, climate change and changes to legislation is extremely encouraging," Ms Bradbury said.
"This is in the backdrop of supporting farmers, productive agriculture, communities and the environment and having those decisions based in science.
"With COVID we have used the science to make good decisions and I think we are ready to do the same with water to have a healthy and sustainable system."
Ms Miller also questioned why areas like the Murray Valley had its allocations slashed, while a high priority reserve of water permanently held in the Snowy Hydro, was now being stored away in the allocation framework for NSW.
"This reserve was was never there before, it was sort of a 'use it or lose it', and the water would go back into the the general pool for really allocation to everyone," she said.
"As well as that emerging over the last few years we've also got very large drought reserves that are held back in the Murray and Murrumbidgee storages."
General security irrigators in the NSW Murray Valley currently have an allocation of 46 per cent.
Storage dams which feed into the Murray system are currently at 62 per cent capacity for Dartmouth Dam; the Hume Dam is at 54 per cent; and Lake Victoria is 48 per cent full.
She recognised the drought reserves were a safeguard against a repeat of the Millennium drought and ensure rivers runs and town have a domestic supply of water at all times.
Ms Miller said the high priority reserve held in the Snowy Hydro needed to be more transparent. "We need to look at that risk appetite and ask whether we've got too much in drought reserves and too much of a belts and braces approach," she said.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley grilled about ‘six-year’ hospital wait list times
Waiting lists are the bane of government medicine. Once you get into a public hospital, the care you get will usually be competent. But getting in is the problem
Victoria’s Health Minister has failed to reject claims that it could take two years for hospital waiting lists to return to pre-coronavirus levels.
Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien put a quote from the Department of Health’s former deputy secretary Terry Simons to Health Minister Martin Foley, questioning if the grim waiting list forecast was “correct”.
“In December last year your DHHS deputy secretary Terry Symonds gave evidence at PAEC that it is ‘going to take at least a couple of years’ to get hospital waiting lists to get back to pre-COVID levels. Is your deputy secretary correct?”
After congratulating Mr Symonds on his “remarkable” public service, Mr Foley was brought to address the question on a point of order, to which he responded Victoria’s health system needed “sustained investment to deal with these issues”.
“He (Mr Symonds) was making the point that what you need to do to have a world class health system is be in there for the long haul, to sustain year in, year out investment in our public health system, not cut it,” he said.
Mr O’Brien also referenced a Victorian, Amanda, who was suffering with severe neck and lower back pain due to a degenerative disk and was taking anti-inflammatory medication and pain killers daily. “She’s been on a wait list to see a neurosurgeon at Monash Health for six years. How much longer will Victorians like Amanda have to wait for your government to fix this hospital waiting crisis,” he asked.
Mr Foley said a $200m cash injection in the 2020-21 state budget was “already starting to have an impact” in reducing the backlog. “Forty two thousand (and) five hundred catch-up surgeries will begin to take place to prevent any of the further delays that the honourable member points to,” he responded.
“It is a good start, it’s nowhere near enough in terms of the process and the issues we are dealing with as a state and as a nation, but it is very much a reflection of the significant resources the government has brought forward into this area.”
Mr Foley also said he was willing to chase up more details about Amanda’s case with Monash Health.
Microsoft ‘fully supports’ Australia's digital media code
US software giant Microsoft has publicly pledged to fill the void created by Google if it leaves the Australian market in a major boost for the Morrison government’s plans to introduce sweeping new rules to force tech giants to pay media companies.
Microsoft’s president Brad Smith said in a statement the company “fully supports” the government’s News Media Bargaining Code and will invest in its Bing search engine to allow small businesses wanting to transfer their advertising to the platform to do so simply and with no transfer costs.
“The code reasonably attempts to address the bargaining power imbalance between digital platforms and Australian news businesses,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said.
“It also recognises the important role search plays, not only to consumers but to the thousands of Australian small businesses that rely on search and advertising technology to fund and support their organisations. While Microsoft is not subject to the legislation currently pending, we’d be willing to live by these rules if the government designates us.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said earlier this week that he was confident Microsoft would fill a gap in the market if Google followed through with threats to shut down search in response to newly proposed laws that will force it to pay for the existence of news content on its platform.
The proposed code will force the tech giants into binding commercial agreements to pay Australian news providers for the value that the content brings to their platforms. Failure to do so could cost them fines of up to 10 per cent of annual revenues.
Media companies such as Nine Entertainment Co, owner of this masthead, and News Corp are urging the government to pass the laws, arguing they are critical to ensuring the long-term future of local journalism. Both Google and Facebook have argued the code is unworkable and have separately threatened to alter their platforms for users if it goes ahead.
Google threatened to turn off its search engine in Australia if the proposed code becomes law at a Senate Committee Hearing two weeks ago, while Facebook has said it would be forced to remove news articles from its main app.
“We believe that the current legislative proposal represents a fundamental step towards a more level playing field and a fairer digital ecosystem for consumers, business, and society,” Mr Smith said.
“One thing is clear: while other tech companies may sometimes threaten to leave Australia, Microsoft will never make such a threat. We appreciate what Australia has long meant for Microsoft’s growth as a company, and we are committed to supporting the country’s national security and economic success.”
Sydneysiders flee for the bush, led by students and workers
Sydneysiders have been fleeing for regional parts of NSW, Queensland and even Canberra, using the coronavirus pandemic to look for work and affordable housing outside the nation’s most expensive city.
During the September quarter a net 7782 people left the Greater Sydney region, three in five of them moving to a regional part of NSW, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows.
Melbourne lost a net 7445 residents, which along with Sydney’s figures resulted in capital cities nationally losing 11,200 people to regional areas, the biggest quarterly movement out of metropolitan Australia on record.
Migration out of the nation’s two largest cities has almost doubled since the September quarter in 2019, before the advent of the pandemic. The pandemic has also slowed the natural movement of Australians around the country, with total internal migration down almost 8 per cent over the past year.
ANU demographer and social researcher Liz Allen said households had realised more could be done remotely beyond the limits of the nation’s capitals, including working from home.
“But with a greater push for workers to return to physical offices, the opportunities for living in regional areas will be constrained,” she said.
Another reason for the move to the bush is workers who have lost income through a reduction in hours, or loss of a job. “Moving to new opportunities and/or away from restrictions is certainly reflected in the data,” Dr Allen said.
The ABS data shows Sydney’s population age profile is changing due to the pandemic.
The number of 15 to 24 year-olds leaving the city climbed almost tenfold since the September quarter in 2019, while there has been a 21 per cent increase in the departures of people aged between 25 and 64.
By contrast, Perth attracted a net 320 people aged between 25 and 44 in the September quarter. The year before, it lost 266.
There has been an improvement in the jobless rate since the height of the coronavirus outbreaks but the recovery is ongoing. Official payroll jobs data shows since March 2020, accommodation and food services roles are down 14.7 per cent and education and training jobs are 13.8 per cent lower.
Jobs worked by 20 to 29-year-olds fell 6.5 per cent since the weekend ending March 14.
“The trend we’re seeing at present is the result of others not moving into the areas where people have left, which would ordinarily happen. I expect this trend of net excess movements away from capital cities will be short-lived,” Dr Allen said.
The major limitation on the regions is “woefully inadequate” infrastructure, she said, with employment, housing and education unable to meet the need of a flood of new residents in the short term.
“In the absence of any real investments in regional areas, the moment ... infections settle we’ll likely have a resumption of pre-COVID internal migration patterns.”
In a sign of the potential long-term economic hit Melbourne will take due to its pandemic lockdown through the second half of last year, new arrivals into the city are down 30 per cent since the September quarter of 2019. By contrast, arrivals to Sydney have dropped by 12 per cent.
University of NSW City Futures Research Centre director Bill Randolph said the number of people leaving Sydney and Melbourne was not significant for cities with populations of about 5 million people, and there were limitations on regional areas’ ability to cater to huge inflows of new residents.
“One is the capacity of the regional areas to soak these people up. There’s only so much housing,” Professor Randolph said, adding many jobs do not allow work-from-home arrangements permanently and amenities can be limited in remote areas.
“COVID has seen people bring forward their plans so it depends how much of this is brought-forward demand from people who were already going to move,” Professor Randolph said. “I suspect it will die down, but there will be a longer-term restructuring process in the cities.”
These changes could include a move to the outer suburbs of cities, or just over the boundary, to allow commuting into the CBD where needed, he said.
CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman said in a research note there had been a “stampede” from the major cities to the regions, pushing house prices in these areas up by 7.9 per cent over 2020 in the biggest lift in 16 years. By contrast, CoreLogic recorded a 5.6 per cent drop in rents in the prime inner-Sydney market and a 7.8 per cent decline in Melbourne.
“The recovery in inner-city rentals remains highly dependent on employer return-to-work directives, continued virus suppression and the job market recovery,” Mr Felsman said.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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2 February, 2021
Fallen footy star Israel Folau could be back in the NRL within months as team offers a two-year contract and lobbies to reinstate him – two years after Wallabies sacked him over homophobic posts
Israel Folau and the St George Dragons are lobbying the NRL to allow the the fallen star to play this season after homophobic posts derailed his career.
St George Illawarra Dragons boss Ryan Webb confirmed the club formally applied to the NRL to allow them to sign Folau on a two-year contract on Tuesday.
Folau had his Wallabies and Super Rugby contracts ripped up days after an Instagram post warning gay people 'hell awaits you' in April 2019.
The NRL is now speaking to relevant parties and reviewing the proposal before deciding if Folau will be allowed to play.
'We are always on the lookout for great players,' Mr Webb told the Sydney Morning Herald. 'We have enquired with the NRL about Israel and we will work with them to hopefully see him join us in 2021. 'We understand there will be a range of opinions in regards to this decision, but we believe he would be a good addition to our club.'
The club board has reportedly approved the move to sign Folau and they have informed their sponsors such as St George Bank and Jeep.
It's understood Wests Tigers also expressed interest in the dual international in May last year.
'Wests Tigers were just feeling out the situation. It didn't go too far and nothing will come of it,' a source close to Folau told the Daily Telegraph.
Folau signed a new one-year contract with French club Catalans Dragons in June 2020 but returned to Australia after the birth of his first child this summer.
He had his $4 million Wallabies contract ripped up in May 2019 after he twice uploaded religious posts which Rugby Australia found homophobic.
Folau's post from 2019 read: 'Hell awaits drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolators.'
He captioned the picture with: 'Those that are living in Sin will end up in Hell unless you repent. Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him'.
ARLC chairman Peter V'landys has previously made his views known on the saga. 'The game is inclusive. Israel's comments are not inclusive,' V'landys told reporters in November 2019.
'With due respect to Israel, what he says, young kids listen to. He is a role model. They act on it. And when you're a kid at school and you get bashed up because you're different, I don't think that's a good thing.'
Whether the league will change its tune 18 months later will be hotly debated by powerbrokers over coming weeks.
New push to force Australians to wear badges saying 'I'm a mother' or 'I'm a son' and ban 'sexualised' uniforms at work to stop harassment and violence
Thank goodness these are only suggestions
Sexualised uniforms could be banned and employee badges may be made mandatory in a bid to stop sexual harassment and violence in the workplace.
Government agency Safe Work Australia made the suggestions in its new national work health and safety guidelines released on Monday.
The guide said employers should 'avoid sexualised uniforms and ensure clothing is practical for the work undertaken' to prevent sexual harassment of employees.
The guide to prevent workplace violence and aggression also made a number of suggestions, including one to wear badges.
'Provide your workers with badges to remind customers and clients that a worker is part of the community e.g. labelled with "I'm a son" or "I'm a mother",' the guide read.
The sexual harassment guide warned 'working from home may provide an opportunity for covert sexual harassment to occur online or (by) phone'.
'Keep records and screen shots if inappropriate behaviour occurs online or through phone communication,' the guide read.
Businesses should also 'reinforce what behaviours are expected of workers' to stop sexual harassment at work events like office Christmas parties.
Workplaces with 'hierarchical structures' such as the police, medical and legal industries can 'increase the likelihood of sexual harassment,' according to the guide.
Sexual harassment can include unwelcome touching, hugging, cornering or kissing, suggestive comments or jokes, sexualised nicknames, sexually explicit pictures and circulating sexually explicit material.
Persistent unwanted invitations to go out on dates, requests or pressure for sex and intrusive questions or comments are also considered sexual harassment.
Workers who experience sexual harassment can either tell their harasser to stop if they 'feel safe and confident' doing so or report it to their superiors.
Sexual assault, stalking, indecent exposure and obscene or threatening communications are criminal offences and should be reported to police.
Workplace violence and aggression includes physical assault, intentionally coughing or spitting on someone, verbal threats and abuse or yelling and swearing.
Hazing or initiation practices, domestic violence in the workplace, gendered violence and sexual assault or harassment also fall under the same umbrella.
Chau Chak Wing: Billionaire businessman wins defamation case against ABC, Fairfax Media
The ABC and Nine say a judge’s decision to award billionaire Chau Chak Wing $590,000 in a defamation case will have a “chilling effect” on media freedom in Australia.
The Chinese-Australian philanthropist and political donor will walk away with the sum and a sense of vindication after winning a lawsuit against the two media companies over a Four Corners episode in June 2017.
The program, titled “Power and Influence”, investigated Chinese interference in Australian politics.
Dr Chau sued the ABC and Fairfax Media, now owned by Nine, alleging the program painted him as a corrupt Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy who paid a bribe to a UN official.
Federal Court Justice Steven Rares largely ruled in Dr Chau’s favour on Tuesday morning.
He found the program defamed Dr Chau by suggesting he engaged in secret lobbying for an arm of the CCP, made huge political donations as bribes to influence pro-China policies, and paid a $200,000 bribe to former United Nations General Assembly president John Ashe.
But the judge said the program did not suggest Dr Chau, who has been an Australian citizen since 1999, had “betrayed his country” to spy for the CCP, nor that he knew associate Sheri Yan was a spy.
The ABC and Nine hit out at being forced to defend these allegations only for the judge to find they were not contained in the program.
“This case has again starkly demonstrated fundamental problems with Australian defamation law and pre-trial procedures being heavily skewed in favour of a plaintiff,” the companies said in a statement.
They urged state and territory parliaments to reform defamation laws as a matter of urgency.
Dr Chau told the court at trial he had been in “agony” after hearing about the broadcast. “I couldn’t sleep for days, and I couldn’t eat well for days, and my blood pressure went very high, and I had to make a number of visits to the doctor, and I was in breakdown, and I lost many weight,” he said.
Justice Rares said it was “no small thing” for Four Corners to direct such serious accusations at Dr Chau, noting they were false “on the evidence before me”.
“For a man who mixed with prime ministers and provincial vice-governors, leading bankers and businessmen to be publicly and falsely accused of bribery of the president of the General Assembly of the United Nations and of Australian political parties and to be a member of a clandestine arm of the Chinese Communist Party was calculated to inflict on Dr Chau, as I found it did, personal and public humiliation and disgrace,” he said.
“The imputations struck at the core of Dr Chau’s previously high reputation for integrity, philanthropy and the promotion of a positive relationship between Australia, of which he was a citizen, and China.”
Dr Chau has previously won a defamation case against Fairfax Media and settled a defamation case against News Corp publisher Nationwide News.
Brisbane economy 'bouncing back' after coronavirus lockdown, council data reveals
The Brisbane economy has started to "bounce back" from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, with retail spending in the 2020 November-to-December period one of the biggest in a decade, new data released by the Brisbane City Council shows.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said foot traffic was steadily returning to the CBD, currently at 58 per cent of its normal capacity.
"The Queen Street Mall today is a very different picture than it was in 2020," Cr Schrinner said. "In April 2020, foot traffic plummeted to just 20 per cent of pre-COVID levels, but now we see more and more shoppers, workers and visitors returning to the CBD.
"It's still down significantly — there's still growth to happen and that's one of the reasons why we're encouraging people to come in and there's signs that things are getting busier this week."
Foot traffic peaked over the Christmas period, with people coming in to the CBD to shop. "Foot traffic on the Queen Street Mall peaked at about 80 per cent of pre-COVID levels, exceeding the long-run average in 2020 for the first time since the city went into lockdown earlier that year," Cr Schrinner said.
"In Brisbane, spending with a bank card was also up 6 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019, with retail spend hitting more than $23 billion, which is an increase of about $1.4 billion," Cr Schrinner said.
"The biggest spenders were in our outer suburbs, which reflects the introduction of State Government restrictions and more people working from home.
"Virginia recorded the largest increase in electronic retail spend in 2020, with an increase of $122 million, followed by Belmont, Milton, Everton Park, Eagle Farm, Oxley, Hamilton, Salisbury, Manly and Newstead.
"Data shows that in December 2020 electronic retail spending in the CBD was on par with 2019 levels for the first time, which is fantastic news for our local businesses, and I hope this trend continues."
National Retail Association (NRA) chief executive officer Dominique Lamb said consumer confidence was down during lockdown but had since grown, with people more willing to spend money on luxury items, dining out and short holidays closer to home.
"Add to this the recent back-to-school spending, and it has been a very promising start to the year," Ms Lamb said. "We are confident that this trend will continue into 2021."
BCC economic development chair Krista Adams said job numbers were also on the rise and were on track to recover to pre-pandemic levels by March 2022.
More jobs are also expected to be created through local infrastructure projects after a $40 million cash injection into the Brisbane City Council from the Federal Government.
The stimulus funding will be used to upgrade bikeways, install additional lighting and build new footpaths among other small-scale projects.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-02/brisbane-covid-19-economy-business-retail-comeback/13111920
************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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1 February, 2021
Retired judge hammers ‘soft’ punishments on juvenile offenders
A retired District Court judge who was renowned as Queensland’s toughest lawman has condemned the Children’s Court as a ‘revolving door’ where kid criminals are given ‘a slap on the wrist’.
Speaking out after the Alexandra Hills horror, Clive Wall QC said it appeared ‘nothing has changed’ since he slammed the court’s failings in a judicial broadside eight years ago.
In a 2013 speech after a wave of violent juvenile crime on the Gold Coast, Judge Wall said child offenders often walked from the court ‘smiling and laughing’ after receiving a reprimand or good behaviour order.
The veteran judge, whose hard line sentences attracted among the most appeals of all the state’s judges, called on the judiciary to enforce the Youth Justice Act and order parents of child criminals to pay compensation to their victims.
A rarely-used section of the Act allows such orders to be made if slack parenting contributed to the offence happening.
He echoed sentiments made in 2013 that the focus was too often on the child offender and not on the victim or the community.
Judge Wall, who retired in 2016 after 20 years on the Bench, told the Sunday Mail: “Just from what I’ve read in the press, nothing’s really changed.”
“The Children’s Court is still a revolving door and juveniles are still getting a slap on the wrist.”
Judge Wall called for public safety to be taken into account when releasing juvenile offenders on bail.
“You wouldn’t normally lock a juvenile up for a first offence of unlawful use of a motor vehicle (car stealing) but if they are a repeat offender, the risk to public safety should certainly be considered,” he said.
“I’m not so sure it is at the moment.”
He said lenient sentences meted out by Children’s Court magistrates needed to be more regularly reviewed.
Canberra emergency department wait times are the worst in the country
It took five hours for Kathryn Harradine's six-month-old son Andy to be treated for a lung infection at Canberra Hospital's emergency department.
The excruciating wait for the Canberra mum was difficult to endure, but not an uncommon tale.
Fewer than half of Canberra's emergency department (ED) patients are seen within clinically recommended times — they should be discharged or admitted within four hours of presenting. Only 32 per cent of patients met that target.
But when Andy, who spent time in neonatal intensive care for serious bowel obstructions when he was younger, started "becoming more and more unwell," Ms Harradine took no chances and went straight to the ED.
He was diagnosed with bronchiolitis and, while it is common in babies, Ms Harradine said she had no choice but to present at the ED for the diagnosis because it was outside general practitioner hours and her son was too young to be seen at Canberra's walk-in centres.
"You can't go anywhere else. That's the whole thing," Ms Harradine said. "There's one place you can take your kids and that's the paediatrics emergency department at Canberra Hospital.
"We were actually taken into the adult area of the hospital because the paediatrics area was just overflowing that evening, and we were there probably until about 2am. There's just not enough space."
Fed up with the poor performance, Rachel Stephen-Smith wants to be the ACT health minister to finally turn around these blown out emergency department waiting times. Her goal is to have 70 per cent of ED patients seen within clinically acceptable times by October this year — that gives her nine months.
"The emergency department is really challenging and it has been a challenge for a long time, both at Canberra Hospital and Calvary Public Hospital," Ms Stephen-Smith acknowledged. "Our target — and the national target — is 70 per cent. We are nowhere near that at this point in time. We want to get to that target within 9 months. "I am personally concerned that we haven't started seeing that change as quickly as we would have liked."
And while no-one would argue against Ms Stephen-Smith's intentions, many would be sceptical of the system's ability to achieve the goal in only a matter of months — after all, the most recent national scorecard again placed the ACT's public hospital ED departments worst in Australia.
But Ms Stephen-Smith said Canberrans would not have to wait years until the much-anticipated Canberra Hospital expansion was completed before improvements would be seen.
Part of her plan involves Canberra Health Services trialling having a doctor at the triage point of the ED, with the aim of improving patient flow.
Based on her recent experience, Ms Harradine has urged Ms Stephen-Smith to improve the triage process so people who can be diagnosed and discharged are not left with a "distressing" wait. "Things need to change. Something needs to be done," she insisted.
Ms Stephen-Smith said she had heard anecdotes similar to Ms Harradine's and hoped that the trial to embed a doctor earlier in the process would be a solution.
"It's about triaging people appropriately and making sure they're in the right stream [and] also determining whether a nurse or a doctor can start a treatment process straight away," she said. "For example, ordering diagnostics and blood work that they know is going to be required for that patient."
Ms Stephen-Smith's nine-month goal also hinges on the establishment of a discharge lounge for patients who require some level of care up until being released despite no longer needing a bed, such as people returning to aged care residences.
A further change being trialled to reduce bed block was "ward huddles" which Ms Stephen-Smith said would help staff prioritise discharging patients in a timely way.
Ms Stephen-Smith said she was meeting with Canberra Health Services weekly to discuss the changes — which have been trialled over the past 18 months — and the same questions were being asked.
"How are we going? How are these processes becoming embedded? And when are we going to start to see change?" she said. "I am personally concerned that we haven't started seeing that change as quickly as we would have liked." Nonetheless, she expressed confidence change would be evident within nine months.
More than 1,000 patients overdue for elective surgery
The emergency departments are not the only facet of Canberra's public health system plagued by long waiting times.
A quarter of all patients who needed elective surgery like hip or knee replacements in the ACT waited too long in the 2019-20 financial year.
Data from November 2020 showed there were 5,127 people on the elective surgery waitlist, more than 1,000 of which were overdue for treatment.
Canberra orthopaedic surgeon Paul Smith recently told ABC Canberra he decided to work through the Christmas break to conduct 65 surgeries in just over a fortnight, to improve the quality of life of people who had been languishing on a waitlist.
In response to Professor Smith's interview, hundreds of people contacted the ABC to share their experiences of waiting too long for surgeries in the ACT.
One of those Canberrans was occupational therapist and former nurse Ruth Palavestra, who spoke out over her father's treatment. Ruth said her elderly father had waited so long for scans and an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon, that by the time he was seen, his injury was inoperable. "Dad's gone from being completely independent, completely fit, to needing to use a walking stick and a wheelie walker," Ruth said. "The surgeon told him he'll be on the wheelie walker permanently now."
Despite approaching his 90th birthday, Ruth's father had been active before the injury, driving himself around Canberra and living independently. "It's just incredibly frustrating because I see my Dad deteriorating rapidly and becoming quite frail when there's no need for that to be happening," Ruth said.
"The aim of aged care these days is to keep people in their own homes as long as they can. "If you can't keep them independent and you can't provide wrap-around services, then they need to move into supported accommodation, and that's catastrophic."
Ms Stephen-Smith insisted the system was powering through elective surgeries, pointing to data showing the ACT had removed more people from the elective surgery waitlist than had been added in the year to June 30, 2020.
She also reiterated a target of completing 16,000 elective surgeries this financial year. "Am I pleased that there are 1,000 people overdue waiting for elective surgery? Absolutely not," she said. "I would like to see that number be zero."
Victorian Government bans high-risk cladding for new multi-storey buildings in 'world first'
A ban on cladding deemed by the Victorian Government to be high risk comes into force today in a bid to reduce fire hazards.
Victoria's Minister for Planning, Richard Wynne, announced that flammable aluminium composite panels and rendered expanded polystyrene would be banned for use as external wall cladding for all multi-storey developments into the future.
"These products are a high risk when used inappropriately or installed incorrectly. That's why we've acted to ban them for new multi-storey buildings," he said in a statement.
"This ban will ensure new developments are built to the highest standard to keep Victorians safe."
The prohibited materials will not be allowed for use on apartment buildings, hotels, aged care facilities and other residential buildings with two or more storeys.
The ban also applies to office buildings, retail premises such as shopping centres, warehouses, factories and car parks with three or more storeys.
"We're continuing to act on the most up-to-date expert advice on cladding products, and anyone caught flouting this ban will face significant penalties," Mr Wynne said.
Building companies that breach the ban will be fined up to $400,000, to be enforced by the Victorian Building Authority. Individuals can be fined up to $80,000.
Mr Wynne called on other states and territories to take a co-ordinated, national response to the issue. "We would've hoped of course that other states, particularly up the eastern seaboard, would've followed us and I've tried to persuade my colleagues in other states who've also got this problem of combustible cladding to join us but unfortunately they've been unwilling to do so," he said.
Mr Wynne said he expects the building industry to fully embrace the changes. "We don't expect any backlash at all from the building industry more generally because we have consulted very widely and industry absolutely understands the critical importance of ensuring that we put up buildings that are clearly safe."
The Victorian Government said a cost-benefit analysis found the ban would result in a net economic benefit of around $1 million per year in reduced insurance costs.
The flammable properties of aluminium composite cladding was blamed for the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London that killed 72 people.
Cladding has been a major headache for Victoria as well as other jurisdictions across Australia. Insurance companies have stopped giving surveyors personal indemnity coverage for properties with cladding.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has previously declared it a "national problem".
The Andrews Government announced a $600 million Cladding Rectification Program in July 2019 to reduce hazardous cladding on existing buildings, which Mr Wynne said was a "world first".
Cladding Safety Victoria was established to oversee the process.
An audit of more than 2,200 buildings in Victoria found cladding on hundreds of buildings posed a safety risk, including an "extreme risk" in 72 cases.
Consumer Advocacy organisation, The Victorian Building Action Group, has said that $600 million is not enough to fix the problem of cladding in the state.
The Opposition's planning spokesman, Tim Smith, estimates the real cost of removing cladding on buildings in Victoria is upwards of $2 billion.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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For the notes appearing at the side of the original blog see HERE
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