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
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31 January, 2022
Scandalous deceit of parliament and the public
Bettina Arndt
How can we have trust in our institutions if governments can be hoodwinked into passing draconian legislation as a result of false, misleading statistics? We’re talking about totally wrong figures which claimed five times more sexual assaults than were actually reported and underestimated ten-fold the proportion of such cases determined in court.
This week’s intriguing story reveals how grossly inaccurate data was promoted and correct statistics suppressed whilst the media and feminist MPs scared the public into believing there was good reason to push through dangerous affirmative consent laws in NSW.
In March last year I wrote about the shockingly low figure of 2% which was being claimed as the conviction rate for rape cases in NSW. I questioned how this was possible, since all the data I could find suggested a very different picture, with every effort being made to push sexual assault cases through to trial.
In stepped Greg Andresen, one of the smartest and most tenacious researchers working on men’s issues in this country. Greg spent the next nine months on the case, starting with writing to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) which collects most of the relevant data, seeking clarification. BOCSAR confirmed they had no idea where that 2 per cent figure had come from and Greg embarked on a mighty investigation seeking to work out what the real statistics are and how the parliament and the public came to be so thoroughly misled.
He’s put together a timeline of the resulting paper trail, as he pursued relevant authorities to find out what happened. At the heart of the problem was a 2020 NSW Law Reform Commission report on the proposed sexual consent legislation which actually recommended against the enthusiastic/affirmative consent laws being promoted by AG Mark Speakman and his feminist colleagues. The NSW Bar Association warned that these laws “would potentially criminalise many sexual relations” and were likely “to result in significant injustice.” The purpose of these laws, requiring checking for consent every step of the way throughout lovemaking, is to find more men guilty of rape.
But the Commission’s report served another purpose. It was used with great alacrity by the feminist lobby who seized upon a key statistic included in the publication which claimed that only 3% of people alleged to have committed sexual offences ended up with a finalised charge. NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller was quick to jump on board, being quoted in The Telegraph saying “last year we received more than 15,000 reports of sexual assault. But men continue to get away with it – less than 2 percent of reports lead to guilty verdicts in court.”
Note that he’s talking about guilty verdicts, which are naturally less than the finalised charges which include unsuccessful cases, but either way the tiny numbers are far off the mark. The Commission screwed up big time, misrepresenting the true number of reported sexual assault incidents by a factor of more than five, which meant the proportion of persons of interest who faced a finalised charge for sexual offences was ten times what they claimed.
It took Greg nine months to get the authorities to acknowledge they’d published misleading data. On December 6 the Law Reform Commission finally published an extensive correction on their website, admitting they’d totally stuffed it. (Note – their correction is immensely confusing. If you plan to study it closely first read this guide, otherwise it will do your head in.)
It turns out that our criminal justice system isn’t failing rape victims. The Commission wrongly claimed five times as many cases of sexual assault incidents as were actually reported (14,171 vs 2,549)
The proportion of reported sexual offence cases determined in court was ten times more than the Commission first claimed – a leap from 3 to 30%.
There were 323 sexual assault guilty verdicts: that is, 12.7% of reported incidents led to a guilty verdict, not the 2-3% originally claimed.
Sexual assault is being treated very seriously. BOCSAR figures show mean custodial sentences for sexual assault are among the highest of all offences – three times as long as other assault and greater even than child sex offences. 57% of those convicted receive custodial sentences - about 4 times the rate of other assault and 6 times the rate (9.5%) for all offences. From March 2013 to September 2021 the number in prison for sexual assault more than doubled.
All these statistics are readily publicly available, yet our media and politicians instead chose to spend six months spreading alarmist misinformation based on the Commission’s wildly inaccurate statistics. “Many people [are] screaming for action, screaming for law reform and screaming for cultural change,” claimed Mark Speakman in one of a series of media stories quoting the misleading 2-3% figures. That was used as evidence of the failure of our criminal justice system to deal with sexual assault – all part of the campaign to push through affirmative consent laws.
Check out this sequence of events. Thanks to Greg Andresen’s efforts, the relevant authorities were made aware that the Commission had misled the public in September last year. Despite initial claims from the Police Commissioner’s office that they had used a different data set, Greg used a freedom of information request to obtain evidence that the Commissioner’s misleading statistics came from the Law Reform Commission’s report.
By September 21 the Commission acknowledged that BOCSAR was preparing a response to Greg’s enquiry – a tacit admission that they knew they had got it wrong.
“We expect to have it finalised this week,” a BOCSAR analyst told Greg on October 18 when he asked when he could expect a response. They claimed they still had to “run a few programming requests to extract the correct data.”
Two days later the new sexual consent reform bill was introduced into parliament and politicians lined up to show their woke credentials, one after another quoting the 2-3% figure as gospel, or screaming blue murder about the outrage of 15,000 sexual assaults complaints leading to such a low response. Green’s MP Tamara Smith was quoted in Hansard asking what kind of message is sent by the poor outcomes for this huge number of incidents, “The very architecture and fissures of the law around sexual assault have silenced and re-victimised mostly cisgendered women for so many decades. Where do we start to analyse the layers of patriarchy and marginalisation of women's voices?”
On November 18, Greg contacted BOCSAR to check on progress. The analyst claimed there’d been “some complexity in resolving the differences between the figures” and apologised that it was taking longer than anticipated.
On November 23 the legislation sailed through parliament. Within two weeks, the detailed correction had suddenly appeared on the Commission’s website. Game over.
Not that Mr Persistent has given up. Greg has put in a freedom of information request seeking correspondence between BOCSAR and the Commission over the past few months. And he’s been out there bombarding the ABC, SBS and all the other media sources who used the incorrect statistics alerting them to the Commission’s admission that they got it wrong. Not that they will do anything about it.
Luckily, there’s one politician prepared to stick his neck out. As always, Mark Latham from One Nation is on the case. He’s already posed a series of questions to the Police Commissioner and NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman, one of the key players in forcing the legislation through parliament. Latham plans to raise questions in parliament about the whole saga.
The question is whether the timing of all this was a coincidence or a conspiracy involving key government organisations determined to mislead the public and the parliament to ensure smooth passage of draconian new laws and set up the feminists for a very, very happy Xmas. Take your pick.
Either way, the Law Reform Commission failed in their duty to inform the parliament prior to debate of the sexual consent bill that the report they tabled in November 2020 contained major errors. The Commission was aware this grossly misleading data was being used to manipulate parliamentarians into believing the criminal justice system required drastic reform – and yet they did nothing.
This should be a major scandal and I need your help in ensuring it doesn’t pass unnoticed. Here’s a draft letter which I would like you to send to the NSW Premier and other members of parliament demanding a proper investigation of how this happened. With Victoria promising to introduce affirmative consent legislation this year and pressure for other states to follow suit, people living elsewhere should send the letter to their own parliamentarians and policy makers to warn about the duping of the public which has taken place in NSW.
On a light note, one of my correspondents has sent in this wonderful British television skit about pre-coital agreements from over a decade ago. It’s telling that these comedians assumed a signed and sealed pre-bonking deal would do the trick. Little did they know what the feminists had in store for us all, with the affirmative consent model requiring enthusiastic yelps right through the proceedings to avoid illegal behaviour. Wouldn’t they have fun with that absurd notion?
But sadly, this whole business is deadly serious, speaking to the capture of important government bodies by the feminist lobby which will stop at nothing in their quest to tilt the justice system even further to disadvantage men.
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‘Treated like mugs’: Angry homeowners blast ‘farcical’ review
Furious homeowners have lashed out at the “farcical” situation that meant they were unable to post information vital to an investigation into the troubled building watchdog.
The Queensland Government’s review into the troubled building watchdog got off to a bad start when the official online chat room crashed soon after it was launched on Australia Day, January 26.
Homeowners complaining of inaction by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission labelled the review “hopeless sham”.
They’ve taken to social media to blast the “farcical” situation where they were unable to post information vital to the investigation.
“It’s bad enough that the Palaszczuk Government thinks so little of our plight that their review even includes what is basically a chat room,” said Mark Agius, who has spent more than $1 million on his four-year legal battle with the QBCC and the builder of his Townsville home.
“But it gets even worse because the government’s online-forum only runs till Tuesday, February 15 – so a matter of weeks – and then after you register your interest to take part, you can’t because the site can’t cope with the seemingly huge demand and crashed.
“While they eventually fixed the problem, it’s a farce and we’re being treated like mugs”.
Mr Agius, a telecommunications engineer, fears his Mount Louisa home will blow away in a cyclone after an independent expert pointed to 75 major defects, including structural defects.
He is furious with the state government building watchdog, the QBCC for dithering and then “agreeing to retrospectively downgrade wind speed cyclone safety standards without my knowledge”.
Mr Agius fears the speedy review will not have the time to process complex cases of botched building by hundreds of disgruntled homeowners.
The review into the QBCC is being headed by Jim Varghese, the newly-appointed Chancellor of Torrens University in SA who is also a member of Springfield City Group’s management team.
It was announced after serious allegations of ministerial intervention, conflicts of interest of board members and a lack of transparency.
Mr Agius says his home does not meet legal wind classifications, and insists a Royal Commission should be conducted into the QBCC.
“It is completely unreasonable that a consumer, a first homebuyer, has had to spend nearly $1.4 million to fight his case simply for choosing to build in a state that the regulator has lost touch,” he said.
“The public has lost confidence in the regulator. I have completely lost confidence in the regulator and its ability to perform its statutory obligations effectively.”
QBCC ‘fails’ to act over safety breaches and house collapse
“My home is entirely unsafe to occupy and is a significant safety risk not only to my family but to every member of the public living nearby,” he said.
“I believe the residential construction industry watchdog is failing Queenslanders, homeowners and tradies alike.”
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Australia's health dictatorship and an Israeli critique
Australia seems to be sharing with the world novel ideas about how to persecute the unvaccinated. So far, it has been a raging success. France and Spain are now also considering banning unvaccinated tennis players from their tournaments and there are obstacles to competing at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Domestically, the decision of Immigration Minister Alex Hawke to revoke the visa of the world’s No. 1 tennis player has met with widespread approval. Australians have a tradition of cutting down tall poppies, hence the howls of outrage that Novak Djokovic had got special treatment in being allowed to enter the country unvaccinated. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are provisions for vaccine exemptions which Djokovic met — because he had had a recent Covid infection — as the Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke conceded on making his second attempt to deport the tennis champion.
In a wonderful display of Australia’s Catch 2022 Covid rules, tennis coach Darren Cahill said that an exemption for a recent Covid infection should exist only for people who want to be vaccinated, but in the end, it didn’t matter. Even though Djokovic had a valid medical exemption to compete in the Australian Open and had been granted a valid visa to enter the country, he was deported not because he was infected with a dangerous virus, but with a dangerous idea.
What idea? That he, Djokovic should be allowed ‘to choose what’s best’ for his body. Not in Australia. Echoing former prime minister John Howard, who said, when facing thousands of asylum seekers arriving on Australia’s shores, ‘We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come’, Prime Minister Morrison showed the world that he would decide what is injected into our bodies, and the circumstances in which it is injected. Sure, the federal government’s health website proclaims that ‘vaccination for COVID-19 is voluntary’ and people have the option to choose. But as thousands of doctors, teachers, paramedics and now Novak Djokovic have found out, choosing not to be vaccinated means choosing to lose your job.
Mr Morrison now finds himself in the tricky situation of having to explain why it is intolerable to have an unvaccinated tennis player in the country, when he has unvaccinated parliamentarians in his own party. Shadow Home Affairs Minister Kristina Keneally tweeted: ‘Mr Morrison cannot pretend that he is a wolf, tough on Novak Djokovic and his anti-vaxx stance, but a lamb in front of his own party room, unwilling to tell people like George Christensen, Senators Antic, Rennick and Canavan to pull their heads in.’
Since Mr Morrison relies on those parliamentarians to retain his own employment as prime minister, he finds them easy to ignore. After all, he only deported Djokovic to try to hang on to his job.
Australians, for their part, feel relieved that, even wearing their woke straitjackets, there is at least one minority that they have licence to loathe, to fire from their jobs, ban from social gatherings, and blame for everything that they hate about the pandemic.
Yet for all the self-righteous outrage about Djokovic, there is also a sense of discomfort.
‘If anyone is looking for a place to isolate, Melbourne Park looks like a great spot,’ tweeted one person. ‘No one is at the Australian Open.’
It must be galling for Australia’s political leaders and health advisers that, having bludgeoned and bullied almost every Australian into getting vaccinated, the country is second only to Israel, which this week broke the global record for daily Covid cases.
Morrison is desperate to point out that it’s not his fault. There has been no policy to let Covid ‘rip’. Regulations are still in place enforcing masks, distancing, density limits, isolation, testing and vaccination. What is painfully obvious is that they are not working.
NSW and Victoria have announced that booster shots can now be given every three months in a desperate attempt to stem the tide of infections. Good luck with that. A clinical trial in Israel has found that a fourth dose of the Pfizer vaccine doesn’t prevent infection by Omicron any more than did the third.
The avalanche of cases has prompted Professor Ehud Qimron of Tel Aviv University and a member of the Israeli government advisory committee on vaccines to deliver a devastating critique to the Israeli government in an open letter published in an Israeli newspaper. He slammed Israel’s Ministry of Health for pursuing ‘destructive policies’ such as lockdowns, restrictions and vaccine mandates out of a ‘lust for power, budgets, and control’, while ignoring epidemiological science, and refusing to adjust policies in the face of real-world data and ultimately to ‘admit failure’.
Professor Qimron criticised the refusal of the government to acknowledge that recovery from infection is more protective than a vaccine, that the vaccinated can catch and transmit Covid and that as a result Israel’s vaccine passport system made no more sense than branding people who chose not to get vaccinated as ‘enemies of the public and as spreaders of disease’.
He also deplored the fact that the government failed to adopt the ‘Great Barrington Declaration’ written by Sunetra Gupta, Jay Bhattacharya, and Martin Kulldorff of the universities of Oxford, Stanford and Harvard respectively which called for an end to ‘devastating’ lockdown policies. Instead, the Israeli government had chosen to ‘ridicule, slander, distort and discredit’ the academics and burn ‘hundreds of billions of shekels’ destroying the education of children, harming livelihoods, the economy, human rights, mental and physical health, slandering colleagues who did not surrender to the government narrative, turning people against each other, dividing society and polarising discourse.
The skyrocketing Omicron cases were not an emergency he said, the only emergency was that the same people who created these destructive policies were still in charge and held huge budgets which they would spend on propaganda and psychological engineering instead of strengthening the health care system.
Every word of this searing critique applies equally to Australia and to most of the Western world. How long before government advisers elsewhere start telling the truth to their masters? Now there’s a dangerous idea that our political leaders must desperately hope isn’t contagious.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/01/dangerous-ideas
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When a corruption watchdog is itself corrupt
Tony Fitzgerald will be one of the chairs of a royal commission-style inquiry into the structure of Queensland's anti-corruption body, the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC), Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced today.
The bipartisan Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee (PCCC), which oversees the anti-corruption watchdog, recommended such an inquiry late last year in a scathing report to parliament.
That report stemmed from an examination of the CCC's investigation and decision to charge eight Logan City councillors with fraud in 2019.
It found CCC chair Alan MacSporran did not ensure the watchdog acted independently and impartially at all times.
Mr MacSporran, resigned last week – saying his relationship with the PCCC had broken down irretrievably which saddened him deeply, and defending a decades-long career where his honesty and integrity had never been questioned.
An earlier report on corruption by Tony Fitzgerald led to the creation of the anti-corruption body.(1 News Express)
Mr Fitzgerald conducted the landmark Fitzgerald Inquiry in the 1980s, which revealed systemic corruption in Queensland and led to the creation of what is now the CCC.
Retired Supreme Court judge Alan Wilson QC will also chair the inquiry which is expected to take six months.
'Very serious allegations'
Its terms of reference include a review of the CCC's structure in regards to its investigatory and charging functions, and the role of seconded police officers at the CCC.
Ms Palaszczuk said cabinet considered the PCCC's report into the CCC "at length".
"The CCC has enormous power. The check on its power is the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee," she said.
Integrity issues simmering away in the background for the past year have come to the fore this week for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's third-term government.
"These are very serious allegations and the report was given very serious consideration by cabinet.
"Who better to oversee an inquiry into aspects of the CCC than the man who created it?
"We believe in the checks and balances that are put in place as part of our democracy."
There have been calls for a wider inquiry into integrity matters within Queensland supported by two top bureaucrats — outgoing Integrity Commissioner Nikola Stepanov and former State Archivist Mike Summerell
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Australia ready to fill gas gap in Europe if Russia-Ukraine tensions explode
Australian LNG exporters are preparing to fill energy shortages across Europe if Russia cuts off gas supplies, with the federal government pledging to support “friends and allies” caught up in the escalating stand-off over Ukraine.
As US officials scrambled to source alternative energy supplies for countries heavily reliant on Russian gas, Trade Minister Dan Tehan and Resources Minister Keith Pitt said Australia was ready to ship LNG exports to Europe.
European nations on average draw more than 40 per cent of their gas imports from Russia – Germany’s reliance is even greater – sparking growing concerns that Moscow could limit supply to the continent in response to the Ukraine tensions.
Amid reports US officials were holding talks with Australian and Qatari gas suppliers, Mr Tehan said the nation stood ready “to support our friends and allies in the current challenging and complex geostrategic environment”.
“The current geostrategic environment that Australia faces is the most complex since the Second World War,” Mr Tehan said. “This environment will continue to present both challenges and opportunities to Australian exporters now and into the future.
“As Australian LNG exports are expected to grow this financial year, Australian LNG exporters are ideally placed to meet any demand that may arise globally.”
READ MORE:Trappett: Putin’s move matters to us too|Jennings: There is still a slim chance to stop war with Russia|Boyes: Russia-Ukraine conflict may trigger global famine|Ukraine’s blacklist: Killers, lawyers, writers and spies
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday threatened to slap sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s financial accounts and interests if any attack on Ukraine were made, as Russia said it was conducting new drills with 6000 troops near Ukraine and in the Crimea.
Moscow, which already has 100,000 troops near Ukraine, has demanded in recent weeks that the country, a former Soviet republic, never be allowed to join NATO and a stop to Western drills near the Russian border. The Biden administration has rejected those demands.
With Canberra already threatening to impose economic sanctions and assist Ukrainian officials to repel cyber attacks, former Australian ambassador to Ukraine Doug Trappett warned Mr Putin was attempting to restore the Soviet Union’s “status and influence”.
“Certainly the effort and resources he has invested in rebuilding the Russian military and trying to make Russia a seemingly indispensable part of various conflicts – from the Middle East and northern Africa to northeast Asia – would seem to indicate it,” said Mr Trappett, writing in The Australian.
Mr Trappett, Australia’s first resident ambassador in Kiev between 2014 and 2016, compared Mr Putin’s tactics with those of China’s “ongoing grey zone activities and incursions with Taiwan”.
“As daunting as it is, only robust and united diplomacy from NATO leading to a clear Russian understanding of the penalties at stake for any aggression might circumvent the situation,” Mr Trappett said.
“Australia may not want this to occupy too much US focus, but nor should we underestimate what neglect by NATO might mean for the credibility of the global rules-based order.
“For these reasons, we should also not underplay Australia’s role. Our own vast security challenges and limited resources preclude the provision of significant military support. But we have more skin in the game than we might realise. We should be vocal and active.”
The Australian understands European and British authorities have been investigating alternative energy, gas and LNG sources in response to tensions with Russia over cyber attacks, militarisation and espionage activity not seen since the Cold War.
While local gas producers were unlikely to become long-term mass LNG suppliers to Europe, Australian exporters could help plug emergency shortages and attract premium prices.
Global demand for Australian gas is already at an all-time high, with LNG export earnings forecast to increase from $30bn to $63bn in 2021-22.
Mr Pitt said that as a world-leading, reliable gas exporter, Australia was “ready to assist with any request for further supplies” from European nations. “This shows how important Australian resources are to energy supplies around the world,” he said.
He warned that ongoing “lawfare” by activists threatened “not just Australian jobs, but energy security in countries that rely on our gas exports”.
The US government on Tuesday revealed it was in negotiations with “multiple” governments and energy companies around the world to prepare for a co-ordinated “surge” of output, in case Russia reneged on repeated promises not to cut off power to NATO members in Europe. “Disruption in physical energy supply transiting through Ukraine would acutely affect natural gas markets in Europe, including how they deploy existing energy stockpiles, which are at low levels,” a senior US official said.
The official said Australia and Qatar were party to these discussions but didn’t provide further details given the market sensitive nature of the talks
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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January 30, 2022
When an Australian government ignored the order of a court
The Djokovic affair is now dead as far as most people are concerned but I don't think it should be. It showed how even a democratic government with conservative credentials can sink into Stalin-like disrespect for justice and the rule of law.
The episode greatly undermines any faith in the adminstration of immigration law in Australia and inspires doubt about the rule of law in Australia generally. Are any of us safe from government high-handedness? We clearly are not.
Djokovic was arrested and extensively grilled when he entered Australia by the border bureaucracy, terminating in his arrest and imprisonment. But he appealed to the court to get himself released. The court found for him but the government deported him anyhow, on the flimsiest of grounds. What the judge in the case said is revealing. It clearly shows that Djokovic did no wrong. The wrong was done to him by the Australian government, probably for political reasons. Stalin had political reasons for his actions too
"The judge presiding in the Novak Djokovic court case has said the world No.1 appeared to have provided all the evidence he was asked for on his arrival at the Australian border.
Judge Anthony Kelly made the comments after the court spent time going through Djokovic’s travel declaration before he arrived in Australia.
Djokovic’s counsel Nicholas Wood SC notes that in the request for declaration of vaccination, the tennis player claimed he could not be vaccinated on medical grounds.
The court heard when prompted to provide proof of this Djokovic uploaded the medical exemption document from the CMO at Tennis Australia.
Judge Kelly said he was somewhat “agitated” about the situation and asked why the Tennis Australia document was not accepted by the delegate making the decision on Djokovic’s visa.
“Here, a professor and an eminently qualified physician have produced and provided to the applicant a medical exemption,” Judge Kelly said.
“Further to that, that medical exemption and the basis on which it was given was separately given by a further independent expert specialist panel established by the Victorian state government and that document was in the hands of the delegate.
"The point I am agitated about is what more could this man have done?"
Judge Kelly added that the transcript of Djokovic’s early Thursday morning interview with border officials also showed Djokovic tried to provide officers with everything they needed.
Judge Kelly noted the Djokovic transcript said: “If you will let me talk to people even though you have taken my phone from me, I will try and get you what you want.""
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Feminism’s embarrassing fall from ‘Grace’
If the past couple of years has taught us anything, it is that the current wave of feminism has become downright damaging to women.
The embarrassing decline of feminism could not have been any clearer than in Grace Tame’s confected performance with the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, what the commentary both in support and condemnation of her seems to have missed is that her timing and demeanour were carefully designed to achieve one thing and one thing only: to keep the spotlight firmly on herself – even when her year of special treatment was over (and, sadly, at the expense of her successor).
Supporters will say that Ms Tame did a wonderful thing by drawing attention to her cause. How being disrespectful to a Prime Minister advances the cause of child victims of predatory grooming and sexual abuse is not entirely clear, so perhaps they would care to list the changes Ms Tame has brought about for abused children? If they cannot, it is because there are none to speak of, but this does not seem to bother the luvvies.
I cannot blame anybody for wanting to avoid the issue of child sexual abuse, because small children being molested is a uniquely distressing matter to confront. In contrast, the nebulous and ever-expanding bandwagons of ‘ending gender-based violence’ and ‘calling out the patriarchy’ are much more palatable.
They are also a gateway into the huge, self-perpetuating and well-funded industries of advocacy and consultancy that offer an endless gravy trail of ‘jobs for the girls’, which has become the whole point of modern feminism. As a movement, feminism has become self-indulgent, elitist, and completely obsessed with insisting that the fatuous is extraordinary and that the shallow has hidden depth.
This is bad enough on its own, however the most terrifying betrayal of women comes when you take a critical look at who the so-called feminist movement most lauds, not just in Australia, but around the world. The women feminism cheers the loudest are not the scientists, the successful entrepreneurs, the outstanding athletes, or the multitude of others who have achieved remarkable things – often, against exceptional odds.
No, the women held up as beacons of hope and change for the future of womankind are, almost without exception, those whose only real achievement in life – aside from being suspiciously photogenic – is determinedly wearing the badge of gender-based victimhood at all costs. In instances where they have not experienced actual violence or abuse, they simply create it – hence why ‘unwanted looking’ has become a violation.
Is this what we want our daughters, our sisters, ourselves to aspire to? Do we really want young women to believe that the best way for a woman to get ahead in life is to take on a victim role and see the entire world from that blinkered view? Do we honestly want the next generation to dumb itself down and sell itself short like this? Are we alright with teaching girls that victimhood is a credential – and, it seems – a better one to have than the ability to think deeply and critically?
The perpetually outraged will insist that using victimhood for ‘positive change’ is inspirational and will bang on about how ‘brave’ such women are. If we take a step back from the breathless fawning, the rah-rah cheer-leading, and the spectacularly out of touch sphere that is Twitter, then we are forced to admit a simple truth: it does not take ‘courage’ or ‘bravery’ to ‘speak out’ when you have a ready-made cause wanting to adopt you, an incredibly sympathetic media backing you to the hilt, and legions of politicians waiting to be on your side if they think there might be some advantage in it.
This also raises the question of what, exactly, is the ‘positive change’ that is happening? Realistic and effective responses to addressing violence against women do not seem to be part of the equation, because the preferred feminist approaches of ‘awareness raising’ and ‘cultural change’ have been going on for years with – shock horror! – no apparent impacts on the statistics. It is hard to point to anything more tangible than promotion of the view that the ‘ideal woman’ is one whose value lies in talking about her victimhood and the inferred victimhood of all women.
When we buy into the cult of victimhood, we are also buying into the unspoken notion that women are, deep down, helpless little creatures who need somebody to protect them. Today, that somebody is invariably ‘the state’, but is that really any different to the days when women were seen as needing constant protection by a father, brother, or husband? As a society, we need to get past our fixation with this damaging, insulting role for women and completely change the message.
Our message to the girls and women of the future must be this: one woman can change the course of the world – but that woman, no matter what she has been through, will never need to play the victim-card to do it.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/01/feminisms-embarrassing-fall-from-grace/
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Another winner for Australia: Zinc
The price of zinc is rising and it will push up the price of everything from renewable energy to mobile phones.
Industry experts say it's likely the price will continue to rise amid a supply crisis in Europe
But it is good news for miners — Australia is the world's second-biggest producer. The price of zinc on the London Metal Exchange hit a 14-year high in October and is holding near that price.
It is one of many metals that are going up in price and that is pushing up the cost of renewable energy systems in particular.
Since the beginning of 2020 the price of the PV-grade polysilicon used in solar panels has more than quadrupled, steel has increased by 50 per cent, copper by 60 per cent and aluminium by 80 per cent.
The rising prices could also push up the cost of mobile phones, which require many of the same resources.
Pete Lau from phone manufacturer OnePlus told Business Insider last year that "prices across the supply chain, from raw materials to 5G chips, are all rising".
Variscan Mines managing director Stewart Dickson said the zinc price could climb yet.
The surging cost of energy in Europe has forced some smelters to shut down, tightening up supplies. Belgium cut its production in half midway through last year.
"Supply is projected to fall by 3 per cent a year, but demand will double by 2030," Mr Dickson said. "So the price is set to rise."
His company is involved in two zinc projects in Spain and other projects in Chile and Australia.
Zinc is used as a protective coating on steel, combines with copper to make brass and is in chemical compounds in rubber and paints.
It is used in electroplating, metal spraying and automotive parts as well as in electronic goods like fuses, anodes and cell batteries. You can find it on roof gutters, engravers' plates, cable wrappings and sunblock.
But the biggest impact of rising zinc prices may be in the renewables sector. "Batteries need zinc, solar panels need zinc to improve energy flow and wind turbines need zinc," Mr Dickson said.
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Older people say school curriculum is ‘too woke’, Australian values must be protected
Generations are split over whether schools should protect Australia’s “inherently Western and Christian” values, as academics slam the curriculum.
Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg says people would be supportive of keeping Australia Day but also establishing a second day to celebrate the country’s Indigenous heritage. “More Indigenous leaders are talking about the value of keeping the day on 26 January because it is a day of truth telling,” Mr Bragg told Sky News…
Seven in 10 Baby Boomers think more needs to be done to nurture and protect Australian values.
Overall, more than half of Aussies want to see our values protected, according to an exclusive YouGov poll commissioned by News Corp between December 27 and January 10.
But there are big differences in opinions between the generations, with 15 per cent of Gen Z – those born after 1997 – going as far as saying there should be less emphasis placed on Australian values.
The survey of 2297 people also found that one in four Australians have concerns that the school curriculum is too ‘woke’.
Fiona Mueller, an adjunct scholar from the Centre for Independent Studies, said while teachers tried to instil respect, compassion and fairness in schools, the current curriculum made it almost impossible for students to develop a deep appreciation of our “inherently Western and Christian” based Australian values.
“There is no overarching intellectual and academic framework that places Australian values at the heart of learning,” she said.
“It is ironic that the dominance of themes such as climate change, racism, globalism and all the other -isms makes it hard to maintain a clear emphasis on longstanding Australian values.”
Temaeva Legeay-Hill, 21, who is studying accounting and finance at university in Melbourne, said the combination of compassion and giving people a fair go was her interpretation of Australian values and ones that the government promoted on its Home Affairs website.
She said Gen Z was becoming increasingly disconnected with these values because they were not seeing them in society.
“Based on the data, our First Nations peoples are not being given a fair go,” Ms Legeay-Hill said.
“Academically they have lower levels of numeracy and literacy and poorer health outcomes.”
She said Gen Z would only want to nurture Australian values if they were authentic.
Meanwhile, the poll also showed that 56 per cent of people believe the curriculum should continue to include lessons on Australia’s links with Asia, Indigenous Australians and the environment.
While a quarter felt the curriculum had become too “woke”, Gen Z does not agree with that sentiment.
Ms Legeay-Hill said including “humanity into academia” was not a bad thing and helped to strengthen cultural bonds.
Glenn Fahey, a research fellow in education policy, said today’s curriculum was contributing to children having a “negative, pessimistic view of Australia – and life in general for that matter – that will feel foreign to past generations and to parents”.
He said there was nothing woke about learning of Australia’s role in Asia, the lives and histories of Indigenous Australians, or the environment, but it depended how the subjects are taught.
He said a “woke” example of Australian history is to paint it “as a racist, genocidal country rather than recognising that we live in the most harmonious and successful multicultural country in the world”.
“The problem is that students may only get a one-sided, politicised view that fails to provide the full context,” he said.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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January 28, 2022
$1bn top-up to keep Great Barrier Reef off UN’s danger list
This is a complete waste of money. The reef is in no danger. Only Greenie scaremongering says it is. And the reef is at its most diverse in WARM climates (e.g. the Torres Strait) so global warming would help, not hinder it. Guess why the reef lies almost entirely in the (warm) tropics? Greenies rely on people not knowing even the basics and nobody dares to contradict them. Peter Ridd did and he got the sack
Scott Morrison will inject an additional $1bn into protecting the Great Barrier Reef – the largest single investment in the marine park – to avoid the national treasure being listed as an endangered world heritage site.
Three weeks after Anthony Albanese announced Labor would spend an extra $163m over four years to extend the Reef 2050 program, the Prime Minister will unveil the Coalition’s election pledge in Cairns to increase funding for the reef to $3bn.
Mr Morrison’s funding boost for the Great Barrier Reef – a key economic driver in the government-held electorates of Leichhardt, Herbert, Capricornia and Flynn – comes as Labor attempts to wrestle back the central and north Queensland seats.
The reef package is also expected to bolster the government’s environmental credentials across inner-city electorates in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney where Liberal MPs are facing challenges from cashed-up pro-climate change independents at the election due by May.
The major pre-election spending follows a global push and recommendation from UNESCO last year for the 21-country World Heritage Committee to list the Great Barrier Reef as being “in danger”. While the government successfully lobbied against the push, the Morrison government must report to UNESCO by next month about how it is strengthening its Reef 2050 plan.
More than half of the extra $1bn in reef funding, to be spent over nine years, will go towards improving water quality and working with land managers to remediate erosion, improve land condition and reduce nutrient and pesticide run-off.
Efforts to combat threats from the crown of thorns starfish, which has severely damaged large swathes of the reef, will be bolstered by $253m.
The crown of thorns starfish control program, which has already culled more than 275,000 of the marine invertebrates since 2014, will be extended from 253 to 500 reefs.
Mr Morrison said protecting more than 13,000 hectares of coral reef captured under the crown of thorns starfish program required “state of the art on-water management practices”.
“We are backing the health of the reef and the economic future of tourism operators, hospitality providers and Queensland communities that are at the heart of the reef economy,” the Prime Minister said.
“This is already the best-managed reef in the world and today we take our commitment to a new level. Funding will support scientists, farmers and traditional owners, backing in very latest marine science while building resilience and reducing threats from pollution in our oceans and predators such as the crown of thorns starfish.”
The Australian understands the Great Barrier Reef Foundation – controversially awarded a $443m grant by Mr Morrison’s predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, in 2018 – will likely work with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and other government agencies but not play any role in the allocation of funds.
With the Great Barrier Reef supporting 64,000 jobs and generating $6.4bn in annual tourism revenue, veteran Liberal MP Warren Entsch said “the people in Cairns and far north Queensland care about the reef more than anyone”.
“Our tourism operators, local communities and traditional owners are invested in the health of the reef and this funding supports their commitment and the future of the world’s greatest natural wonder.”
The Leichhardt MP holds his Cairns-based seat on a margin of 4.2 per cent.
“The reef is an amazing place for people to visit and, particularly as local businesses start to recover, I encourage people to come up and see that for themselves,” Mr Entsch said. “This funding will help us keep it that way and ensure that we remain the best reef managers in the world.”
The government’s existing $2bn 2050 plan has supported management agencies including GBRMPA and the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences maintain the health of the reef.
In addition to water quality and reef management, $92.7m is being funnelled into research and deployment of world-leading reef resilience science and adaptation strategies. A further $74.4m is going towards indigenous and community-led projections including “species protection, habitat restoration, citizen science programs and marine debris”.
Central to the Coalition’s reef management plan is improving the quality of water flowing to the reef, which involves land-management transformation across a catchment area of about 424,000sq km. About 80 per cent of the catchment area is under agricultural production.
Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the best science and engagement with communities, industries and indigenous groups would drive record investment.
“From breakthrough science in coral seeding and restoration, to improved water quality, the latest on water management and compliance systems, as well as the protection of native species, we are working across every aspect of the reef,” Ms Ley said. “Our farmers, tourism operators, and fishers are our reef champions and we are supporting them through practical water and land based strategies that will contribute significantly to the health of the reef.”
The Opposition Leader this month launched his Queensland election campaign blitz in the state’s north and promised a Labor government would ensure the key tourist attraction was never classified by the UN as “in danger”.
“That’s what we’re determined to do: make sure that it’s never ever put on that list,” Mr Albanese said. “The way to do that is take the big action that we will take by joining the world in climate policy, once again, not being a pariah sitting in the naughty corner with Saudi Arabia and Brazil and a couple of other countries.”
Mr Albanese also pledged to tear up Mr Turnbull’s Great Barrier Reef Foundation funding arrangement.
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Australia day grievance: Always was, always will be a smokescreen
As Roger Scruton wrote: ‘The fictions were far more persuasive than the facts, and more persuasive than both was the longing to be caught up in a mass movement of solidarity, with the promise of emancipation at the end. My father’s grievances were real and well-founded. But his solutions were dreams.’
Always was, always will be. These words are the first clue that the fight about when Australia Day falls isn’t really at all about ‘when Australia Day falls’. It is hard-coded into the progressive narrative that there can be no solution to the problem.
Colonisation cannot be resolved. No reparations, no recognition of inter-generational trauma, no overly-verbose oratory apology can meaningfully move the needle on Indigenous outcomes.
Any good-faith analysis of the anti-Australia Day movement has no choice but to conclude there is nothing that can be done to appease the movement to the point it ‘stops’ short of a complete demolition of the entire country and mass exodus of people.
That is a feature and not a bug of those weaving the narrative. It is designed to endlessly fuel emotional responses in voters which are ordered towards political ends (namely stacking up contributions and winning elections). This isn’t entirely novel to the left but denying this reality is futile.
This isn’t to say that there are not very real and serious issues within Australia’s Indigenous communities that must be urgently addressed. This is to say that whatever cultural battleground we fight over next will be just as asinine and just as much of a smokescreen from the real issues as the fight over Australia Day has been.
Indigenous women are 34 to 80 times more likely to experience domestic and family violence. That should be the headline in the news cycle today. That is a real problem in need of urgent redress.
The infantilisation of adult people as nothing but victims of systemic oppression, teaching them they cannot be the masters of their own destiny – that is a real problem as well. Treating 3.3 per cent of the population as a monolithic entity is also a real problem.
Custodial land rights with no true ownership or freedom to generate wealth from the land entrusted to Indigenous communities, that is a very real and easily solvable problem.
To those who criticise opponents of the date change, saying symbolic changes have ‘real meaning’, please tell us what changing the date will do to address the horrific rates of family violence? Please tell us what ‘Sorry Day’ did to help these disaffected people living in poverty (apart from facilitate the Astro-turfing of the change the date movement to follow it)? The answer, as we all know deep down – or not so deep – is nothing. To paraphrase, ‘Symbolism is quick, easy, and exhilarating. Real change slow, laborious, and dull.’
You can’t put a date on the colonisation of Australia, so suggesting a date change meaningfully alters the nature of Australia Day (whenever it might be) is equally puerile. The narrative will not change: always was, always will be.
A day of celebration and recognition of Australia for all its splendour and achievement is intransigently tied to its conquering through violence. This is neither good nor bad at this point, it is just historical fact. We can, and we will, celebrate good while recognising bad, as we have throughout human history.
Until proponents are willing to come to the table for a vision of a unified Australia (one which recognises the bad but stops short of setting unachievable outcomes), they cannot be taken seriously in their ostensible objectives and Indigenous communities will continue to suffer.
The Greens celebrate calls for Amazon to write Meanjin instead of Brisbane on our frivolous online shopping while looking past the woe’s faced by Indigenous children because the data makes them uncomfortable.
Campaign money, which could be better spent pushing for actually needed reform, will be frittered away by university educated white people trying to ‘change the world’ one overshared Instagram story at a time.
It’s okay though, for anyone tired of the debate, these people will have moved on to their new pet issue by next week. Just like we have already seemingly forgotten the plight of women in Afghanistan.
Maybe the left-wing elite want to have a spell discussing the quandary of the Ukrainian people while simultaneously opposing the military industrial complex which defends them next?
Once you accept that appeasement or acquiescence on the date change would be in vain, you must merely fight the changes because it slows down the timeline before the next pet (culturally more divisive) issue is engineered into the Overton window for political ends.
The grimmest realisation is that in twelve months’ time we will have to rehash this all again, yet no meaningful changes which could actually help our Indigenous communities from the harm they suffer, will have occurred.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/01/always-was-always-will-be-a-smokescreen/
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Many Australian "workers" are better off on welfare -- and it shows
Last week there were three important pieces of news related to the Australian labour market.
One was the fall in the unemployment rate to 4.2 per cent, the lowest since before the global financial crisis and one of the lowest since monthly surveys were first conducted in 1978.
The second was the revelation that 200,000 people who took up welfare benefits during the height of the pandemic remained out of work, notwithstanding widespread labour shortages.
Finally, there was the decision by the federal government to open international borders to those who had been vaccinated, with visa fees temporarily waived for international students and working holiday-makers. The expectation is that there will be about 175,000 arrivals in the coming months. Note here also that work restrictions placed on international students (20 hours a week during semester time) have been lifted temporarily.
These developments tell us lot about what is happening in the labour market and the government’s approach to dealing with the issues. When it comes to the unemployment rate, the official figure still contains a lot of noise as a result of the pandemic and on-again, off-again lockdowns and other restrictions. Even without government-mandated restrictions, the private decisions of wary members of the public are affecting business conditions.
There is also the impact of Covid-related jobs – think PCR collectors, vaccine givers, contract tracers and the like – which is similar to having an ongoing census affecting the figures. (In the month in which the five-year census takes place, there is always a noticeable impact on employment, although the number of collectors now is much less with the census going largely online.)
The point is that the official unemployment rate still doesn’t give us a totally meaningful and comprehensive view of the labour market. But there is no doubt that conditions are relatively tight, particularly given the absence of temporary migrants in the past nearly two years.
What is clearer is that some industries and businesses had become highly dependent on migrants to fill certain jobs, particularly lower-paid ones in service industries and agriculture. When this source of workers dried up there were serious difficulties in securing other (Australian-born) workers to fill the positions. On the face of it, it would seem there are some jobs Australians just won’t take.
This is consistent with overseas research that shows local workers will vacate positions permanently when there are low-skilled migrants prepared to take them. Even when there are fewer migrants available to do these jobs – as has been the case with the pandemic – local workers show little propensity to resume their occupancy of these jobs, even if rates of pay are slightly increased.
Two or so decades ago, the Australian labour market was adequately serviced by local workers with relatively few international students, working holiday workers and temporary workers. Migrants overwhelmingly were permanent and undertook long-term job plans consistent with getting ahead and providing for their families.
More recently, the number of temporary migrants has swamped the number of permanent ones, which in turn reflects where migrants work and the aspirations of the workers involved. Many international students, for instance, must work to pay fees and living expenses. They tend to take low-skilled jobs in hospitality and retail and often will work in businesses with ethnic ties. It is not surprising that many instances of wage theft occur among these temporary working migrants lacking, as they do, knowledge of our industrial relations regulations and fearful of losing their jobs.
It is not surprising the businesses that came to rely on temporary migrants as one of their principal sources of workers are those that are complaining loudly about worker shortages. If they can convince the government to open up the international borders, it is easier to resume their old ways rather than offer higher wages and train locals to do the jobs.
While this course of action may take time, it shouldn’t be ruled out. That there are large numbers of people on JobSeeker – about 200,000 – who took up welfare payments during the pandemic but remain without employment suggests there is a potential source of labour that could be tapped.
For some people, the net advantages of not working (including the payment of a slightly higher JobSeeker and other top-ups) are greater than the net advantages of working. This creates a dilemma for the government because the employability of these welfare recipients declines the longer their duration of joblessness. But given the complications of the pandemic restrictions on ease of movement, it hasn’t been an optimal time to impose mutual obligations on welfare recipients.
This has led the government to take the easy route and simply bring in as many temporary workers as possible to take up these difficult-to-fill jobs. Mind you, this tactic is consistent with the government’s preference for large migrant intakes and high rates of population growth. (The Prime Minister’s time at the Property Council seems to have had a lasting effect given his ongoing refusal to countenance a future for Australia based on much more limited rates of immigration.)
There are downsides to this approach, not least the lack of electoral appeal in restarting large migrant intakes. The incipient wage pressures that have become apparent, consistent with worker shortages, are likely to be suppressed to a degree. And why bother training workers when it is possible simply to import them? (This is particularly the case in more skilled fields like engineering and IT.)
It is pleasing to note the federal opposition is taking a slightly different position when it comes to immigration. In particular, its view is that the number of temporary workers should be restricted to drive the incentives for locals to be employed and trained.
Having said this, it would seem unlikely a Labor federal government would limit the number of international students granted visas, given the close relationship between the higher education sector and the Labor Party. International students are the largest group of temporary workers by far.
Again, going back two or so decades, our educational sector managed well without such high proportions of international students. Indeed, it would seem many universities have managed very well during the pandemic without the steady stream of international students.
The reality is that the pre-pandemic situation worked for many key players in the economy and the government is being pressured to return to that situation as soon as possible. Without thinking through the forgone opportunity to reform and change things, it would seem the government is only too keen to oblige.
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‘Scrap the app’: Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner slams need for the check-in app
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has slammed the state government over the need for the check-in app saying its lost its purpose, but Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is refusing to budge on the policy.
Cr Schrinner said Queenslanders have been questioning whether the check-in app is worth the “impositions” it puts on businesses since Queensland Health stopped posting individual contact tracing locations this year.
“When the cases started to rise in Queensland, everyone was waiting to hear the contact tracing locations of hotspots, and that hasn’t happened. The state government’s not using their app for its intended purpose. If the contact tracing was happening it would be a different story but it’s not,” he said.
While people were originally prepared to do the “right thing”, Mr Schrinner said their patience wouldn’t last forever.
“If they see a purpose for it, they’ll be cooperative. But in this case people are seeing the state government not using their own app so they’re really questioning why they should use it,” he said.
He said that there are other apps on smartphones that will allow people to show their vaccination status, and this function was unnecessary for places where the vaccine mandate wasn’t enforced.
“When it comes to places like Coles, Woolies and Aldi, it’s time to scrap the app.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk fought back at the Mayor saying there were no plans to remove the check in app as it was vital for making sure people were vaccinated.
“If there is a big outbreak, we want to make sure that we can actually let people know,” she said.
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Global cobalt shortage good for Australia
Cobalt prices performed strongly in the second half of 2021, rising for 100 consecutive days to hit more than US$70,000/t in December.
In 2022, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence projects the demand for cobalt out of the global battery sector alone will grow by more than 20% year on year — a significant step up in demand.
Meanwhile, forecasted supply side additions will struggle to keep pace with such growth, providing further support to prices.
Over the medium term, this small market – global production was just ~140,000t cobalt metal total in 2021 — will grow at an average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of between 8-10% to 2030.
(Of that 140,000t, ~55% is currently consumed by the battery sector.)
Based on a CAGR of 10%, cobalt will be a +310,000tpa market by the end of the decade.
100% growth in just 8 years. Huge.
By 2050, Glencore has previously estimated about 507,000 tonnes per annum will be consumed – a ~300% increase on existing levels.
That’s because EV makers, a relatively small percentage of current demand, will need a lot more going forward. German behemoth VW, for example, has formed a joint venture to produce cathode material at an as-yet undisclosed location in Europe.
The deal outlined targets to produce sufficient cathode material for 20GWh of cell production by 2025, scaling up to 160GWh by the end of the decade. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence data, that 160GWh will require more than 20,000tpa of cobalt.
COB is making big process on the flagship 81,000t Broken Hill Cobalt Project (BHCP) – Australia’s largest cobalt sulphide deposit — which could be in production by mid to late 2025.
Pre-production capex is estimated at ~$560m. The BHCP would produce +3,500tpa cobalt metal eq over a 20 years at a very low all-in sustaining cost of $US12/lb – making it profitable even at record low prices.
The cobalt price recently hit $33/lb. The leverage for COB is astonishing, Kaderavek told Stockhead. “A US$2.50/lb increase in the price of cobalt delivers a 28% NPV (Post Tax) increase,” he says.
“For example, a mark to market exercise reveals that today’s Broken Hill project is worth $1.3Bn – as opposed to the $550m that was assumed on long dated numbers back in 2020.”
In 2022, COB is planning to operate its demonstration plant — a smaller version of the real thing — and deliver large scale samples to potential offtake partners.
Project approvals and a BFS will be finalised by the end of the year, ready for a final investment decision on the project by Q1 2023.
Despite additional DRC supply coming online soon, Kaderavek says over the long-term, supply will struggle to keep up with demand.
“This is an EV phenomenon – for example, our Broken Hill Cobalt Project is a top 5 (ex-Africa) project, yet the 17,000tpa of our cobalt sulphate will barely feed a single 40GWh giga factory.”
“There are over 50 such large facilities planned for the US and EU alone over the next decade.”
Kaderavek says battery makers and carmakers will need to move up the supply chain to make deals with raw material suppliers.
COB already has commercial partnerships with LG International, Mitsubishi Corporation & the giant Japanese trading house, Sojitz Corporation.
The question isn’t solely whether supply will be able to meet demand. Automakers, especially western automakers, are increasing putting ESG at the centre of everything they do.
That puts dominant global cobalt producer, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under the microscope. The landlocked African nation is a global giant when it comes to cobalt production. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the DRC produced 95,000 tonnes of cobalt in 2020, accounting for 68% of global output.
It’s where China – the world’s biggest consumer by far — gets ~90% of its supply.
But some high-profile supply agreements have shown that European consumers are committed to diversifying away from these problematic Chinese and DRC supply chains.
This underscores the importance of cobalt projects in ‘de-risked’ tier 1 jurisdictions – like those owned by COB, as well as Jervois Mining (ASX:JRV), Australian Mines (ASX:AUZ), Sunrise Energy Metals (ASX:SRL), Queensland Pacific Metals (ASX:QPM), red hot IPO Kuniko (ASX:KNI) and Metals X’s (ASX:MLX) nickel-cobalt spin-out Nico Resources (ASX:NC1) — just to name a few.
The pivot away from African cobalt towards more sustainable sourcing is another reason supply will struggle to keep up with demand, Kaderavek says. “We are seeing a strong commercial pivot towards ethical sourcing of battery materials from the EU and US,” he says.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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28 January, 2022
$1bn top-up to keep Great Barrier Reef off UN’s danger list
This is a complete waste of money. The reef is in no danger. Only Greenie scaremongering says it is. And the reef is at its most diverse in WARM climates (e.g. the Torres Strait) so global warming would help, not hinder it. Guess why the reef lies almost entirely in the (warm) tropics? Greenies rely on people not knowing even the basics and nobody dares to contradict them. Peter Ridd did and he got the sack
Scott Morrison will inject an additional $1bn into protecting the Great Barrier Reef – the largest single investment in the marine park – to avoid the national treasure being listed as an endangered world heritage site.
Three weeks after Anthony Albanese announced Labor would spend an extra $163m over four years to extend the Reef 2050 program, the Prime Minister will unveil the Coalition’s election pledge in Cairns to increase funding for the reef to $3bn.
Mr Morrison’s funding boost for the Great Barrier Reef – a key economic driver in the government-held electorates of Leichhardt, Herbert, Capricornia and Flynn – comes as Labor attempts to wrestle back the central and north Queensland seats.
The reef package is also expected to bolster the government’s environmental credentials across inner-city electorates in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney where Liberal MPs are facing challenges from cashed-up pro-climate change independents at the election due by May.
The major pre-election spending follows a global push and recommendation from UNESCO last year for the 21-country World Heritage Committee to list the Great Barrier Reef as being “in danger”. While the government successfully lobbied against the push, the Morrison government must report to UNESCO by next month about how it is strengthening its Reef 2050 plan.
More than half of the extra $1bn in reef funding, to be spent over nine years, will go towards improving water quality and working with land managers to remediate erosion, improve land condition and reduce nutrient and pesticide run-off.
Efforts to combat threats from the crown of thorns starfish, which has severely damaged large swathes of the reef, will be bolstered by $253m.
The crown of thorns starfish control program, which has already culled more than 275,000 of the marine invertebrates since 2014, will be extended from 253 to 500 reefs.
Mr Morrison said protecting more than 13,000 hectares of coral reef captured under the crown of thorns starfish program required “state of the art on-water management practices”.
“We are backing the health of the reef and the economic future of tourism operators, hospitality providers and Queensland communities that are at the heart of the reef economy,” the Prime Minister said.
“This is already the best-managed reef in the world and today we take our commitment to a new level. Funding will support scientists, farmers and traditional owners, backing in very latest marine science while building resilience and reducing threats from pollution in our oceans and predators such as the crown of thorns starfish.”
The Australian understands the Great Barrier Reef Foundation – controversially awarded a $443m grant by Mr Morrison’s predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, in 2018 – will likely work with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and other government agencies but not play any role in the allocation of funds.
With the Great Barrier Reef supporting 64,000 jobs and generating $6.4bn in annual tourism revenue, veteran Liberal MP Warren Entsch said “the people in Cairns and far north Queensland care about the reef more than anyone”.
“Our tourism operators, local communities and traditional owners are invested in the health of the reef and this funding supports their commitment and the future of the world’s greatest natural wonder.”
The Leichhardt MP holds his Cairns-based seat on a margin of 4.2 per cent.
“The reef is an amazing place for people to visit and, particularly as local businesses start to recover, I encourage people to come up and see that for themselves,” Mr Entsch said. “This funding will help us keep it that way and ensure that we remain the best reef managers in the world.”
The government’s existing $2bn 2050 plan has supported management agencies including GBRMPA and the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences maintain the health of the reef.
In addition to water quality and reef management, $92.7m is being funnelled into research and deployment of world-leading reef resilience science and adaptation strategies. A further $74.4m is going towards indigenous and community-led projections including “species protection, habitat restoration, citizen science programs and marine debris”.
Central to the Coalition’s reef management plan is improving the quality of water flowing to the reef, which involves land-management transformation across a catchment area of about 424,000sq km. About 80 per cent of the catchment area is under agricultural production.
Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the best science and engagement with communities, industries and indigenous groups would drive record investment.
“From breakthrough science in coral seeding and restoration, to improved water quality, the latest on water management and compliance systems, as well as the protection of native species, we are working across every aspect of the reef,” Ms Ley said. “Our farmers, tourism operators, and fishers are our reef champions and we are supporting them through practical water and land based strategies that will contribute significantly to the health of the reef.”
The Opposition Leader this month launched his Queensland election campaign blitz in the state’s north and promised a Labor government would ensure the key tourist attraction was never classified by the UN as “in danger”.
“That’s what we’re determined to do: make sure that it’s never ever put on that list,” Mr Albanese said. “The way to do that is take the big action that we will take by joining the world in climate policy, once again, not being a pariah sitting in the naughty corner with Saudi Arabia and Brazil and a couple of other countries.”
Mr Albanese also pledged to tear up Mr Turnbull’s Great Barrier Reef Foundation funding arrangement.
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Australia day grievance: Always was, always will be a smokescreen
As Roger Scruton wrote: ‘The fictions were far more persuasive than the facts, and more persuasive than both was the longing to be caught up in a mass movement of solidarity, with the promise of emancipation at the end. My father’s grievances were real and well-founded. But his solutions were dreams.’
Always was, always will be. These words are the first clue that the fight about when Australia Day falls isn’t really at all about ‘when Australia Day falls’. It is hard-coded into the progressive narrative that there can be no solution to the problem.
Colonisation cannot be resolved. No reparations, no recognition of inter-generational trauma, no overly-verbose oratory apology can meaningfully move the needle on Indigenous outcomes.
Any good-faith analysis of the anti-Australia Day movement has no choice but to conclude there is nothing that can be done to appease the movement to the point it ‘stops’ short of a complete demolition of the entire country and mass exodus of people.
That is a feature and not a bug of those weaving the narrative. It is designed to endlessly fuel emotional responses in voters which are ordered towards political ends (namely stacking up contributions and winning elections). This isn’t entirely novel to the left but denying this reality is futile.
This isn’t to say that there are not very real and serious issues within Australia’s Indigenous communities that must be urgently addressed. This is to say that whatever cultural battleground we fight over next will be just as asinine and just as much of a smokescreen from the real issues as the fight over Australia Day has been.
Indigenous women are 34 to 80 times more likely to experience domestic and family violence. That should be the headline in the news cycle today. That is a real problem in need of urgent redress.
The infantilisation of adult people as nothing but victims of systemic oppression, teaching them they cannot be the masters of their own destiny – that is a real problem as well. Treating 3.3 per cent of the population as a monolithic entity is also a real problem.
Custodial land rights with no true ownership or freedom to generate wealth from the land entrusted to Indigenous communities, that is a very real and easily solvable problem.
To those who criticise opponents of the date change, saying symbolic changes have ‘real meaning’, please tell us what changing the date will do to address the horrific rates of family violence? Please tell us what ‘Sorry Day’ did to help these disaffected people living in poverty (apart from facilitate the Astro-turfing of the change the date movement to follow it)? The answer, as we all know deep down – or not so deep – is nothing. To paraphrase, ‘Symbolism is quick, easy, and exhilarating. Real change slow, laborious, and dull.’
You can’t put a date on the colonisation of Australia, so suggesting a date change meaningfully alters the nature of Australia Day (whenever it might be) is equally puerile. The narrative will not change: always was, always will be.
A day of celebration and recognition of Australia for all its splendour and achievement is intransigently tied to its conquering through violence. This is neither good nor bad at this point, it is just historical fact. We can, and we will, celebrate good while recognising bad, as we have throughout human history.
Until proponents are willing to come to the table for a vision of a unified Australia (one which recognises the bad but stops short of setting unachievable outcomes), they cannot be taken seriously in their ostensible objectives and Indigenous communities will continue to suffer.
The Greens celebrate calls for Amazon to write Meanjin instead of Brisbane on our frivolous online shopping while looking past the woe’s faced by Indigenous children because the data makes them uncomfortable.
Campaign money, which could be better spent pushing for actually needed reform, will be frittered away by university educated white people trying to ‘change the world’ one overshared Instagram story at a time.
It’s okay though, for anyone tired of the debate, these people will have moved on to their new pet issue by next week. Just like we have already seemingly forgotten the plight of women in Afghanistan.
Maybe the left-wing elite want to have a spell discussing the quandary of the Ukrainian people while simultaneously opposing the military industrial complex which defends them next?
Once you accept that appeasement or acquiescence on the date change would be in vain, you must merely fight the changes because it slows down the timeline before the next pet (culturally more divisive) issue is engineered into the Overton window for political ends.
The grimmest realisation is that in twelve months’ time we will have to rehash this all again, yet no meaningful changes which could actually help our Indigenous communities from the harm they suffer, will have occurred.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/01/always-was-always-will-be-a-smokescreen/
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Many Australian "workers" are better off on welfare -- and it shows
Last week there were three important pieces of news related to the Australian labour market.
One was the fall in the unemployment rate to 4.2 per cent, the lowest since before the global financial crisis and one of the lowest since monthly surveys were first conducted in 1978.
The second was the revelation that 200,000 people who took up welfare benefits during the height of the pandemic remained out of work, notwithstanding widespread labour shortages.
Finally, there was the decision by the federal government to open international borders to those who had been vaccinated, with visa fees temporarily waived for international students and working holiday-makers. The expectation is that there will be about 175,000 arrivals in the coming months. Note here also that work restrictions placed on international students (20 hours a week during semester time) have been lifted temporarily.
These developments tell us lot about what is happening in the labour market and the government’s approach to dealing with the issues. When it comes to the unemployment rate, the official figure still contains a lot of noise as a result of the pandemic and on-again, off-again lockdowns and other restrictions. Even without government-mandated restrictions, the private decisions of wary members of the public are affecting business conditions.
There is also the impact of Covid-related jobs – think PCR collectors, vaccine givers, contract tracers and the like – which is similar to having an ongoing census affecting the figures. (In the month in which the five-year census takes place, there is always a noticeable impact on employment, although the number of collectors now is much less with the census going largely online.)
The point is that the official unemployment rate still doesn’t give us a totally meaningful and comprehensive view of the labour market. But there is no doubt that conditions are relatively tight, particularly given the absence of temporary migrants in the past nearly two years.
What is clearer is that some industries and businesses had become highly dependent on migrants to fill certain jobs, particularly lower-paid ones in service industries and agriculture. When this source of workers dried up there were serious difficulties in securing other (Australian-born) workers to fill the positions. On the face of it, it would seem there are some jobs Australians just won’t take.
This is consistent with overseas research that shows local workers will vacate positions permanently when there are low-skilled migrants prepared to take them. Even when there are fewer migrants available to do these jobs – as has been the case with the pandemic – local workers show little propensity to resume their occupancy of these jobs, even if rates of pay are slightly increased.
Two or so decades ago, the Australian labour market was adequately serviced by local workers with relatively few international students, working holiday workers and temporary workers. Migrants overwhelmingly were permanent and undertook long-term job plans consistent with getting ahead and providing for their families.
More recently, the number of temporary migrants has swamped the number of permanent ones, which in turn reflects where migrants work and the aspirations of the workers involved. Many international students, for instance, must work to pay fees and living expenses. They tend to take low-skilled jobs in hospitality and retail and often will work in businesses with ethnic ties. It is not surprising that many instances of wage theft occur among these temporary working migrants lacking, as they do, knowledge of our industrial relations regulations and fearful of losing their jobs.
It is not surprising the businesses that came to rely on temporary migrants as one of their principal sources of workers are those that are complaining loudly about worker shortages. If they can convince the government to open up the international borders, it is easier to resume their old ways rather than offer higher wages and train locals to do the jobs.
While this course of action may take time, it shouldn’t be ruled out. That there are large numbers of people on JobSeeker – about 200,000 – who took up welfare payments during the pandemic but remain without employment suggests there is a potential source of labour that could be tapped.
For some people, the net advantages of not working (including the payment of a slightly higher JobSeeker and other top-ups) are greater than the net advantages of working. This creates a dilemma for the government because the employability of these welfare recipients declines the longer their duration of joblessness. But given the complications of the pandemic restrictions on ease of movement, it hasn’t been an optimal time to impose mutual obligations on welfare recipients.
This has led the government to take the easy route and simply bring in as many temporary workers as possible to take up these difficult-to-fill jobs. Mind you, this tactic is consistent with the government’s preference for large migrant intakes and high rates of population growth. (The Prime Minister’s time at the Property Council seems to have had a lasting effect given his ongoing refusal to countenance a future for Australia based on much more limited rates of immigration.)
There are downsides to this approach, not least the lack of electoral appeal in restarting large migrant intakes. The incipient wage pressures that have become apparent, consistent with worker shortages, are likely to be suppressed to a degree. And why bother training workers when it is possible simply to import them? (This is particularly the case in more skilled fields like engineering and IT.)
It is pleasing to note the federal opposition is taking a slightly different position when it comes to immigration. In particular, its view is that the number of temporary workers should be restricted to drive the incentives for locals to be employed and trained.
Having said this, it would seem unlikely a Labor federal government would limit the number of international students granted visas, given the close relationship between the higher education sector and the Labor Party. International students are the largest group of temporary workers by far.
Again, going back two or so decades, our educational sector managed well without such high proportions of international students. Indeed, it would seem many universities have managed very well during the pandemic without the steady stream of international students.
The reality is that the pre-pandemic situation worked for many key players in the economy and the government is being pressured to return to that situation as soon as possible. Without thinking through the forgone opportunity to reform and change things, it would seem the government is only too keen to oblige.
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‘Scrap the app’: Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner slams need for the check-in app
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has slammed the state government over the need for the check-in app saying its lost its purpose, but Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is refusing to budge on the policy.
Cr Schrinner said Queenslanders have been questioning whether the check-in app is worth the “impositions” it puts on businesses since Queensland Health stopped posting individual contact tracing locations this year.
“When the cases started to rise in Queensland, everyone was waiting to hear the contact tracing locations of hotspots, and that hasn’t happened. The state government’s not using their app for its intended purpose. If the contact tracing was happening it would be a different story but it’s not,” he said.
While people were originally prepared to do the “right thing”, Mr Schrinner said their patience wouldn’t last forever.
“If they see a purpose for it, they’ll be cooperative. But in this case people are seeing the state government not using their own app so they’re really questioning why they should use it,” he said.
He said that there are other apps on smartphones that will allow people to show their vaccination status, and this function was unnecessary for places where the vaccine mandate wasn’t enforced.
“When it comes to places like Coles, Woolies and Aldi, it’s time to scrap the app.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk fought back at the Mayor saying there were no plans to remove the check in app as it was vital for making sure people were vaccinated.
“If there is a big outbreak, we want to make sure that we can actually let people know,” she said.
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Global cobalt shortage good for Australia
Cobalt prices performed strongly in the second half of 2021, rising for 100 consecutive days to hit more than US$70,000/t in December.
In 2022, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence projects the demand for cobalt out of the global battery sector alone will grow by more than 20% year on year — a significant step up in demand.
Meanwhile, forecasted supply side additions will struggle to keep pace with such growth, providing further support to prices.
Over the medium term, this small market – global production was just ~140,000t cobalt metal total in 2021 — will grow at an average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of between 8-10% to 2030.
(Of that 140,000t, ~55% is currently consumed by the battery sector.)
Based on a CAGR of 10%, cobalt will be a +310,000tpa market by the end of the decade.
100% growth in just 8 years. Huge.
By 2050, Glencore has previously estimated about 507,000 tonnes per annum will be consumed – a ~300% increase on existing levels.
That’s because EV makers, a relatively small percentage of current demand, will need a lot more going forward. German behemoth VW, for example, has formed a joint venture to produce cathode material at an as-yet undisclosed location in Europe.
The deal outlined targets to produce sufficient cathode material for 20GWh of cell production by 2025, scaling up to 160GWh by the end of the decade. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence data, that 160GWh will require more than 20,000tpa of cobalt.
COB is making big process on the flagship 81,000t Broken Hill Cobalt Project (BHCP) – Australia’s largest cobalt sulphide deposit — which could be in production by mid to late 2025.
Pre-production capex is estimated at ~$560m. The BHCP would produce +3,500tpa cobalt metal eq over a 20 years at a very low all-in sustaining cost of $US12/lb – making it profitable even at record low prices.
The cobalt price recently hit $33/lb. The leverage for COB is astonishing, Kaderavek told Stockhead. “A US$2.50/lb increase in the price of cobalt delivers a 28% NPV (Post Tax) increase,” he says.
“For example, a mark to market exercise reveals that today’s Broken Hill project is worth $1.3Bn – as opposed to the $550m that was assumed on long dated numbers back in 2020.”
In 2022, COB is planning to operate its demonstration plant — a smaller version of the real thing — and deliver large scale samples to potential offtake partners.
Project approvals and a BFS will be finalised by the end of the year, ready for a final investment decision on the project by Q1 2023.
Despite additional DRC supply coming online soon, Kaderavek says over the long-term, supply will struggle to keep up with demand.
“This is an EV phenomenon – for example, our Broken Hill Cobalt Project is a top 5 (ex-Africa) project, yet the 17,000tpa of our cobalt sulphate will barely feed a single 40GWh giga factory.”
“There are over 50 such large facilities planned for the US and EU alone over the next decade.”
Kaderavek says battery makers and carmakers will need to move up the supply chain to make deals with raw material suppliers.
COB already has commercial partnerships with LG International, Mitsubishi Corporation & the giant Japanese trading house, Sojitz Corporation.
The question isn’t solely whether supply will be able to meet demand. Automakers, especially western automakers, are increasing putting ESG at the centre of everything they do.
That puts dominant global cobalt producer, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under the microscope. The landlocked African nation is a global giant when it comes to cobalt production. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the DRC produced 95,000 tonnes of cobalt in 2020, accounting for 68% of global output.
It’s where China – the world’s biggest consumer by far — gets ~90% of its supply.
But some high-profile supply agreements have shown that European consumers are committed to diversifying away from these problematic Chinese and DRC supply chains.
This underscores the importance of cobalt projects in ‘de-risked’ tier 1 jurisdictions – like those owned by COB, as well as Jervois Mining (ASX:JRV), Australian Mines (ASX:AUZ), Sunrise Energy Metals (ASX:SRL), Queensland Pacific Metals (ASX:QPM), red hot IPO Kuniko (ASX:KNI) and Metals X’s (ASX:MLX) nickel-cobalt spin-out Nico Resources (ASX:NC1) — just to name a few.
The pivot away from African cobalt towards more sustainable sourcing is another reason supply will struggle to keep up with demand, Kaderavek says. “We are seeing a strong commercial pivot towards ethical sourcing of battery materials from the EU and US,” he says.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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January 27, 2022
Why young women aren’t smiling for you any more
Yasmin Poole, below, is a rather furious feminist who falls into the common error of thinking that her coven of loud feminists speak for all women. I wonder how she squares that with the fact that a majority of white women voted for Donald Trump in 2016?
And as for women smiling at me, I am at the moment fielding a marriage proposal from a youthful lady with whom I have a lot in common. And I am 78, not a highly marriagable age.
So all women are NOT as Jasmin fancies them. Men should ignore her. There are plenty of women with old fashioned values about. And the challenge from young Chinese ladies is formidable. My son once had a Chinese lady in his orbit who told him "Let me be your girfriend and I will do anything for you". He married a blue-eyed girl, as it happens, but it was a pretty good offer. Unless you are as good-looking as Grace Tame, feminist females should be aware of that competition
The immediate backlash from conservative men in power in response to Grace Tame’s photos with the Prime Minister has exposed how they are the gatekeepers of Parliament’s sexist culture.
Grace Tame’s unforgiving expression next to the Prime Minister became iconic the moment the image was shared.
It also drew swift criticism that can be put straight in the sexist folder. Queensland Liberal Senator James McGrath wrote a Facebook post that criticised Tame as “childish” – an infantilising, belittling word for a courageous Australian of the Year.
Journalist Peter van Onselen offered in his opinion piece for The Australian the tone-deaf, yet telling advice, “If your disdain for [Scott Morrison] is so great ... then just don’t go.”
It’s the same argument from a worn-out misogynists’ playbook. If women’s “disdain” for the political boys club is so great, why should they run for politics? If women “disdain” the system that entrenches our disadvantage, why should we sit at the table and challenge it?
Their criticisms carry a thinly veiled message: women who refuse to obey do not belong in spaces where decisions are made.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Australian of the Year Grace Tame have greeted this year’s nominees for a morning tea at The Lodge in Canberra ahead of Australia Day.
This argument has benefited men in power for generations upon generations. Women are expected to nod, smile, be silent and complicit. Women are expected to shoulder the burden of masking our emotions for the comfort of the other.
No one should be expected to smile at a Prime Minister – a servant of the people – who has fallen at every hurdle when it comes to supporting women’s rights. Especially Tame, a survivor of sexual abuse.
It’s not just a few cockroaches in the backyard. It’s a blatant indicator that the whole house is rotten. The critics who have come out publicly swinging against Tame reveal a deeper and more sinister culture of misogyny within Parliament House.
If these individuals have the audacity to publicly smear a woman for refusing to smile, imagine what it is like for a woman intending to speak her mind in the party room?
No need to imagine. The stories from Parliament paint a horrific picture. Former Liberal MP Julia Banks’ experience of sexual harassment and bullying reveals the ongoing culture of silencing women who dare to say “no”. Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape in Parliament House exposed politician after politician who could have done something but turned away.
Tame’s appearance with the Prime Minister ought to remind us that formalities are no longer the concern of women.
We abandoned formalities during the March4Justice last year too. Together, women across generations screamed for justice at Parliament House until our lungs hurt. In Melbourne’s protest, girls as young as 12 took to the stage in their school uniforms sharing their experiences of sexual assault. We did not nod and politely smile. We listened and we cried.
Yet, like clockwork, the predictable male critics across politics and journalism came out of the woodwork. Men in Parliament can always look to these voices whenever they need a reassuring pat on the back, turning their heads from the hundreds of thousands of women who demanded action.
The vocal boys’ club are mercenaries of the sexist culture that harms our democracy and threatens women’s very lives.
There is hope that the misogynistic cycle can be broken. As a young woman, I see how my generation is willing to resist formalities to speak truth to power. Now, more than ever, we need young women in Parliament to give a voice to our experiences in a way that other generations could not capture.
Young women will also remember. We will remember the inaction of the Prime Minister when he could have acted for us but didn’t. We will remember the gatekeepers who have used their influence to protect their power and undermine women who come forward.
Our demands to address sexual assault is clear. The onus is on decision-makers to listen.
The burden weighs heavy on our shoulders. We need you to make gender equality a defining issue for this federal election in the name of safety and respect. We need you to remember the politicians who tried to undermine and throw stones when we said that our lives matter too.
It is time that we dismantle the vicious boys’ club in Parliament. Because, as Tame demonstrates, respect is earned.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/why-young-women-aren-t-smiling-for-you-any-more-20220126-p59rd2.html
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Demand for special rights based on race is offensive
The activist campaign to make Indigenous issues the focus of Australia Day, rather than issues affecting us all, has been largely successful. While middle Australia will agree that Indigenous issues are important and must be addressed, nonetheless many might question why almost nothing else gets discussed on Australia Day. Can we please have some balance here?
Similarly with the call for a constitutionally entrenched Indigenous voice to parliament. It would be great to skip the ugly and divisive campaign for an all-or-nothing, extremist voice model and go straight to a discussion of a sensible mid-course that has the best prospect of winning acceptance. There is hope on the horizon. After a long, dishonest and manipulative debate, the critical question for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians finally hove into view just before Christmas. It turned out to be a surprisingly simple and blunt question. It is also now the only outstanding issue between constitutional recognition of our Indigenous people and failure of the whole project. It will get more airplay in 2022 and, for some, will become an election issue.
The question is this: does parliament remain sovereign in Australia, or will there be a co-equal voice that is immune from abolition by parliament? In other words, if the voice becomes corrupt or ineffective like its predecessor, ATSIC, or if it is simply no longer necessary or appropriate, can parliament get rid of it? Not just modify, improve or suspend – but to abolish it and possibly without replacing the voice?
This question emerged from the Indigenous Voice Co-Design final report released by the Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt, on behalf of the Morrison government on December 17. The final report recommended, and the government seems to have accepted, a framework for 35 local and regional voices, which, although still in need of considerable work, is heading in the right direction.
Those local and regional voices would, according to the final report, be integrated with and feed into the national voice, which would have the role of advising both the federal government and parliament on Indigenous issues.
Again, there is much detail to be settled on key elements such as the consultation standards that would govern when and to what extent the parliament and/or government would consult the national voice. However, the early signs about the national voice are, save for the elephant in the room described earlier, promisingly moderate and sensible. For example, there seems to be an acceptance that consultation standards would be “non-justiciable”, meaning activists could not drown the courts with complaints about issues around consultation.
READ MORE:Good day to take stock of how far nation has come|Morrison: A day to get behind the best place in the world|Aboriginal health service urges lockdown
The voice has been plagued with self-serving, even bogus, assertions about what Australians do and don’t want. The activists have stubbornly ignored, or sneered at, those Australians who favour a voice, or similar recognition mechanism, for Indigenous Australians created and supervised by, and subject to, the same sovereign body governing us all, namely federal parliament.
Australians might even happily live with the insertion of a facilitative power in the Constitution that authorises the parliament to legislate for the voice and enables it to amend or abolish the voice, with or without a replacement. That seems an elegant compromise. It gives the voice constitutional recognition while not compromising parliamentary sovereignty or establishing a two-tier society divided on racial lines. Sadly, however, the simplicity illustrates the likely battle lines. Many activists want special race-based rights entrenched in the Constitution and protected from abolition by parliament. They remember ATSIC, the Indigenous body abolished with bipartisan support by parliament in 2004 because it was besieged by claims of mal-administration and corruption.
That this is the last remaining battlefield is explicitly recognised by the final report. In the foreword to the final report, its authors, professors Marcia Langton and Tom Calma, say “while consideration of legal form was outside our co-design responsibility, we were not surprised by the growing support for constitutional enshrinement (of an Indigenous voice in the Australian Constitution) … (for) many practical and principled reasons … including that it would be the best way to protect an Indigenous voice against abolition”.
We should be grateful we have clarity, at long last, about this question. While Australians of goodwill might eagerly support recognition and respect for Indigenous Australians, the demand for special rights based on race and a special exemption from parliamentary sovereignty is spectacular overreach and, frankly, a massive own goal. Asking for special rights in special cases might be something Australians can live with for limited periods and purposes, and subject to the overriding constraints of the three-yearly visit to the ballot box that governs us all. But the demand that special rights be made permanent, especially ones based on race, is something many Australians will surely find offensive.
Perhaps most worrying is that the history of the voice debate gives no reason to be confident activists will not try to push this through with a campaign of trickery and deception. This debate has been marked by attempts to confect a consensus based on ignorance. For example, 18 months ago a number of large Australian corporates and professional services firms endorsed an advertising campaign demanding a constitutionally entrenched voice even before any design work had been done. Are they idiots or tricksters?
That our great enterprises have been reduced by their marketing and ESG departments to such infantile emoting as promoting a change to the Constitution without knowing the change proposed was bad enough. Worse was to come when activists and their supporters used this sort of feeble-minded, Pollyanna-behaviour as evidence of overwhelming consensus. If BHP, Commonwealth Bank and their corporate peers want it, everybody must. What utter nonsense.
This kind of campaign is likely to backfire, just as a similarly crafted campaign in favour of the republic did. Australians are astute when it comes to constitutional change. Chances of permanently entrenching in the Constitution a divisive, race-based set of special rights for some Australians only, which overrides parliamentary sovereignty, must be vanishingly small.
There is a good compromise here. Insert a provision in the Constitution that enables parliament to legislate for a voice, and to amend or even abolish it, with or without a replacement.
This recognises the need for a voice but does not overturn parliamentary sovereignty. It really is that simple.
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Australia's wind leader is actually running on gas and coal
Approaching breakfast-time SA is importing half of its power from Victoria and 94% of the local generation is gas. The turbines are running at 2% of capacity and providing 5% of demand.
Victoria is generating a small excess of power but not enough to prop up SA without help from Tasmania and NSW. The Victorian windmills are running at 12%, just above wind drought level, and providing 8% of local generation, with coal delivering three quarters of the supply and gas 5%.
Across the NEM the wind is delivering 3.7% of consumption, running at 8% capacity and the fossils are giving 83% (coal 75%).
RE enthusiasts need to realise that SA is the leader in demonstrating that we will never run on wind and solar power until the storage issue is resolved and that is nowhere in sight, certainly not in the next decade or three.
The International Energy Agency (a green organization) is projecting record coal consumption this year with coal consumption holding up past 2040. The fossil fuel contribution to worldwide energy use has declined all of 2% from about 87% to 85% over recent years despite the tens of billions that have been spent to make power more expensive and less reliable
https://newcatallaxy.blog/2022/01/25/sa-the-wind-leader-running-on-gas-and-coal/
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Truth is we were lucky it was the British
The proposal that January 26 should be a day of truth telling should not be dismissed lightly, especially by conservatives.
As Martin Luther King said, nothing is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. It is hard to have serious discussion about the meaning of European settlement unless we first can agree on the facts. Yet fewer than four out of 10 Australians know which event they are supposed to be celebrating or mourning on Wednesday, according to a survey last week by Compass Polling.
Twenty-six per cent believe it to be the anniversary of the establishment of Federation, while 20 per cent think it marks the discovery of Australia by James Cook. Only 39 per cent correctly identified Australia Day as the date of the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788.
Popular understanding of Australian history has not been assisted by our incurious professional historians who have been slow to establish the basic facts of settlement. Worse still is the conscious invention of false history, notably in recent times by Bruce Pascoe, whose attempt to portray pre-settlement Australia as a land of sophisticated farming and established towns is pure whimsy.
It is enough that Indigenous hunter-gatherers were able to survive and thrive on this unforgiving continent, largely isolated from the outside world. Pascoe’s denialism dishonours a people and their culture.
A new account of the founding of modern Australia by Margaret Cameron-Ash exposes how much of our understanding of the events of 1788 have been clouded by prejudice and how much we have still to discover. Tellingly, Cameron-Ash trained as a lawyer rather than a historian.
Her book Beating France to Botany Bay: The Race to Found Australia debunks the myth that Australia was purely a dumping ground for Britain’s criminal class, the explanation for settlement that was considered unquestionably true by Manning Clark, one of Australia’s most influential historians. In his four-volume A History of Australia, Clark makes no mention of French voyager Jean-Francois de Galaup, comte de Laperouse, whose expedition to the Pacific stirred the British into action. He makes no mention of the 1799 Bunbury inquiry commissioned by the British government that ruled out sending convicts to Botany Bay because of the expense. Britain at that time was in the middle of a rare but refreshing period of fiscal consolidation in the aftermath of an expensive war with France.
Yet, as Cameron-Ash documents, intelligence that Laperouse was on course for Australia with two vessels laden with trees, plants and seeds, manufactured goods, tools and unwrought iron convinced prime minister William Pitt the Younger that French settlement was imminent. The intelligence was the catalyst for a snap decision at a cabinet meeting on August 17, 1786, to commission a fleet carrying convict settlers under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip.
The closeness of the finish to the race 17 months later, in which the 11 vessels in the First Fleet anchored in Botany Bay five days before the arrival of Laperouse, is a story that has been little explored. It has the makings of an epic movie in the tradition of Peter Weir’s Master and Commander were any film company prepared to challenge the zeitgeist and take on such a project.
Cameron-Ash sticks to telling the story rather than lecturing readers on the morality of arriving uninvited to settle in land occupied by an indigenous population. Nonetheless, by placing the settlement of Australia in the context of strategic rivalry between European powers, she points to the inevitability of settlement by one or more European powers in the globalised world of the late 18th century.
The Pacific was becoming strategically important, largely because of the fur trade and the settlement of the American west coast. The romantic notion that the Indigenous population could live undisturbed on the great southern continent hermetically sealed from modernity is patently absurd.
It is unfashionable these days to speak of Australia’s good fortune in being settled by the British in the period of the Enlightenment. Yet, with the benefit of hindsight, settlement by the French, a year before the outbreak of the French Revolution would have been a fate far worse.
It was a colony founded on high ideals of the power of scientific discovery and respect for the equal worth of every human being. Those who influenced the nature of Australian settlement, people such as Joseph Banks, Pitt and the wrongly maligned King George III, were insistent that there should be no slavery. Phillip’s instructions, and indeed his instincts, were to treat the Indigenous population with respect and seek peaceful coexistence.
Crucially, NSW would be in the hands of a civil administration rather than under military command, ensuring that the law would be applied equally in principle. The greatest failing of Australia’s founders was naivety, their failure to foresee the size of the challenge in reconciling people from such different cultures.
Andrew Roberts’s definitive new biography of George III cites the king’s instructions to Phillip on the eve of the First Fleet’s departure from Britain in April 1787. He was told to establish good relations with the Eora tribe and to “endeavour by every means possible to open an intercourse with the natives and to conciliate their affections” and was directed to punish anyone who sought to “wantonly destroy them”.
George’s liberal values were clearly established. His desire to make peace with Native American tribes and to prevent the spread of colonial settlement beyond the Atlantic coastal fringe had put him at odds with George Washington and the American colonial government. Together with the issue of taxation, his instincts towards Native Americans helped to precipitate the American War of Independence.
Calibrating modern Australia’s foundational story with these facts is not to downplay the ugliness of the conflict between settlers and Aboriginal Australians or to underestimate the moral complexity of European settlement. It does, however, allow us to avoid the divisive reasoning of racial essentialism, weaponised by the Black Lives Matter movement aided and abetted by critical race theory. History as a pursuit of truth is our only hope of establishing a foundational story that unites every Australian.
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An Australian perspective on sea levels
Jennifer Marohasy
Australia is a good place to study sea level change. Unlike Britain, Australia wasn’t covered in an ice sheet during the last ice age. Ice sheets complicate things because when all the ice melts – as Scotland’s ice sheet did a little over 9,000 years ago – part of the landmass may gradually rebound dragging its bottom half under. So, the north of the British Isles is rising, while the south has been sinking up to 0.6mm per year for the last 1,000 years – about 60 centimetres in total since the time of William the Conqueror. The sinking of this landmass is sometimes confused with rising sea levels, and it is claimed that this is occurring due to rising carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution.
Where I live, about halfway down the east coast of Australia, sea levels began to rise about 16,000 years ago with the melting of Antarctica. By 9,000 years ago, sea levels around the world had risen by 12,000 centimetres, or 120 metres, the equivalent of a 25-storey building! The extent of this rise dwarfs the 36-centimetre rise that occurred over the last 150 years and the subsidence in places like Lincolnshire which adds up to just a few centimetres over the same period, both of which are worrying the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Indeed, it is uncontroversial, at least in peer-reviewed journals, that global sea level rise at the end of the last ice age occurred at a rate 10 times faster than the modern rate of about 3mm per year – which is about how much Scotland is rising due to isostatic rebound.
After being buried under several kilometres of ice, much of Europe and North America is experiencing uplift. For example, the ice retreated from Sweden 9,900 to 10,300 years ago and large-scale uplift is still occurring to the extent that the tidal gauge in Stockholm shows sea levels have fallen by about 50 cm over the last 129 years — an average annual rate of fall of 3.9mm per year. The uplift at Juneau, in Alaska, is even more extreme: in just 80 years sea levels have fallen by 120cm at a steady rate of minus 15mm per year. This reality jars with the notion of catastrophic sea level rise, so the IPCC ‘detrends’ the measurements from these tidal gauges, until they show sea level rise.
These numbers don’t make easy reading and may seem extraordinary, but sea levels really did rise globally by 120 metres at the end of the last ice age. Yet this inconvenient fact tends to be excluded from political summaries on climate change that rely on remodelled data.
According to the latest IPCC report on climate change – Assessment Report 6, published just before the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow late last year – global temperatures are the warmest they have been for at least the last 125,000 years. There is no mention that in between it got quite cold, and Scotland (where that meeting was held) was covered in a lot of ice.
Given the landmass of Australia has not sunk or risen much over this time period, if the IPCC report is correct the waves should cover my favourite 125,000-year-old platform each high tide and I should be washed away.
The highest tide for this year was forecast for Monday 3 January at 8.27am. A four-metre-high swell was also forecast because ex-tropical Seth was lingering just off-shore. That morning, I wondered: am I finally going to be washed away?
I scrambled down from the lookout and put my drone up. It captured footage of the huge swells, which did make it to the very bottom of the cliff face and washed over the very wide platform I usually stand on.
But I wasn’t washed away. I had positioned myself up a ledge. There are ledges at three different heights in Noosa National Park – and along the coastline all the way to Sydney. This is evidence etched in stone that there have been times in the past when sea levels were even higher than they are now. Why? Because the climate has always changed.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/01/aussie-life-53
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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26 January, 2022
Decision to grant Katie Hopkins a visa referred to human rights watchdog
The description "Far Right" is often carelessly used. In the case of Hopkins, it mainly seems to refer to her swingeing criticisms of Muslim immigration, Africans and fat people. While such criticiisms are politically incorrect they nonetheless seem widely shared among people, particularly in private. So her offence seems principally to be that she is a prominent person who is outspoken -- a rare thing in the entertainment industry. She has taken part in many British TV programs so is well-known in Britain
Her inadvertent use of the term "final solution" is always held against her because the Nazis used it but she was clearly NOT advocating genocide. Does the fact that the Nazis once used a term make it forbidden for ever after? Hitler used the German words "Reich" and "Volk" quite centrally in his messages. Does that forever stain those words? It would seem not -- as the old East German Communist regime used those terms prominently (Reichsbahn; Volkseigenebetrieb).
A decision to grant a visa to far-right commentator Katie Hopkins is reportedly under investigation by the nation’s human right watchdog.
The Australian Human Rights Commision this week agreed to investigate the decision following a complaint from the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
In its complaint, an AMAN spokerson alleged Ms Hopkins views were given more weight than the human rights of other Australians.
“It can be reasonably inferred from this statement that Ms Hopkins’ freedom of expression, and those who would agree with her in Australia, was given more weight than the human rights of Australians who would be adversely affected by vilification,” they said.
The British provocateur was last year granted a visa to appear in Seven‘s Big Brother VIP, arriving in the country while Sydney was in the midst of their second wave.
She was also granted a travel exemption to enter the country, prompting fury of many Australians stuck abroad.
But after bragging about reckless behaviour throughout her stint in hotel quarantine, Ms Hopkins’ visa was cancelled.
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Grace Tame: If your disdain for the PM is so great why go?
Two surprises: That she is such a litle thing and that she still looks gorgeous even when dshe is being surly -- JR
By PETER VAN ONSELEN
The footage of Grace Tame meeting the Prime Minister at his residence in the nation’s capital for a reception today was embarrassing, for her that is.
She was ungracious, rude and childish, refusing to smile for the cameras, barely acknowledging his existence when standing next to him. The footage tells the story free of overstatement.
She didn’t have to play the role of court jester, or be a fake. Just be a decent human being, that’s all. If that wasn’t possible, why bother to attend at all? At his Canberra house no less. It isn’t like the person who lives there wasn’t going to be there.
If your disdain for the man is so great (understandable perhaps) that you can’t even muster basic and common courtesy, then just don’t go. That would be reasonable. Plenty of people would understand. It would cause a stir, but justifiably so given her criticisms of the PM. But acting like a child displaying a lack of basic manners when coming face to face with him in a meet and greet was unbecoming and unnecessary.
That’s the case whether she was caught by surprise or deliberately played up to the cameras, hoping for attention such as this. To excite the mob on social media, for example. Before the dogs bark and the caravan moves on to the new Australian of the Year.
Yes the cameras were there and no doubt it suited Scott Morrison to smile for them and congratulate Ms Tame on her recent engagement. He has an election soon remember. Perhaps she was worried he’d use a smiling photo of them together on the campaign trail. I highly doubt that, but if he tried that on tweet up a storm and condemn him. That would be reasonable.
But to look as forlorn as she did in response, rudely and deliberately looking away from the photographer, was an act of juvenile dissent. The video of the exchange leaves no doubt about what happened. This isn’t a case of making a mountain out of a mole hill. It was brazen and not for virtuous reasons.
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CCC chair Alan MacSporran resigns a month after damning report
Not a moment too soon. He used his position to pursue a personal vendetts
Crime and Corruption Commission boss Alan MacSporran has resigned one month after a damning report identified failings within the watchdog.
Mr MacSporran, who was appointed as chair of the CCC in 2015, said he had written to Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman notifying her of his resignation effective this Friday.
The move comes after a damning report into the CCC identified serious failings in the watchdog’s handling of an investigation into Logan City Council.
“Many people have urged me to continue in this important role, despite the recent finding contained in the report of the parliamentary crime and corruption committee,” Mr MacSporran said.
“However, I find myself in a position where, despite a career spanning in excess of 40 years, where my honesty and integrity have never been questioned, it is clear to me that the relationship between myself and the PCCC has broken down irretrievably.
“This saddens me deeply.”
Cabinet was expected to determine the future of Mr MacSporran before February 22.
Since the PCCC’s damning report was released on December 2 Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has refused to reveal whether the chairman had her support.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate, who was investigated by the CCC and cleared in 2020 after an 18-month probe, gleefully welcomed Mr MacSporran’s resignation.
He had accused the CCC chair of “riding into the Gold Coast like a gunslinger … the biggest sheriff in town”.
Cr Tate had been vocal in his calls for Mr MacSporran to resign or be sacked. He became embroiled in a bitter war of words with the CCC chair last year after saying that having the commission investigate him was like “someone telling you it’s raining while standing behind you pissing down your back’’.
Mr MacSporran hit back, accusing Cr Tate of being vulgar and making comments unbecoming of an elected official.
“I greatly admire and respect the work of the PCCC that has brought us to this position,” Cr Tate said today after Mr MacSporran’s resignation. “From this Friday, I know the weather across Queensland will be much brighter and I will no longer have that feeling of something warm running down my back.
“I’m disappointed the chair did not use his resignation media statement to apologise for the incredible pain and harm he has caused so many hardworking local government councillors and mayors.
“I support any incoming chair in their endeavours to get the CCC back to what its focus should be.
“The damage caused by this chair is immense, and it will take a comprehensive review and resetting of the values and charter of the CCC to restore any faith in the institution.”
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Australia Day ‘not a time for protests’: Immigration Minister Alex Hawke
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has warned councils against refusing to hold Australia Day celebrations, saying the national day should not be defined by “past mistakes”.
With Australia Day events to be modified to limit the spread of Covid-19, he said councils should not be using the day to launch protests.
“There remains a small handful of Greens-dominated councils from which we continue to withhold authority to oversee citizenship ceremonies because of their blatant politicisation of Australia Day,” he said.
“It is also very sad to see some councils continue to politicise Australia Day this year, in a range of increasingly ridiculous ways, totally out of step with an overwhelming majority of people and the Australian community generally. Councils should stick to their own role and not waste ratepayers’ time or money entertaining extreme views.”
In 2017, the Turnbull government stripped Melbourne’s Yarra City and Darebin councils of the right to hold citizenship ceremonies after they refused to hold the events on Australia Day. Other councils – including Moreland in Melbourne, Inner West in Sydney and Fremantle in Perth – subsequently cancelled Australia Day celebrations on January 26.
Victoria has cancelled Melbourne’s Australia Day parade for the second consecutive year, although the Andrews government is denying the move was a protest.
Byron Bay councillor Sarah Ndiaye said its Australia Day award ceremony would be an online event due to Covid-19. She would not comment on the reasons as to why the ceremony had been moved to January 25.
Other councils contacted, including Sydney’s Inner West council, said all events except the citizenship ceremony were cancelled.
Invasion Day rallies are scheduled in all the major capital cities except Melbourne.
“It would be careless to hold an event in the height of a pandemic,” protest organisers, the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, said.
Greens leader Adam Bandt will on Monday launch a pre-Australia Day policy that would see $250m spent to establish a truth and justice commission to investigate human rights abuses against Aboriginal Australians.
Mr Bandt said Australia was founded on “violence and dispossession”.
“Until we tell the truth about our past and strike a treaty with First Nations owners that recognises their sovereignty, there will be a painful hole in the centre of our democracy,” he said.
While there is support within Labor’s caucus for changing the date of Australia Day, opposition Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Linda Burney said the proposal would not be adopted by an Albanese government.
“We have made it very clear in Labor that we are not advocating a date change but we are advocating a different way to spend the day,” she said.
“Part of that should be exploring and reflecting on the true history of Australia. “(Australia Day) marks the beginning of dispossession and usurping of the rights of First Nations people.”
Ms Burney said she would spend Australia Day attending citizenship ceremonies and events that pay respect to Aboriginal culture and history.
National Australia Day Council chief executive Karlie Brand said commemorations would go ahead despite Covid-19. “Events across the country are taking place in a Covid-safe manner,” she said.
“We have over 534 (events funded by) community grants happening across the country and a number of them have had to pivot either to outdoor, online or smaller capacity. Some have had to cancel but the key ones we have been involved with are changing scope or proceeding.”
Mr Hawke said the federal government rejected “disingenuous and ahistorical views from fringe councillors designed to undermine what is in reality the luckiest country on earth”.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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January 25, 2022
Australia's future demands economic diversity
Below is a perplexingly stupid article. Australia is resource rich and resource extraction is often both low-cost and highly rewarding. So investment in Australia tends to be focused in that direction.
Why is that a problem? It tends to guarantee profitable markets overall so is more a reason for celebration.
And it has long been so in Australia. Before coal and iron mining reached its present eminence in the economy, wheat, wool, beef and mutton were the big primary earners. Australia's vast inland areas are very good for agricultural and pastoral production. Before mining was big, farming was big and often very profitable. In the immediate postwar era Australia was memorably described as "riding on the sheep's back".
And there seems to be no adverse future prospects for Australia's extractive industries. Coal and iron are not alone in profitability. Bauxite (aluminium) mining is now a big earner and it looks like lithium will be a star in the near future. When you have a whole continent at your disposal, you are almost certain to find anything that you want.
So Australia is completely normal and reasonable in deploying capital where it will do most good
Imagine a stock-trading Rip Van Winkle who went to sleep on Wall Street in the mid-1980s and just woke up today. When he looked at the biggest firms on the US market, he would be startled. In the mid-1980s, the largest US firms were IBM, Mobil, Exxon, Ford and General Motors. Today, they are Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook.
But if he’d gone to sleep on Bridge Street, Sydney, our stock trader might have wondered if he’d slept at all. In the mid-1980s, the largest Australian firms were Westpac, the Commonwealth Bank, NAB, ANZ and BHP. Today, they are Westpac, the Commonwealth Bank, NAB, BHP and CSL.
This isn’t just about firms, it’s about industries. A generation ago, the largest US firms included two oil companies and two car companies. Today, technology rules the roost. Yet in Australia, the same banks and the same mining company persist, with biotechnology firm CSL the only new entrant in the top five. Over the last generation, the biggest US businesses have been dethroned, and replaced by new firms from an entirely new sector. In Australia, it’s business as usual.
It gets worse. One remarkable analysis goes all the way back to 1917, at the end of World War I. Among America’s top 10 companies then, none are top 10 today. But among Australia’s top 10 companies in 1917, five are still top 10 today. In some form or another, Westpac, ANZ, NAB, BHP and Wesfarmers have enjoyed more than a century at the top of the Australian sharemarket.
The average Australian company is considerably older than in other countries. Weighted by market capitalisation, the average listed company in Australia today is 105 years old, compared to 95 in Britain, 82 in the US, and 77 in Japan. Our sharemarket is dominated by large resources firms and big banks. Less than 2½ centuries after European settlement, there is something peculiar about the fact that Australia’s typical listed firm is more than a century old. Australians can be proud of our venerable companies, but the situation is akin to Little Athletics collapsing while the Masters Games booms. It doesn’t bode well for the future.
A similarly troubling picture comes from the Atlas of Economic Complexity. Developed by a team at Harvard’s Centre for International Development, the atlas begins with the idea some products are more complex than others. To make medical imaging devices or jet engines takes plenty of knowledge and extensive networks of people. To make wood logs or coffee beans requires less knowledge and smaller networks.
Lead author Ricardo Hausmann and his team liken the problem to Scrabble. A player with just a few letters can only make a few words. Having a broader mix of letters opens the possibility of making more words. Countries that are more complex are like scrabble players who can make more words.
As a proxy for the complexity of an economy, the experts use the products a nation exports. Products such as medical imaging devices are considered complex since few other countries export them, and those who do tend to export a wide range of other products. By contrast, products such as diamonds are not considered especially complex, since diamond-exporting countries tend to just export diamonds.
From the diversity of a country’s products, it is then possible to work back and calculate a proxy for the diversity of its economy. According to the latest rankings, the world’s most complex economies are Japan, Switzerland and Germany, while the least complex are Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria.
As you might expect, economic complexity correlates pretty highly with a country’s income level – in fact, it explains about four-fifths of the variation across nations. But complexity also turns out to be a good predictor of future economic growth, even given a country’s level of development. Take two countries with similar levels of income, and the growth prospects of the more complex country are better than those for the less complex nation.
How does Australia fare on the Economic Complexity Index? In a word, badly. Out of 133 economies the experts have assessed, we come 86th, below halfway. The three countries ahead of us are Albania, Oman and Paraguay. When it comes to living standards, Olympic prowess or international heft, Australians think of ourselves as being in the league of Germany. But an objective analysis of the complexity of our economy suggests that it looks more like Albania. It isn’t just that we export relatively few products; it’s that the kinds of things we export tend to be exported by pretty undiversified countries.
An easy response would be to say Australia’s lack of complexity is a response to the mining boom. But it turns out that even in 2000, before the mining boom, Australia’s exports weren’t particularly complex. Over the longer run, Hausmann and his colleagues estimate that Australia’s economic complexity ranking stayed pretty constant from the mid-1960s to the late-1970s, then fell markedly over the past generation. On their measures, we have never been an especially complex economy. But we’ve gotten a lot “simpler” in recent years.
Creating a more dynamic and complex economy isn’t an easy task. But if we get it right, it’ll ensure more jobs and better wages for Australians. Like a person with a variety of skills, an economy with a diversity of strengths is more adaptable when shocks come, and more likely to prosper in an uncertain world.
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Another pseudo-Aborigine
No sign of any Aboriginal ancestry in her. She is for all intents and purposes a white Australian
An Aboriginal model has urged Aussies to refrain from posting photos of Australia Day celebrations on social media as it is 'insensitive' to the plight of First Nations people.
Millions of Australians flock to beaches, backyard BBQs, and pubs on January 26 with flags draped over their sun-soaked shoulders to mark the national public holiday.
But for the country's first inhabitants, the date represents the beginning of the painful and devastating impact of colonisation on their culture since the first British fleet sailed into Sydney Cove in 1788.
Fallon Gregory, a proud Kija/Bardi and Nyul-Nyul woman from Western Australia, says that if people partake in prideful, open Australia Day celebrations, they should not post photos on social media.
'It shows support and lack of sensitivity,' she told news.com.au.
The mother-of-two said Aussies could show their support for Aboriginal people by instead sharing information on social media about why people shouldn't celebrate Australia Day on that date, and by attending invasion day rallies.
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Omicron vaccine on the way
The emphasis on vaccines is wrong headed. Medicines to cure it are the way of the future. Several are now available
In November last year, Australians began to feel a wave of optimism that COVID would no longer define their everyday existence.
Soaring vaccination rates provided some measure of confidence the threat from COVID was beginning to recede.
But by mid-December, this wave of hope had been swept away by a surge of Omicron infections.
Emerging research showed there was only around 20 per cent protection from Omicron infection four months after two doses of AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna vaccines (though protection against hospitalisation and death remains much higher, and a booster dose increases protection against infection, but possibly only short-term).
The race is on to find a variant-proof vaccine
In a state-of-the-art science lab, nestled into the genteel slopes of the NSW Southern Highlands, a group of genetically engineered mice have become frontline soldiers in the fight against COVID-19.
Since the emergence of Omicron, both Pfizer and Moderna have announced they're working on vaccines to specifically target the variant, with production promised as early as March of this year.
So, are variant-specific vaccines the way we regain control of COVID?
A vaccine targeting Omicron will increase immunity to the variant on both an individual and population level.
However, variant-specific vaccines are ultimately a reactive measure that could always leave us behind the eight ball. By the time we roll out any variant-specific vaccine, a wave of infections driven by that variant may already have peaked, and a new variant will likely be on the way.
The solution to this problem may be "variant-proof" vaccines, also known as "universal" COVID vaccines. These are vaccines that work across different variants, rather than being targeted to a specific variant. These are in development and could be a proactive way to prevent new variants from taking hold.
Variant-specific vaccines could take too long to roll out
Scientists have little doubt vaccination with an Omicron-specific vaccine will provide enhanced immunity to Omicron.
Approvals of these new vaccines should be comparatively rapid because they're similar to previously approved vaccines, though some additional data on safety and efficacy will be required.
However, the question remains as to whether the rollout of these new vaccines would necessarily be useful to Australian society.
Following the approval of COVID vaccines in Australia, it took nine months to vaccinate 70 per cent of the adult population. In contrast, Omicron cases in Australia peaked in less than two months.
Although there are plans to develop local manufacturing facilities by 2024, Australia doesn't yet have the capacity to mass-produce mRNA vaccines (like Pfizer's and Moderna's). So, we can expect the rollout of these vaccines to begin significantly later here than in other countries.
Reactively relying on developing variant-specific vaccines, even under idealised production and distribution systems, would always leave Australia vulnerable to disruptive waves of infection and pose ongoing challenges to health strategies.
Waves of new variants would engulf the population faster than variant-specific vaccines could ever be deployed.
Mass infection isn't likely to protect against future variants
Health officials predict almost all Australians will soon be exposed to Omicron.
This has left many wondering if mass exposure could finally provide Australians with the antibody protection required for the fabled "herd immunity", making the need for future variant-specific vaccines unnecessary.
A small-scale pre-print study, yet to be reviewed by other scientists, suggests infection with Omicron did produce some antibodies that could neutralise Delta, but only around a quarter the magnitude of those produced against the infecting variant.
Whether these antibodies would be sufficient to protect against the infection from the Delta or other variants, remains to be established.
Most antibodies induced by vaccination and natural infection predominantly target regions of the virus that can easily mutate.
It's plausible the next variants that emerge could be even more different in this region than Delta or Omicron. This means it could evade current antibody responses induced by infection, or by vaccines specific for either the original virus or the Omicron variant.
So it's likely mass infection with Omicron won't protect us from catching future variants.
Here's where a variant-proof vaccine comes in
Several teams around Australia and the world are currently working on efforts to produce "universal" COVID vaccines, including our own research team at the Garvan Institute.
These are vaccines which generate antibodies to regions of the virus that cannot be easily mutated.
The goal of using such vaccines across the population is to protect us not just against current variants of the virus, but also against future variants.
Unlike the current reactive strategy of generating variant-specific vaccines following the emergence of a new invasive threat, a universal vaccine could be used to prevent a new variant from ever taking hold.
Australia should aim to produce such vaccines locally, so we could avoid the current supply and distribution delays.
As Australia continues to "ride the Omicron wave", we can only wonder what challenges the next variant will pose for us.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-25/will-an-omicron-specific-vaccine-control-covid/100778152
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AdBlue shortage appears to be nearing end as millions of litres of diesel fluid produced locally
Locally produced supplies of a crucial diesel exhaust fluid have ramped up significantly, with 3 million litres of AdBlue produced in Australia over the past week, but a long-term supply plan is yet to be finalised.
A shortage of the product sent the federal government scrambling to find new sources in December, and a deal was reached with local fertiliser manufacturer Incitec Pivot Limited (IPL) to increase production in Queensland.
Supplies in Australia had been running dangerously low and there were concerns trucks would be brought to a halt, but Energy Minister Angus Taylor said stocks were now being replenished.
"Incitec Pivot last week achieved a significant milestone producing over three million litres of AdBlue in the week, representing around 75 per cent of Australia's AdBlue needs," he said in a statement.
"This locally produced AdBlue is already flowing through the domestic supply chain to wholesalers and service stations across the country."
IPL managing director Jeanne Johns said the 3 million figure was an 800 per cent increase on what it produced in early December, and the company's Gibson Island plant in Brisbane was now working 24 hours, seven days a week.
"The hard work will continue as we aim to further increase production of AdBlue at Gibson Island in the coming weeks and months to meet Australia's needs," Ms Johns said in a statement.
AdBlue is a trademark brand of urea-based diesel exhaust fluid that acts as an anti-pollutant in diesel engines and is vital to the freight and logistics sectors.
The additional supplies of AdBlue have been welcomed by Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia.
The organisation's CEO Todd Hacking said while it was good news, he warned there was still more work to be done.
"That 3 million litres a week is really helping to stabilise the current shortage and we are seeing the day-by-day improvement of AdBlue nationwide," he said.
"It's still a day-by-day proposition, but we are certainly in a much more stable position with supply than we were pre-Christmas.
"We are still not out of the woods. It's certainly something the government and industry are monitoring every day but we are much more confident than we were six weeks ago."
The government will not outline exactly how much fluid is available for use, but Mr Taylor insisted there was no need for panic anymore.
Mr Taylor acknowledged that while there were now more supplies, there were still issues. "Although AdBlue users may continue to see a few sites occasionally stocked-out, they can be reassured that with the new AdBlue supply coming into the market, these sites are now being progressively replenished," he said.
Mr Hacking said he was "cautiously optimistic" about future supplies, but that without the IPL deal, Australia would have been in "a great deal of strife" in the short term.
Future supply remains uncertain
IPL will continue to produce 3 million litres per week for now, but Mr Hacking has questioned how long term supplies will be secured.
"The ongoing challenge is what happens in the medium and long term when this IPL deals comes to an end," he said.
It is something that government and industry are still trying to work through, with the government looking at whether supplies can be secured from the Middle East.
Until now, the majority of Australia's supplies came from China. Mr Hacking said diversification was essential.
"The lesson out of this is that for such a critical good we can't just rely on one country to supply it," he said.
"We need to diversify as much as possible, and as much as possible onshore."
Australia struck a deal with Indonesia late last year to provide 5,000 tonnes of refined urea in January, but it is yet to arrive.
It is understood the fluid will be split across several shipments, with some set to arrive in the coming days and others to come in February.
IPL is also expected to begin a trial of producing technical-grade urea from the middle of next month. If successful, IPL would also still manufacture AdBlue.
National Farmers Federation CEO Tony Mahar said the government should focus on local options.
"The collaboration with Incitec Pivot to manufacture AdBlue onshore is commended and should be viewed as a blueprint for the development of further domestic manufacturing, in particular, of essential inputs," he said
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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24 January, 2022
Leftists have made a non-racial holiday into a racial issue
Australia day is a celebration of the whole of Australia, which is a very multi-racial society. Everybody is welcome to join in. And many do -- usually by the totally innocuous process of getting together with family for a BBQ.
The Left have however seized on the fact that the date commemorates the arrival of the British in Australia. That arrival was the beginning of processes that produced the peaceful and prosperous nation that is Australia today so is a fitting date for a celebration.
But the Left focus on the fact that Australia's Aborigines were largely disposessed by the arrival and spread of British settlement. They focus on one racial group instead of on modern day Australia's multicultural society.
And that is typical of the Left. They are obsessed with race. And they use the gross oversimplifications that such a focus requires. They show no recognition that Aborigines themselves are culturally diverse. Perhaps half of Australia's Aborigines are fully integrated into mainstream Australian society. They have normal jobs, live in normal houses etc.
Which shows that generalizations about them as as one race simply ignores complex reality and is in fact grossly offensive. It ignores the real social and economic progress that many Aborigines have made. By all means be charitable to distressed people but injecting a racial focus into the discussion is evil and stupid. Racism begone!
Some excerpts below from a Leftist discussion of the matter:
There is an obvious practical case against January 26 remaining an official date for celebration: it divides the country. But this is not nearly as important as the straightforward moral case: we should not celebrate a day on which land was stolen, and which led directly to the murders of many people. It is unjust. If we accept the truth of these descriptions in any meaningful way – “theft” and “murder” – continuing to act in this way is plainly unacceptable.
But, as many Indigenous Australians have pointed out, this is not only about the past. Those injustices continue to cause suffering, both in Indigenous experience – through the lasting trauma of violence, of languages and knowledge gone forever – and, just as importantly, in the habits of white people. It is obtuse to insist there is no connection between the ongoing racism and neglect this country shows towards its First Peoples and the defining role those attitudes played in the establishment of the colony.
And so, there is an emotional logic to the fact many Australians continue to avoid, as far as we can, talking about both the past and present honestly – as though to acknowledge the wrongs of either would force us to confront the wrongs of both. Responding to the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, Morrison repeatedly turned to sterile language about deaths in custody – they were mentioned, but for the most part blandly, as “issues”.
Similarly, in a speech for Australia Day in 2019, he described in detail the ordeal of his family arriving on the First Fleet, but referred to Indigenous pain in abstract terms. Morrison is not unique. In this paper two weeks ago, John Howard made a convincing case for the importance of the National Archives. He dealt in detail with Australia’s democratic achievements: the secret ballot, votes for women. The horrific chapters of our past received a single euphemism: “blemishes”.
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New YouGov poll reveals new findings about Australia Day date change and republic row
Aussies are in no rush to change the date of our national celebration, the look of our flag, the choice of our anthem, or our system of government, exclusive new polling by YouGov has revealed.
But if you’re sick of hearing about those issues, tough luck – the number of people wanting change in those areas is substantial, and in some cases growing.
The data suggests these issues are not likely to reach boiling point any time soon, but they’re not going to go off the boil, either.
YouGov surveyed 2297 people across the country between December 27 and January 10 on a wide range of issues, exclusively for News Corp. Forty-six per cent of survey respondents said they were keen for the country to become a republic, either now or once the Queen dies, and 35 per cent said our national day of celebration should be shifted from January 26 out of respect for indigenous Australians.
Views on changing the flag and the anthem were mixed.
A clear majority (59 per cent) said the flag should stay the same, but only 41 per cent of respondents voted for Advance Australia Fair out of a list of possible national anthems. The only really plausible contender to replace it, I Am Australian, was selected by only one in three people surveyed.
“There just doesn’t seem to be the appetite for these dramatic changes,” said Campbell White, YouGov’s Head of Public Affairs and Polling. “Only 35 per cent want Australia Day to be shifted, so basically for somebody wanting to make that case, there’s a 20 point gap there to be overcome, and that’s a lot.”
Some have suggested the ‘Change the Date’ cause is not straightforward, because there are differing views on the issue among indigenous Australians, and there is no organisation lobbying for the change.
But in some ways that makes the support the cause is receiving all the more remarkable.
The YouGov data reveals support for changing the date is strongest in Victoria (44 per cent of respondents) and among younger Australians. Forty-six per cent of Millennials (born 1986-1997) say the date should be moved, and among Generation Z (those born after 1997) the figure was 49 per cent.
While the hefty support among younger voters might make it seem change is inevitable, Mr White said Baby Boomers and Generation X had both become more conservative as they got older, and the same could end up happening to Millennials and Generation Z.
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Dramatic rise in Australian children registered for home schooling
The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the trend to withdraw children from formal education with a record 9000 students now registered for home schooling in NSW, a jump of nearly 30 per cent.
Figures reported at NSW budget estimates reveal 8981 children were registered for home schooling as of October 31 last year, a 28 per cent increase on the 7032 registered at the end of 2020.
Home schooling has been rising in popularity for several years but spiked dramatically after the pandemic started – with 19 per cent growth in 2019, compared with an average 13 per cent for the three years before that.
Home Education Association president Karen Chegwidden said there were many reasons the pandemic was driving the trend. Having children at home during lockdown made some families realise they like the lifestyle of having their kids at home, while others were alarmed by their child’s lack of progress in mainstream schooling.
Vaccines were another big issue, Ms Chegwidden said. Those who were vaccine-hesitant were worried their child would be vaccinated against their will, while others would not send their child to school until they were fully vaccinated.
“Then there are just the people who are sick of the disruption – the idea that one day kids go back to school and the next day it’s closed because of COVID and the school is being cleaned is making life impossible to manage,” she said. “Kids are stressed out and parents are stressed out and that’s really reflective of a lot of families.“
Budget estimates reveal of those parents who provided a reason for home schooling, one in four identified their child’s special learning needs. Only 1 per cent said it was because of bullying.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the pandemic had shifted the dynamics of education for students learning with a disability and remote learning during lockdown had been a challenge for some of these children and their families.
“I understand why some families have shifted to a permanent home schooling approach,” Ms Mitchell said. “I hope this year is the first in two years that we could call a normal school year. I also hope that we can begin to bring some of the students back to the classroom who have opted for home schooling over the past 24 months.”
Physical Disability Council of NSW chief executive Serena Ovens said the figures would include many children with a high risk of complications from COVID-19.
“If someone is known to be at high risk of severe illness or death with COVID then some parents will absolutely make that choice, and you can’t blame them,” Ms Ovens said.
Of the children registered for home schooling, 2874 were in western Sydney and 1099 were from the Hunter region, which includes Newcastle. This could reflect the fact that they are populous regions with a high number of students enrolled overall.
Labor education spokeswoman Prue Car said it could also reflect an under-investment in education in the rapidly growing outer western suburbs, and the government needed to determine if this was driving a push to home schooling.
“There are suburbs with overcrowded schools, suburbs with no schools five to 10 years after people have moved in, and a shortage of teachers,” Ms Car said. “It’s pretty alarming if parents feel they don’t have a choice because every child deserves a quality public school in their area.”
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We’re no laughing stock … we’re the envy of the world
Groan. It’s around that time of the year again, in the lead-up to Australia Day, when some self-important members of the citizenry feel the need to publicly declare that they are embarrassed and/or ashamed to be Australian.
Until recent times, this faux breast-beating came primarily from the alienated left-wing intelligentsia. Invariably, they were well-educated and relatively well-off Australians inhabiting the inner-city or the affluent inner suburbs.
It is no exaggeration to say that literally millions of the world’s population want to live in a nation like Australia. That is, a country with democratic institutions where the rule of law applies, where basic education and health is available free of charge, and where a social safety net is available for those who need it.
For many decades, students in schools have been told by some teachers that Australia is an illegitimate state which represses its people. This view is increasingly prevalent in the social science departments of Australia’s tertiary institutions. In political terms, this interpretation of Australia is found predominantly within the green-left – that is, the Greens and members of the Labor Party’s Socialist Left faction.
However, lately, the traditional left-wing “I’m embarrassed to be Australian” chorus has been complemented by some alienated right-of-centre types who have been motivated by their opposition to Australia’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In September 2020, the normally considered James Allan wrote in The Spectator Australia: “I’m now embarrassed to be an Australian, no that’s too weak; in fact, I’m ashamed to be an Australian.”. His article was headed: “Ashamed to be Australian: How did we become as bad as Cuba and North Korea?”
Which raises this question: How did it come to pass that The Spectator Australia decided to run such a rant in what presents as a journal of considered opinion?
Now, Allan is correct to oppose some of the authoritarian measures implemented, primarily by state and territory governments, in response to the pandemic. However, it’s just tosh to equate the commonwealth government’s restrictions on Australians departing the country with the ruthless totalitarian communist dictatorships in North Korea and elsewhere.
It’s akin to the leftist rant that the Coalition government led by Scott Morrison is fascist or Nazi. For example, in March 2020 lawyer Michael Bradley looked at the Coalition and saw “the central features of fascism”.
The recent deportation of the unvaccinated Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic has certainly fired up the right-of-centre. Sky News presenter Caleb Bond declared on January 14 that Australia had “lost the plot” and that Djokovic’s story was “so damn crazy”.
He maintained that, due to the handling of the case, Australia has become an “international laughing stock”.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph last Wednesday, Rita Panahi declared “Australians have never cared much what the rest of the world thinks of us but right now we should care”. She went on to refer to the “current mass lunacy that is afflicting our country”.
Panahi’s article was headed: “We are a laughing stock.”
It used to be the left-of-centre types who declared Australia to be a laughing stock to the rest of the world. Now it seems that the right-of-centre types have joined the chorus.
The truth is that the overwhelming majority of people on the planet have better things to do than to think about Australia. Do the good people of Sudan or Siberia give a toss that a wealthy tennis player has been deported from Australia? And, if they do, would this be a motivating factor for unrestrained laughter?
The fact is that many commentators have scant knowledge of the difficulties involved in governing democratic societies. For the most part, there are no easy decisions. As the historian Geoffrey Blainey has pointed out, many of the crucial decisions taken by democratic leaders over the decades are of the 60-40 or 70-30 for/against percentage score. Some are even close to 50-50. In short, there are few if any simple choices.
The available evidence suggests that Tennis Australia was desperate to get Djokovic to play in the Australian Open, despite knowing that he was unvaccinated. Other less well-known tennis players took the vaccine in order to enter Australia.
In view of this, it would have been difficult for any commonwealth government to allow Djokovic to stay in Australia. Sure, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke could have decided otherwise. He refrained from doing so. Meanwhile, the tennis goes on – as does the rest of the world.
It was not so long ago that the left was banging on about the (alleged) most recent example of Australia being an international pariah. Writing in the Nine newspapers on November 12 last year, during the COP (Conference of Parties) 26 meeting in Glasgow, the Climate Institute’s Tim Flannery and Simon Bradshaw declared that they “felt embarrassed” at Australia’s performance at the UN climate talks.
In the left-inclined The New Daily on the same day, Zac Crellin opined that “the Australian government has little to show for its attendance other than a seemingly battered and bruised global reputation”. The article claimed that Australia had been “embarrassed for the duration of the Glasgow summit”.
Less than three months after COP26, nations are still buying high-quality Australian coal along with iron ore. And there is increased interest in Australian gas. Purchasers of Australian national resources have no reason to feel embarrassed. Nor should sellers.
The world is an imperfect place – as those who grew up with a notion of original sin well understand. Australia was no utopia before European settlement in 1788 – and it is not perfect now.
Over the past two centuries, Australian governments have got many things right and some things wrong.
Yet, compared with all other nations, Australia has done well. It is a relatively prosperous nation. And it is an accepting nation – judged by the relatively high level of intermarriage between citizens and the relatively low level of racially motivated crime.
On any reasonable analysis, Australia is one of the world’s most successful nations. That’s no joke.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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23 January, 2022
Qld.: Only six state government ministers say they’ve read report into CCC
The Crime and Corruption Commission is an independent body set up to combat and reduce the incidence of major crime and corruption in the public sector in Queensland but it is now part of the problem rather than part of the solution
Just six Palaszczuk government ministers have declared they have read a bombshell report into the actions of the state’s corruption watchdog ahead of cabinet discussions around its boss’s future.
The Sunday Mail asked every cabinet minister whether they had read the explosive findings of the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Commission report delivered seven weeks ago that will determine the fate of the body and its boss, Alan MacSporran.
The PCCC found that the powerful body had operated outside the limits of its powers and failed to act independently and impartially in charging Logan councillors with fraud.
Six ministers replied that they had read the PCCC report, including Deputy Premier and Local Government Minister Steven Miles, Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman, Police Minister Mark Ryan and Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe, who was the local government minister at the time of the council’s dismissal in 2019.
Children’s Minister Leanne Linard and Employment Minister Di Farmer said they had also read the report.
Six others said they had not read it yet, or had not finished reading it. Others did not respond, or were unavailable on leave, including Treasurer Cameron Dick. A government spokesman said all ministers would read the report by the time it went before cabinet.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk admitted on Friday that she had not yet read the damning report tabled in state parliament on December 2. She had initially promised to deal with it at the year’s first cabinet meeting, scheduled for Monday.
Ms Palaszczuk has repeatedly refused to say whether she still has confidence in CCC head Alan MacSporran, and Mr Hinchliffe also refused to be drawn when asked at a press conference on Saturday.
PCCC chairman Jon Krause said it was “truly disappointing” so few ministers had confirmed they had read the report which took six months to deliver. “This is a detailed assessment of the failings of one of our most important institutions,” he said.
“The PCCC made the most damning findings ever seen about the CCC – including that it failed to always act independently and impartially, and that the chairperson failed to ensure this occurred. The CCC depends on Queenslanders having confidence in it to act independently, and impartially.”
Opposition integrity spokeswoman Fiona Simpson said the responses suggested a lack of respect for integrity and accountability. “The government can’t use the pandemic for an excuse not to keep governing,” she said.
The committee made six recommendations, but rejected a submission that it recommend the removal of Mr MacSporran. One recommendation is for a Royal Commission-style review of the CCC.
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Djokovic saga exposes the government’s border farce
The thing is, when Djokovic applied for a visa to compete at the Australian Open, apparently no one in the Morrison government thought that his visit might be controversial. In tennis parlance, Djokovic aced it.
Not one person in the government thought it might be a good idea to put Djokovic’s name on the Movement Alert List.
It’s the standard process that’s been used for decades to bring controversial visa applicants to the attention of senior officials in Canberra – and it would have taken about 10 seconds.
Instead, on November 18, 2021, Djokovic’s visa application sailed right on through; Scott Morrison and his ministers seemingly asleep at the wheel.
It wasn’t until 49 days later, on January 6, when one of the world’s biggest sports stars arrived at Melbourne Airport, that Australian Border Force officers finally swung into action. With the federal election encroaching as quickly as the Omicron virus, Morrison sniffed the wind, realised Australian voters wouldn’t buy his “tough on borders” rhetoric if an unvaccinated Djokovic was allowed in, and set about grand-slamming the tennis champ.
And so, possibly under ministerial pressure from above, a junior Border Force officer dutifully cancelled Djokovic’s visa.
Somewhere in the middle of all the mayhem that followed, Rafael Nadal said that the Australian Open was bigger than one tennis player. So, too, is the impending crisis at our airports.
The Djokovic case, ironically heralded by the Prime Minister as an example of his policy of being tough on borders, actually demonstrates just how vulnerable, porous and weak our borders have become under Morrison.
If someone of Djokovic’s notoriety was able to obtain a visa, just imagine how many unvaccinated others, flying under the radar, have already entered Australia or will soon touch down here.
Visitor traffic through our airports is currently at an all-time low, a mere 1 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels.
Before Covid hit, Australia received between 1½ and two million visitors a month. But last month, just 197,000 people came to Australia.
But it won’t stay like that for long. Within a few months, those people movements could ramp up dramatically.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows movement already picking up to its highest level since March 2020. Soon we’ll see exponential growth in visitor numbers as the borders open up further.
What happens then?
Are Australian Border Force officers seriously going to check everyone’s vaccination status, medical exemptions and vaccination predilections at the airport?
When it comes to checking paperwork at our borders, Border Force says it allocates about 30 to 40 seconds per traveller.
If that blows out to a minute (or more) as officers try to decipher vaccination documentation that has been uploaded at the last minute, there’s instant gridlock.
Is the Prime Minister seriously suggesting this is how we’re going to manage our borders once we start to open up?
That approach would up-end 30 years of visa management in Australia. Travellers’ paperwork has always been given a final check at the border, but the vast majority of paperwork has been submitted and checked as part of the visa application process.
If Morrison’s approach is the new normal, friends and family of Australian citizens, tourists and skilled workers with government-issued visas could arrive in the country, then go through being turned away because the Morrison government didn’t bother to check their vaccination status before they were issued a visa or got on a plane.
What’s that going to do to businesses that are trying to get skilled labour into Australia?
What about Australians who are trying to have their family and friends, whom they haven’t seen now for years, come to the country?
What’s it going to do to our tourism industry?
Making such extensive checks at the airport primary line is an entirely unworkable proposition, and one that has now been advertised to the world by the Djokovic saga.
Djokovic has set off an alarm bell. The government needs to act now to prevent a chaotic mess at our airports which could damage our economy even further.
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Censorship of Australia's National Archives blacks out history
The National Archives was sufficiently embarrassed by its High Court defeat over maintaining the secrecy of Sir John Kerr’s letters with the Palace that it released them in full without redacting any of them. Unfortunately, the sting of its embarrassment has been numbed by the passage of time.
When it finally cracked open its vault this month to release the correspondence between the Palace and six other governors-general, the Archives cut out whole documents or applied the black ink liberally to redact particular passages in the letters.
This would be fair enough if they revealed matters affecting Australia’s current national security or the identity of Australia’s secret agents, but this is not the case.
Mostly, the redactions seem to have occurred to protect the government or individuals from embarrassment – yet this is not a legal ground for preventing public access to these documents.
The problem with challenging redactions in documents held by the Archives is that the challenger is always arguing blindfolded. It is hard to point out how a redaction fails to satisfy the legal requirements if one doesn’t know what is in the redacted material.
Sometimes the Archives slips up, and the redacted part of one letter has not been redacted in a draft of the same letter, or in a separately released file.
On such occasions, this frequently shows that the power to redact has been used inappropriately, as the material redacted does not fall squarely within one of the listed grounds of exemption in the Act. But there is no point in anyone going to the effort to challenge the redaction if they already know what the documents says.
How do the redactions and exclusions made by the Archives to the most recent release of vice-regal correspondence stack up? Are they justified?
Here are two examples where the redactions seem to be dubious.
The first concerns a letter by then governor-general Sir Paul Hasluck to the Palace on September 1, 1972, about the grant of Honours. About half of the letter is blacked out, but what is left concerns the issue of whether Australians should be appointed to the British House of Lords as “life peers”. Hasluck describes how he counselled the prime minister Billy McMahon against this. He could not see how it was appropriate for Australians to be involved in making British laws and he thought that general public sentiment in Australia was against it. He also pointed out that the British prime minister had to recommend such honours, because they involve appointment to the British parliament.
What, then, is in the blacked out paragraphs? We can take a pretty good guess, because Hasluck wrote about exactly the same issue, using almost the same words, in a record of his discussion with the prime minister around the same date. It is in a separate file released some years ago without redactions by the National Archives. The missing parts are therefore likely to contain discussion of those who were pressuring McMahon to recommend them for life peerages. They were Sir Henry Bolte, the Victorian premier, who wanted to be “Baron Bolte”, and Sir Alick Downer, Australia’s high commissioner in London in 1972, who wanted to become a Lord.
According to Hasluck, McMahon “revealed with unusual frankness that Bolte kept on asking for a peerage” and that he dared not refuse it to him because he badly needed Bolte’s support. Failure “would make a determined enemy out of Bolte”. Hasluck also later claimed that Downer had been lobbying both the British prime minister and McMahon for a life peerage and was “very bitter” when it did not come through. McMahon had tried but “got a dusty answer” from No 10 Downing Street. McMahon then favoured a life peerage for Sir Robert Menzies, but lost office before he could pursue it further.
This material might be embarrassing, both for those who were allegedly campaigning for honours for themselves, and for governments because it shows how honours were used not only to buy political support but also to buy-off people to prevent political attacks. This, however, is not a ground for refusing access to a document that is 50 years old and concerns people who died long ago.
According to the Archives’ determination, the paragraphs could be redacted because they fell into an exception for information or matter concerning the “business or professional affairs of a person”, the disclosure of which “would, or could reasonably be expected to, unreasonably affect that person adversely in respect of his lawful business or professional affairs”.
Bolte and Downer, both now dead, could hardly be adversely affected with respect to their business or professional affairs. Is the Archives really asserting that the Queen might be adversely affected in respect of her business or professional affairs if there is a discussion in a letter of 50 years ago about whether Australians should be granted life peerages?
The Queen acts upon ministerial advice in granting life peerages – she does not have a choice. It is a long stretch to suggest that the grant of honours upon ministerial advice concerns the Queen’s “business or professional affairs”, and it is beyond comprehension that the disclosure of a discussion of honours from 50 years ago could unreasonably affect her adversely in respect of her business or professional affairs today.
Further, the material about Bolte, Downer and the lobbying for peerages is publicly available in digital documents on the Archives’ own website and is also discussed in a newspaper opinion piece published in 2014, which is still accessible on the internet. Redactions can only be applied if the material involved remains confidential. Unless there is something quite surprising in the letter, it seems unlikely that the redactions have been properly applied.
A second example concerns the calling out of the troops after the Hilton bombing in 1978. Then governor-general Sir Zelman Cowen agreed to call out the troops to protect visiting heads of state during a Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting, as they moved to Bowral for further talks after the bombing. The deployment of troops around Bowral has sometimes been called the “siege of Bowral”.
While the governor-general acted immediately, as advised in a meeting of the Federal Executive Council, he later requested legal advice from the Crown Law Officers (the attorney-general and the solicitor-general) about the legal basis for making the order and what powers and authorities could be exercised by the troops who had been called out. That advice was provided two weeks later, and the governor-general sent a copy to the Palace, after the Queen’s private secretary had expressed interest in the issue.
The Archives removed the copy of the advice in its entirety from the released files. In doing so it relied on an exemption for privileged legal documents where disclosure would be contrary to the public interest. While it is certainly a legal opinion which would have been privileged at the time it was made, is it really in the public interest to keep it secret 44 years later? The Archives claims that the information contained in the opinion “continues to be sensitive despite the passage of time and … has enduring confidentiality”. It asserts that public interest in its release is outweighed by the need to protect it due to “ongoing sensitivities”. From experience, “ongoing sensitivities” is the go-to clause for those who cannot provide a rational justification for their actions.
In this case, I already have a copy of the full opinion, so I don’t have to guess its contents when assessing the determination made by the National Archives. Is the issue still sensitive? Yes – the callout of the Australian Defence Force to support civil society during the 2019 bushfires and the 2020-22 pandemic remains legally controversial. But this 1978 opinion would have no more than historical relevance to the issue for three reasons.
First, the 1978 opinion is based on provisions of the Defence Act which have long since changed. There are now specific provisions in that Act which deal with calling out the troops to deal with internal violence within Australia. Second, the jurisprudence relied upon has also changed. The High Court has in more recent times interpreted the Commonwealth’s defence power more broadly to deal with acts of terrorism within Australia. Third, the 1978 callout was quite different to the sensitive issues of today, because it involved a response to violence rather than nonviolent crises such as bushfires and pandemics, to which different authorities apply.
The interesting part of the opinion concerned the powers of the troops when called out. Could they use their weapons and exercise force?
The Crown Law Officers admitted that there was little judicial authority on the issue. They drew on general principles from British cases to conclude that the soldiers were in no different position from others and could not use more force than is reasonably necessary in the circumstances. This is consistent with the view currently taken by the government in relation to callouts during the bushfires and the pandemic. The Minister for Defence announced in 2020 that no coercive powers had been conferred upon ADF officers who had been called out. The 1978 opinion would not undermine that position.
It is therefore unclear what the enduring confidentiality of the opinion could be. Its release might be a bit embarrassing, as the reasoning given in the opinion is weak in places. Indeed, the governor-general was not terribly impressed by it, as he noted in the letters. The opinion showed why legislative change was needed to give clearer powers to deal with such incidents. But such change has since occurred. The opinion is an interesting historical record – no more.
If the Archives, and the public servants in the Attorney-General’s Department who advise it on such matters, are terribly worried that the High Court might rely on such opinions, if revealed, when dealing with current controversies, then that cat escaped the bag decades ago. The 1978 opinion, along with many others, has been sitting in bound volumes in the High Court Library for a long time. There seem to be no good reasons why historians and others should be denied access to it.
In interviews upon his retirement, the outgoing head of the Archives, David Fricker, spoke about its proud record of providing open access to documents to researchers. Most of them probably, like me, choked on their muesli while reading that over breakfast.
It would be nice to believe that the Archives was staunchly standing up for open access, rejecting the weak and self-serving arguments of bureaucrats who seek enduring secrecy for embarrassing documents and blanket exclusions for categories of documents, such as legal opinions, without any genuine assessment of the public interest. I hope they do.
But the more depressing truth is likely to be that the understaffed and harried workers in the Archives bend to the will of the bureaucrats who offer up dubious grounds for secrecy so as to avoid responsibility for anything controversial seeing the light of day.
How often, one wonders, has the Archives ever rejected the public service advice it receives and released the documents regardless? Failure to do so has a heavy cost. It results in a historical record stained with the black ink of redaction that obliterates accuracy and any chance of understanding the truth.
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Victorians grow desperate as COVID-19 prompts surgery delays, lack of specialist treatment
In the time since a scan revealed large cysts on both of his kidneys, Yehia Abboud has contracted and recovered from COVID-19.
He is yet to regain his sense of taste, but the father of four from Dandenong, in Melbourne's south-east, is more concerned about what the large, painful lumps he can feel under his skin might mean.
The lumps make his back ache, but for 64-year-old Yehia, it's the worries about his future and unanswered questions that dominate his mind each day.
A scan revealed multiple large cysts — centimetres in length — in September last year, and he was advised to seek urgent specialist treatment from a urologist within a few weeks.
But Yehia's wife, Randa, has not been able to make an appointment for her worried husband, and has been told the strain COVID-19 has put on the health system means more urgent cases are being prioritised.
Yehia said he understood treatment might be delayed, but he wanted to know if his condition could be life threatening. "If a specialist sees me to tell me what happened, I can live with it," he said. "You should just tell me if this one's serious or not serious, if it's dangerous or not dangerous."
Some conditions put on backburner as Omicron surges
Victoria's health system is facing what is likely to be its most serious crisis to date as the effects of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreading to hundreds of thousands of people kick in.
This week, a Code Brown alert came into effect for all metropolitan hospitals and six regional hospitals, meaning staff could be called back from leave and redeployed to areas with the most need.
What is Code Brown?
ADF personnel will be asked to drive ambulances, health care staff and resources can be redeployed to different sites and non-essential services will be postponed as the emergency setting comes into force.
Other hospitals such as the Mildura Base Public Hospital were not included in the initial announcement, but they later called a Code Brown alert as well.
In the face of rising COVID-19 case numbers, on January 5 the Victorian government put a freeze on all but the most urgent elective surgical procedures.
Treatment for IVF was included in those changes, but after a public campaign, yesterday the decision was reversed and fertility procedures were reinstated.
Premier Daniel Andrews said it was "incredibly challenging" to have to cancel health services like elective surgery.
"I'm not minimising the discomfort and the challenge and the pain that is involved for patients that can't get what they need right now," he said.
Mr Andrews said once Omicron had peaked, extra funding would be given to help health services "catch up".
"If there was another way, then of course we would do that," he said.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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22 January, 2022
This ship's cargo will make world history when it leaves an Australian port next week - and there are high hopes it'll be a great leap forward in the fight against climate change
This is a heap of nonsense. Hydrogen itself is a non polluting fuel but producing is needs LOTS of energy and emits lots of CO2. We read:
"Hydrogen produced in this way is not a zero-emission fuel. Carbon dioxide is emitted through the combustion and thermal decomposition reactions, and is also a product of the reaction between carbon monoxide and water to make hydrogen and carbon dioxide."
The Suiso Frontier, will depart the Port of Hastings in Victoria next week en-route to Japan with the world's first ever cargo of liquified hydrogen from the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project in the La Trobe Valley.
Under the HESC project Victorian brown coal will be converted to hydrogen using a gasification process before it is loaded onto the Suiso Frontier for exporting.
The $500million project is being led by a mix of Japanese and Australian companies including Japan’s energy giant J-Power, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Shell and AGL.
The ship will undergo a two-week journey to Kobe, loaded with Australian-made hydrogen, in a world-first shipment of liquid hydrogen to hit an international market.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the initiative as a 'world-first that would make Australia a global leader' in the hydrogen industry.
'A successful Australian hydrogen industry means lower emissions, greater energy production and more local jobs,' Mr Morrison said in a statement on Friday.
'The HESC project puts Australia at the forefront of the global energy transition to lower emissions through clean hydrogen, which is a fuel of the future.'
The project has received $100 million from both the Victorian and federal governments. An additional $7.5m in funding was also announced to support the $184m next stage of the project which aims to make 225,000t of carbon-neutral hydrogen each year. Another $20m has also been pledged for the next phase of the CarbonNet project.
This would reduce global emissions by 1.8m tonnes a year, according to the Morrison government.
Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said the Suiso Frontier's arrival was a huge milestone in Australia's commitment to reducing emissions.
'The HESC project has the potential to become a major source of clean energy which will help Australia and Japan both reach our goals of net zero emissions by 2050,' he said.
However, the initiative has been criticised for using a coal-based process when cleaner and renewable methods can be used to produce hydrogen.
Under the current process only three tonnes of hydrogen can be produced per year from 160tonnes of brown coal.
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Bureau of Meteorology ‘cools the past, warms present’
They're just a mob of shonks, to put it in broad Australian
The Bureau of Meteorology has remodelled Australia’s official temperature record for the third time in nine years and found things to be warmer than thermometer readings had measured.
The latest revisions to records at 25 Australian Climate Observations Reference Network – Surface Air Temperature (ACORN-SAT) weather stations has resulted in a slightly greater increase in both average maximum and minimum temperatures.
The bureau did not announce the changes but details of them were published on the bureau’s website.
A bureau spokesman said ACORN-SAT was the dataset used to monitor long-term temperature trends in Australia. “Each year, the Bureau of Meteorology updates the dataset to include the most recent data from that year,” the spokesman said.
The last update, ACORN-SAT version 2.2, was made publicly available online in December. Independent analysis of the latest changes show they added 0.06C to maximum warming and 0.11C to minimum warming from 1910-19 to 2010-19.
A series of updates to the ACORN data have added 0.228C mean temperature warming if comparing 1910-19 with 2010-17 (2017 being the final year of ACORN 1).
Researcher and journalist, Chris Gillham, said the impact of adjustments to ACORN versions 1, 2, 2.1 and 2.2 was to cool the past and warm the present. He said the latest changes were “not overall large changes, but changes nevertheless”.
The bureau declined to comment on independent analysis of data it had published. But in an addition to its ACORN website page, it said adjustments had been made to temperature records at 25 sites.
Adelaide and Sydney records were altered due to changes in location of recording equipment.
The bureau said changes were made to 20 sites on the basis of statistical analysis. According to the bureau, statistical analysis is used to identify an abrupt warming or cooling at a particular site, relative to other sites in the region.
“A significant change relative to other sites indicates a non-climatic driver, which sometimes has an easily identifiable cause (e.g. a new building near a site) and sometimes does not (often these will relate to local vegetation or land surface changes)”, the bureau said. “In carrying out this statistical analysis, the bureau uses 10 years’ worth of data from multiple sites to quantify the size of the change. Adjustments are only applied where a significant change has been identified. BoM said the latest adjustments “have not altered the long term warming trend in Australia”.
Adjustments are applied to all data prior to the date of the change.
Scientist Jennifer Marohasy, an outspoken critic of the bureau’s homogenisation process, said: “I have shown repeatedly, including in peer-reviewed publications, that without scientific justification historical temperatures are dropped down, cooling the past. This has the effect of making the present appear hotter – it is a way of generating more global warming for the same weather.”
Dr Marohasy said the daily maximum and minimum values in the national temperature dataset were different from the actual recorded historical value, often by several degrees, usually cooler.
“The bureau has now remodelled the national temperature dataset three times in just nine years,” Dr Marohasy said.
“Most recently in December 2021, but without giving any indication of how this will affect the overall trend as reported each year in the Annual Climate Statement.”
In a media release on January 6, BoM said that in 2021, Australia’s mean temperature was 0.56C above the 1961 to 1990 climate reference period. It was the 19th warmest year since national records began in 1910, but also the coolest year since 2012.
The bureau says its analysis methods for ACORN-SAT have been published in international peer-reviewed journals and subject to external reviews in 2011, 2015 and 2018. “These external reviews expressed overall confidence in the bureau’s practices and found its data and analysis methods to be among the best in the world”, a spokesman said.
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‘Desperately waiting’: The Australians who need Novavax for medical reasons
Australians waiting for the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for medical reasons have expressed their relief after the regulator approved it, while hitting back at suggestions they held off due to vaccine hesitancy.
The protein-based vaccine seems to have fewer side effects – although it has not yet been used widely enough to properly compare it with Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca.
After the Therapeutic Goods Administration on Thursday approved it for use in adults, the Novavax vaccine is expected to become available next month at GP clinics and state vaccination hubs, pending final approvals.
University of Queensland Associate Professor Paul Griffin, who worked on the early Novavax trials in Australia, said the existing, “safe and effective” vaccines – Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna –“have certainly been appropriate for the vast majority of people in the community.”
But he said a small minority of the population could not receive these vaccines, he said, due either to having one of the few medical conditions that are contraindicated, or because they had received one dose and experienced “a significant reaction”.
“For a lot of those people, I wouldn’t label them as anti-vax and I think that the majority of them have genuinely been waiting for an alternative option,” Associate Professor Griffin said.
Patients who experienced serious adverse reactions to their first dose of an existing vaccine – prompting doctors to advise them to wait for Novavax before receiving another jab – have remained vulnerable to COVID-19 as Omicron swept across the nation.
Canberra author and academic Gemma Carey, who has the rare autoimmune disease Guillain-Barré syndrome, had a severe reaction to her first dose of AstraZeneca, which she was given because it was less likely than Pfizer or Moderna to cause problems for someone with her condition.
“Every fine nerve fibre in my body became inflamed,” Professor Carey said. “It was excruciating. I was in acute care for quite a while.”
The academic is still recovering months later and remains in lockdown as Omicron infections surge and is anxious to see Novavax approved as a booster to give her full protection “so life can get a bit more liveable”.
“I haven’t come across a single person who is waiting for Novavax, just because they want it,” Professor Carey said.
“Everyone who I’ve spoken to has had a reaction to the other ones, or they’ve been told from the start that they shouldn’t have them.”
Emma*, a Melbourne woman who was hospitalised with an allergic reaction to her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, said she had been staying largely isolated at home and could not wait to get her second dose, for which she will receive Novavax.
“Many of us have been desperately waiting to get access to these vaccinations,” she said. “We are so, so happy to be able to get another shot after not being able to take what was available, on the advice of medical professionals.”
The Therapeutic Goods Administration reports weekly on the rare, but potentially serious adverse events that occur from COVID-19 vaccination.
Its latest report said 101,795 adverse events had been reported by January 16, out of more than 46 million doses administered – a rate of 2.2 reports for every 1000 doses. But the TGA says the majority of those adverse events are not serious.
Federal health minister Greg Hunt on Thursday said his office had been “approached by many unvaccinated Australians indicating that they were seeking access to Novavax, even though the already approved Pfizer vaccine was “appropriate to vaccinate the entire population.”
Emma, who works in health and describes herself as a “pro-vaxxer”, has allergies but was not concerned about side effects when she went for her first jab. She ended up in the emergency room after she developed a severe rash, nausea, swelling and dangerously high blood pressure.
With a family history of anaphylaxis, doctors advised that her second dose was likely to prompt a reaction about three times stronger than the one that put her in hospital, an outcome she feared could mean she would not “make it out on the other side.”
“The specialist at the hospital made it clear that it was an allergic reaction to something in the shot, not the vaccine itself,” she said.
Emma said she did not want to perpetuate anti-vaccination views, but decided to speak out after reading commentary suggesting that hundreds of thousands of Australians believed to be waiting for Novavax were vaccine-hesitant. “I believe in the science,” she said.
“You don’t want one single person getting a seed of doubt about the importance of protecting themselves and their families.”
Associate Professor Griffin, who is the Director of Infectious Diseases at Mater Health Services, said only time would tell whether Novavax was actually safer than Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca.
“At face value, you would say that it looks like Novavax does have fewer adverse events than those other vaccines, but we have to remember those other vaccines have been given in extraordinary numbers now, so the denominator is very large,” Prof Griffin said.
“So, even very rare, adverse events have been reported with those vaccines, and the Novavax vaccine hasn’t been used in those numbers ... It certainly is a very safe and highly effective vaccine. But I think it’s too early to say that it’s safer or better at this stage.”
University of Queensland Associate Professor Tom Aechtner, an expert on attitudes to vaccination, said some Australians were worried about the fact that the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines and AstraZeneca viral vector vaccine were “the first of their kind approved for human use”, while the protein-based Novavax was “more of a traditional vaccine.”
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Karen Price said she would not recommend patients delay getting vaccinated until Novavax is available, but that once approved it would be “particularly beneficial for those who have contraindications to other COVID-19 vaccines, including serious reactions to previous doses.”
“At the end of the day, the most important thing is that people get vaccinated against COVID-19,” Dr Price said.
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Overzealous media gag a flawed quirk of NSW law
If William Tyrrell’s abductor was arrested and charged today, the Herald would not be able to report that fact.
It could tell its readers only that a person had been charged with the abduction and murder of a three-year-old boy. It might get away with saying the crime is alleged to have taken place in 2014. At a stretch, it could say the boy was abducted from a house in Kendall. But it would not be able to publish William Tyrrell’s name or include any details that might enable its readers to identify him.
No mention of the Spider-Man suit, the foster grandmother’s house or any details of the successive police investigations of his disappearance over the last seven years. And no photos. This is because, under a bizarre NSW law, it is an offence to name or identify young victims in child homicide cases.
The fact that Herald readers would be well familiar with the harrowing details of William’s disappearance from the scores of stories about it published since September 2014 is neither here nor there. Once criminal charges are laid, the shutters come down.
Flout that prohibition and the publishing company could be up for a $55,000 fine and the journalists involved for a $5,500 fine each or two years’ porridge or both.
This law, well intentioned but overzealous, is unique to NSW. There is nothing else like it in any other state or territory in Australia. In fact, publishers in other states could name William with impunity in any report of the charging of his abductor and run photos of him, as long as their publications did not enter NSW.
This prohibition, contained in s15E of the Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act, was in the spotlight again this week in the Charlise Mutten tragedy. The Herald published many stories about the nine-year-old’s disappearance from Friday of last week which named her and included her photo, up until police laid criminal charges over her killing on Tuesday. Once those charges were laid, suddenly she could no longer be named nor her photograph published because she was the victim in an alleged child homicide case.
This unique prohibition on naming young victims in child homicide cases has not always been the law in NSW. What has been the law for a long time is a prohibition on naming living children involved in any criminal proceedings, whether as the accused, the victim or witnesses. There has never been a dispute about that prohibition and the Herald and other media generally take pains to comply with it.
What was never clear was whether this prohibition also applied to dead children, such as the victims in child homicide cases. The Herald and other media always took the view that because the act was ambiguous on this point they could be named.
Then in 2002, a 14-year-old boy confessed to murdering a three-year-old girl on the Central Coast. At the trial, the judge suppressed the name of the murdered girl. The Herald commenced proceedings to challenge that suppression order. Before the challenge came to a hearing, the Herald was sent an affidavit of a member of the murdered girl’s family pointing out the trauma the girl’s siblings had been subjected to following the murder. As a result, the Herald decided to discontinue its challenge and live with the doubtful suppression order.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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21 January, 2022
Most Covid-19 Delta kids had only ‘runny nose’
Two-thirds of children recorded as Covid-19 patients in hospital were never sick but merely required out-of-home care, a sweeping government-funded study reveals.
One in five children infected with the Delta variant of the virus in NSW did not show any symptoms, the first comprehensive study of the severity of coronavirus in Australian children concludes.
Obesity was the biggest risk factor for children getting sick, the study shows, with babies and teenagers more likely than toddlers to fall seriously ill.
As state governments decide whether to test teachers and students to keep schools open, the study of 17,474 under-16s in NSW who caught the virus in 2021 reveals the more dangerous Delta variant left most kids with little more than a runny nose.
Fifteen children required intensive-care treatment for a week, on average, and the one child who died was also infected with deadly meningitis.
Of the 459 children admitted to hospital, only 165 were admitted for medical need and stayed two days, on average.
“Two-thirds of the children admitted to hospital in our cohort were admitted for social rather than medical reasons, predominantly due to the hospitalisation of their own parents and carers,’’ the study concludes.
“A significant number of highly vulnerable children admitted to hospital were solely admitted due to the lack of availability of their usual social services to provide care – including those in out-of-home care or supported by disability support agencies.’’
The research was conducted between June and December 2021, when few teenagers were fully vaccinated and the Covid-19 vaccine had not been approved for under-12s.
The study, by researchers from the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, the University of Sydney, the University of NSW, and the Royal Children’s Hospital and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, has not yet been peer reviewed.
But chief medical officer Professor Paul Kelly referred to the findings after national cabinet’s meeting on Thursday, declaring it showed Omicron was “very much a mild illness in children’’.
He said it was important children get back to class on time this month, and that schools stay open for kids’ physical and mental health. He said there was “a chance’’ that children could infect adults, which was the “trade-off’’ for keeping schools open.
“We want kids back at school, we want them back on day one and to keep them at school as much as possible, and there are trade-offs for that in terms of transmission,’’ he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Omicron “is all over the place’’ so adults risked catching the virus even if children stayed home. National cabinet failed to agree on a national plan for reopening schools, with Queensland and South Australia postponing the return.
Mr Morrison said some states would require “surveillance’’ testing to check for the spread of Omicron in schools and childcare, with the federal government to pay half the cost of rapid antigen tests (RAT).
Australian Education Union federal president Correna Haythorpe demanded that state and federal governments ensure a sufficient supply of free RAT kits for all staff and students.
She said teachers and students would return to school without consistent and nationally co-ordinated guidelines on how to mitigate health and safety risks.
Professor Kelly said school reopenings would increase movement in cities and towns. “We do expect transmission potential will increase as schools go back.’’
Thrive by Five, an advocacy group for young children, warned that more than 300 childcare centres are closed due to Omicron outbreaks. Chief executive Jay Weatherill said national cabinet had failed to protect children in daycare.
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Leading universities want to return to physical learning
University of Melbourne Provost Professor Nicola Phillips said the majority of coursework subjects would be available on campus and a number of events and activities were planned to help re-engage students in university life.
“Our approach will look forward to the future rather than back to pre-pandemic arrangements, offering on-campus and face-to-face learning enhanced by the best use of technology,” she said.
A Monash University spokesman said students would return to physical learning and campus events in semester one.
“Provision will be made for online delivery of units for those students offshore and unable to re-enter Australia before the start of the semester, and for those who choose to travel and commence on-campus education at a later date,” he said.
Australian National University vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt said teaching would return to campus at the start of semester but online learning would be available to those who needed it, including staff and students in isolation.
“We’re finalising the details for our return to campus next month and our focus is firmly on bringing classroom teaching back to campus,” he said.
“I view this as an essential part of the ANU experience – and I know our students feel the same.”
The University of Queensland aims to return as much as possible to physical classes but a spokeswoman said some online learning would remain. “As the Covid-19 situation evolves, the university expects to continue a mix of face-to-face and online learning when semester begins on 21 February, with the goal of returning to as much face-to-face learning as soon as possible,” she said.
In Western Australia, which endured the pandemic relatively unscathed until recently, about three-quarters of University of Western Australia students were able to attend face-to-face classes in 2021. A spokeswoman said UWA planned a “flexible approach” to learning in 2022 to ensure the health and safety of staff and students as well as complying with state government health advice.
“To manage this, we have established a Covid management team to co-ordinate flexible responses to teaching/learning, campus management, student support, working arrangements and ongoing public health measures, as required,” she said.
In NSW, where Covid case numbers are highest, both the University of Sydney and University of Technology Sydney have yet to confirm back-to-physical learning plans.
A University of Sydney spokeswoman said plans for the delivery of semester one would be released in early February but the strong preference was for teaching to return to campus.
“Of course, we also have a responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of our staff and students and so we are monitoring the evolving situation closely to determine whether that will be possible,” she said.
A UTS spokeswoman said detailed planning was under way for on-campus sporting, social and cultural activities but said lectures were always intended to be online.
“At UTS we have always planned for lectures (where they are largely a one-way delivery of information) to be online and will shortly be announcing our plans for the ways in which our other learning experiences will be organised in a reactivated campus in combination with quality online learning,” she said.
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Billionaire Clive Palmer attempts a political comeback and runs for the Senate in Queensland
Clive Palmer plans to fund the most expensive political campaign in the nation’s history in a bid to win him a seat in the Australian Senate at the federal election.
The former federal MP will lead the Queensland ticket for his United Australia Party, putting himself in direct competition with Pauline Hanson and former Queensland premier Campbell Newman. “We are very confident we will win Senate seats in Queensland,” Mr Palmer said.
“In February, we will commence the largest and most expensive political campaign in the nation’s history.”
Mr Palmer said he would spare no expense to “ensure our position is clearly communicated”, having dished out a record $83m at the 2019 election.
Despite that multimillion-dollar spend, the party did not win a single seat and secured 3.5 per cent of the national vote.
“Our objective at the last election was to ensure Bill Shorten did not become prime minister … we got exactly what we wanted,” he said. “The reason I’ve come back into politics and taken a key role at this important time is because of the state of the nation.
“I’d like to be on my boat but I’m not, I’m in this situation.”
The Senate team includes former Deloitte Australia chief executive Domenic Martino in NSW and property executive Ralph Babet in Victoria.
Liberal defector and federal MP Craig Kelly will continue to lead the UAP’s raft of House of Representatives candidates.
Mr Newman, a one-term Liberal National Party premier who is leading the Queensland Senate campaign ticket for the Liberal Democrats, said he was not surprised by Mr Palmer’s decision.
“I am not worried because it is not about me – I have a successful business career and the only reason I have put my hand up again is to send the major parties a strong message,” he said.
“I hope people back me, but if (Mr Palmer) gets up ahead of me then that is an improvement on where we are today.”
Mr Palmer, who is not vaccinated against Covid-19 because he does not believe he needs to be, said he would flout health orders if they impeded his campaign efforts. In Queensland, people must be double vaccinated to visit hospitals, pubs, restaurants, state parliament, stadiums and tourist experiences.
“We will not let (mandates) stop us, that is another game of repression that the government takes,” Mr Palmer said.
“It might stop a lot of people without money. I have enough money to pay for lawyers who love doing these things; that is their business, they enjoy it.”
Mr Palmer said he ignored mandatory check-in requirements at the Hyatt Regency Brisbane on Wednesday.
“The High Court has made it very clear that the freedom of political communication in this country is protected by the Constitution; if anyone gets in the way of that there will be a court order against them,” he said.
Of Queensland’s six Senate seats up for grabs, Paul Williams, a political scientist and associate professor at Griffith University, predicts two will go to the Liberal Nationals, two to Labor, one to One Nation and the final to the Greens, “but Senate predictions are always fraught”.
If Dr Williams’ Senate prediction comes true, that leaves Mr Palmer, Mr Newman and Assistant Attorney-General Amanda Stoker without a Senate seat.
“I think she (Senator Stoker) will struggle,” he said.
“We are going to see a lot of right-wing LNP voters go to the populist right fringe.”
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Sending kids back to school is 'frightening' for some parents
Rebecca Copeland felt so anxious about the thought of sending her son Harrison back to school this year that she briefly considered quitting her job so she could keep him at home.
The 11-year-old Tasmanian boy has an extremely rare neurological condition, pontine tegmental cap dysplasia, and can deteriorate quickly when he is sick.
Ms Copeland said she was incredibly fearful about what it would mean for Harry if he contracted COVID-19, and she was worried about his return to school on February 9.
"If he were to contract COVID how would that look for him? It's really frightening because he is at more risk of everything, not just COVID.
"He just generally finds the day to day tricky at the best of times without contracting COVID."
Harrison has received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine but will not receive his second dose until a few weeks into term one.
His disability also makes it difficult for him to wear a mask.
Ms Copeland welcomed the Tasmanian government's announcement that schools would individually contact parents, but she said she still had some concerns.
"I took some comfort from the fact that they are meeting and discussing the best way forward, and I think they are listening to medical advice, but I think a lot of the things that they are saying are difficult to implement in a school, in fact, they're almost impossible," she said.
"Being a schoolteacher myself and working in schools, I think that social distancing measures and mask wearing — that will only be the teachers, not the students— they're impossible.
"These things that they've got in place sound great, but in reality I just don't think that they're going to work."
Tasmanian Disability Education Reform Lobby founder Kristen Desmond said the plan to consult with each family was a good one, but she worried it would not be possible by February 9.
"The reality is we have more than 4,000 students with a disability in Tasmanian schools and no COVID plans are in place for these students in terms of their individual education plan or their medical plans," she said.
"I just don't know [that] schools are going to be able to make all those phone calls. "I certainly hope they can … but 4,000 in three weeks is a whole lot of pressure on schools."
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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20 January, 2022
Rogue Corruption watchdog drops charges against high-profile former mayor
More evidence of their incompetence and dubious motivations. MacSporran must go. See https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-21/qld-pccc-public-hearing-logan-city-councilors/100558170
Misconduct charges brought against a former mayor by Queensland’s corruption watchdog have been dropped.
Former Moreton Bay Mayor Allan Sutherland was facing two counts of misconduct in public office until the crown today offered no evidence on the charges which were dismissed by Magistrate Mark Nolan.
He had been accused of influencing council over a road upgrade past his property and lobbying councillors in relation to a planning scheme.
It’s the latest setback for the Crime and Corruption Commission who charged Mr Sutherland following an investigation.
He was charged and suspended as mayor of the Moreton Bay Regional Council in December 2019.
The Crown had alleged that while mayor he influenced a councillor and/or council employees to change the scope and timing of an upgrade to a road that runs past a property he owns.
At the time council was developing Moreton Bay Sporting Complex at the opposite end of Sutherland’s property on Paradise Rd in Burpengary.
The Crown also alleged he lobbied councillors to change proposed amendments to the planning scheme, as it related to service stations, to assist a future development.
Crown prosecutor Sarah Farnden said the decision to offer no evidence was made after considering submissions from Sutherland’s legal team and a recent appeal decision.
Sutherland’s barrister declined to comment outside court.
Today’s dismissal of the charges mirrors the CCCs collapsed case against eight Logan councillors it had charged with fraud, which triggered a parliamentary inquiry into the corruption fighting body.
The hearing lasted less than five minutes
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Novavax has been provisionally approved for use in Australia, which health authorities hope will drive Covid-19 vaccine rates close to 100 per cent
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the Therapeutic Goods Administration had given the final tick to the vaccine, making it the first Covid-19 protein vaccine to receive regulatory approval.
The TGA said Novavax was approved for use in Australians 18 years and older, with two doses given three weeks apart.
At this stage, Novavax is only approved for use as a primary course and not for boosters.
Mr Hunt said there were 51 million units of the vaccine on order.
“Obviously we have a first dose national vaccination rate of 95.2 per cent, and we know some people have waited for Novavax,” Mr Hunt said.
“Hopefully this will encourage those people in that less than five per cent to come forward and be vaccinated.”
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Controversial Qld MP George Christensen steps down from parliamentary role amid vax stance backlash
Controversial Queensland MP George Christensen will step down from a lucrative parliamentary role amid increasing pressure on the government to admonish the politician for spreading vaccine misinformation.
But the retiring Mackay-based MP said the decision to step down as chair of the joint standing committee on trade and investment growth was one he made himself, and not because of a “demand or request from any third party”.
“When I return to Parliament House on Monday 7 February, I will be advising the Speaker that I intend to stand down as the chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth, a decision of my own making and not a demand or request from any third party,” he wrote on social media.
The move comes hours after Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce refused to confirm whether or not Mr Christensen would be removed as committee chair.
“I’m not going to go into those deliberations even though I have been in discussions with the Prime Minister this morning about those issues,” he said
Mr Christensen, in promoting an episode of his podcast, inferred parents should not get their children vaccinated against Covid-19 – comments the Prime Minister has labelled “dangerous”.
Mr Joyce, in Brisbane on Wednesday, did confirm he had spoken to the Nationals-aligned Mackay-based MP earlier in the day and on Tuesday. He declined to provide details about the chat.
“His comments are not backed up by the medical evidence of people proficient in that field, and therefore his comments are at odds with me,” Mr Joyce said.
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Unemployment lowest since GFC at 4.2pc
Usually over 5%
The unemployment rate has smashed expectations falling to a record low in December of 4.2 per cent, the lowest since the GFC.
The number of employed increased by 64,800, a monthly change of 0.5 per cent. While the underemployment rate fell 1.9 per cent to 6.6 per cent. The participation rate remained constant at 66.1 per cent.
The positive figures continued the tightening of the Australian labour market, after the rate fell to 4.6 per cent in November. It has raised expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia will increase the cash rate earlier than anticipated.
Taken in the first two weeks of December, however, the labour force figures didn’t take in the full extent of the Omicron outbreak.
The Australian dollar jumped more than 10 basis points on the news to US72.32c, its highest point in two months.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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19 January, 2022
Fears Remdesivir antiviral drug supply may be under threat amid growing Covid cases
An antiviral drug that prevents moderate to severe symptoms of Covid-19 is being restricted to the most seriously ill patients amid fears the state’s growing number of hospitalisations could expose a shortfall of supply.
One nurse working inside a Queensland hospital’s Covid-19 response, who is not authorised to speak publicly, has raised fears about the lack of Remdesivir – a drug used with the aim of stopping at-risk people from suffering moderate to severe symptoms of Covid-19.
They said hospitals were ordering, but facing delays in acquiring Remdesivir as the number of people hospitalised with Covid-19 reaching 819.
The hospital worker said just a handful of almost 30 Covid patients in one southeast hospital were receiving the drug, and declared some health staff were concerned more could be done to treat patients.
However, a Queensland Health spokesman declared anybody admitted to hospital with Covid-19 would receive “the care they need” and said Remdesivir was one of a range of treatment options.
Patients at risk of developing moderate or severe Covid-19 symptoms are given 200mg of Remdesivir in the first dosage and then 100mg per day for five days.
The Queensland Health spokesman said it was ordering the drug from the Commonwealth’s national stockpile and says there were “no issues” securing supplies.
“To date, all of our requests have been fulfilled,” he said.
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Life expectancy in Australia IMPROVED despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Why?
The life expectancy of residents across Australia has improved last year despite the Covid-19 pandemic
Researchers from the Australian National University discovered the average lifespan increased by eight months in Australia for both men and women amid Covid-19 lockdowns.
With lower social mobility, less people died from illnesses such as influenza, cancer and heart disease.
There was also a drop in the number of fatal road accidents.
It was a different story globally, where life expectancies during the pandemic since 2020 shrunk dramatically.
The US experienced a drop in life expectancy - but it increased for male and female residents in Norway and Denmark.
ANU School of Demography researcher Vladimir Canudas-Romo admitted he was surprised by the statistics.
'In the past decade, Australia has not been increasing particularly, our life expectancy is increasing very modestly by one month each year,' professor Canudas-Romo told The Australian.
'For decades it has been like that and the increase has been progressing very slowly, and this year everywhere else there is an excess of deaths... so by protecting ourselves and distancing ourselves from others our life expectancy has been boosted.'
Professor Canudas-Romo went onto point out that the nation's high vaccination rate of close to 95 per cent was a significant factor, with Australia's living conditions envied the world over.
'All these health measures we were asking, the sacrifices of lockdown and social distancing have had a very important effect on public health, and the best example is a life expectancy that has increased by so much,' he said.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the life expectancy for Australian women was 85.85 years and 81.7 years for men in 2020.
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COVID and schools: Australia is about to feel the full brunt of its teacher shortage
The Omicron wave is likely to exacerbate Australia's existing teacher shortages and demanding workloads.
As school starts at the end of January and beginning of February across the country, many teachers will be at risk of contracting COVID. They will need to stay away from work, while others may choose to leave the profession altogether.
To address parental concerns about teacher absences, the Prime Minister recently announced teachers will no longer be required to isolate at home for seven days if they are close contacts, and if they don't have symptoms and return a negative rapid antigen test. But unions have slammed this relaxation of rules saying it will only add to safety concerns for teachers and children.
States and territories are putting together a plan to open schools safely, which is set to be released on Thursday. But for schools to operate effectively, and avoid remote learning, Australia must also have a long-term plan for recruiting and retaining teachers. This means lifting their professional status, improving work conditions and increasing pay.
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Infrastructure a big problem for governments
One of the points made by advocates of Big Australia is that if there are problems associated with large migrant intakes, it has nothing to do with bringing in people per se. Rather, it’s the failure of governments – and particularly state governments – to plan adequately and fund additional infrastructure and the required services.
The argument is that the complaints about congested roads, housing affordability, overcrowded schools and hospitals may be legitimate, but they have nothing to do with the fact that migrants have been contributing some two-thirds of population growth.
If governments were able to invest in a timely and appropriate fashion, then these problems could fade away. In this way, the benefits of large migrant intakes would be much more apparent and people would be more inclined to embrace high rates of population growth – so the argument goes. (Prior to the pandemic, Australia had one of the highest rates of population growth – between 1.2 and 1.5 per cent per year – of all developed economies.)
But are these claims right? Who pays for this additional infrastructure? Are we any good at building large-scale infrastructure projects given recent history?
Let’s be clear on one issue: it’s not just the recently arrived migrants who pay for the extra infrastructure that is required. It is all taxpayers and/or users of the facilities who bear the cost. Had that new bridge/tunnel/school/hospital not been needed, then we would all be better off, financially speaking.
Of course, the project developers and the financiers won’t be so happy with the relative lack of investment in infrastructure were migrant intakes lower, but their interests should never dominate public policy thinking in this area.
Big Australia advocates will often make the claim that there are economies of scale associated with big infrastructure spending and this should be taken into account when considering the link between migrant intake and infrastructure.
You build a road that can accommodate a certain number of cars per minute, say, but there are only half this number initially. Having borne the initial expense of the big build, there should be years when the additional costs of greater demand on infrastructure assets can be accommodated at very low marginal costs. (Economies of scale apply much less to service provision where the costs are closely related to the number of people accessing services.)
The trouble with this thinking is that it has been demonstrated on far too many occasions that state governments are hopeless at overseeing the construction of large infrastructure projects. Way over budget and massively delayed are typical features of many projects. (I’m not letting the federal government off the hook here, but it tends to provide funding rather than oversee projects directly.)
Consider the ongoing saga of the West Gate Tunnel project in Melbourne. Having decided to kill the contract for the East West Link project signed by the Napthine Coalition government – action that cost taxpayers over $1bn – the Andrews Labor government instead has embarked on a massive infrastructure spending spree, including the West Gate Tunnel.
This project was proposed by the toll road operator Transurban. This is, in itself, a bad early indication given the company’s self-interest in doing so. It’s not as if the Victorian government has any problem raising debt.
The project is made up of a 4km tunnel and some ancillary features. It was initially expected to cost $5.5bn, with the company stumping up two-thirds of the cost. In exchange for this contribution, the company sought an extension of the deal whereby the tolls it charges would rise by 4.25 per cent per year for an additional 10 years. This applies to road users who don’t use the West Gate Tunnel. In addition, the company’s exclusive road toll contract was extended to 2045. By any measure, this was an egregious deal, but its terms were rammed through the parliament.
The project has been a complete disaster. There were many months of delay dealing with the contentious issue of the disposal of the contaminated soil. The estimated costs have been jacked up several times and now stand at close to $12bn – more than twice the initial estimate. Workers on the site are paid at least $200,000 a year, and extremely generous contracts have been locked in.
The Victorian government has been forced to increase its contribution to the inflated cost and the final completion date is still up in the air. The project was originally expected to open in the second half of this year.
The Regional Rail project undertaken in Victoria was a similar fiasco. The light rail project in Sydney was over budget and over time. Upgrades to various highways have also been beset with problems.
It is also not just an Australian problem. The high-speed train project in California was finally terminated before completion in the face of substantial cost blowouts and unresolved impediments to project completion. The HS2 project in the UK – another high-speed train project – is riddled with rapidly escalating costs and delays. Some parts of the proposed routes have been scrapped.
All this begs the question of why there are so many problems associated with large infrastructure projects. One fundamental issue is project choice, wherein politics tends to prevail over independent assessments based on costs and benefits. In other words, the projects that get approved and funded are not necessarily the ones most needed but the ones most likely to garner votes.
There is also a crippling lack of competition among the contractors for these projects. A number of projects have been so badly specified in the first instance that it is not surprising that the costs have blown out significantly. A relative shortage of workers with the appropriate skills, particularly in relation to tunnelling, also drives up the ultimate costs.
Of course, when these projects are eventually completed, the users often welcome the added convenience although not the tolls. But it will be taxpayers in the future who are asked to pay off these excessively expensive projects that are funded through additional government debt.
The bottom line is that there are no solutions to these problems in the short term and the prudent action by governments is to limit the amount of infrastructure spending and the size of projects for the foreseeable future. And for this reason, it is also prudent to limit the migrant intake and the additional demands that are placed on infrastructure.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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18 January, 2022
Dodgy sex: Parliament House is no different to other workplaces
David Leyonhjelm has been there and not done that. He exposes a fraudulent report. When I was a skeptical academic, I learned to look at the "Results" section of a report rather than the conclusions. It was more work but often showed a severe mismatch between the actual findings and the claims about them. Leyonhjelm has obviously done the same
Late last year we were told that Canberra’s Parliament House is plagued by bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault. A 456-page report by Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, claimed half of all people in Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces (CPW), that is Parliament House or electorate offices, have experienced at least one incident of bullying, sexual harassment or actual or attempted sexual assault, and one in three people working in federal Parliament have experienced some kind of sexual harassment there.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the statistics as appalling and disturbing. Brittany Higgins, whose claims of rape in Parliament House prompted the inquiry, called for ‘immediate action’. Along with most media, the Guardian said that Parliament had a ‘toxic workplace culture’.
Having spent five years in Parliament House, I decided to read the report in full. What I discovered was that while it sets out to show Parliament in a bad light, it reveals the opposite. As a workplace, Parliament is both ordinary and representative — neither sexual assault nor harassment occur any more frequently than in other workplaces, and there is no reason to believe bullying does either. The report is just a shoddy attempt to legitimise social engineering based on cherry-picked data.
The data in the report are derived from a survey of people who work in the Parliament or electorate offices. There are two types of surveys: those in which the data drive the conclusions, and those where the conclusions drive the data. This one is in the latter category.
There were 935 responses from 4,008 people invited to participate. The sample is self-selected, which means those who choose to participate are not necessarily the same as those who do not. The report says responses were weighted to ‘correct imbalances in the results due to any non-response bias’ but gives no details. It is not true.
Given the Higgins allegations, sexual assault is a priority. However, only nine respondents reported such assault, or around 1 per cent of the sample. A 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics survey found 1.1% of Australian adults claimed to have experienced sexual assault in the past 12 months. That is, sexual assault is no more common in CPWs than in the community.
The report says 33 per cent of respondents (40 per cent of women, 26 per cent of men) have experienced sexual harassment in a CPW, with victims including both parliamentarians and staff. This is the same rate as in the broader population and is also unchanged from a similar survey in 2018. In other words, sexual harassment in the parliamentary environment is no greater than in the community and is not increasing.
The report also says 37 per cent of respondents claim to have experienced bullying in a CPW. Women are twice as likely as men to be bullies, women are more likely to be victims, and in three-quarters of cases, the perpetrator was more senior. The most common case is a junior woman claiming to be bullied by a senior woman. However, the report provides no comparisons with other workplaces and no basis for implying that CPWs are exceptional.
Although the survey contained 200 questions, potentially yielding a lot of useful information, the report provides very little. There are literally no responses to individual questions, and none of the tables and crosstabs normally found in opinion research reports. Despite 44 questions about sexual assault, no responses are reported – hence there is no information about location, timing, gender, age, relationships, employment, or about the perpetrators.
It is much the same with the other two issues. Despite 49 questions about sexual harassment, the analysis is brief and superficial. The report notes that reported rates of sexual harassment are higher when specific behaviours are mentioned rather than just a short legal definition. The questionnaire gives the legal definition in one question and mentions ‘Inappropriate staring or leering that made you feel intimidated’ and ‘Being followed, watched or someone loitering nearby’ as examples of sexual harassment in another question. But responses to either question are not provided.
There is little, also, about the responses to the 48 questions about bullying. As with sexual harassment, responses were probably influenced by how bullying was defined: examples in the questionnaire included ‘Others spreading misinformation, or malicious rumours’ and ‘Assigning meaningless tasks unrelated to the job’. Either way, we are not told.
The overall design of the questionnaire is flawed. Well-designed surveys ensure responses to key questions are not influenced by prior questions or information. Not in this survey. All the questions about sexual assault, harassment and bullying are preceded by questions like, ‘Is the workplace safe and respectful? Are sexual assault, sexual harassment or bullying tolerated? Are people treated fairly and equally regardless of age, race or cultural background, sexual orientation, disability or religious beliefs? Are there negative attitudes to women?’ By the time respondents get to questions about their own experience, their thinking might well have changed.
The whole objective of the report is to promote its recommendations, claiming there is an opportunity ‘for meaningful and lasting reform that ensures CPWs are safe and respectful workplaces that uphold the standing of the Parliament and are a worthy reflection of people working within them.’
These recommendations are designed to address the ‘drivers’ of misconduct in CPWs, which the authors of the report say are power, including power imbalances, gender inequality, a lack of diversity and absence of accountability. The report recommends targets to achieve gender balance among parliamentarians and parliamentary staff, and targets to increase the representation of First Nations people, people with disability and LGBTIQ+ people. An Office of Parliamentarian Staffing and Culture is proposed to ‘drive cultural transformation’, accompanied by a code of conduct.
Not one of the recommendations is based on the findings of the survey, and even if the survey had identified a problem with sexual assault, harassment and bullying, the report provides no evidence that a lack of gender balance or diversity is to blame. Naturally, there is no attempt to explain why its recommendations would make any difference. Its aim is to stampede the government into adopting a woke agenda using a dodgy survey.
The report is not worth the paper it is written on. The cost of producing it was a waste of taxpayer funds, and it will be a waste of taxpayer funds if the government takes it seriously and attempts to implement any of its recommendations.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/01/dodgy-sex/
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Journal retracts Indigenous article for plagiarism
This fake Aborigine was fake about a lot of things. She was probably relying on the uncritical acceptance that tall tales about Abogiginal ancestry and customs receive
An Indigenous language scholar from Stradbroke Island has had her latest paper recalled after plagiarism complaints.
Quandamooka woman Sandra Delaney had her article “Reconceptualising a Quandamooka Storyweave of language reclamation”, published by Sage Journals in July, passed by a “double-blind” peer review process.
Shortly after it was published in the International Journal of Cultural Studies, the journal was contacted by two First Nations language researchers from the US who said their work had been plagiarised.
In a review, Sage editors found five more cases of plagiarism and this month issued a retraction of the article.
Many of the plagiarised papers were unpublished PhD theses from American and Canadian universities dealing with the effects of colonisation on Native American languages and reclamation of those languages.
The rest were published in education and nursing journals and publications specifically relating to colonisation issues.
The paper dealt with colonial theft of land and how it led to the partial loss of local Jandai language and how it had been rediscovered through visual storytelling. “This article outlines a complex, vibrant, interweaving of language as a decolonising practice through creative outcomes,” the original abstract said.
“I will summarise how the Quandamooka tradition of weaving served as a theoretical framework for the reclamation of Jandai language. Shaped by a paradigm of language reclamation, it describes a Quandamooka worldview which is based on the connection Quandamooka people share with our Ancestors and our Country.”
It details the creation of the “Quandamooka Storyweave” as a forum for elders to more comfortably share their stories.
Ms Delaney is a prominent figure among Nunagal, Goenbal and Ngugi people, whose traditional homeland, Quandamooka, was the mainland, islands and water around Moreton Bay, off Brisbane.
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Why are Australian housing prices so high?
Robert Gottliebsen points to low borrowing costs, perverse incentives to banks and regulation failures
Australia is going to require unprecedented amounts of business capital investment in the next decade as we catch up with the technology revolution, decarbonise, become more independent from imports and cater for world resource needs.
But our banks, including their institutional shareholders and regulators, are not prepared for what is ahead.
And the housing market is certainly not prepared for the change in money directions that will be required. This looming revolution will become one of the nation’s biggest debating points once the Covid problem is brought under better control.
The first step to solving a problem is identifying it.
Here we are helped by a remarkable graph prepared by Dr Wilson Sy, a former Principal Researcher at APRA working on housing credit risk, insurance, superannuation governance and investment performance. He was also a senior adviser to the Cooper Superannuation review. The Sy graph forms the base of a detailed paper on the issue prepared by former ANZ Bank director John Dahlsen.
In the decade before the 1987-89 crash banks poured vast sums into business credit but they were enticed by property developers and the 1987- 89 crash triggered heavy losses. Westpac and ANZ hit deep trouble. Banks began cutting back their business investment and directing money into housing.
Twenty years ago, around 2001, housing credit became greater than business lending and it has never looked back. It played a big part in the latest house price boom. But the gap is not sustainable particularly as we are way out of line with the rest of the world. Residential mortgages represent well over 60 per cent of Australian bank balance sheets — more than double the US and UK and much higher than similar countries.
To restore at least part of the balance requires an understanding what caused the imbalance.
In his paper Dahlsen isolates a series of them:
1. Business banking is much more complex than home lending and it needs relationship managers to understand the business model, its risk , the sector risks plus, most important, the people behind the business. In the business market, the banks have removed a huge number of relationship managers and are now much more reliant on technology, rules and box ticking. The banks have standardised business lending practices often with a narrow product range that does not always fit the customer.
2. APRA deems home loans be far less risky than business bank products, so substantially less capital is required to fund home purchases. The banks are able to leverage the lower capital required to significantly improve return on equity.
3.Where banks satisfy the regulatory authority that they have appropriate risk models, they are free to calculate the capital required for residential mortgages. That freedom set the housing market alight.
4. Interest rates have been lowered to record levels to boost demand for housing and there has been extensive money printing. The Reserve Bank has been too slow to reduce the stimulation so dramatically boosting asset values. Without policy changes house prices and asset values will continue to rise.
5. There has been significant increase in the amount of home lending on each dollar of borrower income. And so in 2011 the average median house price was $480,000 and average earnings were $55,760 — a price to earnings ratio of 861 per cent. Ten years later the average house price was $771,000 and average earnings are $69,862 — a price to earnings ratio of 1104 per cent. Although the rise of two income families has helped, the increase should be ringing alarm bells.
Overheated Housing Market
However, the pandemic caused Australians to recognise that they are over borrowed so they have increased their repayments substantially.
Next year there will be tighter lending standards and if with likely higher interest rates. If this creates a crisis it will be those who borrowed recently who will be most impacted.
House price inflation means that it is now taking the youth of today much longer to fund deposits. Any further house price inflation will greatly worsen the fundamental community divide that has been created with adverse social implications.
The Australian middle class is shrinking as the upper middle class are joining the wealthy and others are dropping into lower income brackets.
More parents and grandparents are paying or contributing to their children and grandchildren’s housing deposits, education and cars.
Superimposed on these massive social challenges is the need for more bank lending for business. But the banks’ institutional shareholders love the high capital returns that come from housing and the relatively low risk.
They are concerned that the banks will not have the management ability to manage a substantial increase in business lending without creating the danger of another 1987-89.
Both the National Australia Bank and the Commonwealth have stepped up their efforts in business lending and the NAB’s housing contribution to profit is lower than any of the other banks.
But there is a long way to go. The Federal government and the regulators have vital roles in the required transformation which must includes a massive rise in cash flow lending to business.
The government has moved well to speed up payments and end the unfair contracts scandal. But it is yet to tackle the broken and unfair business tax collection system.
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How to make a martyr out of a molehill
JANET ALBRECHTSEN points out that the grounds given for his deportation were truly obnoxious -- almost Soviet
In his book, "Say Nothing, The Murder and Memory of Northern Ireland", Patrick Radden Keefe recounts one of the more curious ways Margaret Thatcher dealt with Gerry Adams when he was a Sinn Fein MP in Westminster. Apparently threatened by the power of ideological seduction, Thatcher banned the sound of the IRA and Sinn Fein from the airwaves.
This peculiar rule meant Adams could be seen on TV and speaking to radio, but his voice was prohibited. It was a monumentally stupid restriction. Soon enough, broadcasters employed actors to dub the former IRA leader’s voice whenever he appeared on the airwaves. Rather than shut down Adams, this drew attention to him whenever he spoke.
Let’s be clear: Novak Djokovic is no Gerry Adams. Not even close. And lord knows Scott Morrison is no Margaret Thatcher. But dissent and state power frequently rub up against each other and leaders of varying abilities across the ages, even in democracies, have come up with ways to use their power to deal with dissent.
Those who crack down on dissent can be prone to illogical overreaction, often for base political purposes. For example, India, the world’s largest democracy, blocked access to the internet in late 2019 in Kashmir for months, arguing it was trying to avoid “the permanent loss of life”. What loss of life is not permanent? Like I said, logic is not a hot commodity when governments are trying to crack down on dissent.
Covid became the perfect vehicle to shut down dissenters, with governments across the country catastrophising on the grounds of health. State governments banned lockdown protests in the name of safety, while allowing Black Lives Matter protests. A pregnant woman who posted something naughty on social media was arrested in the name of public safety.
Even as the country enjoys one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, the Australian Immigration Minister’s decision to deport Djokovic has showcased the Morrison government’s attitude to dissent and the brute force of state power. In the process, it made a martyr out of a molehill.
Alex Hawke didn’t deport Djokovic for having a dodgy visa that relied on faulty medical exemptions or factual errors on his arrival documents. Hawke told the Federal Court he ordered the deportation because of the tennis player’s beliefs about vaccination, claiming his presence would whip up anti-vax sentiment. In other words, Hawke chose to advertise the federal government’s attitude to dissent.
Whether you agree with a person who chooses not to get vaccinated or not – and I don’t – it is not yet illegal to be unvaccinated. Until that happens, there ought to be room in a democracy for idiots, even for foreign ones. But then, Morrison has never been a great friend of free speech, unless it involved playing footsies with opinionated backbenchers to maintain his wafer-thin majority.
Partner at Thomson Geer Lawyers Justin Quill says Australia is tainted by the Novak Djokovic ordeal. “I don’t think… it’s so much the decision to deport him, it’s the whole affair,” Mr Quill told Sky News Australia. “He started it, but the way we handled it could not
Deporting Djokovic also reveals the Morrison government’s attitude to power. If you’ve got it, use it, especially for brazen political purposes. Hawke’s written statement to the Federal Court was so lightweight in its submissions and evidence that it clearly dared the court to interfere with the power of the minister to deport Djokovic
And the Federal Court on Sunday didn’t dare intervene. The full bench of the court held that Hawke’s deportation order was legal under the wide personal discretion vested under sections 133 and 116 of the Migration Act, enacted in 2014.
Legal, yes. But the court’s decision doesn’t render the minister’s decision sensible or logical or fair for the simple reason that those factors are irrelevant to the minister’s exercise of state power.
What makes this case interesting is that Hawke didn’t need to state his reasons. But through his legal team, the minister quoted a BBC article to the court to prove Djokovic’s opposition to vaccination. The minister didn’t bother quoting the rest of what the tennis player said in that April 2020 interview – that as he was “no expert” he would keep an “open mind” and “wanted the option to choose what’s best for my body”.
In fact, section 133 of the Migration Act expressly exempts the minister’s decision from the ordinary rules of natural justice. Out goes audi alteram parte, Latin for “hear the other side”. Out goes nemo debet esse judex in propria sua causa, meaning “no one shall be judge of his own case”.
Therefore, Hawke didn’t have to table evidence that Djokovic’s presence at other tournaments had whipped up anti-vax sentiment. It was also irrelevant to ask other logical questions of the minister. If Djokovic’s presence was that dangerous to the country, why wasn’t Hawke more vigilant in refusing him entry in the first place?
Didn’t the government’s deportation decisions to kick out Djokovic stir up anti-vaxxers, rather than the tennis player’s arrival into the country? After all, he wasn’t planning a countrywide tour to speak against vaccination. He came to play tennis.
The Immigration Minister based his deportation order on another concern – that people may “perceive” Djokovic to have risky views against vaccinations. What a rotten precedent, holding a person responsible for how others may perceive them. If this is the upshot of the minister’s so-called God-like powers, it explains why I’m an atheist.
Deporting Djokovic is worthy of a chapter in any new book about the Morrison government because it points to how Morrison is willing to exert border powers, stifling dissent with phony claims of safety, to win the 2022 election.
It is a “wake up call” to see the Minister for Immigration’s sweeping powers “in action,” according to NSW Council… for Civil Liberties’ President Pauline Wright. Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke used his ministerial powers to cancel tennis star Novak Djokovic's visa last Friday
As the Prime Minister told Ben Fordham on Monday morning, “It’s not our first rodeo, Ben”. That’s true. As a former immigration minister, Morrison understands the politics of borders better than most. The difference is that as immigration minister Morrison had a running rail – a clear instruction from then prime minister Tony Abbott to destroy the evil people-smuggling business model. And he did just that. It was a difficult and ultimately sensible policy.
Calling the shots as PM, Morrison is prone to the reactive politics of populism over carefully considered policy. And why would he change tune now? The country has been conditioned at state and federal levels with fear and hysteria for more than two years. If Australians feared the brute force of state power more than the arrival of an unvaccinated tennis player, the federal government would be more measured. Because the PM would sniff that wind, too.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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17 January, 2022
Statistic that proves booster shots are saving Australians from Omicron
This is dubious logic. LOTS of people have not had a third shot. This could be random or indicate that the people concerned felt too ill to have a third shot
And do we know that the deaths were from Omicron? It could have been Delta
Sixteen of the 17 Covid-19 deaths recorded in NSW overnight were patients who had not received their booster shot.
Chief health officer Kerry Chant said only one person who died had a booster shot, highlighting the importance of getting a third dose.
'We know that for the Omicron variant, having that booster is critical to upping your level of protection,' she said.
'And we know that with both variants, even though the Omicron variant is milder overall, it still will have an incredible impact on people that are elderly and those underlying conditions.'
NSW and Victoria recorded a dip in Covid-19 cases while ICU and hospitalisation rates spiked in both states.
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Australia’s medicines regulator has confirmed the first cases of rare heart inflammation after booster vaccines
As of January 9, there have been six reports of likely myocarditis – four after Pfizer and two after Moderna – and 12 reports of likely pericarditis – 10 after Pfizer and two after Moderna – after a third or booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) most recent safety update.
“The TGA is monitoring the safety of booster vaccine doses in adults,” the regulator said.
“It is not expected that the types of side effects will be different to first and second vaccine doses based on the results of clinical trials, and observations from regulators overseas where more booster doses have been given.”
Myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis, or inflammation of the lining around the heart, are serious but rare side effects associated with mRNA vaccines.
According to the TGA, myocarditis – which it describes as “very rare” – is reported in about one to two out of every 100,000 people who receive Pfizer and two to three out of 100,000 who receive Moderna.
But it is more common after the second dose in teenage boys at 12 cases per 100,000 for Pfizer and 17 per 100,000 for Moderna, and young men under 30 at six per 100,000 for Pfizer and 12 per 100,000 for Moderna.
“To January 9, 2022, we have received approximately 950 reports of suspected adverse events identified after a third or booster dose,” the TGA said.
“This includes a small number of cases of myocarditis and pericarditis. The most common adverse events reported to the TGA following a booster dose are swollen lymph nodes (also called lymphadenopathy), headache, fatigue, muscle pain and fever. Swollen lymph nodes are a normal and known side effect of vaccines and occurs when the immune system is stimulated and were seen in the clinical trials.”
The TGA says it has also received about 3000 reports of adverse reactions after vaccination in children and adolescents.
The most commonly reported reactions in 12 to 17-year-olds are chest pain, headache, dizziness, nausea and fever.
“Reports of more serious effects following vaccination in children in the US were extremely rare with 100 reports from 8.7 million vaccine doses – the most common were fever, vomiting and in some cases seizures,” it said.
“Importantly, myocarditis was also very rare in this age group, with 11 confirmed reports from over eight million doses – these were all mild cases. The TGA is closely monitoring adverse event reports in this age group and will communicate any safety issues if they arise.”
As of January 9, from 28.4 million doses of Pfizer and 2.1 million doses of Moderna, there have been 467 cases of likely myocarditis – 423 from Pfizer and 44 from Moderna – and a further 1048 cases classed as “suspected” myocarditis – 952 from Pfizer and 96 from Moderna.
Suspected cases include those reporting both myocarditis and pericarditis. There have been an additional 2183 cases of suspected pericarditis alone – 2015 from Pfizer and 168 from Moderna.
The TGA stresses that myocarditis is “often mild, and cases usually resolve after a few days with treatment and rest”, but about half of cases are admitted to hospital.
“Five people with confirmed myocarditis were treated in intensive care,” the TGA says.
“This represents about 1 per cent of all confirmed myocarditis cases. Most patients admitted to hospital were discharged within four days.”
According to Health Department figures from Sunday, 92.5 per cent of over-16s in Australia are now fully vaccinated, and nearly five million people over the age of 18 have received more than two doses
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Attorney general defends religious schools’ right to sack teachers for views on sexuality
Michaelia Cash’s department has defended religious schools’ right to sack teachers for their views on sexuality and appeared to confirm safeguards for gay students will be delayed until after the religious discrimination bill.
The attorney general’s department’s submission to two inquiries states that changes to the Sex Discrimination Act will wait for a further review 12 months after the bill passes, despite a purported deal with four Liberal MPs to prevent expulsion of gay students at the same time, in exchange for their support of the religious discrimination bill.
Cash also personally walked back her reported commitment in December after a backlash from religious groups including the Australian Christian Lobby and Christian Schools Australia which threatened to scupper their support for the bill over the deal.
Liberal MPs Katie Allen, Dave Sharma, Angie Bell and Fiona Martin claimed they had won Cash’s agreement to remove section 38(3) from the Sex Discrimination Act, which allows schools to discriminate on sexuality and gender grounds.
The department’s submission reiterates that “the religious discrimination bill does not affect the operation of the Sex Discrimination Act”.
“In particular, the existing exemptions for religious educational institutions provided in section 38 of that Act are not affected.”
The department said religious exemptions will be considered by the Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry, to report back 12 months after the bill passes.
The department noted although the bill does not affect schools ability to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation it “would allow a religious school to consider a person’s religious beliefs about issues such as sexuality” where it is part of the beliefs of the school.
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Supply really is the key to housing: migration and negative gearing are secondary
Any country with as much land as we have and wages as high as ours, should have the most affordable housing in the world, not the least. For years governments, through inaction or special interest lobbying, have denied young Australians their chance at the Australian dream.
The longer the Tax and Revenue Committee investigated housing affordability, the more apparent it became that the usual scapegoats are convenient distractions from the real reasons for this intergenerational theft.
The planners and academics blamed migrants for high house prices. But in the last two years, prices climbed by over 20 per cent while our immigration intake was zero. Next scapegoat was investors. Since 2019 property investors fell to dangerously low levels. Supply of rental properties did not keep pace with demand. Now rent increases are making it more difficult for people buying their own home to save for a deposit.
Rental vacancies across our major cities are at their lowest levels in decades.
When these same special interest groups blame tax and social housing supply, but not private sector housing supply of course, you have to wonder whether they have much credibility.
None of this would matter if it did not drive so much of what our country feels like. Australia’s founders wanted a classless society. They wanted a place better than from where many of them came. The dividing line between the upper class and everyone else was property.
Our founders sought to obliterate that division by ensuring everyone had the chance to own a home. This is known as the Australian dream.
As Reserve Bank assistant governor Luci Ellis said, Australia is on the verge of dividing into two classes. Your future will be determined by whether your parents owned their home.
Widespread home ownership has far-reaching impacts. Firstly, it reduces wealth inequality. Analysis of Thomas Piketty’s data shows that a significant factor in wealth is whether you own your home. Treasury’s analysis of retirement incomes found that a large superannuation balance matters for little if you do not own the home in which you live.
When Tokyo liberalised planning laws, homelessness fell by over 80 per cent. This evidence runs counter to the popular narrative that only public housing reduces homelessness. Why is it that you can count on a butcher’s left hand the number of homeless advocates who have dared suggest that planning is a critical plank in reducing homelessness?
Finally, home ownership creates stable democratic institutions. Why are we undoing home ownership as a feature of Australian society?
The committee heard evidence from a range of experts.
There was the usual special interest pleading, some difficult to understand theories, and then some truly bewildering data which pointed to one inconvenient truth: our affordability challenge comes down to not building enough homes.
This is economics 101 – Marshall’s supply and demand curves. The Centre for Independent Studies, Grattan Institute and CoreLogic all demonstrated that Australia has been under-building for years. The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation provided evidence that builders face untenable risks caused by hidden council and state charges. NHFIC provided $24bn in concessional loans for social housing, but as Shelter Australia pointed out, the supply of social housing has not significantly changed in two decades.
Builders accused of land banking told stories of needing six permits to connect a pipe, waiting six months to get approval for wood in a staircase, or being told by one department to remove trees while being told by another to plant more.
Indigenous groups complained that charges in the Pilbara are higher than the price of a home. Houses do not get built, people go homeless, and homes are overcrowded.
Housing Industry Australia showed that 50 per cent of the cost of a home and land package is state and local government charges.
The NSW Treasury noted that to just keep pace with demand, NSW needed to build 42,000 houses a year. Housing targets are short of this. Even then only one out of 35 Sydney councils are meeting these abysmal targets. Just one.
In the US, people have been leaving highly regulated planning districts like San Francisco (city with the worst homelessness), for more liberal Texas. These include Tesla, Facebook and Amazon. Liberal planning systems bring entrepreneurs and jobs that are better quality with higher pay.
The econometric modelling is unambiguous: planning laws are contributing about half of what Australians pay for their homes. Negative gearing is adding, maybe, 4 per cent. The focus of the debate is inverse to the cause.
There could be many reasons for this, but highest on my list is that the very people constraining supply are the ones benefiting from it. The higher home prices are, the higher taxes are.
Shifting the blame to other governments, migrants, investors and builders is just part of their game, while the rest of us suffer the consequences of our nation being unmade before our very eyes.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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16 January, 2022
Fully Vaccinated Australians In Hospital For COVID-19 Surpass Unvaccinated
This sounds a bit alarming at first but it just reflects that the vaccinated are a much larger pool to draw from
For the first time, New South Wales (NSW) has seen more fully vaccinated patients hospitalised with COVID-19 compared to the number of unvaccinated patients as the Omicron outbreak continues to edge toward its peak.
Data published by the NSW government’s COVID-19 Critical Intelligence Unit has revealed that as of Jan. 9, 68.9 percent of COVID-19 patients aged 12 and over in hospitals had two doses of the vaccine, with 28.8 percent unvaccinated.
The number of double-dose vaccinated patients in intensive care units (ICUs) also surpassed those of the unvaccinated, with 50.3 percent of the vaccinated presenting to ICU with COVID-19, more than the 49.1 percent who are unvaccinated.
However, based on the data presented, unvaccinated individuals appear to be six times more likely to be hospitalised and nearly 13 times more likely to be sent to ICU than those who are fully vaccinated.
This is considering that the number of unvaccinated patients appears to be over-represented in the figures—7.3 percent of the NSW population aged 12 and over at the time were unvaccinated, but they made up half of the COVID-19 ICU patients in the NSW Health system. At present, Australia does not permit alternative treatments, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, which are available and used in other countries.
According to NSW Health, 95.1 percent of people aged 16 and over have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 93.7 percent have received two doses as of Jan. 11.
The rise in the proportion of hospitalisations amongst the fully vaccinated comes both amid the spread of the Omicron variant of the CCP virus in Australia, along with the loss in the efficacy of the available COVID-19 vaccines.
A spokesperson for NSW Health told The Epoch Times on Jan. 11 that Omicron had supplanted Delta as the primary variant spreading in NSW, but that it also appeared to be less dangerous than its predecessor.
“The Omicron variant is associated with a lower rate of hospitalisation and ICU admission,” the spokesperson said.
While the state recorded 32,155 cases of the virus on Jan. 9, 2,030 were hospitalised, and only 159 had been sent to ICU. As of Jan. 12, the total number of cases has jumped to 53,909, with 2,242 hospitalised and 175 in ICU.
“NSW Health urges the community to continue to practise COVID-safe behaviours to keep themselves and the community safe, including wearing a mask indoors, maintaining physical distancing, and practising hand hygiene.”
The spokesperson also reminded those eligible to receive their third booster dose of an available COVID-19 vaccine—which can now be done four months after receiving the second dose—to raise the effectiveness of immunity granted by the vaccine.
“We continue to encourage everyone who has not yet done so to get vaccinated and anyone who is now eligible for their booster dose to get it without delay. The COVID-19 vaccines available in Australia are safe and very effective at reducing the risk of serious illness and death.”
In the United States, it has been reported that 2 out of the three available COVID-19 vaccines dropped below 50 percent efficacy after six months, according to a study published in November 2021.
To combat this, NSW has mandated booster shots for all education staff, joining other states that have implemented vaccine booster requirements.
NSW is also currently working to better understand the effects of the new COVID-19 variants.
“NSW Health is prioritising the whole genome sequencing of COVID-19 for patients in ICU in order to better understand the impact of both the Delta and Omicron variants,” the spokesperson said
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Is Australia weathering the climate storm?
Australia has benefited from the effects of two La Nina years, much to chagrin of catastrophists.
In a land of boom and bust, feast and famine, drought and flooding rains, it is a time of plenty. For the nation’s climate catastrophists, an inconvenient set of realities has captured the natural world. Back-to-back La Nina weather systems plunged Australia’s average temperatures in 2021 to their lowest levels in a decade.
Rains that were predicted by experts either not to come or to fall out of phase with agricultural needs have failed to heed the script. The nation’s great river systems have been recharged after a period of extended drought that some thought would never end. Dams and water catchments are full and agricultural production is at record levels. The Great Barrier Reef is tracking levels of healthy coral cover not seen for decades across its entire system, an area the size of Italy.
Scientists insist the underlying warming trend, suppressed by La Nina, is still there. But for nature lovers everywhere the present conditions reinforce a belief that nature is not broken, the natural cycles continue to operate and that resilience persists on land and at sea.
The Great Barrier Reef has become a proxy for the existential threat of climate change. But the latest results from long-term monitoring by the Australian Institute of Marine Science shows that coral growth has been recorded in all regions. Hard coral cover on the Northern Reef has risen from a low in 2017 of 13 per cent to 27 per cent last year. For the Central region, hard coral cover has risen from a low of 11 per cent in 2012 to 26 per cent. In the Southern region hard coral cover has risen from a low of 12 per cent in 2011 to 39 per cent.
According to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the AIMS report “shows that despite a decade of impacts such as marine heatwaves, the Great Barrier Reef is still a resilient ecosystem and can recover from extreme events if disturbance-free periods are long enough”. Despite the bounce-back in coral cover, the Great Barrier Reef remains subject to an international push to have it listed as a World Heritage asset in danger.
For farmers, the news is also positive.
The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics says the value of agricultural exports in 2021 is a record high. When the final numbers are in, production is expected to have increased year on year for every major livestock commodity and almost every major crop commodity – with farmers forecast to produce the largest volume ever. ABARES executive director Dr Jared Greenville says Australia is enjoying an extraordinary combination of favourable conditions and 30-year price highs. “It would be the first time in at least half a century that production will increase for so many products at the same time,” Greenville says.
Things will change, of course. Booming vegetation fed by healthy rains will dry out once La Nina passes, intensifying the risk of bushfire. There is still a chance that elevated sea temperatures will cause problems for some areas of the Great Barrier Reef this year.
But according to the Bureau of Meteorology annual climate statement, 2021 was the coolest year in nearly a decade and wettest since 2016. By the end of 2021 – and for the first time in five years – no large parts of the country were experiencing rainfall deficits and drought conditions.
This week, Sydney’s Warragamba Dam was at 100 per cent capacity and the average across the Greater Sydney catchment is 96.9 per cent. In southeast Queensland, the Wivenhoe Dam, used for water storage and flood mitigation, is at 52 per cent but other dams in the region are full and spilling across the catchment. In Melbourne, storage levels are at 89.5 per cent.
Announcing BoM’s 2021 temperature data, climatologist Dr Simon Grainger says: “After three years of drought from 2017 to 2019, above-average rainfall last year resulted in a welcome recharge of our water storages but also some significant flooding to eastern Australia.”
In 2021, Australia’s mean temperature was 0.56C above the 1961-1990 climate reference period. It was the 19th-warmest year since national records began in 1910, but also the coolest year since 2012. Rainfall was 9 per cent above the 1961-1990 average, making 2021 the wettest year since 2016, with November the wettest on record.
Visitors to Sydney’s Bondi Beach enjoy the arrival of higher summer temperatures. Picture: NCA Newswire/Flavio Brancaleone
Visitors to Sydney’s Bondi Beach enjoy the arrival of higher summer temperatures. Picture: NCA Newswire/Flavio Brancaleone
Of course, Australia is not the world.
According to figures released by US space agency NASA on Friday, Earth’s global average surface temperature in 2021 tied with 2018 as the sixth-warmest on record. Global average temperatures in 2021 were about or about 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than the late 19th-century average, the start of the industrial revolution.
A separate, independent analysis by US weather agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also concluded that the global surface temperature for 2021 was the sixth-highest since record-keeping began in 1880.
“The complexity of the various analyses doesn’t matter because the signals are so strong,” says Gavin Schmidt, director of GISS, NASA’s leading centre for climate modelling and climate change research. “The trends are all the same because the trends are so large.”
NOAA says many factors affect the average temperature in any given year, such as La Nina and El Nino climate patterns in the tropical Pacific. NASA scientists estimate the La Nina weather pattern may have cooled global temperatures by about 0.03 degrees Celsius from what the average would otherwise have been.
But at a time when the United Nations has declared “Code Red for humanity” because of climate change, on the ground there is evidence that things are not being received quite as the headlines would suggest. This has implications for green groups wanting to harness public support to push for nature. And for politicians on the hustings looking for advantage in a tightly contested federal poll.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has been testing public opinion on nature and been surprised at what it found.
Ninety-five per cent of those surveyed say it is important to preserve nature for future generations to enjoy.
This sentiment was shared across all voting groups including Liberal, National, Labor and Greens. On the question of feeling deeply connected to nature in Australia, the biggest response was among National voters on 86 per cent, higher than among Greens voters on 79 per cent. Counter to the narrative of environmental doom, respondents overwhelmingly felt the state of the environment was excellent, good or fair. Only 13 per cent thought the state of nature was poor or terrible.
Climate change was listed as a concern by 74 per cent of respondents, behind bushfires, floods and plastic waste. Cost-of-living pressures was the biggest concern for 95 per cent of respondents. Only 32 per cent could be considered “active nature protectors” or “diehard nature worriers”, with the majority “hopeful”, “detached” or “unconcerned”.
According to the report, active nature protectors and diehard nature worriers believe nature is in a fair or poor state while all other segments believe it is good or excellent.
ACF nature campaigner Jess Abrahams says green groups must learn the lessons of the climate wars and have a message other than catastrophe. He uses the cry-wolf analogy of a fire alarm that is tuned out because it never stops ringing. The findings are in line with published research that the indiscriminate use of negative appeals results in emotional burnout and a decreased likelihood of acceptance of any messages – even the important ones.
Abrahams says the survey, conducted by research group fiftyfive5, is a strategy document and represents the new approach that ACF will take.
“We need to speak to more than just the deep green and this has given us a lot of help on how to do that,” Abrahams says.
“It is a love message – tapping into people’s love of nature. People who vote Nationals report a stronger connection to nature than almost the Greens.
“A lot of people who are very sceptical about the climate debate are really knowledgeable and passionate about mangroves and fish breeding and the impacts of dredging. People in regional areas have a deep understanding of these issues.”
For campaigners, there is frustration that positive attitudes to the state of the environment do not properly reflect the full suite of research. That challenges exist will be confirmed in the upcoming State of the Environment report, due for release early this year.
But the results of the ACF research put a fresh perspective on how the major parties can approach their environmental credentials in the looming federal poll. Anthony Albanese has spent the past week on a tour of North Queensland, a vital area for the ALP given its comprehensive loss at the last election on the back of its perceived anti-coal and climate change message. This time, the message from Labor has been love of the Great Barrier Reef but support for mining as well.
Albanese says the market will decide if it was still profitable to dig coal up to burn for energy and, if that was the case, any project that clears environmental hurdles should go ahead.
Albanese told journalists he had no appetite for “these games” on coal.
“We have a positive message for Queenslanders. It’s one of regional jobs. It’s one of making sure there is secure work,” Albanese said in Cairns. “Existing power stations will continue to exist for the lifespan that’s been established. With regard to exports of resources, they’re dependent upon international markets, but they won’t be affected by our policy.”
Albanese says the ALP will “make sure that we provide support for the reef” to “make sure that it’s never ever put on that (World Heritage in Danger) list”.
The challenge for Labor is to narrow the gap between itself and the Morrison government on climate action without surrendering support in inner-city seats where it faces competition from the Greens.
The Morrison government has moved closer to the centre as well, adopting a net-zero target for 2050. The decision was taken in the lead-up to the much-hyped Glasgow climate conference and was in tune with the demands of corporations and international peers. But agreeing to a net-zero target for 2050 has given the Coalition less room to move against Labor. And despite embracing net zero, the Coalition is facing its own challenge in inner-city seats from climate independents bankrolled by businessman Simon Holmes a Court under the C200 banner.
On the hustings, concerns about supply lines and availability of rapid antigen tests are swamping the climate message.
Internationally, two months on from Glasgow, the World Economic Forum has put “climate action failure” at the top of the list in its 2022 Global Risks Report but the global politics of climate change is strained.
Glasgow ended with deep divisions between developed nations and the developing world on plans to stop the use of fossil fuels. Since then, the International Energy Agency has said global demand for coal will reach record levels in 2022 and continue to surge for at least three years.
“All evidence indicates a widening gap between political ambitions and targets on one side and the realities of the current energy system on the other,” the IEA says.
“This disconnect has two clear implications: climate targets are getting further out of reach, and energy security is at risk.”
Increased coal use is being driven primarily by China and India but it is also rising in Europe, Britain and the United States. Rising prices for gas have at least temporarily ended a trend of switching from coal to gas for power generation.
Faced with a shortage of energy partly due to the intermittency of wind generation, the European Union is preparing to approve gas and nuclear energy as “green” fuels, outraging environment groups.
But politicians everywhere are starting to feel the heat of rising energy costs.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who led the push against coal in Glasgow, is being warned the energy crisis represents a threat to his government.
Climate scientists rightly insist that the La Nina cycle, which has cooled temperatures across the globe, does not undermine the longer warming trend.
But the reverse is also true. Peaks in temperature and heightened bushfires that coincide with the El Nino phase must also be considered outliers rather than the norm.
US climate scientist Judith Curry says the latest IPCC report is less alarmist on future warming, discounting extreme scenarios and reducing the best estimate sensitivity of climate to rising levels of CO2.
The big unknown, Curry says, is the future impact of natural climate variability.
“It looks like all the modes of natural climate variability are tilted towards cooling over the next three decades,” Curry says in an interview published on her website.
“It looks like we’re heading towards a solar minimum. Any volcanic eruptions by definition are negative. And we expect the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation to shift to the cold phase on the timescale of about a decade.
“So all of these modes of natural variability point to cooling in the coming decades. This buys us decades to figure out what we should do.”
But despite lower average temperatures in 2021, NASA says there is no less cause for alarm.
“Science leaves no room for doubt: Climate change is the existential threat of our time,” says NASA administrator Bill Nelson. “Eight of the top 10 warmest years on our planet occurred in the last decade, an indisputable fact that underscores the need for bold action to safeguard the future of our country – and all of humanity.”
NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt told the Associated Press the long-term trend is “very, very clear. And it’s because of us. And it’s not going to go away until we stop increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere”.
But Curry says a sustained cooling would force people to reconsider. “If I’m right about natural variability having sort of a cooling effect in the coming decades, this will be the one piece of evidence that people will have to pay attention to,” she says.
“If that transpires, I would say that would be the single most effective thing at bringing this dialogue back to some level of rationality, but how much confidence do I have in that prediction? How much money am I going to bet on that?
“I don’t know, but it’s a very plausible scenario that natural variability will lead to cooling in the coming decades, or at least slow down the warming.
“On the current path, we are not managing this risk in a sensible way that would leave our countries stronger and less vulnerable to whatever may transpire in the future.
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Covid-19: The kids are not all right
As schooling systems struggle to manage head-spinning changes to Covid-19 rules, many parents are despairing over possible delays to classrooms reopening. Already Queensland has postponed the start of term one for a fortnight, and South Australia is staggering the return to school for various year levels.
Open-air classrooms on verandas or under trees, air filters, rapid testing and hybrid models of classrooms and remote learning are the most likely scenarios as education departments rush to rewrite the school rules to deal with the wildfire Omicron outbreak.
Despite the eagerness to resume children’s education, many families are reluctant to send kids to school at the peak of a pandemic they have been conditioned to fear.
The Parenthood, an advocacy group for Australian parents, says the changing rules are confusing and distressing for families.
“Parents are unsure of what to do and children are asking lots of questions,’’ The Parenthood executive director Georgie Dent tells Inquirer.
“Many parents are really concerned about children being back in the classroom at the peak of the outbreak, while others are concerned about the mental health impact and do want their kids go back to school.
“Before Christmas hundreds of cases in a single day were of really serious concern and now we’ve ballooned to 100,000 cases a day and (politicians) are saying that’s OK – that’s a really big leap.’’
Teachers, burnt out by two years of on-off remote teaching, are threatening classroom boycotts unless governments do more to protect them in their workplace.
Scott Morrison invoked the wrath of teacher unions when he revealed on Thursday that national cabinet had exempted teachers and childcare workers from close contact isolation requirements.
Promising a more detailed back-to-school plan next week, he hinted that teachers would be given access to free rapid antigen (RAT) tests for regular surveillance testing of Covid-19.
Morrison warned that school closures would worsen the 10 per cent workforce absenteeism rate to 15 per cent, as parents would be forced to stay home to look after children.
“Schools open means shops open,’’ Morrison declared after the national cabinet meeting. “Schools open means hospitals are open. It means aged-care facilities are open. It means essential services and groceries are on the shelves.
“Childcare and schools are essential and should be the first to open and last to close where possible.’’
With 500 childcare centres closed this week due to Omicron outbreaks, the prognosis looks bleak for a seamless return to school at the end of the month. Only 6 per cent of primary school students have had their first dose of Covid-19 vaccines, although 75 per cent of high school students are double-jabbed.
Australian Education Union (AEU) president Correna Haythorpe is furious that teachers are being treated like “babysitters’’ so other parents can go to work.
“The vast majority of children will not be vaccinated for the return to school and that is of deep concern to our members because Omicron is highly transmissible,’’ she tells Inquirer.
“A two-week delay may not be long enough, and some states may have to shift to remote learning.’’
The union is urging teachers to stay home if they don’t feel safe working in classrooms.
“We will be saying to members that if you feel unsafe or uncertain or worried you are potentially putting other people at risk, you should not be going into a school environment,’’ she says.
“You should still be paid. If you are a close contact but not ill, you can work remotely. It’s not industrial action – members have sick leave and so on they can access.’’
The union’s advice flies in the face of national cabinet’s decision to lump teachers in with other essential workers who can continue working even if a household member is sick with Covid-19, provided they have no symptoms and a negative test.
Haythorpe says teachers should have access to free rapid tests, which are now even harder to find than masks were at the start of the pandemic.
“Teachers have worked so hard to provide education, whether remote or face-to-face, to put the students first,’’ she says.
“To be told the reason schools need to be open is for workforce considerations, rather than prioritising the education of our young people safely, is deeply offensive.
“You can’t on the one hand say teachers are essential and must go to work, and on the other hand not provide them with the essential tools that are needed to ensure their safety and the safety of students in their care.’’
National cabinet is working on the fine details of a back-to-school operational plan to cover potential school closures, infection control, mask wearing and surveillance testing for Covid-19.
Under the plan, schools and childcare centres are deemed to be essential “and should be the first to open and the last to close wherever possible in outbreak situations, with face-to-face learning prioritised’’.
State leaders have agreed that “no vulnerable child or child of an essential worker is turned away’’ from classrooms, implying that even if schools shut down, a skeleton teaching staff will be required to supervise children onsite.
As always, the states are going their own way: Victoria and NSW are adamant that schools will open on schedule but Queensland has postponed term one by two weeks, with Year 11 and 12 students starting remote learning a week before other kids head back to class.
South Australia is staggering return dates for different year levels, and is “looking closely’’ at the use of air purifiers in schools as it works to improve natural ventilation in classrooms.
A NSW Education spokesperson says that schools will be “made Covid-19 safe through a combination of physical distancing, mask wearing, strict hygiene practices and frequent cleaning of schools’.’ Rapid antigen test kits will also be used.
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International students allowed to work more hours to help ease COVID worker shortage
Foreign students will be allowed to pick up more hours to help alleviate worker shortages as more people are forced into isolation due to Australia's Omicron COVID-19 outbreak.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the federal government will remove the 40-hour-a-fortnight cap on student visa-holder workers, meaning they will no longer have restrictions on the amount of hours they can work.
Forty-hour work limits on international student visa-holders were lifted for people in the tourism and hospitality industry in May last year.
Mr Morrison encouraged international students to return to Australia, and backpackers are also allowed into the country under working holidays visas, on the condition they are fully vaccinated.
There have been worker shortages in the food distribution and manufacturing industries recently because a large number of workers have had to isolate due to a surge of coronavirus cases.
Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association (ACAPMA) CEO Mark McKenzie told the ABC the decision was welcome news for petrol-station owners.
"The extension of visa hours would provide a major relief in a pressure point we currently have in our workforce," Mr McKenzie said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-13/international-students-allowed-to-work-more-hours/100753802
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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14 January, 2022
The hottest temperature ever recorded in Australia on Thursday
Recorded by whom? The BoM record does not go back very far and gets more unreliable the further back it goes. As Watkin Tench observed, in 1790 in Sydney, birds and bats were dropping dead out of the trees it was so hot. I know of no such indidents in recent times
Australia has recorded its equal hottest day ever on Thursday as large swathes of the country endure hot, humid and sticky weather.
The town of Onslow, on Western Australia's northwest coast, reached 50.7C just before 2.30pm on a sweltering day for the Pilbara.
The previous hottest day ever recorded in Australia of 50.7C was set in the outback South Australian town of Oodnadatta back in 1960.
The weekend is looking milder in other parts of the country with possible rain in Sydney on Friday and Saturday but clearing by Sunday and maximum temperatures not exceeding 30C.
Brisbane will be slightly warmer seeing temperatures reaching the low 30s but there will be relief from the rain with fine weather forecast.
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Republic model a hybrid horror doomed to sink
The latest model for an Australian republic is a radical, dangerous and impractical experiment with democracy.
If implemented, it would politicise the election of an Australian head of state and risk undermining the authority of the prime minister by having a popularly elected president.
Under the new model, the constitutional power of the states and territories would be greatly enhanced. Each would be allowed to nominate its own candidate for an Australian head of state, while the federal parliament could nominate up to three candidates.
A direct election would also be required. The public would be forced into choosing the head of state from an unwieldy shortlist of nine to 11 candidates determined by the selections made by state, territory and commonwealth parliaments.
This is not the elegant model Australia needs as it contemplates the shift towards becoming a republic – a transition it should make and which is being brought into greater focus as the Queen enters her final twilight years.
The Australian Republic Movement has instead proposed a model that would present profound new challenges for Australian democracy.
Firstly, the large shortlist at the popular vote would increase the risk of a political-style contest emerging between candidates, each of whom would be free to run their own populist campaigns.
The states would be likely to back their own candidates and there is no bar on former politicians being nominated, meaning a candidate like Julia Gillard could be endorsed by Victoria and pitched against other well-known former politicians endorsed by other states.
Secondly, a preferential voting system would apply under the new model proposed by the ARM. This could see a new head of state or Australian president elected on only a small primary vote of perhaps as little as 20 per cent. It would also encourage politicking. What is to stop deals being struck between presidential nominees just as they are between political parties, with candidates telling supporters who to preference on the ballot paper?
The successful presidential candidate would be the person who maximised the preference flow.
Thirdly, the proposal fundamentally changes the constitutional system where the governor-general is appointed on the recommendation of the prime minister. The states have no voice in this process. But the new model would imbue them with constitutional authority.
What is the reason for this? One explanation is that for any model to succeed, it would need to win the support of a majority of states as well as a majority of the national vote.
The question is whether the ARM is attempting to secure success at the expense of the most constitutionally sound model.
Finally, the objections to a directly elected head of state would still remain. The ARM model still insists on a popular vote to ensure an Australian head of state remains “in the hands of voters”.
This means the president is elected by the people and the prime minister is not.
Tony Abbott, one of the most prominent opponents to an Australian republic, immediately seized on the problem.
“A president accountable to the people would be a rival to the prime minister accountable to the parliament, and government would become unworkable,” he said.
This problem would be especially acute in the event of a demagogic populist making the presidential shortlist.
The unsuccessful 1999 referendum was sunk by the division within the republic movement over whether the head of state should be elected through a special majority of federal parliament or directly by the people.
The new ARM proposal is trying to satisfy both camps – this is a hybrid model. But this is also its weakness. It is too complicated, impracticable and presents unacceptable risks to Australia’s democratic system.
Its chances of winning the support of both sides of politics are slim.
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Aged care home bans loved ones from waving at residents through windows to stop COVID spread
How absurd. Sounds like some apprentice Hitler at work
Extreme 'no visitors' policies are being imposed on distressed residents in COVID-19 affected aged care homes in Queensland, with one facility banning visitors from even waving through windows.
The policies, which potentially breach the industry code of practice, are being implemented as the homes grapple with an explosion of COVID-19 cases.
More than 52 facilities in Queensland have now reported at least two infections, according to federal Health Department statistics, and yesterday three people in residential aged care died from COVID-19 in the state.
Aged care homes have brought in rolling lockdowns in some cases to try and combat the infections while dealing with staffing shortages and delays in COVID-19 testing.
However, exacerbating aged care residents' stress appears to have been a mixed interpretation of visitor policies during the lockdowns, some of which have been occurring intermittently since before Christmas.
The Council on the Ageing (COTA) code of practice for the industry states aged care residents are entitled to have an "essential visitor" regardless of the COVID-19 outbreak status in a facility.
But yesterday, the ABC obtained correspondence from a Bundaberg aged care home sent to relatives of the home's residents that appeared to contradict the code.
The January 12 correspondence from the Churches of Christ-operated Gracehaven Aged Care Service stated the Queensland government's "public heath department" had made a "no visitors" ruling.
"While we are in lockdown, relatives are not allowed to visit their loved ones, either outside a window or outside in our garden area,'' the correspondence from the management of the Gracehaven home at Bundaberg said, which was sent on January 12.
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Australian-made RATs await bureaucratic approval amid rapid antigen test shortage
As Australians struggle to get hold of a COVID-19 rapid antigen test, several Australian companies have been waiting months for local approval of their RATs.
Currently, only one of the 22 home tests approved by Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is made locally, with 16 sourced from China, two from the US and the others from Korea, Singapore and Germany.
However, with the global Omicron wave seeing demand for RATs surging around the world, there are concerns Australia's current supply shortage could be exacerbated if planned shipments are diverted elsewhere.
In particular, with the vast bulk of Australia's tests coming from China, a worsening Omicron outbreak there could further threaten supply if tests bound for export were requisitioned by the Chinese government.
Several Australian companies have developed COVID RATs locally, although at least two are waiting on TGA approval for tests that are already in use in Europe or North America.
Brisbane-based AnteoTech is one of those.
Its chief executive Derek Thomson, told the ABC that a lack of supply was inevitable during major waves of new COVID variants such as Delta and Omicron without much earlier planning and investment by Australian governments.
"We were always going to run out of supply, and that's exactly what happened over the Christmas period," he said. "It caught the governments on the hop, caught all the manufacturers on the hop.
"And so we're in the position that we're in. We've got a massive wave, we're saying that the frontline defence to that wave is rapid antigen testing, and no-one can buy one. So it's a disaster."
AnteoTech has received some government funding, such as a $1.4 million commitment from the Queensland government early in 2021 and a nearly $2 million refund under the federal Research and Development Tax Incentive Scheme.
However, despite the financial support, the lack of government support for using RATs in Australia meant the company's focus shifted to Europe.
"We obviously could have poured a lot of money into the Australian market but, when we looked at it, the governments had a stance or policy that they weren't going to use RATs," Mr Thomson explained.
"There was really no indication that the governments were going to change their policies or stance around the use of RATs."
Another Brisbane-based company, Ellume, also looked offshore to market its RAT, already selling millions of tests to the US government and through retail outlets there, although the ABC understands it is now also in the process of seeking regulatory approval for its tests in Australia.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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13 January, 2022
Apartments dominate at Ray White’s auction
Home units are the way of the future for most Australians. The cherished dream of a free-standing house in its own yard is now affordable for the well-off only. Apartments are still affordable for most
APARTMENTS dominate the roll-call of properties to go under the hammer at this year’s biggest auction event as investors cash in on growing demand for units.
Andrew Bell, CEO of the Ray White Surfers Paradise Group, which is holding The Event, said there had been a spike in activity in the apartment market over the past 18 months, with data showing that Surfers Paradise had the largest volume of property transactions (2,325) nationally in the 12 months to June 2021.
“We are still seeing Covid-induced lifestyle changes, where buyers are taking advantage of the still-low interest rates and the ability to work remotely and move away from the capital cities.
“Within that shift, the apartment market is stronger than ever, especially with those who are over 50, retired or semi-retired and looking for an easier, more relaxed lifestyle.”
Mr Bell said the growing interest led The Event team to focus heavily on this sector when sourcing properties for the auction.
“The Event is all about diversity, and the diversity in the apartment market is outstanding. There’s studios and one-bedroom apartments, sky homes and penthouses, to huge towers with extensive facilities, and small boutique apartment blocks,” he said.
“With prices rising from $200,000 all the way up to $10 million, there is an apartment to suit every need, want and budget.
“We have units with ocean views, city views, mountain views, ground-floor apartments, top-floor apartments, ultra-modern designs with every mod con, and small, simple and affordable units.”
https://www.realestate.com.au/news/apartments-dominate-at-ray-whites-auction-the-event/
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Qld’s border to fully reopen as police checkpoints come down
Historic
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the borders will be coming down on 1am Saturday. “That means anyone coming domestically across into Queensland either by road or by air, they do not have to show that they’ve had a border pass,” she said. Ms Palaszczuk also said travellers did not have to show…
QLD Coronavirus News
Queensland will fully reopen to all domestic travellers - regardless of Covid status - from this Saturday with police checkpoints to be removed from the border.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the road borders would be coming down from 1am Saturday January 15 as Queensland nears 90 per cent double vaccinated.
She said this meant anyone coming domestically into Queensland by road or air would not need to show their border pass.
Queensland is set to hit the 90 per cent double dose vaccination rate by the end of next week.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said as Omicron ripped through all of Australia, it was no longer important to declare hotspots.
She said it would be assumed all travellers domestically had Covid-19 and it was now important to ensure the unvaccinated were not exposed to the virus in high risk settings like restaurants.
“This virus could be in any jurisdiction, with anyone travelling whether they are coming from a hotspot or not,” she said. “We don’t want to spend our time looking at whether we should be declaring or changing hotspots.
“It is now less important to worry about hotspot arrivals, changes to border passes and restrictions
“That is why our restrictions on who can access certain venues and events remain, because we are still wanting to make sure that only fully vaccinated people are entering those venues and events that are more likely to see fast transmission happening than where those people have travelled from.
“Now is the time to shift our focus on where people are going rather than where they are coming from.”
International travellers will not be able to arrive in Queensland quarantine-free until the state officially hit 90 per cent double dose mark.
Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard said the border restrictions had ‘served their purpose’ which was to allow all Queenslanders access to a vaccine before the virus swept through the community.
He said now the virus was spreading through the population - as expected - the border restrictions had ‘done their job’.
An ‘elated' police commissioner Katarina Carroll said the removal of the border checkpoints would enable police resources to be reprioritised to focus on the upcoming Covid peak.
‘I am elated, I can’t take the smile off my face, it’s been exhausting,” she said.
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China to reduce buys of Australian natural gas?
Since there is a worldwide shortage of it, the only people who will be hurt by this are the Chinese themselvs. Another footshot after the coal debacle. Presidrent XI is no economist. Boycotts tend in general to be ineffective. They have certainly not worked on Australia
The architect of Australia's $16 billion natural gas market in China warns that moves by Beijing to use energy as an economic weapon are a "double-edged sword" that could hurt the Asian superpower.
Former WA premier Richard Court, who led efforts to open up China as a liquefied natural gas user in the late 1990s, said an apparent snub by Beijing aimed at Australian producers could backfire on the ruling party.
Under long-term deals announced in October, China said it would more than double its LNG imports from the United States after three state-run companies struck agreements with little-known provider Venture Global.
Up to 5 million tonnes of the super-chilled fuel are set to flow to China as part of the arrangements.
Australia shipped a record 30.7 million tonnes to China in the 12 months to June 30.
The US agreements prompted Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the Global Times to frame the sales as a loss to Australia, which is China's biggest supplier of LNG.
Lin Boqiang, the director of the China Centre for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, suggested they had come at Australia's expense.
"It is obvious that Australia suffered great losses as an energy source for China," Mr Lin was quoted as saying.
"It is natural for China to diversify LNG imports, for example, buying more from the US after its relations with Australia froze."
Politics with energy can 'backfire'
Mr Court, who was premier between 1993 and 2001, said Beijing was on fragile ground when targeting Australia's energy exports.
He said China appeared to need Australian gas as much as local producers needed the Chinese market, pointing to the record prices North Asian buyers had paid for the fuel recently as supplies tightened.
The Liberal Party icon said China needed to look no further than Europe for the danger in its tactics after energy prices skyrocketed amid efforts to stymie new gas supplies from Russia.
"If you want to play politics with energy suppliers, it's a double-edged sword," Mr Court said. "If a country is prepared to play short-term politics with energy supplies, it can backfire.
"Australian energy producers have always been prepared to operate in a very competitive marketplace.
"And when it comes to supplying energy into Asia, we are beautifully situated because of our proximity.
"You need to be competitive on many fronts … competitive productions costs, competitive transport costs and — this is the critical thing — you must have a track record of reliable deliveries.
"That's what we've built up with Japan and Korea."
Deal 'commercial, not political'
Mark Hanna, a Perth-based LNG industry veteran and head of Energy Market Strategies, suggested the rhetoric from the US deal may have been based more on propaganda than reality.
Mr Hanna said the US had only recently entered the LNG market as an exporter, and the deal with China may simply reflect Beijing's desire to diversify its supply as countries such as Japan have long done.
He said that, while Australian producers would always prefer to sell more LNG, China had not played a "central" role in developing the local industry, which is second only to iron ore as the country's biggest export earner.
"Buying [US gas] is not political — it is a business and commercial decision made out to be political," Mr Hanna said.
Of the 10 major LNG developments built in Australia since the industry's establishment 35 years ago, Mr Hanna said just two had been underwritten by major Chinese investments.
He also questioned the practicality of the supply deal with the US, noting Venture Global would need to ship its LNG from the east coast of America through the Panama Canal, which was heavily congested and subject to delays.
What's more, he said rising US domestic gas prices and higher shipping costs meant the deal would have a hard time competing with Australian supplies on cost.
"There's a lot of risk buying from Venture Global," he said.
"They're a small, unproven outfit. You have to come through the Panama Canal, which is almost full, [and] the shipping costs are far greater.
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Covid patients occupy one in three ICU beds in NSW as nurse shortages soar
Staff shortages in one of Sydney’s best-resourced hospitals have sent nurse-to-patient ratios plummeting as new data shows the share of Covid patients occupying intensive care beds has shot up from one in five beds to one in three in just one week.
The high dependency unit of the hospital, which treats almost two dozen patients not yet sick enough to need intensive care, has about one fifth of its nurses absent because of Covid, according to a senior nurse who requested anonymity because of a ban on speaking to the media.
New South Wales may soon record as many as 100,000 new Covid cases a day as people taking rapid antigen tests report their positive results. Even though the Omicron variant is less virulent than the Delta strain, the explosion in cases means even if a small proportion get very ill that number threatens to overwhelm the hospital system.
Unlike in previous Covid waves, the hospital’s HDU is now housing Covid-positive patients even though it does not have specialised air treatment to filter out the virus.
“We’ve got a few patients with literally no immune system,” the nurse said. “They can die if they got [Covid] pretty instantly.”
Fresh figures from the Critical Intelligence Unit of the NSW health department show that as of 9 January the share of staffed ICU beds occupied by Covid patients across the whole state stood at 33%, up from 19.9% on 2 January.
The average length of stay of admissions for the week ending 10 January was 4.5 days, up from 3.6 days for the previous week, the data shows. For those in ICU, the average stay was 4.7 days compared with six days a week earlier.
As of 9 January, NSW had 4,941 healthcare workers in isolation, up from 2,457 on 3 January, the data shows.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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12 January, 2022
Australia's top doctors' urge prompt return to schools
Dozens of Australia's top academics, doctors and community leaders have called for schools to reopen in an open letter, as the Omicron wave approaches its peak.
Thousands of students will return to the classroom in the coming weeks for the 2022 school year as Covid infections surge to record levels.
As Queensland delayed its start to term one by two weeks, a group of leading figures have written to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and state and territory premiers, calling for them to reassure families that schools are safe to return to.
The letter urges governments to follow the principle set by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children's Fund that in a pandemic 'schools must be the last to close and the first to open'.
The authors describe students as the forgotten voices of the pandemic after thousands had their education disrupted for months at the time during lockdown.
Epidemiologists Catherine Bennett and Fiona Russell, former Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry and Professor of Child Health David Issacs are among the 35 academics, doctors and community leaders who have put their name to the open letter sent ahead of Thursday's national cabinet.
'In the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic we now have evidence that it is safe to allow schools to be open for face-to-face learning,' the letter begins.
'The national cabinet commitment to re-open schools is at risk, however, and needs to be reaffirmed by every jurisdiction, with measures taken to reassure Australian families that schools are safe to return.'
The high-profile people argue that a delay to return to face to face learning is not a proportionate response with data showing Covid-19 is a mild disease in children and that the overwhelming majority recover without adverse affects.
The letter also states there's medical case for face-to-face learning to be suspended despite the vaccine rollout for ages 5-11 being launched this week.
The letter warns of ignoring the obligation to deliver the best education outcomes if the return to the classroom is delayed as it greatly disadvantages the least privileged and causes unnecessary anxiety and harm.
'Children are the 'lost voices' of this pandemic,' it states.
'The right of children to an education based on in-person learning and healthy social interaction with peers is now one of the highest policy priorities for Australian governments to limit the long-term adverse impact of this pandemic.'
Concerns were also raised about children's mental health and increased risk of child abuse, obesity, and delayed social and emotional development.
The authors acknowledge measures such as rapid antigen testing, the wearing of masks and ventilation upgrades need to be implemented to reduce the risk of transmissions in schools and ease parents and teachers' fears about kids returning to school.
'Given the relatively low risk posed by schools and in the absence of evidence that these measures will have a substantial effect on transmission, a delayed roll-out of these measures should not delay in-person learning,' it states.
The letter ends stating Australian children have a fundamental right to high-quality education and the return of face to face learning as soon as possible is in everyone's best interests.
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Zero Covid WA? Tell Mark McGowan he’s dreaming
You can call it letting it rip. Or you could call it living with reality. Take your pick. The Omicron variant is clearly so infectious and so highly transmissible, it is a fool’s errand to try and prevent it’s spread by border closures and lockdowns.
Australians are shuffling through supermarkets in scenes reminiscent of the former Soviet Union circa 1980. Supply lines are collapsing as warehouse workers, forklift drivers, truck drivers and shelf stackers are off work either struck down by Omicron or forced to isolate under close contact rules.
The Omicron variant has only just celebrated its second month of existence. In that short space of time, it has travelled around the world and back again, causing havoc wherever it goes.
Two republics and a kingdom
By my reckoning only three jurisdictions have a Zero Covid policy — the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the state of Western Australia, sometimes called the Kingdom of Westralia.
We might also throw New Zealand where the Ardern government has closed the borders with the only permitted entrants having to endure a sort of Kafkaesque descent into bureaucratic hell marked with multiple PCR tests, statutory declarations and finally something obliquely called the MIQ or mandatory quarantine.
China may have low cases of Omicron, but it also has a city of 13 million people, Jian, in lockdown. Quarantine of local residents is strictly enforced. Hong Kong is shut down at night. As with China, entrants to Hong Kong must enter into quarantine for a 14-day period. Hong Kong creates an estimated 20 per cent to China’s GDP. Quarantine rules are starting to see businesses in the financial sector move to Singapore and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific.
Closing the borders has been a doddle for the DPRK, having all but done so since 1953. Hard borders then have become virtually impassable now, but it has come at a terrible cost. 90 per cent of the country’s imports come from China and this has declined by 80 per cent. In June 2021, The DPRK leader, Kim Jong-un took a break from the endless propaganda to tell a Korean Worker’s Party meeting that the “people’s food situation is now getting tense.”
Last month, South Korea’s intelligence services reported that Kim had ordered all North Koreans to devote every effort to farming, and to secure “every grain” of rice. Most, if not all, foreign aid and UN workers have left the country, effectively shutting down any humanitarian response.
Australia’s hermit kingdom
Western Australia and WA Labor’s anointed ‘state dad’, Mark McGowan should be taking note. Australia’s own hermit kingdom has just over a thousand Covid cases stand compared to New South Wales’ half a million. Western Australia continues to thrive economically. It was the only state in the Commonwealth not to go into a pandemic driven recession. That’s the good news and has created a sense of comfort in isolation.
But that isolation has led, in part, to a slow vaccination take up with the state running around ten per cent below the vaccination rates in eastern states and that delay will impact on booster shots to provide enhanced protection against Omicron.
If McGowan stays true to his word, WA will start opening up in February, once the state’s reaches the mark of 90 per cent aged 16 or older fully vaccinated.
Omicron is coming to Western Australia. There is no stopping it. Zero Covid policy merely delays it, kicks it down the road. Worse, it promises to extend the peak period of infection and transmissibility across the entire country, prolonging supply breakdowns and causing more economic harm than is necessary. The state of Western Australia and it’s dad is about to discover that Zero Covid under the Omicron variant is a dangerous fantasy.
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Queensland health boss issues ‘keep calm, carry on’ message despite Covid case warning
Despite escalating Covid case numbers, the chief health officer has advised healthy, vaccinated Queenslanders to go about their lives as normal, declaring the state is in an enviable position because of high vaccination rates.
Queenslanders must go about their lives as normal despite escalating case numbers and warnings more people will suffer from Covid-19 over coming weeks, the chief health officer has declared.
Authorities are expecting case numbers to reach a “short, sharp peak” in the first week of February when the health system is expected to come under the most pressure.
Queensland recorded 20,566 cases on Tuesday – some of which were discovered on Monday but were not reported due to a technical glitch – and one death, a man in his 70s who had other medical complications.
Chief health officer John Gerrard said Queensland was in an enviable position with just 27 patients in intensive care units and six on ventilators across the state.
“To put that in context, I was in Tokyo at the beginning of the pandemic dealing with the Diamond Princess outbreak where we had 700 people infected with Covid-19, of which over 30 were on ventilators in intensive care units,” he said.
“In Queensland we have well over 100,000 people that are infected … and we have just 27 people in intensive care units.
“The lesson is the vaccines are working, they’re specifically working in preventing people from getting critically ill and reducing hospital admissions.”
Dr Gerrard said it proved people must get vaccinated to “continue our lives as normal” despite rising case numbers and hospitalisations.
“What is happening here is inevitable,” he said. “We‘ve made this minor change at the start of the school year, but I think as far as possible, most of us should be continuing our lives as normal.
“As far as possible I think most of us should be continuing our lives as normal, I don’t think we should be allowing our lives to be disrupted too much at this stage by this virus.”
He said “notable exceptions” included those who were unvaccinated, immunocompromised and elderly.
Queensland Health was unable to say how many patients in the intensive care unit were unvaccinated.
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath confirmed Queensland was sticking with its reopening road map – which stipulates life will move a step closer to normality when the double-dose vaccination rate reaches 90 per cent within the next few weeks.
“People from interstate hotspots, at 90 per cent double dose, still have to be fully vaccinated but will not have to do either a rapid antigen test or a PCR test and international arrivals who are fully vaccinated won’t need to quarantine,” she said.
There are 91.16 per cent of Queenslanders with one dose and 87.85 per cent with two doses.
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‘Personal responsibility’ is no match for Omicron
Annabelle Warren wants more regulation. She seems to think that more isolation is needed
In the context of this pandemic, I consider myself a responsible person. I am a specialist doctor, triple vaxxed, healthy, in my early 30s, and I have previously worked in a COVID-19 ward – but my “personal responsibility” hasn’t protected me from COVID-19.
A misplaced reliance on this strategy is failing us all, especially our most vulnerable.
Despite being cautious, wearing masks in public indoor settings and moderating social contact, my brush with COVID-19 came at a five-person lunch eaten outdoors, with friends who were fully vaccinated and each returned a negative rapid antigen test that morning. Unfortunately, the next day someone reported an unwell partner and a positive rapid test, and I had become a contact.
The lunch was under four hours and mostly outside, so I didn’t meet the revised definition of a close contact. I cancelled plans despite the official advice to simply monitor for symptoms, but did not formally isolate.
Two days later I felt dry in my throat. I had “responsibly” bought two boxes of five rapid tests before Christmas in anticipation of demand, costing over $100. The result that day was negative. On that basis, I popped to the supermarket wearing an N95 mask to buy supplies. The following day, four days after my exposure, I developed a dry cough and chest tightness and this time the two red lines read positive.
I was unsurprised but still shocked. At that time, PCR testing sites were overwhelmed with five to six-hour waits. The advice was “don’t get tested”. “Manage at home” seemed to mean “you’re on your own”.
As someone who has worked hard in the public hospital system for many years caring for others, I felt cast adrift. At least as I am on annual leave, there were no workforce consequences. Now that I have been able to report my rapid test result, I have been connected with COVID Positive Pathways symptom monitoring, which supports people to isolate at home.
So this is COVID-19, we meet after two years. I am so lucky that our collective sacrifices with lockdowns and (eventual) access to good PPE have delayed my encounter so I am fully vaccinated, with my risk of severe disease reduced more than 90 per cent, despite the delayed rollout. But by failing to correct course and reintroduce restrictions on large gatherings when Omicron started to flare, our advantage was squandered. Australia now has one of the highest rates of COVID-19 infection in the world.
As I write, I’m now on day three of illness and I have a fever, dry cough, fatigue and my face and arms feel numb. I know that I have every reason to remain a “mild” case. I couldn’t be in a more privileged position to “personal responsibility” my way through this, but I’m scared.
I’m terrified I’ve given COVID-19 to my partner by not isolating adequately. I’m concerned for my medical and nursing colleagues under unprecedented strain, and I worry about anyone who needs any sort of medical care in the next six weeks as the proverbial hits the fan.
Negative rapid tests don’t mean no COVID-19, and they don’t mean you are not infectious. Personal caution in excess of current guidelines did not spare me infection. None of us are safe while transmission rates skyrocket, especially those in our community who are vulnerable due to older age, medical conditions, disability or being unvaccinated.
Despite the false reassurance, access to rapid tests was crucial to my knowing I was at risk the next day so I could limit movement, and in confirming my diagnosis early so I could isolate. People shouldn’t have to line up and spend hundreds of dollars – they should be free, and freely available. No one’s putting sticks up their nose for fun – or if they are and it prevents transmission, good on them.
In my case, the current close contact definition was insufficient and by following that advice, I ended up inadequately isolating. Lax isolation criteria to get people back to work is a false economy that will logically lead to a greater number of staff isolating with infection down the track. Similarly, the reduced isolation period of seven days for cases should be continually reassessed to ensure it does not increase transmission risk.
Our leaders made a conscious decision about a poorly understood new variant to “let it rip” into our hard-fought equilibrium, so they should have had a plan to manage the consequences. Instead, it’s a disaster. Sunscreen is useless if everything’s on fire, and no one’s holding any hoses right now.
A misplaced reliance on “personal responsibility” has been a failed tactic in the face of Omicron that falsely lays blame for a policy vacuum at the feet of individuals. Now is not the time to abandon the public health measures that we know mitigate spread.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/personal-responsibility-is-no-match-for-omicron-20220109-p59mux.html
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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11 January, 2022
Novak Djokovic ruling: Strategic surrender or an embarrassing loss?
As a survivor of Covid, he had natural immunity so was no danger to others. Vaccination would have added nothing
Legal cases are rarely dramatic. But the federal government’s total capitulation on Monday in its case against Novak Djokovic was about as dramatic as you could imagine.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews consented to the Federal Circuit Court quashing the decision to cancel Djokovic’s visa and to paying his legal costs. All up, the legal costs for the taxpayer (without including court time), will likely be more than $250,000.
Djokovic didn’t technically win his case, he just forced the government to give up its defence. But in some ways, forcing your opponent to yield to you and surrender is better than a win. It’s certainly more embarrassing for the loser.
People might not understand how an unvaccinated person – tennis player or not – can come into this country, especially after Australians overseas have had difficulty getting home for the two years of the pandemic. Add to that the fact that Melbourne has endured substantial lockdowns and the unvaccinated have been subject to strict controls on their movements.
Djokovic would say he is entitled to an exemption from getting vaccinated because he recently contracted Covid and given that it might not be safe to get the vaccine. He seems to have ATAGI on his side on that. The government would say that is not a good enough reason and he’s been allowed in because Border Force made technical mistakes in processing the decision to cancel his visa.
With a clearly annoyed judge Anthony Kelly, the government not only agreed to the reinstatement of Djokovic’s visa, it agreed to the court finding the process that the government – through Border Force – engaged in was unreasonable.
The big question is whether the government will now try to remake the decision but this time with a proper process.
On one view it’s possible the capitulation was a strategic one. There’s a saying in the law about “taking the temperature of the bench”. The bench is where the judge sits, and so this refers to trying to guess from the judge’s comments or demeanour which way they’re going to decide.
Taking the temperature of the bench on Monday told me his Honour was red hot in favour of finding for Djokovic. Not only did his Honour seem to think the process was unreasonable – as the government agreed to his Honour including in the court orders made by consent – but his Honour appears to have had a tentative view in favour of Djokovic on a far more important point.
Earlier in the hearing – when the live feed was not active – his Honour said he found it difficult to understand how Djokovic’s medical exemption – based on his December positive test and signed by a professor of immunology, a physician with expertise in disease and endorsed by a state government independent panel – was rejected by Border Force. A finding by his Honour that Djokovic was medically exempt would have tied the government’s hands in future.
So it is possible it surrendered in order to limit the loss it was about to suffer by agreeing to essentially start the whole process again.
The big question at the end of Monday’s hearing was what will the government do now? The court was told at the end of the case that the government was still considering cancelling Djokovic’s visa. The judge seemed unimpressed, although thankful he had been told and not blindsided later.
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Migration ‘benefits’ not backed up by facts
There was barely a week last year when some lobby group or other wasn’t out there spruiking the case for an immediate and substantial increase in the migrant intake.
If it wasn’t about meeting skill shortages, it was about supporting the higher education sector by allowing in international students. If it wasn’t about boosting the economy, it was about migrants paying off the enormous government debt that has been accumulated.
The fact that repeated surveys have pointed to a lack of support among ordinary Australians for a return to high rates of immigration is quickly overlooked. That the decade ending in 2019 was associated with substantial migrant intakes, particularly of temporary migrants, and essentially stagnant per capita (and household) incomes is similarly ignored.
If this were not depressing enough, a number of state governments and the federal government appear to be only too willing to seek to turbocharge the number of migrants able to enter the country.
In October last year, it was revealed that the NSW government was being advised to support a massive surge in migrant numbers that would involve bringing in an additional two million people in five years. (The pre-pandemic annual average was about 240,000 net overseas migration – the difference between long-term arrivals and long-term departures.)
Evidently, we need a “national dialogue on an aggressive resumption of immigration levels as a key means of economic recovery and post-pandemic growth”. Sadly, it would seem that NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet finds this sort of advice very appealing, although other events have distracted him since taking office.
Most media outlets provide balanced accounts of the immigration debate, giving ample scope for Big Australia advocates to make their case but cover the various concerns arising from high migrant intakes. When it comes to The Australian Financial Review, by contrast, it is Big Australia all the way. (This may reflect its largely business readership.)
In an editorial published last year, it was argued that “migration is often miscast as a Ponzi scheme, lazy growth in which migrants service other migrants to produce headline GDP gain that is neither sustainable nor worthwhile. That’s a fundamental misreading of the character of Australia. Unlike most of its developed peers, Australia is still a frontier economy with untapped resources, and its biggest days in front of it.”
The idea that Australia is a frontier economy is, of course, bizarre. As a country with one of the highest per capita income levels, albeit one that has been slipping, in the world, it is a ludicrous proposition to label us a frontier economy. And the issue about the Ponzi scheme is that the migrant intake must be increased in relation to the size of the population in order to secure the same proportional boost to GDP (but not GDP per head).
This is, in fact, acknowledged in the latest Intergenerational Report released last year by the Treasury. The modelling there involves both a static NOM (around 240,000 per year) and a proportional NOM (increasing with the population), with preference given to the latter.
To welcome in the new year we learnt that KPMG had leapt on the Big Australia wagon and is advocating ramping up migration levels to 350,000 per year. Evidently, this will be needed to make up for the “lost” migrants during the pandemic.
But according to its chief economist, Brendan Rynne, the boost to migration will boost the economy by $120bn and increase GDP by 4.4 per cent by the end of the decade.
(I tried to find more details of the KPMG study but was unable to find any more, including the sponsor of the study. Mind you, the KPMG website resembles a booklet you would expect the Greens to produce – all climate change, human rights, environmental/social/governance responsibilities and the like.)
According to Dr Rynne, “I am absolutely a supporter of increasing migration to Australia and at levels above what is in the Population Statement to ensure not only that we get the economic benefits, (but also) the social and cultural benefits you get from opening your borders and allowing a truly multicultural society.” He clearly regards there being no social or cultural downsides to having high migrant intakes. He also fails to mention congestion, additional demand on services and pressure on infrastructure.
He acknowledges that immigration can moderate wages but “the second-round benefits, particularly from skilled workers who bring greater productivity, is that this productivity improvement is the thing that generates sustainable long-term wage rises”.
The problem with this analysis is that it is simply not supported by the facts. Productivity in the high migration decade ending 2019 was extremely sluggish. Moreover, the evidence is clear that many skilled migrants are not particularly skilled and do not hold skilled jobs.
One of the angles pushed by big Australia advocates is that migrants provide a fiscal dividend by generating more in tax revenue than they cost (think here education, health and aged care, transfer payments). According to Treasury modelling, skilled primary migrants have a positive lifetime fiscal impact of $319,000 per migrant. (Bear in mind here that only the costs incurred by the federal government are included. The costs borne by the states, including of additional infrastructure, are not counted.)
The problem here is that all the other migrant groups, including skilled secondary (who have a right to accompany skilled primary migrants), have negative fiscal lifetime impacts. Family migrants, who remain a substantial part of the permanent migrant intake, generate a lifetime fiscal impact of negative $137,000 per migrant.
Of course, it is simply not possible to attract skilled migrants without allowing them to be accompanied by their spouse/partner. Many also seek to bring in other family members, including elderly parents (often on temporary visas).
It is also interesting to ponder whether the observed large positive lifetime fiscal impact of skilled primary migrants is skewed by a few highly paid occupations, particularly doctors. It is well known that our health system continues to rely on the steady inflow of foreign-trained doctors.
It seems passing strange when so many of our young folk aspire to be doctors but are rejected because of the limited number of university places, but we regard bringing in doctors from overseas (who would be highly valued in their own countries) as acceptable. The solution is obvious: train more of our own.
When it comes to the immigration debate, I say: bring it on. But watch out for the motives of those pressing for Big Australia, in particular. What is portrayed as being in the national interest is often just a thin disguise for the pursuit of self-interest.
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Singing and dancing banned at NSW festivals, but at church? No worries
With Omicron cases exploding across NSW in recent weeks, the state government pulled a lever it has previously reached for during the pandemic: imposing restrictions on the live music industry by public health order.
New rules announced by NSW Health last Friday stated that singing and dancing was not permitted indoors at “a hospitality venue, entertainment facility, nightclub, or major recreation facility”.
Exceptions apply to wedding services or a gathering immediately following a wedding; a performer who is performing or rehearsing, or a person who is instructing, or being instructed, in singing or dancing.
Late on Monday, NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant signed an amendment to the Public Health Act which came into effect on Tuesday, January 11.
In an explanatory note attached to the amendment, the object of the order was “to prohibit singing and dancing by persons attending music festivals”.
It will have devastating consequences for businesses and individuals operating in this sector.
After hanging on during the long wait of getting national vaccination rates high enough to reopen venues and again hold events, many live music workers thought 2022 would offer the chance to safely resume after two years of pain and interruptions.
Yet there’s another form of venue where it appears to be perfectly fine for music fans to stand, sing and sway together before a live band: Hillsong Church.
On Sunday morning, NSW state pastor Nathanael Wood led a service at the church’s Hills Convention Centre in Norwest, 35km northwest of central Sydney.
The 50-minute live-streamed service – which has received more than 10,000 views on YouTube – concluded with an extended performance by Hillsong Worship, the church’s ARIA chart-topping and Grammy Award-winning devotional rock ‘n’ roll band.
With five singers and four instrumentalists, the group ran through an extended version of its song That’s The Power before a masked congregation on its feet with arms raised.
To all intents and purposes, it looked much like a rock concert you might find at a venue anywhere across NSW – except singing and dancing at those concerts is banned by public health order until January 27.
Asked by The Australian about this apparent double standard, NSW Health did not address the question.
“Face masks are required for all indoor premises, subject to exemptions,” said a spokesperson on Monday afternoon. “NSW Health encourages people to avoid large gatherings at the current time. Anyone attending a gathering should consider taking a rapid antigen test beforehand and should maintain physical distance from others as much as possible.”
Asked again why churches and places of worship were excluded from the current restrictions on singing and dancing across the state, NSW Health responded on Tuesday afternoon.
“Singing and dancing in hospitality venues and nightclubs is deemed high risk due to increased movement and mingling within and across these venues, the influence of alcohol consumption, and the removal of masks in these settings to consume food and drink,” said a NSW Health spokesperson. “People attending religious services generally remain in fixed positions and masks are mandatory for these indoor gatherings.”
A spokesperson for Hillsong responded to a request from The Australian, but did not provide an interview or statement by time of publication.
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Sydney Festival: Assertion Israel is a racist state is simply not true
This month, several editorials have been published and countless toxic comments made on social media calling on artists to boycott the Sydney Festival.
The reason? The Israeli Embassy in Sydney wanted financially to support the artists, musicians and community of Sydney, a gesture of goodwill and friendship that has been offered in past festivals by numerous other embassies and internationally affiliated companies and organisations.
As an Australian who has worked with some of the most well-known cultural, film and music acts in the world, I feel compelled to respond to this disturbing, divisive and hugely counterproductive call. A call that harms local artists, unfairly demonises and dehumanises Israelis and ultimately damages the prospects for peace in the Middle East.
My work as an entertainment lawyer has included representation of film directors, writers and actors from all over the Middle East including Egyptians, Iranians, Saudis, Palestinians as well as Israelis. At the request of the Film Festival in Beirut, I was invited to teach a masterclass to young Middle Eastern filmmakers and share my 38 years of experience in an effort to help the next generation learn about the industry. The week that I spent there was one of the most fulfilling chapters of my career. It included leading a discussion with representatives from around the Middle East on how bringing together people in the arts is a way of finding commonality – building bridges together, not pulling them down.
During my career I’ve witnessed the power of cultural experiences, like music, to unite people of different backgrounds and from diverse communities. And I’ve used my platform to stand in solidarity with others.
The calls to boycott Israel, Israeli artists and festivals like this one merely dampen the constructive forms of engagement needed to bring Israelis, Palestinians and the international community together. They make it more difficult to establish trust, mutual understanding and compromise. Artists and entertainers have the ability to effect positive change and the selective targeting of Israel for a cultural boycott not only does not bring the region any closer to peace, but also fails and silences artists in the process.
In the worst instances, these boycotts have led to death threats against cultural icons including Argentine footballer Lionel Messi and songwriter Paul McCartney for merely wishing to visit Israel to play a friendly soccer match and perform at a concert there.
Hamas, which is a member of the boycott movement’s central committee, just publicly declared its support for the entertainers who have pulled out. Hamas is an internationally designated terrorist organisation whose aim is the destruction of Israel.
There’s a curious talking point used by those in favour of boycotting Israel and it can be found on the website of the activists spearheading the boycott of the Sydney Festival. It states: “Israel has long used culture and the arts to cloak its atrocities against the Palestinian people.” There is an insidious logic to such a statement. Are Israelis allowed to support the arts without being accused of doing so for shadowy reasons? Is every Israeli action, regardless of how benign, philanthropic or altruistic, an attempt to “cloak” Israeli domestic policies? Would we levy the same accusations against Australia? If so, is the Sydney Festival itself some sort of PR stunt to cover up our own nation’s shortcomings? This is a fallacious argument at its core.
There is such a thing as objective truth. And the assertion that Israel is an inherently racist, colonialist, apartheid state is simply not true. The calls to boycott Israeli-affiliated events like the Sydney Festival, push concepts of “us versus them” and “good versus evil”, paint the current conflict as undeniably simple. And if you question its supposed simplicity, you only prove your guilt of “oppression”. Those calling for this boycott refuse to acknowledge the considerable complexity, nuance and legitimate obstacles to peace that exist. They refuse to acknowledge that Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel and that more than half of Israelis are Mizrahi or Sephardic Jews who never left the Middle East when Jews were dispersed around the world by invaders centuries ago.
Recognising this truth doesn’t prevent peace, but allows for a mature, robust dialogue of how to achieve it. And it does so without misleading slogans, incendiary accusations and heated boycotts.
Unfortunately, the calls to boycott the Sydney Festival misrepresent basic truths about the Israeli state and weaponise indigeneity, while unfairly pressuring local artists from performing.
Let’s elevate the conversation, commit to being partners in peace, honour the lived history of Jews in their indigenous homeland and support local artists who want to perform in theirs.
While art can reflect politics, and artists can choose to reflect their politics in their own art, art should never become subservient to politics and artists and cultural events should never be forced to be politicised. Ultimately, the boycott movement is an affront to Palestinian and Israeli moderates alike who are seeking to reach peace through compromise, exchange and mutual recognition
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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10 January, 2022
Barrier Reef islands are GROWING
Warmists are always prophecying that Pacific islands will go underwater as a result of global warming of the ocean, with coral cays being particularly vulnerable.
But actual evidence below shows us that the opposite is happening. Coral cays are in fact GROWING. Any effect of global warming is more than cancelled out by other processes.
Basing predictions on just one of many potentially influential factors is dumb and very unscientific
A scientific field trip to a small group of deserted islands on the Great Barrier Reef has its roots in a 1928 expedition and has implications for the future of the reef.
A team of researchers from the University of Wollongong led by Associate Professor Sarah Hamylton visited the Howick islands, about 130 kilometres north-east of Cooktown, in far northern Queensland, last year and found the mangroves were expanding.
“What’s particularly interesting for a lot of the islands in the Howick group that we are mapping and investigating is that they are growing,” Associate Professor Hamylton says.
“Most of the islands we have looked at are predominantly made up of broken up corals, which waves then sweep and deposit on the island. This coral sediment is responsible for building up the islands. Add in mangrove forests and you can see that these islands are actually growing. Some mangrove forests are marching forwards by up to five to six metres per year,” she explains.
Associate Professor Hamylton says the group was able to compare aerial images taken by a drone with hand-drawn maps created in 1928 and photographs from 1974.
“This research was started back in 1928 with an expedition known as the Great Barrier Reef Low Isles Expedition.”
In July 1928, British and Australian scientists undertook a journey to investigate the biggest coral reef in the world. They spent 13 months wandering reefs and islands, looking at ocean conditions and growth rate of corals.
“Two members of the Great Barrier Reef Low Isles Expedition were particularly interested in how old the reef islands around here are and how were they formed,” says Associate Professor Hamylton.
“The researchers observed ocean waves and tidal currents transporting loose coral sediments derived from the underlying reef platform and depositing these to form the islands. Sometimes these cays or islands may remain unconsolidated and move around with the seasons. But over time, the larger cays built up to be above the sea level and become covered in vegetation, which stabilises them into more permanent features.”
Forty-five years later, in 1973-74, another group of researchers, the Royal Society and Universities of Queensland Expedition, decided to partially retrace the footsteps of the researchers from the 1928 expedition. They concentrated on remapping the Howick group, as well as other islands further north, in more detail. By remapping the islands and collecting more data on mangrove forest vegetation, the researchers believed they could inspire subsequent studies.
The information caught the eye of Associate Professor Hamylton who has a keen interest in geomorphology, which examines how landscapes such as the islands on the Great Barrier Reef form and are shaped over time.
“When I looked over the maps from 1928, then some aerial photos from 1974, I then compared these maps and images with recent satellite imagery from the internet and could plainly see that the islands had increased in size. Especially since 1974.”
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Both coal and iron selling well
A teeth-grinder for the Greenies
Thermal coal is back on the up after Indonesia, one of the world’s largest exporters, introduced an export ban this week.
While some analysts believe it will be short-lived, it is driving pressure on prices in the short term, with energy coal climbing almost 10% overnight according to Commsec.
Australian coal miners are enjoying buoyant prices for the commodity right now, helping them recover from the dark early days of the pandemic.
Terracom (ASX:TER), which owns the Blair Athol mine in Queensland as well as operations in South Africa, is a case in point. Across the June quarter last year coal from Blair Athol in the Bowen Basin fetched US$94.1/t on average, at a time when the company was working on a now completed refinancing package to reduce its operating risk.
In the December quarter, the company announced today, it sold its Australian coal at an average of $219/t.
It delivered 502,000t from Blair Athol across the December quarter and plans to produce 2.3Mt this financial year.
That would have been even more had a third 79,000t shipment in December, delayed to January 5 because of wet weather, set sail before the end of the year.
Terracom’s two December shipments average a sail price of $213/t Aussie.
Iron ore continues to defy forecasts of its decline early in 2022 with strong buying from traders ahead of next month’s Beijing Winter Olympics spurring the commodity to its strongest prices in around three months.
Prices for benchmark 62% iron ore on some indexes topped US$128/t overnight, while futures have also rallied.
Singapore 62% swaps for February, which sunk to US$85.17/t in mid November, are now buying US$126.85, while Dalian Futures for May delivery are similar solid, trading at US$111.66/t today.
It has driven the big end of town to a strong finish to the year’s first trading week.
Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) was up ~3.2% to lead the large cap stocks on the ASX, pushing its share price back through the important $20 a share barrier to $20.38.
Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) also extended its gains above $100 to $103.39, rising 2.15%, while BHP (ASX:BHP) gained 2.23% to climb to $43.63.
The materials sector was up 1.16% and 2.29% for the week despite the ASX’s massive Thursday fall, and 8.53% higher over the past month, driven by rising prices and interest in iron ore miners and lithium stocks
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Top doctor Nick Coatsworth tells parents NOT to worry if they can't get their children vaccinated before they go back to school
One of Australia's top doctors has urged parents to 'leave fear behind' and not worry if they can't book their kids in to get the Covid-19 vaccine before school returns.
Monday marks another milestone in Australia's vaccine roll-out with ages 5-11 now eligible to get the jab as Covid cases surge towards 100,000 daily infections.
Australia's former deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth urged concerned parents who can't get an appointment for weeks to not worry if their kids aren't vaccinated before the start of term one, despite the Omicron surge.
'I wanted to remind parents of that, that this is primarily a disease that affects adults severely and affects children mildly,' he told the Today show on Monday.
'So if you're a parent, as I am, I don't think we need to get concerned about how quickly we get our five to 11-year-olds vaccinated, in particular, do not be concerned if you can't get an appointment before school goes back.
'I don't think I will be able to get an appointment before school goes back. I might for my kids. But I won't be concerned if that's not the case.'
He rejected growing calls for the start of the 2022 school year to be delayed, amid concerns students would contract Covid in the classroom and pass it on family members at home.
'That's absolutely a concern. But it needn't be,' Dr Coatsworth continued.
'The US just released their data on mortality, on death, in fully vaccinated individuals and across an entire community, it's 0.003 per cent.'
'We have got to leave this fear behind and replace it with facts.'
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews ruled out a delayed return to the classroom, unlike their Queensland counterpart Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Students in the Sunshine State had their return to school delayed by a fortnight until February 7 as Queensland recorded 18,000 new Covid cases on Sunday.
Years 11 and 12 will spend the first week from January 31 learning from home.
But Dr Coatsworth insisted no state should delay the return to school.
'Every government and medical expert in this country needs to follow the lead of the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund, which both state that schools should be the last to close and the first to open,' he said.
'We are not in a situation in Australia that requires a delay to schools opening.'
He added parents should be reassured rapid antigen testing will play a vital role in students returning to school with a 'test to stay' strategy implemented in the UK and many European countries.
'That is the only sustainable option, actually,' Dr Coatsworth said.
'If there's a case in the classroom, you test the remaining children, if they're negative on a rapid test, they remain in the classroom because it's a mild diseases in children,
'Because we will gradually vaccinate our five to 11-year-old population, that's going to be a safe thing to do. I do think that all states and territories should take that approach.'
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Australian lithium miners are happy
A shortage of the battery raw material lithium needed to supply the world’s switch from combustion engines to electric cars is on course to prolong last year’s stunning price rally, lifting the outlook for miners of the sought-after mineral across Australia.
As the era of electric vehicles (EVs) begins to accelerate, carmakers worldwide have been racing to lock in reliable supplies of lithium-ion battery raw ingredients including lithium, nickel and cobalt, which are urgently required to roll out more EVs but are failing to keep up with ballooning demand.
The supply crunch sparked a stunning rally last year in prices for lithium, one of the key building blocks for EV batteries. Cargoes of hard-rock lithium concentrate known as spodumene sent from Australia averaged about $US400 a tonne in 2020 and are fetching $US2000 today.
A one-off cargo sold at auction by ASX-listed miner Pilbara Minerals in the September quarter sold for a staggering $US2240 a tonne.
Analysts have now begun updating their forecasts on the assumption that market tightness is likely to persist well into 2022 and the rally could have further to run.
“Sector fundamentals remain strong with spot spodumene prices set to increase significantly this quarter and contract prices still playing catch-up,” said Bank of America analyst Jack Gabb, who predicts one-off spot prices could rise as high as $US3900 a tonne at Pilbara Minerals’ next auction.
Bank of America last week lifted its share price targets for a number of ASX-listed lithium producers including Allkem (16 per cent higher), Pilbara Minerals (13 per cent) and IGO (3 per cent).
While lithium prices fell sharply in 2018 as a rush of new supply projects collided with a slowdown in EV sales, optimism about the EV revolution has since returned. EV uptake has been building strongly in key markets of the US, Europe and China and carmakers are expanding their electric vehicle lines. Governments are setting deadlines to phase out combustion-engine vehicles and unleashing stimulus packages targeting transport electrification, while investors are betting that EVs will account for 40 per cent of new vehicle sales by 2030.
Australia is the world’s biggest producer of lithium and accounts for an estimated 30 per cent of known resources. Most lithium in Australia, however, is exported as spodumene concentrate, rather than refined battery-ready material.
Lithium producers across Australia and worldwide are scurrying to increase capacity — reopening mothballed mines and developing new projects — driving an estimated 36 per cent increase in lithium supply in 2022, according to Bank of America.
However, the increase will be insufficient to keep pace with near-term demand. “Hence, we expect spot pricing to remain elevated,” Mr Gabb said.
Morgan Stanley analyst Rachel Zhang said lithium supply tightness was expected to remain during the first half of 2022 before some “loosening” was possible in the second half as new supply came to market. “That said, considering normally better lithium consumption in the second half, tight market balance is still likely then,” she said.
Despite the need for more lithium mines to electrify the transport sector, which presently accounts for about one-fifth of planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions globally, community opposition to new mines built amid concerns about environmental damage could constrain supply even further.
Rio Tinto, Australia’s second-biggest mining company, has been facing an intensifying backlash against its plan to develop the $US2.4 billion ($3.3 billion) Jadar lithium mine in western Serbia. Last month, campaigners filled Belgrade’s streets in protest, leading to local authorities suspending an allocation of land for the project.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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9 January, 2022
NAPLAN analysis shows no difference in effectiveness between public, private schools
This analysis is not fair dinkum. Below is the journal abstract:
A higher proportion of students are privately educated in Australia, compared with many other nations. In this paper, we tested the assumption that private schools offer better quality education than public schools. We examined differences in student achievement on the National Assessment Programme: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) between public, independent, and catholic schools. Cross-sectional regressions using large samples of students (n = 1583–1810 ) at Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 showed few sector differences in NAPLAN scores in any domain. No differences were evident
*after controlling for socioeconomic status and prior NAPLAN achievement*.
Using longitudinal modelling, we also found no sector differences in the rate of growth for reading and numeracy between Year 3 and Year 9. Results indicate that already higher achieving students are more likely to attend private schools, but private school attendance does not alter academic trajectories, thus undermining conceptions of private schools adding value to student outcomes.
Removing the influence of prior NAPLAN scores should not have been done. The results are what they are and removing prior NAPLAN scores is irrelevant and distorting. Prior NAPLAN scores are NOT an influence on current score. They are just a correlate of it. Removing prior scores is a powerful way to remove differences so it is no wonder that no differences were found
Socioeonomic status, on the other hand IS a cause of achievement and removing its influence is therefore informative.
It looks like the equalitarian ideology of the researchers has triumphed over reality
A major study of NAPLAN results over time found only slight differences in scores between the three school sectors, and these differences disappeared once a student’s family background was considered.
An analysis of students’ improvement between years 3 and 9 also found no variation between the private and public sector, “thus undermining conceptions of private schools adding value to student outcomes”, the researchers found.
The research team, led by Sally Larsen from the University of New England, looked at the NAPLAN results of more than 1500 students who were involved in the national testing program in years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
They found no difference in average achievement between the three school sectors in primary school, except that year 5 students in public schools performed slightly better in numeracy than those in Catholic schools.
Year 7 and 9 students at independent schools were slightly ahead, but their “apparent advantage … disappeared after including SES [socio-educational status],” said the report, published in the journal The Australian Educational Researcher on Tuesday.
“Results such as these highlight that school sector is not a strong predictor of basic skills achievement, and suggest that it is the social background and academic ability of children who attend private schools which support the appearance of better quality schooling.”
Dr Larsen said the researchers wanted to explore whether private schools improved student outcomes, given NAPLAN is billed as a way to evaluate the extent to which schools contribute to students’ literacy and numeracy skills.
A student’s background - particularly their parents’ education levels - is a strong predictor of their academic achievement. However, many parents do not take this into account when they look at the strong academic results from high-fee private schools.
The study’s findings can reassure parents that “it’s OK if you can’t afford private schooling”, Dr Larsen said.
“The largest predictor of academic achievement in NAPLAN is previous achievement in NAPLAN. If we accept NAPLAN does assess something about the basic achievement of students, then the school sector is not going to make a large amount of difference.”
The study’s results echo those from earlier research.
A 2018 analysis from the Grattan Institute, a think tank, found attending a public or private school had little impact on how fast a student progressed in NAPLAN.
The results of the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a test sat by students across the OECD, found there was no difference in the reading or science achievement between the school sectors once results were adjusted for socioeconomic background.
In maths, government schools slightly outperformed Catholic schools for the first time.
Peter Goss, who did the Grattan analysis, said Dr Larsen’s study used a different approach but came to the same basic conclusion.
“After taking account of socio-economic factors, Australia’s three school sectors show no meaningful difference in the rate of student learning progress in NAPLAN reading and numeracy,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean that all schools are equal. Far from it - after accounting for SES, the best schools in each sector help their students make much faster progress in reading and numeracy than average.
“If we want to improve education outcomes at scale, we have to get much better at identifying what those schools are doing. Harnessing this variation is the key.”
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NSW Police scrap controversial search targets after quota rise during pandemic
NSW Police have scrapped their controversial strategy of setting targets for carrying out personal searches and move-on powers, but not before increasing quotas during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The use of numerical goals to monitor performance across police regions and commands has been criticised by legal bodies and civil libertarians as enabling the targeting of vulnerable groups, with the state’s former top prosecutor Nicholas Cowdery labelling the strategy as a distortion of law enforcement.
Mr Cowdery, an adjunct professor of law at Sydney University and a previous director of Public Prosecutions in NSW, welcomed the ditching of search and move-on targets – rebadged “community safety indicators” (CSI) by police last year – saying they could have “serious consequences for innocent citizens”.
“Police would be encouraged to put the worst construction on conduct that they observe to give them justification to conduct searches,” he said, adding a miscarriage of appropriate discretion could be severe for young and vulnerable people, particularly Indigenous Australians.
Police had 'no idea' about strip search laws, watchdog finds
According to NSW Police, the targets were removed for the 2021-22 financial year in line with the commissioner’s priorities for “prevention-focused policing”. No further comment was provided.
NSW Police previously faced heightened scrutiny over the legality of its strip-searching practices, including a public inquiry into several incidents of children being subjected to the procedure at music festivals.
A police spokesperson said the use of police powers, including search powers, were required to be done in accordance with the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002.
Police increased their targets for carrying out personal searches and move-on powers during the pandemic while their use of those tactics fell markedly through the same period.
Officers had quotas to conduct more than 240,000 personal searches, issue nearly 110,000 move-on directions and detect 305,000 crimes in 2020-21, despite a fall in crime rates across most categories between 2019 and 2021.
Law enforcement persisted in pursuing quotas across a number of crimes during the pandemic, which saw historically low rates in some categories, with many other crimes remaining stable.
The police spokesperson said the indicators were an important assessment tool within COMPASS, the digital system that records incidents and targets, as it provided a three-year average of actual incident statistics across priority categories, to compare performance and identify trends.
“Where there are disparities – whether increased or decreased in comparison to a CSI – it is expected a commander would provide rationale and comparison of the pandemic impact when addressing and reporting on crime results. There is no punitive action in relation to CSIs,” the spokesperson said.
Overall search quotas were increased 1.8 per cent in the 2020-21 financial year, compared to 2019-20, but quotas for some parts of the state went up by far more.
Police were given targets to conduct 21 per cent more personal searches in Nepean in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20, while incidents fell by 24 per cent.
Greens MLC David Shoebridge said increasing targets for “invasive” personal searches by up to 21 per cent during a pandemic “shows how wrong these quotas are.”
“There is hope that with a new commissioner there will be a turn away from the very idea of policing to quotas,” Mr Shoebridge said.
The police spokesperson said preventative policing strategies, along with community engagement, played a significant role in the reduction of crime.
Search targets for Wollongong and Liverpool also increased by more than 15 per cent, while targets for Mount Druitt, Eastern Beaches and Campsie went up by more than 10 per cent. The incidents for those commands fell by between 6 and 20 per cent.
In Liverpool, targets for move-on directions - designed to order people out of public spaces - increased by 35 per cent despite their use decreasing by 22 per cent over the two financial years.
In Leichhardt, move-on targets increased by 21 per cent despite their use dropping by 31 per cent, and in Riverstone, in Sydney’s north-west, the target increased 20 per cent while the incidents dropped by double that.
While the overall target for detecting crimes fell by about 1.8 per cent between 2019-20 and 2020-21 and targets for most individual crime categories fell or stayed the same, the target for drug detection (supply) increased by 11 per cent, from a total of 6364 detections across the state in 2019-20 to 9959 in 2020-21.
The overall incidents of drug detection fell by 1.5 per cent during that period.
The police spokesperson said despite the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on drug markets in the latter half of 2019–20, a number of records were set, including 38.5 tonnes of illicit drugs seized nationally.
“We make no apology for targeting those who participate in, or direct the activities of, criminal groups that impact on the safety of people in NSW,” the spokesperson said.
Asked about the effects of the pandemic on crime trends during a parliamentary hearing in September, retiring NSW Police commissioner Mick Fuller said, overall, “crime is extremely low or extremely stable”.
“Property crime is certainly some of the lowest that we have seen in modern history. It sort-of has been fascinating to watch different factors, such as federal government injections of money into the economy and the movement of people,” Mr Fuller said during budget estimates.
Aboriginal Legal Service NSW and ACT acting Chief Executive Nadine Miles said setting targets “only incentivises police to take a heavy-handed approach and intervene in situations where their involvement may not be necessary”.
The internal data, obtained from NSW Police via freedom-of-information laws, also shows Newcastle City, Port Stephens-Hunter, Mid North Coast, New England, Chifley, and Central West districts all recorded an increase of more than 100 non-domestic violence-related assaults in 2021 compared to 2020, but all their targets for combating this crime were lowered.
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‘A landlord’s market’: Big drop in rentals signals tough times for tenants
Rental vacancy rates around Australia continue to be low and will probably tighten further over 2022, with a new report signalling good returns for investors but terrible tidings for tenants.
Although the number of available rentals rose slightly in December, that is more a reflection of the traditional rental changeover period with the end of leases and increased choice overall, according to Domain’s monthly Rental Vacancy Rate Report.
With the national vacancy rate at 1.7 per cent in December – down nearly a third from 2.4 per cent this time last year – the general trend is for a decline in the new year as January’s typically strong demand puts the squeeze on available supply.
“We have seen the vacancy rate increase in most capital cities, except for Hobart and Adelaide, but then it’s expected to come back down,” said Domain chief of research and economics, Dr Nicola Powell. “It means that in some areas of Australia, particularly the smaller markets, it will be well-nigh impossible to find a home to rent.
“In most of the country, it’s a landlord’s market, which we say is when the rental vacancy rate is below 3 per cent, and in some areas there’s definitely a rental crisis. But Sydney and Melbourne have the most fragmented markets, with some suburbs much easier to find rentals in than others.”
The number of vacant properties nationally has shrunk from 54,000 dwellings in December 2020 to 37,000 in December 2021, a 31 per cent reduction, which will further serve to depress the rental vacancy rate.
That remains most taut in Hobart, at its continued historic low of 0.3 per cent, down from 0.5 per cent in December 2020. In Adelaide, it’s not much better at 0.4 per cent, three points lower than last year’s 0.7 per cent. Perth is only marginally higher at 0.6 per cent, compared to 0.9 per cent 12 months ago.
In Canberra, the rental vacancy rate is sitting at 1 per cent, as against 1.3 per cent last year, and in Brisbane at 1.3 per cent, down from 1.8 per cent. Darwin had the same rate of 1.3 per cent but was the only city to see an actual rise since last year, when it sat at just 1 per cent.
Compared to those, Sydney has a higher vacancy rate of 2.6 per cent, although much less than the 3.7 per cent recorded in December 2020, while Melbourne has the country’s highest rate overall of 3.2 per cent, down from 5.2 per cent.
“The smallest markets seem to be the ones most affected,” Dr Powell said. “Anyone trying to secure accommodation in Hobart is having huge problems, and especially those on lower incomes. It’s now been tight for some time.
“Adelaide is also hard, with its vacancy rate holding steady at its lowest point since Domain records began in 2017. Perth has had a real turnaround with the impact of the state border being closed for so long, and the impossibility of interstate migration and the end of fly-in, fly-out working.”
Sydney’s vacancy rate of 2.6 per cent is the highest level it’s been since May 2021, but at the same level recorded in March 2020. That was just before COVID-19 affected the city and caused a major surge in the vacancy rate. At the end of December, there were just over 15,000 vacant rental listings.
Different areas of Sydney often have marked differences in the number of homes for rent. The lowest number of listings are now in Camden, in the city’s south-west, at 0.3 per cent, and the figure is 0.5 per cent in each of Richmond-Windsor and nearby Wyong on the Central Coast.
On the other hand, there’s better news for tenants wanting to live in Ku-ring-gai in the north, where the vacancy rate sits at 4.2 per cent, Canterbury in the south-west where it’s 4 per cent and Parramatta in the west at 3.9 per cent.
In Melbourne, the vacancy rate is down 2 percentage points from the peak of December 2020 following the extended lockdown. There were just over 16,000 estimated vacant rentals at the end of last month.
In the Melbourne CBD, the area worst hit by the pandemic where the vacancy rate almost reached 14 per cent last year, that’s now shrunk to 4.5 per cent.
“I think that’s a mixture of landlords having sold off property with little prospect of international students coming back again in the near future, and people having been cooped up during the lockdown,” Dr Powell said. “They’re seeing how much rents have fallen and how much bang they can now get for their buck, and are moving out of shared households, now able to afford to live on their own.”
Vacancy rates are still tightest in the Mornington Peninsula at 0.4 per cent, Cardinia in the south-east at 0.6 per cent, and at 0.7 per cent in Sunbury and Frankston. They’re highest in Stonnington East at 6.3 per cent, Stonnington West at 5.3 per cent and Whitehorse West at 5.3 per cent.
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Federal Opposition leader offers cautious policies on climate
Anthony Albanese says his climate change plan has struck the right balance to win over voters in regional Queensland, as he begins a week-long road trip from Cairns to Gladstone in a pre-election campaign in the crucial state.
While Labor’s climate change policies have been an electoral negative in the coal-rich state in the past decade, the Opposition Leader said he would visit resources projects and tell workers the future would be bright if he became prime minister. He will promise to deliver cheaper power bills to ramp up manufacturing in the state and keep the aluminium industry viable.
Mr Albanese said Labor’s climate plan had been “really well received” in North and Central Queensland, which swung heavily against Bill Shorten at the last election due to the party’s ambivalence over the coal industry and the Adani mine.
Mr Albanese’s 2030 emissions target of 43 per cent is similar to the 45 per cent target Mr Shorten took to the last poll.
But this time Labor will go to the election saying its plan would not close any coal mine or coal-fired power station earlier than the Coalition’s policies.
Mr Albanese will also have the cover of the Business Council of Australia calling for a 2030 target of 46-50 per cent – a far cry the group calling Mr Shorten’s 45 per cent target “economy wrecking” ahead of the last poll.
“It is an opportunity to end the climate wars by the election of a Labor government,” Mr Albanese told The Australian.
“It has received support from the Business Council, the Australian Industry Group, the National Farmers Federation and (the) Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as the ACTU and unions.
“That shows that we are where we needed to be.
“Business, industry and farmers want certainty to drive investment and Labor’s powering the nation plan will do just that. Queensland’s regions will particularly benefit from our plan.”
Mr Albanese arrived in Cairns on Thursday night, in the electorate of Leichhardt held by Liberal National MP Warren Entsch on a margin of 4.2 per cent.
On Friday, Mr Albanese will visit the Great Barrier Reef and talk up Labor’s plan to safeguard the natural wonder which is likely to come under strain from rising water temperatures due to climate change.
He will also visit the seats of Kennedy, Herbert, Dawson, Capricornia and Flynn, all held by the Coalition, before campaigning in Brisbane electorates at the end of next week.
Labor has just eight out of 30 seats in Queensland, with Blair MP Shayne Neumann holding the only seat outside of Brisbane.
Mr Albanese said the pandemic highlighted the problems with insecure work and increasing casualisation, which has been a concern for Queensland miners given the growth of labour hire.
“Covid has shown the strength of our society but it has also shown a range of economic vulnerabilities,” he said. “Both for individual workers, in terms of secure work, people in casual employment have missed out.
“Whole sectors have missed out, particularly sectors important for Queensland. The tourism sector, agriculture has suffered from a lack of workers and supply chain issues, climate change continues to make communities and industries vulnerable.
“And the cuts to TAFE, universities and apprenticeships mean that people aren’t getting the opportunities to advance and to fulfil their aspirations which is what we want.”
Mr Albanese will look to exploit the tensions in national cabinet by telling Queenslanders that Prime Minister Scott Morrison had not supported them.
“The Palaszczuk government has done very well protecting Queenslanders during Covid but they have been let down by the Morrison government which has continued to attack Queensland rather than provide it with support,” he said.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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7 January, 2022
Corruption in the Australian Federal Police
Two senior Australian Federal Police officers accused of being part of a “mafia-style group” have been sacked for “abuse of office” and two more have resigned amid the biggest corruption scandal to hit the national police force in decades.
The sackings and resignations follow a high-level investigation into the activities of the group dubbed the “Sydney Mafia”, accused of fraud by using AFP credit cards to buy white goods, televisions and Xboxes, as well as misappropriating office equipment and furniture.
The group was also in the frame for travel rorts, falsifying AFP records and time sheets, misappropriating AFP property and taking vehicles supposed to be used for protecting Defence Force properties for private use.
The investigation made the shocking findings that the officers had been acting in “collusion to engage in corruption and the coercion of others”.
More than 20 serious corruption and misconduct complaints investigated by the anti-corruption watchdog, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI), have been established against the four AFP officers.
The revelations come as it can be revealed 22 AFP officers have been sacked in the past two years and 39 AFP members suspended. The AFP has not revealed if any of those have been charged with any offence.
It is the biggest and most serious fraud and corruption investigation into the AFP since the secretive Harrison inquiry findings in the 1990s – which the AFP kept under wraps and never released publicly but led to the sacking of seven AFP officers.
AFP sources who spoke out about the scandal last year said they had been warned not to talk about the investigation “in case it sparks a royal commission” into the wider activities of AFP Protective Service Officers.
But it can now be revealed the corruption investigation established four AFP officers engaged in nine corruption offences and 12 serious misconduct issues, including failing to report corruption.
“The corrupt conduct ranged from private spending on AFP corporate credit card unauthorised acquittal of transactions, using commonwealth monies to fund non-business related travel, collusion to engage in corruption and the coercion of others,” the AFP has reported.
An ACLEI spokesman said “once an investigation is completed, the Integrity Commissioner provides a report to the Attorney-General and the head of the agency involved (AFP) … and may decide to publish that report … on the ACLEI website.”
It has not yet been published.
All four officers involved were Protective Service Officers, who are specially trained in anti-terrorist response tactics, close protection work and are responsible for guarding the Prime Minister, foreign diplomats and Defence Force properties.
When News Corp broke the story last year, law enforcement sources said members of the “Sydney mafia” clique were practised at standover tactics relying on fear, intimidation and retribution to coerce others to keep quiet about their illegal activities, using “dirt files” on staff and unfavourable rostering to “destroy their lives” if they spoke out.
They said the officers had run rampant for years “deliberately abused positions of power for personal gain at the expense of government departments” and the fact they were allowed to operate for so long despite having “atrocious reputations” and widely known fraudulent activities “highlights an absolute failure of the AFP’s internal governance, human relations, professional standards and core values”.
The investigation began after a tip-off led to AFP professional standards officers visiting the Defence Force’s Garden Island base in Sydney to check the number of AFP vehicles in use by protective service officers. One was found missing – sparking raids on the homes of officers.
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Newish Brisbane Business School has been recognised with two awards at the global QS-Wharton Reimagine Education Awards
Bronze Awards were received by the Griffith MBA program in the Management Education category and by the Business School for its revamped Bachelor of Business degree, in the Oceania category of the Regional awards.
Griffith MBA Director Associate Professor Stephanie Schleimer
MBA Director Associate Professor Stephanie Schleimer described the QS Wharton awards as the Oscars of Education awards, so to receive Bronze for their submission Tri Hita Karana: An MBA that Leads through Values was humbling.
“Trinita Karana is a Belen, Asian philosophy denoting three pathways to wellbeing through a harmony of people with people, the environment and a spiritual, Associate Professor Schleimer said.
“The Griffith MBA is the one of the world’s leading value based MBA program that builds on these principles through three core values embedded in the 17, UN SDGs and reshaped the hearts and minds of 1000s of business leaders around the world.
“We attract students from all demographic profiles including gender, age, nationality, and socio- economic status who really want to drive change.
“We’ve increased the number of women studying an MBA with us to 59%.”
“With nearly 700 active students and more than 1600 graduates, we are reaching almost 100 different industry sectors. In less than seven years, we have almost tripled our student intake.”
The new Bachelor of Business degree was recognised following a five-year project to redesign the first year, 22 majors and final capstone course.
Students are now given greater flexibility to complete a foundation year before exploring or committing to a wide variety of majors.
“This is a wonderful achievement and demonstrates that the work we have done is of value to current and new students,” Professor David Grant, Pro Vice Chancellor of GBS, said.
“The curriculum redesign for first year subjects produced an engaging, interdisciplinary suite of subjects with incredible online content such as animated videos, industry expert videos, interactive tools and more.
“This was underpinned by peer supported learning events, live workshops, online consultations and a weekly Business Social Hour where people could meet to discuss real life issues, study tips, and matters that the whole of the cohort would be interested in.”
https://news.griffith.edu.au/2021/12/23/business-school-nabs-bronze-in-education-awards/
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Leaders unite to ride the Omicron wave to freedom
Federal and state leaders have held their nerve and prioritised the availability of rapid antigen testing kits for Covid-19 for medical cases and those who need them most. It is now clear that the world has entered a new phase with the Omicron variant, with soaring case numbers but steady hospital admissions, of which few require emergency treatment or ventilation. Vaccination is proving to be effective, and the worst outcomes have been restricted mostly to the unvaccinated.
In recent days, administration of the pandemic has been distracted by grandstanding over whether RAT kits should be made available to everyone free of charge. Under the existing rules, rapid tests have always been available free of charge for anyone who has symptoms or has been deemed a close contact. “Tests for close contacts and those symptomatic are free. They have always been free. They are essential tests that are required for public health management,” Scott Morrison said. “If you are not a close contact, not symptomatic, you do not need to get a test. We need to ensure we are focusing testing resources on essential tests required, not the casual tests.” In short, anyone wanting a test for social or other purposes is required to pay for it. This will remain the case, but a limited number of tests will be made available to low-income earners and concession card holders through pharmacies for three months. The cost will be shared by the federal government and the states.
The Prime Minister said there was no mood among any premiers, territory leaders or the commonwealth at Wednesday’s national cabinet meeting to make RAT kits free for all. This leaves Anthony Albanese on a limb, demanding measures that are not supported by any Labor premiers. Ahead of Wednesday’s national cabinet meeting, the Opposition Leader said Labor called on the Morrison government to make RAT kits free for Australians via Medicare. “We have considered the options and it is clear that this is the simplest, most efficient, fairest and most responsible way to fix the mess that Scott Morrison has made of testing at this critical juncture of the pandemic,” Mr Albanese said. State leaders engaged at the coalface of managing the pandemic know that encouraging the uptake of unnecessary tests will only add to the problems they are facing. As case numbers continue to escalate, the question is at what point will cases of the Omicron variant peak and start to decline.
This is the same question confronting leaders in other countries, including Britain and the US. More than a million new Covid cases were reported in the US on Monday, but the US government’s top adviser on the pandemic, Anthony Fauci, said it was now “more relevant” to focus on hospitalisations than cases. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is holding firm with his view there is a chance of riding out the Omicron wave without shutting down the country. Chief medical officer for England Sir Chris Whitty said that in London, the centre of the outbreak, case numbers were “levelling off or falling”.
There is still a chance that Omicron will hold further surprises or that a new, more deadly variant of the virus will emerge. But the big message remains that higher case numbers globally are not translating into equivalent rises in serious medical consequences. Health systems are struggling, but the primary issue is staff allocation rather than lack of treatment facilities should they be required. State and federal leaders have shown they are able to reach a sensible compromise on how to ride the Omicron wave.
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Masks dumped in most settings as WA records no new cases of Covid-19 but Omicron confirmed in the community
A surprising let-up from a set of very tough regulations
The mask mandate in Western Australia will be almost entirely dumped despite the Omicron strain of Covid-19 spreading in the community.
Acting Premier Roger Cook told reporters on Friday that there were no new locally acquired cases overnight, but there were six other infections – three interstate and three international arrivals, who were all in quarantine.
Regarding the Hyatt Hotel quarantine security guard and his household contact, 23 close contacts had been identified and the majority had tested negative.
“Importantly, all their work colleagues have tested negative,” Mr Cook said.
However, genomic sequencing confirmed the guard had the Omicron variant.
“It means in turn, his household contact is the first local locally acquired transmission case of Omicron in the community,” Mr Cook said.
“While this is undoubtedly concerning, I want to assure everyone there was only a short time that the household contact could have potentially been infectious in the community.”
There have been no new cases linked to the backpacker cluster for the past two days.
“However, we can expect that we will continue to see some cases pop up over the coming days, most likely, among those who are already in quarantine linked to the backpack cluster,” Mr Cook said.
“But we are confident that this can be contained through our contact tracing efforts.
“Overwhelmingly, everyone did the right thing,” Mr Cook said.
It means that from 6pm on Friday, masks will no longer be required for indoor venues or other outdoor major events where it was mandated, such as music festivals.
Masks will only be required in vulnerable settings, such as aged care, disability care and hospitals, as well as on public transport, taxis and ride-share vehicles.
“So please, keep a mask at hand just in case,” Mr Cook said.
“We are able to cautiously ease these mask mandates because of the proof of vaccination requirements that are now in place for higher risk venues and events, such as nightclubs, larger venues, music festivals and major events.”
WA now has a first dose rate of 93.5 per cent and the second jab rate is approaching 90 per cent. The third dose rate is at 12.2 per cent, which Mr Cook said was increasing about one per cent every day.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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6 January, 2022
Most Australians will recover from Covid at HOME
The majority of Australians infected with Covid-19 should be able to cope with the virus well at home, according to infectious diseases expert Robert Booy.
'Most people can manage at home, and can manage well,' Sydney based Professor Booy told Sunrise on Wednesday.
'They will not get severe symptoms. They will get a cough, fever, lethargy and fatigue, and they will get better over a few days to a week.
'All you need is adequate hydration, water, bed rest, if you have analgesics for pain, and antipyretics for fever.'
Analgesics, also called painkillers, are medications that relieve different types of pain — from headaches to injuries to arthritis. Antipyretics are medications that stop or reduce fever.
Infectious disease expert Professor Robert Booy (pictured) believes the majority of Australians infected with Covid-19 should be able to cope with the virus well at home
Dr Booy added people should look out for chest pain, worsening breathlessness and lethargy as worrying symptoms that might need further medical attention.
'For people with chronic conditions or lung disease, some are given an oximeter, a special machine to measure the amount of oxygen in your blood, and you will need to go to hospital (or get medical attention) if your oxygen saturation is dropping,' he said.
Professor Booy went onto state rapid antigen tests (RATs) should be free across Australia - and he fears they may be hoarded by some.
It comes as experts slammed the Morrison Government for 'painting a rosy picture' of the new Omicron variant because it is less severe than Delta - as hospitals continue to fill around the country due to the sheer number of people infected.
Australia saw a record 47,738 new infections on Tuesday, the largest combined figure the country has seen so far during the pandemic.
Dr Stephen Parnis, an emergency physician from Melbourne, said although the new strain was less severe, the surging number of cases means a significant number of people will still be hospitalised.
'I am concerned about the government response if it paints too rosy a picture,' he told The Project.
'I don't think the New South Wales health system is strong and going strong. I think it is facing challenges that have never been seen in my lifetime. We need to be honest to keep people's confidence and trust in place.'
NSW alone has already seen hospitalisations surpass any previous point during the pandemic, however ICU cases remain well below the wave of the more severe Delta variant.
But Dr Parnis said because Omicron 'spreads like wildfire' there has been increased strain on testing clinics and community-based healthcare, rather than mounting cases in intensive care.
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States keep ‘superfluous’ border Covid-19 tests
Tourism chiefs have called Covid border tests “superfluous” as health experts say swabbing non-symptomatic travellers is adding extra pressure to the already overwhelmed hospital system.
As the nation grapples with a shortage of rapid antigen tests, some jurisdictions are still demanding visitors return negative swabs before travel, despite Scott Morrison announcing the country was “moving away” from testing inbound travellers.
Visitors to Queensland and Tasmania still require a negative rapid antigen test days before travel.
After a national cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the Prime Minister flagged Tasmania would change policy “in the next week or so” but Queensland was firm on hitting 90 per cent double-vaccination target before dropping the rapid test requirement.
As of Wednesday, Queensland’s vaccination coverage was 87.03 per cent compared with 85.36 per cent a fortnight ago.
The state’s battered tourism industry says there needs to be standardised testing rules across the country given Covid-19 transmission was widespread. “Now that the virus is spreading significantly and quite quickly, rapid antigen tests for arrivals seems a somewhat superfluous and unnecessary requirement,” said Daniel Gschwind, CEO of Queensland Tourism Industry Council.
“It is not helpful for the confidence of travellers, rules have changed so much over past few weeks, it has been very confusing for everyone so a simple and nationally consistent approach would be a lot easier for people to follow.
“Rules are only useful if people can follow them.”
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said six private testing clinics would reopen this week to ease pressure on the system and rapid antigen tests would be available for close contacts at major public testing sites from Thursday.
One of Australia’s leading Covid-19 experts said interstate testing was “redundant” now Covid-19 was spreading across Australia and the requirement was adding unnecessary strain to the stretched healthcare system.
Dr Paul Griffin, commissioned by the Queensland government to investigate hotel quarantine and hospital outbreaks of Covid-19 last year, said testing domestic travellers was not adding any benefit to the pandemic response.
“Testing people before they come here is now redundant given we have sustained local transmission,” he said.
“We need to be reviewing all elements of our response and remove things that have been rendered futile because they just distract from the key messages which are stay home if you are sick and get your booster shot.
Now the Covid-19 risk profile was similar across Australia, aside from WA, there needed to be nationally consistent testing rules, Dr Griffin said.
“We need unity, consistency and clarity now that we are in a different phase of the pandemic. We need people to be on board and for them to know what is expected of them.
“Testing well travellers provides an insignificant reduction in risk at a relatively high cost in the context of supply constraints, in my opinion.”
Brisbane-based federal LNP MP Julian Simmonds said the escalation of cases throughout the country meant any unnecessary testing required to cross borders would put strain on an already overwhelmed system.
“In this new phase, all testing needs to be only for those with symptoms or those who satisfy the very specific close contact definition,” Mr Simmonds said.
“By the Queensland Premier requiring perfectly healthy people with no symptoms to get a test simply to cross a state border, all she is doing is further clogging our health system and taking a test away from someone who needs it.”
Australia’s Deputy Attorney-General, Senator Amanda Stoker, said: “At a time when other states have scrapped the RAT requirements, and Queensland doesn’t appear to be thoroughly checking RATs, there is little purpose in continuing the requirements.”
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Albo abandons tax slug for rich
Anthony Albanese has dropped his longtime support for the Buffett rule, which would increase taxes for high-income earners by $2.5bn a year.
The Opposition Leader has ruled out implementing a minimum rate of tax for the highest-income earners if he becomes prime minister, despite leading the charge for the reform within Labor under Bill Shorten’s leadership.
Mr Shorten and then Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen were among Right faction figures who opposed Mr Albanese’s proposal.
Mr Bowen also had to shut down the proposal before the 2019 election when it was publicly backed by Labor Left frontbenchers Andrew Giles and Terri Butler.
Consideration of the Buffett rule was also supported in the last term of parliament by ALP president Wayne Swan and former left-wing union leader Tim Ayres, who is now a Labor senator and close ally of Mr Albanese.
At the ALP’s 2015 national conference, Mr Albanese sponsored an amendment urging the next Labor government to consider implementing the policy, which he said he supported.
“This proposal is the creation of a minimum tax rate levied on the total income of high-income earners,” Mr Albanese said at the national conference. “If adopted, wealthy Australians would continue to spend fortunes on accountants.
“But once they reached a certain rate – 35 per cent is what was proposed in the United States – no further deductions could be claimed.
“The National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling has research that showed that just for the top 1 per cent of income earners, this could produce $2.5bn revenue each and every year.”
The modelling Mr Albanese referenced applied a minimum 35 per cent tax rate to people who earn more than $300,000 a year, limiting their ability to apply for deductions including from negatively geared properties and charity donations.
Mr Albanese, who has criticised Mr Shorten’s class war language ahead of the last election, told the 2015 conference the proposal would “mobilise” working people. He referenced “unacceptable” Australian Taxation Office data showing 75 millionaires paid a total of $82 tax on a combined income of $195m.
“The nurses, the teachers, the miners, the construction workers -they shouldn’t be paying all the tax while the millionaires simply are able to minimise theirs,” he said.
When asked on Wednesday if he was would implement the policy if Labor won the election, Mr Albanese said: “no”. “The increasingly desperate and pathetic comments of Josh Frydenberg say more about his competition with Peter Dutton than anything about Labor,” he said.
The Treasurer said it was “time Anthony Albanese comes clean about his plan for higher taxes on hard working Australians”.
“He has previously joined with the Greens and GetUp to be the lead public advocate for the so called ‘Buffett Rule’; a proposal which will, on his own quoted numbers, be a $25bn hit (over a decade) on Australian taxpayers,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“Now on the eve of the election he wants to distance himself from it. How can Australians trust him? He can’t hide forever behind his small target strategy.”
Mr Frydenberg said Mr Albanese had previously been critical of other tax policies Labor now embraced, including the government’s income tax cut package, negative gearing for investment property and cash refunds for franking credits.
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Fortescue buys battery-powered trains as green shift for miners heats up
Billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group has purchased two battery-powered trains to carry iron ore to the port in the latest sign of the resources industry’s push for cleaner ways to fuel Australia’s hugely carbon-intensive mining operations.
Amid intensifying pressure from shareholders and wider society to do more to combat climate change, companies across the industry such as BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue have earmarked billions of dollars in the past two years to clean up their difficult-to-decarbonise remote mining operations by shifting away from fossil fuels such as diesel and gas.
Mining companies have been under rising pressure to improve their carbon credentials
Mining companies have been under rising pressure to improve their carbon credentialsCREDIT:TONY MCDONOUGH
The new eight-axle locomotives with an energy capacity of 14.5 megawatt-hours would be manufactured in Sete Lagoas, Brazil, the company said.
“The new locomotives will cut our emissions while also reducing our fuel costs and our overall operational expense through lower maintenance spend,” Fortescue chief executive Elizabeth Gaines said.
Across Australia and around the world, the mining industry accounts for a huge share of planet-heating greenhouse gases, both from mining operations themselves and the emissions generated by the end use of the mined resources after they are sold to be burned or processed in factories and power plants.
Mining companies have been under mounting pressure to improve their carbon credentials, with powerful investors seeking to reduce their exposure to the ethical and financial risks posed by rising greenhouse gas emissions and increasingly demanding businesses to do more to help achieve the Paris Agreement’s targets for averting catastrophic global warming.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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5 January, 2022
Queensland weather: Heatwave conditions as some towns reach 44C
This is a bit sensationalist. The bulk of the Queensland population is in the S.E. -- where I live. I watch my thermometer a lot and at no stage did it rise above 30C, a normal summer temperature
Temperatures in Queensland Outback towns are climbing toward the mid-40s and one town ‘feels like' nearly 50C with some places “on track” to break January records as a heatwave continues to develop across the state.
Longreach in Queensland’s north-west has already hit 43.6C after climbing above 40C by 10.20am, as the Bureau of Meteorology warns severe to extreme heatwave conditions have developed across central and northern Queensland.
Winton has climbed to 44.6C and Blackall is on 41.8C. Closer to the coast it is 39.1C in Innisfail.
Meanwhile, Lochington near Emerald had a scorching ‘feels like’ temperature of 49.8C at 2pm.
BOM meteorologist Helen Reid said the heatwave was “assisted” by ex-Tropical Cyclone Seth as record-breaking temperatures “picked up across quite a few locations”.
Ms Reid said the record heat could stretch across western Queensland as well as coastal regions.
“Over the last few days there have been big numbers recorded across western parts of the state such as Mount Isa and Longreach – an average of 44C,” she said.
“But what is noteworthy is by the time you get to the central coast, St Lawrence recorded 42.2C yesterday which is quite likely to be a record for the month.”
Mackay which is a bit further south picked up nearly 37C while Samuel Hill “which is normally known for its rainfall” recorded 37.9C.
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Plan to prohibit repair of cars written off in crashes in doubt
A State Government plan to prohibit the repair of cars, vans and other light vehicles written off after a collision is in doubt, with fears it could cause insurance premiums to skyrocket and create a mountain of scrap metal.
Queenslanders should be able to continue to fix and drive cars written off in road smashes to stop insurance premiums skyrocketing and an avalanche of scrap metal blighting the environment.
A parliamentary inquiry into car theft has thrown a spanner in Transport Minister Mark Bailey’s plans to improve road safety by prohibiting the repair of cars, vans, four-wheel-drives and other light vehicles written off after a collision, even if just for insurance purposes.
The inquiry urged him to reconsider the ban, which would create “many unintended consequences”.
Their report, now being considered by Mr Bailey, said the plan could push up insurance premiums, wouldn’t improve safety, and “could impact the environment due to an increase in scrap metal”.
Instead, Mr Bailey should strengthen the inspection of repairable write-offs and prospective writers should be told of a vehicle’s history, it recommended.
Motoring bodies said unsuspecting buyers had unwittingly bought dodgy “potential death traps”, including with missing airbags, worked on by unscrupulous and untrained backyard repairers. But the industry rejected widespread problems.
The committee was told current checks weren’t able to actually identify quality repairs because of a lack of expertise.
Nationally, 10,500 passenger and light-commercial vehicles “vanished” in 2019-20, with 40 per cent assumed to have been exported, and about a quarter each dismantled for parts or sold for scrap metal.
The inquiry was called by Police Minister Mark Ryan after public outcry over the hit-and-run deaths of Matty Field, Kate Leadbetter and their unborn child at Alexandra Hills last year to consider how to stop car thieves.
It was specifically asked to consider the latest engine immobiliser technology but the committee found the technology was “not sufficiently developed to be a viable solution”.
Instead, it made a host of unanticipated recommendations, which also include changes to the scrap metal industry to discourage thieves who sell stolen cars for parts.
The committee also noted that the majority of vehicles were now stolen by someone with the keys.
“The committee is of the view that more can be done to reinforce the message to vehicle owners about the importance of keeping car keys secure both while at home and while out and about,” the report said.
That might include a wide-reaching government-sponsored campaign to highlight the importance of protecting the home, the types of cars thieves like to steal and where the theft hot spots are.
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Indonesia bans coal exports amid global energy crisis
Indonesia’s shock coal export ban could deliver a New Year “gift” to Australian miners, amid crisis talks between the country’s producers and government over the weekend move.
Indonesia’s director-general of minerals and coal, Ridwan Jamaludin, said on Saturday that “everyone” with a coal mining permit in the country was banned from exporting in January, amid concerns that stockpiles at the country’s coal-fired generators were running low.
If the ban isn’t enforced, almost 20 power plants with the power of 10,850 megawatts will be out,” he said.
Indonesian law requires coal producers to deliver at least 25 per cent of their output to the state-owned electricity company at a mandated $US70 a tonne – less than half current market prices.
Mr Ridwan said less than 1 per cent of the 5.1 million tonnes expected to be delivered in December had been fulfilled, and stockpiles had fallen to critical levels.
“If strategic actions aren’t taken, there could be a widespread blackout,” he said.
The ban, which Mr Ridwan said would be reviewed on January 5, sent shockwaves through coal markets on the weekend.
M Resources boss Matt Latimore, one of Australia’s biggest coal traders, told The Australian it was too early to judge the full impact of the ban, but said it would be “a gift” for Australian coal miners.
“The market is tight already, given supply constraints,” he said.
“This move will strengthen demand and prices for Australian coal even further from the current record highs on December 31 of $US357 a tonne for premium hard coking coal and $US170 a tonne FOB for thermal coal.”
The ban builds on action taken by the Indonesian government in August, when it forbade 34 domestic coal miners from exporting for allegedly failing to meet domestic market obligations in the first half of 2021.
Sources say it is not clear whether Indonesian authorities intend to enforce the ban for the entire month, or whether the weekend announcement is simply intended to shock producers into complying with their domestic power obligations.
But it is understood Indonesia’s coal industry spent the weekend in crisis talks with authorities aimed at an immediate lift of the ban, after the Indonesian Coal Mining Association said the directive was “taken hastily without being discussed with business”.
Key customers for Indonesian coal – including China, India, Japan and South Korea – are already scrambling for supply amid an energy crisis in the northern hemisphere winter.
It could also add fresh fuel to China’s energy crisis, given China is the biggest customer for Indonesian coal.
China’s problems have been exacerbated by its ban on Australian exports, which have pushed up domestic prices despite a call from authorities for local miners to increase production.
Indonesia coal now makes up more than 60 per cent of Chinese imports, according to Bloomberg figures.
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Australian restaurant owner calls for Covid-positive staff to be allowed to work because the virus is now 'everywhere'
A restaurant owner has called for workers to be allowed to work while Covid-positive to prevent staff shortages as the virus is rampant anyway.
Iyas Shaheen, the owner of Sorrento Restaurant and Bar in Airlie Beach, urged the government to allow people who are infected but don't have symptoms to work.
The boss said he had lost a quarter of his workforce over the busy Christmas and New Year's Eve period after staff were forced to isolate as close contacts.
Without enough staff, the restaurant was forced to turn away 400 customers as Mr Shaheen struggled to find replacements.
'If we're going to move on and let the virus run rampant, we should treat it like any other illness where you call in sick if you're sick, but if you have the virus and you're not sick you can come to work and it does not have to be dependent on a negative test,' he told the Courier Mail.
'It [the virus] is everywhere now – if you test positive but there's nothing wrong with you, you should be able to go to work.'
Mr Shaheen called for a change to the directive as both the Omicron and Delta variants quickly spread through Queensland.
Other venues were forced to temporarily close before the busy end-of-year trade to ensure there was enough staff to tend to the crowds of revellers, he said.
Mr Sheehan blamed the reopening of the border to southern states previously considered Covid hot spots by the Queensland Government.
He said the spread of the virus would have been less severe across the Sunshine State if the border had reopened after the festive period.
The Queenslander border was flung open to residents from NSW, Victoria and the ACT on December 13, reuniting families who had been separated for 141 days.
'This is going to be a very, very special time of the year,' Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said in the days before the reopening.
'I know people have said to me personally, some of them haven't seen their grandkids for the first time.'
Covid-19 case numbers continue to surge in Queensland causing chaos at testing facilities as 5,699 new infections were reported on Tuesday.
Clinics across southeast Queensland were unprepared for the onslaught of hundreds of people who queued for up to seven hours to get tested.
Health authorities pointed out that though the state is recording more than 20,000 active cases, the number of hospitalisations and ICU admissions is steady.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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4 January, 2022
Omicron’s peak ‘may be in sight’
Federal health officials are hopeful the Omicron wave sweeping the country could peak sooner than expected, with international modelling predicting sharp falls in cases globally.
After national daily case numbers on Monday hit a record 36,742, a senior federal government health official told The Australian authorities were closely reviewing overseas modelling and the latest data out of South Africa – where Omicron originated – which has experienced a rapid decline in cases.
The official, who agreed to speak on background only, said while the government was unwilling to make predictions at this stage, there were “heartening signs” that supported the view the current wave could soon peak, negating the need to return to any form of restrictions to slow the spread of the virus.
“We are not willing to call it yet, but we are heartened by the direction in South Africa,” the senior official said. “There are genuine grounds for hope. And the hope is that this is an indication of what is happening globally.”
South African authorities reported last week that they believed the peak of the Omicron surge, which began in November, had passed and that new case numbers were in a steep decline.
US researchers at Columbia University have also modelled the variant, suggesting while it had produced a rapid surge in infections, it could be short-lived, with the peak being reached in a matter of weeks.
University of NSW epidemiologist James Wood, who completed recent modelling for the NSW government, said cities were likely to see a peak before the regions, and peaks would be experienced at different times in different states.
Professor Wood has not conducted specific modelling on when the current wave is likely to peak, but said the indications from South Africa, New York and London indicated the Omicron wave would rise and taper off rapidly.
“In general, I expect the case peak to be within the next one to three weeks in NSW (delayed a week or two in other states), with hospital occupancy peaking about a week later,” Professor Wood said.
On Sunday Queensland chief health officer John Gerrard said it was likely the peak of the wave would last for weeks rather than months. “The one good thing about a very contagious virus is that the length of the wave is likely to be shorter in the order of weeks rather than months,” he said.
“Whether we then get another wave later on in the year – that’s what we don’t know.”
The signs of optimism came amid a debate over whether rapid antigen tests, as a replacement for state-run PCR tests, should be provided for free by the commonwealth after Scott Morrison ruled out taxpayer-funded home testing.
“We already make them free to everyone who is required to have one. Anyone who has to have a rapid antigen test, one is provided free,” the Prime Minister said.
“But we’re at another stage of this pandemic now where we just can’t go round and make everything free. We have to live with this virus. This isn’t a medicine, it’s a test.”
Federal sources claimed there was no need for many people to take a rapid antigen test, that pharmacies would be reluctant to stock them if they were free, and that the argument over supply and cost was being fuelled by state decisions to cut back on pathology and testing centres.
None of the premiers or chief ministers had raised the idea of free RATs at last week’s national cabinet meeting, but the Victorian government on Monday sought to blame the federal government for supply shortages.
Health Minister Greg Hunt backed RATs being exempt from the GST if states agreed to forgo revenue from the consumption tax, prompting Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley to accuse the federal government of consistently transferring “responsibility to the states”.
“The states clearly have a view that freely available rapid antigen testing … forms part of what should be a national response. In lieu of that national response, the states have to fill the void,” Mr Foley said.
Unions have launched a campaign calling on the federal government to provide rapid antigen tests free of charge.
ACTU president Michele O’Neil said the tests should be considered an “essential” part of the health system.
The ACTU on Monday distributed a petition urging people to support making RATs “free and accessible to all”, claiming the issue was similar to Tony Abbott proposing a Medicare co-payment in the 2014 budget.
With RATs in shortage and being sold for up to $30 each, Mr Morrison said the tests should not be free for everyone as he flagged a shift to fiscal prudence ahead of the election. “You can’t just make everything free because when someone tells you they want to make something free, someone’s always going to pay for it and it’s going to be you,” he said.
Mr Morrison said the tests were already free for people who were required to receive them under national cabinet-backed regulations, including close contacts of Covid cases and healthcare workers. He said national cabinet was working on a discount for pensioners and people with concession cards.
Putting Labor at odds with the unions, Anthony Albanese did not demand Mr Morrison make RATs free for everyone. But the Opposition Leader lashed out at the government for failing to secure more tests.
“So many people are struggling to be able to find them and then the cost is just prohibitive for a lot of people,” Mr Albanese said.
“We have a value here in Australia of healthcare being provided to those who need it. That’s the basis of Medicare. That’s the basis of our health system.
“The idea that people who need a test won’t be able to afford to get one or get access to a rapid antigen test is a real public policy failure of this government.”
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said business had for “many months” been urging the government to shift its focus towards rapid testing.
“Now that the switch has been made the main issue currently seems to be with supply rather than price. This is likely to be temporary,” Mr Willox said.
Mr Hunt said there will be over 100 million rapid antigen tests available over the course of the next two months, more than double the amount onshore during the past two years.
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COVID-19 exodus leaves Brisbane restaurants and cafes struggling without international students for casual workforce
Sunnybank on Brisbane's southside is one of the city's most multicultural suburbs, brimming with restaurants from a plethora of global cuisines.
International students are one of the key demographics in the area, with a university nearby and the local food scene providing a sense of familiarity and reminding them of home.
Freya Ostopovich from the Sunnybank Chamber of Commerce said it was common for students to work casual jobs in the area while studying.
But since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, 37,595 international students have left Queensland, stripping local businesses of their casual workforce.
"In 2020 it wasn't that noticeable because the restaurants were shut down for quite a while, but gradually the staff started falling away as students had to go back overseas," Ms Ostopovich said.
Sunnybank's restaurants and cafes have bounced back post-lockdowns, and some businesses have reported being busier than they were before the pandemic began.
"This year, it's not lack of customers or being shut down. It's actually finding the staff to serve, which is the problem," Ms Ostopovich said.
Family filling gaps in the roster
Cafe owner Cam Lu lost nearly all of her staff during the pandemic, going from a team of five to now having just one person on her roster. "Two of my Chinese students, they went back to China because of the COVID outbreak and they're not coming back," Ms Lu said.
"And then one of my baristas was so scared his family called him back, so he went back to Taiwan.
"Ever since, I haven't received any people dropping CV's for nearly one and a half years."
The situation has become so dire even Ms Lu's family had to pitch in.
"At the lowest point, my mother-in-law had to come in. She was 74-years-old, she had to do dishes for me. That was hard," she said.
Her husband who works full time has also had to spend his weekends helping out at the cafe with their 12-year-old daughter.
"It was crazy, but we pulled through and we never closed a day, we just try our best to serve the community and of course, keep us going because we still have all these overheads we had to pay, so it was very difficult."
For larger businesses like Henry Leung's chain of yum cha restaurants, a helping hand from family members was not quite enough to keep the business going. "We are short about 40 per cent of staff, because there are no students, no working visa [holders]," Mr Leung said. "Chef, waiter, waitress, manager, we're looking for everything."
As director of his business, Mr Leung usually handles paperwork but has found himself doing more hands on tasks during the pandemic. "We haven't got any washers, nobody can do the dishes. If there are no staff, I wash it myself," he said.
When the borders open to international students, they will still have to complete two weeks of quarantine at the Wellcamp Regional Quarantine Facility near Toowoomba.
The state government has also flagged a proportion of the first lot of students returning must study at universities outside of Brisbane and priority will be given to medical and health students.
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Huge cost of home insurance in tropical Australia
Tracey Gilchrist has lived in Western Australia's Kimberley region for 13 years, delivering babies and supporting new and expectant mothers as a midwife in Derby and, most recently, Broome.
But with home and contents insurance premiums rising by about 35 per cent each year, she says her $3,665 annual bill is making it unaffordable to stay.
"It's going to sadden me if one day I have to call it and say this is just really not viable."
Insurance customers in northern Australia have long struggled with high home and contents premiums due to their perceived risk of flood and cyclone damage.
Insurance can cost between $3,500 and $20,000 in the Kimberley.
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) final report on the Northern Australia Insurance Inquiry, the cost of home, contents and strata insurance is double for those living in northern Australia compared to the rest of the country.
"When you tell people in the city what you pay for your insurance premiums, they just go, 'You've got to be joking'," Ms Gilchrist said.
She has opted to underinsure her house, a common story in northern Australia where every $100,000 in the property's value costs an average of $1,200 in premiums.
But she considers herself lucky to be able to afford it at all, after meeting two pensioners who were having to rely on hope as their insurance policy.
"Sadly I have heard that some people are choosing not to insure at all."
Local couple Joanne Taylor and Darren Gillett said they spent their evenings looking at real estate in other WA towns as they planned their exit from Broome.
Ms Taylor says their premium has doubled in three years to $4,700 a year, and with the pool of insurers shrinking she is concerned a market monopoly will only make things worse.
"Every year since we've been here we get insurance, but then that insurer has not renewed for the following year," she said.
The couple have also underinsured their house by close to $100,000.
The highest quote Ms Taylor received from an insurer was more than $10,000 for home and contents.
She said the only way to keep the premium down was to increase the excess to an "unbelievable amount".
"If we smashed a window, someone smashed in our front door, my excess is $9,000. "We would basically scrape up the money ourselves to replace small things like that."
There are around 4,900 crimes against property in the Kimberley each year.
With unaffordable premiums, Mr Gillett said many people relied heavily on extra security measures like dogs, cameras, and window bars to protect their assets. "Our insurance policy revolves around our two Rottweilers," he said.
Despite crime rates remaining steady over the past three years, according to WA Police data, Ms Taylor was told by an insurance agent that premiums were going up because of crime in Broome.
"She said, 'I am not supposed to be telling you this, I know this phone call is recorded, I'll get into a lot of trouble, but the crime rate there is atrocious compared to everywhere else'," Ms Taylor said.
Paul Martin, who works for Phoenix Brokers in Broome, said while crime might be contributing slightly to premium rises, flood and cyclone risks were the main factors.
The last significant natural disaster in the Kimberley was in 2011, when the Aboriginal community of Warmun flooded and 80 per cent of the buildings were destroyed or damaged.
The low rate of flood and cyclone damage in the region often leaves people confused as to why their premiums keep increasing, but Mr Martin said what they did not understand was that a hurricane in the United States impacted costs in Australia.
"Someone like QBE, which is a global company, if they have a cyclone exposure somewhere internationally and that causes them to lose money, they'll then in turn look to everywhere in the world where they have that exposure and go, 'Well, we really need to be charging these areas more'."
Fred Hawke, who worked in the insurance industry for 20 years and is now a consultant at law firm Clayton Utz, says the small population in northern Australia contributes to high premiums.
"The larger number of people buying insurance you have, the smaller amount you have to collect from each of them in order to collect a sufficient premium pool to cover the losses," he said.
The ACCC's report made 38 recommendations; among them was addressing the high costs insurance companies have to pay to insure themselves, which is then passed on to the customer, otherwise known as reinsurance.
"It's basically insurance companies insuring their own risk out to other insurance companies to spread the risk around a bit further," Mr Hawke said.
The federal government has tabled draft legislation for a $10 billion reinsurance pool, which Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar said would improve accessibility and affordability of insurance for households and small businesses in cyclone-prone areas.
"The reinsurance pool will be mandatory for insurers with eligible risks to participate in, with an 18-month transition period for large insurers and an additional 12 months for small insurers," Mr Sukkar said.
No guarantee savings will be passed on
The ABC contacted Suncorp — whose affiliated insurance brands include AAMI, GIO, APIA and Vero — to ask whether it would guarantee savings from the reinsurance pool would be passed on to customers, but it deferred to the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) to comment on its behalf.
IAG and its brands were also contacted for comment and said it welcomed the legislation and was providing a submission to the government and had contributed to an industry-wide submission through the ICA.
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Albanese’s history says he can’t be trusted with our economy
JOSH FRYDENBERG
Just days before the last election, Anthony Albanese attacked the Coalition for delivering “tax cuts for the top end of town”. It was not an isolated comment or turn of phrase, it was one he used repeatedly in the lead-up to the 2019 election. Albanese now says “the language used was terrible”, wanting Australians to forget his class war rhetoric and politics of envy. He now says he supports the government’s legislated tax cuts, but no one should believe him.
The real Anthony Albanese is a hard-left party apparatchik who has spent his career arguing for higher taxes, bigger government and attacking what he has called for more than three decades “the top end of town”. No one should be fooled by the small-target strategy of Albanese and Labor. It is a ruse; a tactic to sneak into government only after which Labor will reveal its real plans to attack aspirational Australians. He has never believed in the Coalition’s tax cuts that will abolish a whole tax bracket and see 95 per cent of taxpayers pay a marginal tax rate of no more than 30c in the dollar.
What Albanese really believes in is tax increases, including on retirees, having called the current system “not sustainable” and saying ahead of the last election Labor “deserves more credit for being prepared to take difficult decisions”. Where is that courage now? He also believes in higher taxes on housing, on more than 50,000 teachers and 40,000 nurses who are some of the more than one million aspirational Australians with an investment property that helps their family get ahead.
Even today, as Albanese seeks to bury his own political history, Australians have received a glimpse of his true economic instincts. In search of a headline, he promised to splash $6bn of taxpayers’ money to pay people to get the jab, even though they’ve already had the jab. And he wanted JobKeeper at more than $2bn a month to keep going indefinitely, saying that bringing it to an end would have a “devastating impact” as it was “the only support that was keeping the economic roof from crashing down”.
In fact, the opposite is true. Since the end of JobKeeper, and even factoring in the Delta outbreak, the unemployment rate has fallen significantly and more than 100,000 additional people are in work. Such hyperbole from the alternate prime minister exposes his lack of experience in any Treasury portfolio. The Australian economy has shown remarkable resilience in the face of the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression, outperforming all major advanced economies in the world through the pandemic.
Unemployment is around its lowest level in 13 years at 4.6 per cent, compared with 5.7 per cent when Labor left office. We are on the cusp of a historic opportunity to create one million jobs and drive unemployment sustainably into the low-4s for only the second time in the past 50 years.
We have good momentum, but the recovery is not yet locked in. We cannot put Australia’s hard-earned gains at risk by handing over the reins of the economy to the most left-wing Labor leader in decades. A person with a history of attacking aspiration through higher taxes and bigger government. A person who says “I like fighting Tories” rather than uniting Australians. A person who has no plans to grow the economy.
With Albanese, what you see is not what you will get. This leopard has never changed his spots.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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3 January, 2022
The Liberals no longer the party of the establishment
How did the Liberal Party cease to be the party of the establishment in Australia?
The latest example of this strange progression is the group of rich and financially prominent independent candidates attempting to defeat a number of sitting Liberal members in the forthcoming federal election.
The concept of the “establishment” was first identified by the English journalist Henry Fairlie in the 1950s with reference to those groups in the community who, although not elected parliamentarians, exercised much of the power and influence that directed the affairs of the nation. It is still true in Britain that much of that power and influence lies in the hands of a small group who attended the great public schools, such as Eton, and then Oxford and Cambridge universities.
In Australia, for the first four decades of the postwar years, the establishment broadly included big business, the Protestant churches, the medical and legal professions, senior public servants, the ABC and university administrators and academics. These groups largely supported the Liberal Party and, up to the election of the Whitlam government in 1972, Labor had spent almost a quarter of a century in opposition. Many of these establishment forces did not accept this change of government and their obstruction of its policies ultimately led to the events of November 1975 when the government was dismissed from office by governor-general Sir John Kerr.
Towards the end of the 1980s, however, a cultural change, later to be called political correctness, began to take hold of many public and private institutions in Australia. As this phenomenon developed over the next three decades, it took on the zealotry of a religious movement with some of its key tenets being hostility to the resources industry as an obstacle to climate policy; depiction of Australian society as essentially racist; antipathy to all forms of Christian religion but especially the Catholic Church; transference of political questions from parliaments to courts by way of a bill of rights; a policy of open borders without any restrictions on unauthorised immigration; and support for governance by international bodies, such as the UN, on the basis that they were entitled to override decisions of the Australian government.
In an almost complete turnaround from the 1950s and ’60s these views are now widely prevalent in almost all departments and faculties in universities; most media organisations; legal professional groups; and the boards of many large corporations. To these bodies can be added others that have become prominent in more recent times but essentially subscribe to the same articles of faith – community welfare groups; literary festivals and writers awards; governing bodies for commercial sport; and the committees determining honours and titles. There is naturally a considerable overlap between the membership of these groups so they are able to largely exclude from their ranks those who deny or even question the canons of political correctness.
Most members of these bodies are not actively engaged in party politics but it will be observed that their views are generally inconsistent with support for the Liberal Party. In a strange way, therefore, Labor and the Greens have become the parties of the new establishment, supported by those groups that are the major sources of extra-parliamentary power and influence in this country. It is intriguing to ask what Sir Robert Menzies would have made of such a reversal of fortune over a relatively short space of time for the party he substantially created in the late 1940s.
It is interesting that a somewhat similar transition has occurred in the US where the Republicans, once the party of big business, now rely heavily on working-class votes while the Democrats, once the voice of those workers, is now the party of Wall Street, Hollywood and identity politics.
None of this means the Liberals cannot win elections at federal and state levels. Indeed, they have been in office in Canberra for most of the past decade, although facing a difficult election early in 2022 and having been defeated in elections over the past two years in Queensland, Western Australia, the ACT and the Northern Territory, with their only victory being in Tasmania. But, in light of their history for a long period as the party of the establishment, it is something of an irony that they now depend very much on the votes of ordinary members of the community and cannot rely on the support of the self-styled elites.
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Desperate measures being used to keep Australia's eletricity flowing
Unpredictable output from "renewables" is the problem
Australia’s most powerful energy companies have sounded a warning over the increasing need for intervention to safeguard the power grid, saying the national energy market is being undermined to secure supplies in renewable-rich regions.
The Australian Energy Market Operator, which runs the electricity system, is being forced to intervene at record rates, issuing directions to energy generators and users to ensure grid stability on a daily basis. The Australian Energy Council – which represents the country’s biggest power and clean energy companies including AGL Energy, Origin Energy, EnergyAustralia, Alinta, Snowy Hydro, CleanCo and Iberdrola – said it held serious concerns over the practice.
“Since 2017 AEMO directions have run into the hundreds per year. Particularly concerning is the repeated circumstances of the directions and cursory reporting of them,” AEC general manager of policy Ben Skinner said.
“Current practice suggests some parties now consider direction a legitimate long-term alternative to commercial arrangements to procure essential power system services. The AEC considers this practice entirely inconsistent with the intent of the power, and if allowed to continue, will undermine the market.”
AEMO has been forced into increasingly frequent and expensive market interventions, such as leasing diesel back-up generators and ordering expensive gas-fired plants into the market to guard against the risk of a thermal generator failing or a change in the weather, such as a lack of wind, knocking out renewable generation.
The Australian Energy Regulator should focus on the extent and cost of directions in its 2022 monitoring, the AEC said in a submission to the national body.
“A matter which has not been mentioned in the focus paper, but in AEC’s view is a serious and immediate concern of wholesale electricity market performance, is the ongoing excessive use of AEMO’s intervention powers under Section 116 of the National Electricity Law to maintain a secure system,” Mr Skinner said.
“Prior to 2017, the use of this power was a rare event and consistent with its intent as a last-resort action in exceptional circumstances where, for whatever reason, market or contracting mechanisms failed to obtain the services required to maintain a secure or reliable system.”
Experts have been warning for several years about the risks posed by the issue.
South Australia’s electricity system was in the spotlight back in 2019 for increasingly operating under the direct intervention of the grid operator, with last-ditch interventions normally reserved for emergencies becoming a default way of managing the network, as large amounts solar generation tested the system’s strength.
However, the reduction in the strength of the electricity network – most pronounced in South Australia – has also spread to southwest NSW, northwest Victoria and north Queensland, adding to wholesale costs incurred by users.
Big swings in the energy supply mix over the New Year period in South Australia underscored the issue of variability in a high-renewables system that needs to be managed, according to electricity market designer Jess Hunt.
“Over the course of the week we went from over 130 per cent renewable energy to less than 4 per cent, with everything in between.
“The challenge for policymakers is to design a market that can mix and match different types of supply-side resources to meet demand across the full spectrum of conditions,” Ms Hunt wrote on LinkedIn.
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Jobs boom to ignite federal election campaign
Josh Frydenberg
Employment numbers have surged by almost half a million since the height of the eastern state Covid lockdowns, with the economy poised for a new year job boom, as Josh Frydenberg declares the election will be a referendum on jobs growth, tax policy and economic management.
Fresh tax office data shows that 485,000 new payroll jobs were added to the labour market since the economic trough of the Delta lockdown in September, with employment levels now 5.7 per cent higher than prior to the pandemic.
The new figures, which have outstripped the most recent forecasts, consolidate Australia’s position as leading the major advanced economies in job growth with new hires rising sharply – by 45 per cent – in December.
The better-than-expected bounce-back has also led to a further reduction in the nation’s welfare bill, with a 1.8 per cent fall in the number of people receiving unemployment benefits in December.
Mr Frydenberg said the new data showed the labour market continued to “roar back” to life following the lifting of lockdowns across NSW, Victoria and the ACT in October and November.
“Our economic recovery plan is also leading to fewer Australians relying on government support, with people on income support falling rapidly as the jobs market strengthens.
“We are working to a clear fiscal strategy to drive down unemployment to historically low levels. This has seen Australia avoid a scarring of the labour market so reminiscent of Australia’s previous recessions in the 1980s and ’90s. By growing the economy, getting more Australians into work and off welfare, we will help secure Australia’s economic recovery.”
The new jobs statistics, based on Australian Taxation Office single touch payroll (STP) data, showed there were an estimated 485,000 jobs added to the labour market by the end of November, compared to the trough in September during the height of the lockdowns in NSW, Victoria and the ACT.
This included the recovery of jobs lost during the lockdowns but also new jobs created since the restrictions were eased. NSW came out of lockdown on October 11, the ACT on October 15 and Victoria on October 22.
Job numbers are now 5.7 per cent higher than pre-Covid levels and are up across all states and territories.
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Covid cases surging, but intensive care units not under siege
Fewer than 0.001 per cent of the 188,594 Australians with active Covid infections on Sunday are in intensive care, fuelling hopes that the vast majority have little to fear from the Omicron variant.
According to the latest statistics, there were 148 Australians in intensive care with Covid, only 48 of whom required ventilation.
While most states – particularly NSW and Victoria – had seen significant growth in Covid hospitalisation rates in recent days, authorities were heartened that admissions to ICU had remained steady.
In NSW, the number of Covid-positive patients admitted to hospital had risen by 18 per cent in the latest reporting period. However, there had not been a corresponding spike in ICU admissions, that total growing by four to 83.
The rise in hospital admissions – 163 more patients in the past 24 hours – came as the state recorded a drop in daily case numbers from 22,577 Saturday to 18,278 on Sunday.
NSW Health data showed that about 20 per cent of all test results recorded were now positive, following national cabinet changes to protocol requiring only symptomatic cases and their household contacts to have PCR tests.
There were 1066 Covid patients in NSW hospitals on Sunday, with 83 people in intensive care, 24 of whom required ventilation.
Victorian government frontbencher Ingrid Stitt said she was pleased to see “relatively stable” numbers of Covid patients in the state‘s ICU wards, despite 7172 new cases on Sunday.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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2 January, 2022
Queensland Premier’s message to the state on the dawn of 2022
It is a bit embarrassing for me to agree with government propaganda but Annastacia is largely right below
While none of us can know what the months ahead will bring, our handling of the greatest peacetime emergency in a century has been inspirational, writes Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
These past two years have shown the strength of Queensland.
Tested by the greatest peacetime emergency in a century, we pulled together. Our commitment to each other was as plain as the masks on everyone’s faces.
Our joint efforts meant our lockdowns were measured in days, not months. Our children remained in school and their parents kept working.
Key cornerstones of our economy – mining, construction and agriculture – never stopped.
The result is more people in work now than prior to the pandemic and close to 90 per cent of our eligible population fully vaccinated. That is an inspirational achievement and I believe among the world’s best.
This by no means ignores the pain suffered by so many for so long.
But no-one can deny that, despite a global catastrophe, Queensland remains one of the safest places in the world to be. Put it another way: if we can get through these past couple of years we can do anything.
In 2014, President Obama spoke about the triumph of hope over fear. He was talking about our ability to shape our future if we’re brave enough today.
Hosting the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games is the biggest single transformational event Queensland will ever see. It already has all levels of government and political stripes working together on a common goal.
We will build the roads, bridges and railways our State needs not for the games, but in time for them. We’re building the trains that will travel through the tunnels of Cross River Rail.
There are more new schools and hospitals moving from the drawing board into construction paid for from our strong economy which was able to grow because of our strong health response.
Is it any wonder 30,000 people moved from the other states to live in Queensland last year?
They don’t just come for the sunshine. They are investing in a brighter future alongside all of us.
None of us can know what the months ahead will bring. But I can tell you this: I’m glad I live in Queensland.
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The great purge rolls on
Bettina Arndt
“Like Fresh Meat: Detailing Rampant Sex Harassment in Australia’s Parliament.” This was the lurid headline in the New York Times this week, describing a report into harassment and bullying in Australia’s parliament. “A sweeping report lays out a cloistered, alcohol-fueled environment where powerful men violated boundaries unchecked,” claimed the Times.
Typical biased NYT reporting. And just plain wrong. Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins’ cooked-up survey revealed 61 per cent of the bullying was actually done by women. And there wasn’t that much difference between male and female sexual harassment rates - 42% of victims were women vs 32% men. The vast majority of people (75%) who were sent the survey didn’t bother to respond. Only half of the self-selected people who participated reported experiencing any bullying or harassment, and 1% claimed actual or attempted sexual assault.
As always, there’s blatant fudging of the data. The survey used the broadest possible definition of sexual harassment which included staring, leering and loitering, sexually suggestive jokes/comments and repeated invitations to go on a date. The supposed toxic parliamentary environment covered incidents occurring when people travelled for work or attended after-work drinks – far from the parliamentary workplace. Pretty disappointing to only have a third of people claim harassment after casting such a wide net, eh?
The sexual assault questions include events the participants had “witnessed or heard about” rather than personally experienced. The report quoted an example of a woman claiming an MP “grabbed me and stuck his tongue down my throat.” Unpleasant, unwanted behaviour, indeed. But classic of the new expanded definition of sexual assault being used to create the rape crisis narrative - a long way from Brittany Higgins’ lurid tale of being ravished on the Minister’s couch, which led to Kate Jenkins’ latest boondoggle.
This whole pantomime stemmed from a desperate attempt by Scott Morrison to throw the dogs a bone, after being savaged by the feminist mob stirred up by the Higgins’ story. The media is dutifully promoting Jenkins’ demand that all her 28 recommendations must be accepted in full. We’re talking here about some very big asks, like a new Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission to police sexual misconduct rules. Sound familiar? Oh yes, we’re talking about yet another kangaroo court, with authority to impose sanctions on people deemed to have broken their rules.
And then there’s the new quotas to achieve gender targets amongst parliamentarians, part of a “ten-year strategy to advance gender equality, diversity and inclusion”. The justification for this leap into broader social engineering? The report simply claims lack of diversity contributes to a “boys’ club culture and bullying, sexual harassment and assault.” They mouth the usual feminist mantra and it is taken as gospel.
Now the game continues, with the government considering the recommendations – a process they will try to string out until the forthcoming election. The usual suspects in the media already bleating that nothing is being done and the Opposition will use the lack of action to beat up the government. People everywhere know this is all a lot of hogwash, a desperate attempt from a struggling government to keep the feminist mob at bay.
It reminded me of Solzhenitsyn’s famous story of the audience at the Soviet Communist Party conference not daring to be the first person to cease clapping after the speech honouring Stalin. On and on they clapped, fearing that the first to stop would be sent off to the Gulag – which is exactly what happened.
There are sinister echoes in Australia today to the world Solzhenitsyn describes where people don’t dare challenge the ludicrous dogma being promoted by the Party. Endless denunciations and show trials are used to warn of the risks of not siding with the pack. Groupspeak becomes the only safe option.
Look at this headline, used for a news.com.au article this week, reporting on a survey about attitudes towards gender equality in the workplace: “Survey reveals insane thing half of Aussie men believe”.
The “insane thing” that 50% of Australian men believe, is that “reverse discrimination is occurring in the workplace, with women being boosted up the career ladder simply because of their gender.” How’s that for unbiased reporting? All the major media covering the story went to strenuous lengths to belittle men’s experience. They know they must keep clapping.
In The Australian this week, Janet Albrechtsen exposed another stunning example of our forced compliance to false dogma. She wrote about a report from Australia’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency, a thriving feminist propaganda unit receiving nearly $6M annual government funding. The Agency has made a submission to a review of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 which Albrechtsen suggests provides enough evidence of “misleading and deceptive conduct” to justify the government putting the whole thing out to pasture.
Naturally the Agency’s submission was all about the need to close “the gender pay gap,” which as usual is blamed on men, oppression and discrimination. As Albrechtsen points out, “more honest analysis of the gender pay gap would point to the economic consequence of the aggregate of all the differences that exist between men and women – their physiology, different skills and interests, different choices made about education and jobs, how hard and how long they choose to work and under what conditions.” As Christina Hoff Sommers put it – “Want to close wage gap? Step one: Change your major from feminist dance therapy to electrical engineering.”
Albrechtsen explains that the only way you can close the gender pay gap is by paying women more than men even though some women have less experience, skills and commitment to the workplace. “That means demanding privilege, not equality for women,” says Albrechtsen. Good to see this lone conservative voice has stopped clapping but the applause from the media for this feminist fabrication rolls on.
The final week of this bumpy year in parliament included a very telling moment where Greens senator Lidia Thorpe was forced to apologise for saying to a female liberal Senator “at least I keep my legs shut.” This was during a Senate debate on disability – apparently Thorpe was suggesting that would have ensured her colleague avoided having a disabled child.
Can you imagine if a man was to make such a remark? But Thorpe’s intersectionality credentials are impeccable, as one of the first Aboriginal women in parliament and a domestic violence survivor. So, her violation of parliamentary boundaries will have no serious consequences.
Then came the show trial. Education Minister Alan Tudge has been stood down from his Cabinet post whilst the latest allegations from his former staffer Rachelle Miller are investigated. Miller is a married mother who acknowledged last November that four years ago she’d had a consensual affair with her boss - after ABC’s Four Corners blew the whistle on their relationship.
Cheered on by the feminist leftists keen to impose maximum damage on the government just prior to the Christmas break, she’s gone public with a new story claiming this was an abusive relationship. Miller says she’d been drinking with Tudge, ended up totally pissed, naked in bed with him, unable to even remember if she’d had sex with him. She claims to have been woken by a phonecall from a breakfast television producer but when she took the call, Tudge yelled at her and kicked her out of his bed.
That a married woman would choose to go public with such a story defies belief. “Has she no shame?” a friend blurted out, a thought which echoes across the nation even as the compliant media runs with her sob story that she suffered a “power imbalance”. No one dares point out to the poor pet that’s what happens when you bonk your boss.
Just as Stalin ultimately came unstuck as his policies proved disastrous, scepticism about the imposed feminist narrative is surely growing every day. We can only hope sanity returns soon.
https://thinkspot.com/discourse/2RuBVn/post/bettina-arndt/the-great-purge-rolls-on/bvZtjy
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Sacked for being vaxxed: Australian ‘Church’ defends decision to terminate worker who got COVID jab
Lainie Chait is seeking damages for unfair dismissal after she was allegedly sacked by the Newcastle-based Church of Ubuntu for getting a COVID-19 vaccination.
Ms Chait worked for the church, which runs a wellness clinic that sells medicinal hemp products, as a client consultant for 12 months but was dismissed in October after her boss found out she had received the jab.
A letter from the church’s vice-president Karen Burge praised Ms Chait’s work but said getting a vaccination was inconsistent with its religious teachings.
“It is the position of the COU that to receive the COVID-19/Sars Cov 2 injection consciously and deliberately with intent is in contradiction with our Constitution and contrary to our position on what is required of us by our Lord God and Creator,” she said.
Ms Chait could no longer remain a church member and a subcontractor, according to Ms Burge’s letter. “The COU is currently making arrangements to assist Lainie by offering her alternative work arrangements as a subcontractor through our affiliates.”
Ms Chait said she opted to get vaccinated “to be able to travel, cross borders and see my family and friends in other countries and states of Australia”.
Ms Chait, who has epilepsy, said she supported the church’s efforts to provide holistic approaches to health other than western medicine.
“However, I don’t support how I was treated, nor do I support being shunned by people in the wellness industry for making a choice that was right for me and my health,” she said.
She also disputed the description of her as a subcontractor rather than an employee entitled to protection against unfair dismissal.
Ms Chait is seeking damages equal to about three months’ wages plus back payments for superannuation and other entitlements not paid during her employment.
The unfair dismissal claim comes amid a parliamentary inquiry on the federal government’s Religious Discrimination Bill, which opponents fear will lead to workplace discrimination.
Professor Munton said religions did not have to prove their reasons are valid according to some measure of objective rationality. “They just have to establish that they took their decision in good faith, to avoid ‘injury to the religious susceptibilities of adherents of that religion or creed’,” she said.
Ms Chait’s solicitor Mark Swivel said the decision to terminate her employment due to vaccination was “inherently unfair”.
“There is nothing in the decision to vaccinate by an employee that relates to their performance or suitability for the work they were hired to do,” he said.
The church’s website said it was carrying “on the Ubuntu tradition as taught by Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu”.
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Land clearing in Queensland doubles despite new laws
More than 680,000 hectares of forest were cleared in Queensland in 2018-19 – double the previous year’s total – despite the introduction of the Palaszczuk government’s controversial vegetation management laws.
The rate of clearing identified in the long-awaited Statewide Landcover and Tree Study report, released on Thursday, was significantly higher than under the Newman government, before the new legislation was introduced in 2018. In response to the report, the Palaszczuk government said it would establish a scientific expert group to help understand the factors behind the latest clearing figures and identify incentives to help avoid future clearing.
Conservationists, alarmed by the increase, accused the Palaszczuk government of leaving loopholes in its legislation that had been exploited.
Agricultural groups, which campaigned against the introduction of the laws that outlawed broadscale land clearing, said the data showed that illegal clearing had stayed at the same low rate and that nearly all of the clearing was outside vulnerable areas.
The previous SLATS survey, conducted in 2017-18, which showed that 392,000ha of bushland had been cleared, had been used by the Palaszczuk government to support its case to toughen controls on landholders.
The new report found that 82 per cent of the woody vegetation cleared in 2018-19 was full removal of the vegetation, while the remainder was partially cleared, mostly for cattle grazing.
Queensland Resources Minister Scott Stewart said the report was able to more accurately monitor changes in vegetation due to higher resolution imagery and could therefore not be compared to previous reports.
“I’m encouraged the 2018-19 Statewide Landcover and Trees Study report shows less than 1 per cent of cleared land was endangered, and apart from drought-related fodder harvesting, remnant clearing is less than 8 cent of all clearing,” Mr Stewart said.
“The change in the methodology means the data from this report can’t be directly compared with previous SLATS data, which have been used to compare rates of change over time.”
He said a “high proportion” of the clearing was attributable to drought exemptions, “legacy exemptions”, clearing for fire breaks and trails and “excessive clearing” when the laws were amended.
However, Queensland Conservation Council director Dave Copeman said the data revealed that deforestation in Queensland was “still out of control” and a serious risk to vulnerable wildlife.
“The huge area of destruction reported means we have probably been underestimating the clearing throughout Queensland for years,” Mr Copeman said.
“The extent and pace of deforestation is heartbreaking and we owe it to future generations to stop this climate-wrecking and habitat destroying trend.”
AgForce focused on the revelation that just 0.2 per cent of regulated vegetation had been cleared for production in 2018-19.
“There has been no significant clearing of trees in Queensland, and sensational claims of land clearing are myths,” AgForce chief executive Michael Guerin said.
“The findings are testament to the hard work of landowners who have made great efforts with sustainable land management during particularly challenging times and tough drought conditions.”
Mr Guerin said the apparent increase in clearing was due to finer resolution imagery and said the latest SLATS report did not include regrowth, thickening and bio-condition data.
WWF Australia’s Stuart Blanch said the report undermined commitments by the Queensland and federal governments to cut emissions to net zero by 2050.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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1 January, 2022
'In 2022, the pandemic will END': Face of Australia's vaccine rollout promises a New Year's Omicron miracle
It's the message of hope Australia has been waiting to hear - one of the nation's top doctors has now confidently predicted: 'In 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic will end.'
Former deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth says vaccination jabs and the spread of the mild Omicron strain will finally make the world immune to Covid.
His welcome words have come as Australia again hit record new case numbers across the country - but thankfully ICU numbers remain stubbornly low.
And that mirrors the experience overseas where death rates have barely budged despite massive surges in numbers - and in the UK, deaths have actually dropped during the current Omicron outbreak.
Now Dr Coatsworth says the world is on the verge of using Omicron to bounce back from the nightmare of the last two years.
'We will live our lives again as part of the incredibly social and incurably optimistic human species that thrives on this planet,' he said in an op-ed for the Sydney Morning Herald. '2022 will be the year the pandemic ends. It could even be sooner than we think.'
More than 137,000 Australians were infected with Covid on New Year's Day - but there are just 135 patients currently in ICU with the virus, including 79 in NSW where the state recorded 22, 577 new cases on Saturday.
He was the face of Australia's vaccination programme rollout when it first began, and he said the massive widespread uptake will be key to our future.
He hailed the way the Australian public had rallied to the cause and got jabbed to protect themselves and the community.
'The virus itself has also helped us,' he said. 'It has evolved into a definitively milder illness with a complete uncoupling of case numbers and hospitalisations.'
In South Africa, where Omicron was first identified, cases are already dropping dramatically just a month after the new variant first began to spread.
Now Dr Coatsworth has called for an end to social media scaremongering and says it's time to learn to live with the virus.
'In light of our community success, the evolution of the virus to a milder form and effective new treatments, the time for mandates and whole-of-community restrictions is therefore over,' he said.
He added: 'We can be rightly proud of what we have achieved as Australians in the face of what was the challenge of our lifetime.
'We will emerge a stronger, healthier and more prosperous nation for our efforts.'
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Des Houghton: My irritant of the year award goes to the ABC
My Irritant of the Year is the ABC. Our national broadcaster has splashed $856,000 of our money on advertising, promotions and audience research each month since last July.
The huge expenditure came despite the ABC crying poor and saying it would have to let go 250 staff due to budget cuts. Clearly, the ABC propagandists are not to be believed. There were no budget cuts.
Official budget papers show revenue from the government was $1,045,911,000 in 2018-19, jumping to $1,062,265,000 in 2019-20 and rising again to $1,065,354,000 in 2020-21.
Another year, another billion, and then some. Yet still the ABC greedily demands more.
Forward estimates show government revenue for 2021-22 jumped to $1,070,649,000 and will rise again to $1,073,090,000 in 2022-23. What business wouldn’t like a billion-dollar-plus top-up every year?
Remember also that the ABC was exempt from recent Commonwealth “efficiency dividends”, a term used to describe cuts in departmental funding. Is the ABC worth the vast sums spent on it?
I’m not going to pretend it does not do some fine work.
But it seems to me to be increasingly riddled with bias – either conscious bias or unconscious bias. There are signs the newsrooms are run by elites who see themselves as morally and culturally superior. They do not like to correct their mistakes and they do not always uphold their own rules.
The ABC’s internal guide insists on “due impartially”.
Journalists and producers are instructed to “present a diversity of perspectives so that, over time, no significant strand of thought or belief within the community is knowingly excluded or disproportionately represented”. In my opinion the ABC ignores this rule daily. It is also guilty of selective reporting. This goes largely unnoticed and unchallenged.
Any person or group that does not align with Aunty’s espoused, green-Left values is either ridiculed or simply frozen out of the debate. This seems to fly in the face of its news code: “Do not misrepresent any perspective.” And: “Do not unduly favour one perspective over another.”
I don’t think I’m the only one who no longer trusts the ABC. A burning sense of moral superiority has blinded itself to its faults.
The ABC’s requirement for impartiality is defined in the statutory obligation in the ABC Act to gather and present news and information that is “accurate and impartial according to the recognised standards of objective journalism”.
Already the ABC seems to be turning on conservatives in the lead-up to the election. And it will get worse. Listen for the half-smart “gotcha” questions, the bad manners and the mock outrage from prickly commentators who see it as their duty to undermine conservatives.
Minor stumbles by the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues will be magnified, while the missteps of the Greens and the Labor Party will be glossed over as trifling affairs.
Meanwhile, the ABC spends tens of thousands of dollars on outside lawyers despite having a team of lawyers on its payroll.
Many viewers and listeners feel “their ABC” regularly fails to represent them and have turned away in droves.
Is it not the time for the ABC to help pay its own way?
Imposing a paywall would be fair. People who don’t use the ABC resent paying for a service they do not use and do not want.
The ABC should also allow advertising to lessen the taxpayers’ burden. The SBS model shows there is no harm in paid advertising away from news and current affairs programs. Aunty remains in denial. It’s just not loved anymore. You get better drama on Foxtel and Netflix. Sky News is sharper and quicker to breaking news. It often makes the ABC look like the History Channel.
There are other problems for Aunty. Because of its ingrained bias, the ABC programs are beginning to display a boring sameness. In the digital world, that’s death.
The arrogant elites in the newsroom may have already condemned themselves to irrelevancy. And because their heads are up their own backsides, they can’t see it.
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Vomiting mum told she must join blown out PCR queues even though rapid test was positive
Pity anybody who falls into the hands of a bureaucracy!
Highly symptomatic and extremely ill Queenslanders are being told the only way they can get a Covid PCR test is to line up at overwhelmed testing centres, as infectious disease experts warn the snaking queues are a breeding ground for virus spread.
Gold Coast woman Natalie Rittson has had vomiting and diarrhoea, migraine, sore throat and soaring temperatures since Boxing Day and a rapid antigen test has found her positive to Covid.
But the mum has hit brick walls trying to access a PCR test that does not require her to leave her sick bed and line up for as long as five hours or more at a testing clinic.
The 57-year-old, who is double vaccinated, lives with her teenage son who cannot drive and her sister Sam have revealed to The Courier-Mail the “frightening details of the last few days” that has seen Natalie get a”diabolic” run-around from health officials
“The message from every single person has been get yourself to a testing centre, regardless of the fact that she lives alone with her son and is very sick,” Sam Rittson said.
“You would think they wouldn’t want someone with those kind of symptoms at a testing centre or a hospital. It doesn’t make sense.
“Even when the rapid test showed that she was Covid positive, it was still the same message — get out of bed and line up.
“I rang Queensland Health on Tuesday morning to see if I could persuade someone to go to her house to test her but still the same message — go to a testing clinic.”
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Rail extension plan keeps coal on track
The push for net-zero emissions by 2050 has pitted the Coalition and Labor’s climate change policies against the bipartisan proposal to expand the Inland Rail train line to Gladstone.
While the federal government has pledged $10m towards a business case to assess the feasibility of extending the freight line from Toowoomba to Gladstone, a private economic analysis of the proposed route this year found its viability was contingent on the creation of new thermal coalmines in the nearby Surat Basin.
Both main parties insist new coalmines would not be at odds with their emissions-reduction commitments.
In the Gladstone-based electorate of Flynn, both the Liberal National Party candidate Colin Boyce and Labor candidate Matt Burnett – the Gladstone mayor – have backed the extension and the possibility of new coalmines.
Flynn is held with a margin of 7.6 per cent by the LNP’s Ken O’Dowd, who is retiring, and is a key target of Labor in next year’s federal election campaign.
The electorate is dominated by mining, heavy industry and agriculture and is regarded by party insiders as a litmus test for the _climate change policies of both major parties, thrusting issues such as Inland Rail and coal to the forefront of political debate.
The Inland Rail economic analysis prepared this year by consultancy AEC Group for the Central Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils found that the Gladstone extension of the 1700km rail line from Melbourne to Brisbane would be feasible if it factored in the likely development of coalmines in the Surat Basin using the freight line to move their product to Gladstone’s port.
Mr Boyce, who is currently the state MP for Callide, said opening new coalmines to make the rail line feasible was not inconsistent with the Coalition’s pathway to net zero emissions. “Extending the line opens up all sorts of opportunities for other proposals, some of them being coal,” Mr Boyce said.
The government’s “long-term emissions-reduction plan”, released by Scott Morrison in October, said future coal exports would be determined by the international market, not by government.
Similarly, Labor’s policy states that any emissions generated from export coal would count towards the emissions of the country using the coal, rather than Australia’s.
Mr Boyce said coal-fired power stations under construction around the world, and existing power stations such as the one at Callide, west of Gladstone, would rely on Queensland coal.
“There will be a demand well into 2050 for the coal industry in Australia,” he said.
Mr Burnett said he was confident the government’s business case, also backed by Labor, would show the rail line to Gladstone had economic merit with or without new coalmines, particularly through the freight of local resources and produce.
“I’m personally not opposed to new mines,” Mr Burnett said. “I think a business case on the Inland Rail stacks up on its own. “I know there are people across the country who don’t want to see new coalmines, but let’s let the business case determine that.”
Mr Burnett is cognisant of the damage that Labor’s ambivalence toward coal played in Labor’s loss in the 2019 election and the need to assure the industry’s workers of their future. “There are plenty of great employment opportunities in mining and coal-fired power in central Queensland and there are new and exciting industries too,” he said.
Labor senator Murray Watt said the implications for the Gladstone connection for coal and other industries would be considered in that business case.
“Labor will continue to support coalmining and the workers in the industry for as long as there is demand for it,” he said.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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For the notes appearing at the side of the original blog see HERE
Pictures put up on a blog sometimes do not last long. They stay up only as long as the original host keeps them up. I therefore keep archives of all the pictures that I use. The recent archives are online and are in two parts:
Archive of side pictures here
Most pictures that I use in the body of the blog should stay up throughout the year. But how long they stay up after that is uncertain. At the end of every year therefore I intend to put up a collection of all pictures used on the blog in that year. That should enable missing pictures to be replaced. The archive of last year's pictures on this blog is therefore now up. Note that the filename of the picture is clickable and reflects the date on which the picture was posted. See here
My Home Pages are here (Academic) or here (Personal); My Home page supplement; My Alternative Wikipedia; My Blogroll; Menu of my longer writings; My annual picture page is here; My Recipes;
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