Australian PoliticsAustralia's one-term Prime Minister above ... Events of interest from a libertarian/conservative perspective below
This document is part of an archive of postings by John Ray on Australian Politics, a blog hosted by Blogspot who are in turn owned by Google. The index to the archive is available here or here. Indexes to my other blogs can be located here or here. Archives do accompany my original postings but, given the animus towards conservative writing on Google and other internet institutions, their permanence is uncertain. These alternative archives help ensure a more permanent record of what I have written
This is a backup copy of the original blog
30 September, 2022
Conservatives must stop being cowards
The election victory of Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party came as welcome news this week. Welcome news for the world’s entirely predictable mainstream media who – and this, sadly, includes even centre-right publications in Australia – immediately resorted to employing as many variations of ‘far-right’ and ‘fascist’ as they could find in a Thesaurus and squeeze into each and every sentence regarding Ms Meloni’s victory.
More importantly, the victory is also welcome to conservatives and traditonally-minded voters across the West excited as well as relieved to finally hear and see a politician of the right who not only is passionate about traditional values, but has the stomach to fight tooth and nail for them.
The curse of conservatism over the past decade or two has been the almost universal lack of courage among conservative leaders to actually defend the causes they supposedly believe in. For sure, there are the occasional speeches or doorstop interviews where the typical centre-right leader mouths a few reassuring platitudes on the free market, or freedom of expression (within certain boundaries, of course!) to keep the party faithful happy, but these soothing words are never matched by full-throated, unequivocal, aggressive defence of those values that the Left has so successfully denigrated and vandalised across the West.
Those politicians who do defend traditonal values are immediately dismissed as ‘populists’ and swiftly dumped into the maverick bin. Donald Trump is and was a staunch and proud defender of most conservative values, but his theatricality and his unflinching style were viewed by other conservative leaders as something to be embarrassed about, rather than something to emulate. Boris Johnson had plenty of Trump’s flamboyant style, but he had none of his convictions, instincts or common sense. Trump announced he would build a wall across the southern states of America because he wanted to stop illegal immigrants coming across that border. Full stop. Boris Johnson announced he supported Brexit because he thought it would suit him politically. There is a difference.
Jair Bolsonaro and Victor Orbán have successfully been painted by the mainstream media as oddballs or fascists, which is clearly what Giorgia Meloni can look forward to over the coming months and years. Indeed, the week before her victory, the European Union’s unctious Ursula van der Leyen sneeringly suggested that should Ms Meloni win in Italy, the EU would employ unspecified ‘tools’ against her. So much for democracy, a plurality of points of view and so on. Within the EU mindset, Ms Meloni, like Mr Orbán, and their countries, must be punished and brought undone – rather than be accommodated or listen to – for having had the temerity to express dissatisfaction with the EU behemoth.
But the times may well suit Giorgia Meloni. This time around, it’s not climate change, it’s not immigration, it’s not welfare, although they are all still critical to her success. This time the overreach of the Left has entered the public domain and cannot be ignored. Having successfully captured all the major institutions, corporations and most of the political parties, the Left may come to regret the day they also tried to march through the bedrooms of troubled teenage boys and girls. There is no question that the sheer revulsion felt by many conservatives and traditionally-minded individuals, not to mention religious folk, at the entire transgender/pronouns/chest-binding/puberty-blocker/gender-surgery/ what is a woman? horror show, all of which can be summed up in the word ‘woke’, has driven blue-collar, solidly traditional people away from the old parties of the Left and into the comforting, motherly, Christian, family-oriented embrace of Ms Meloni. When she pounds her fist on the podium and rants to the adoring, cheering faithful, it is accompanied by words and phrases such as ‘family’, ‘mother’, ‘Italian’ and ‘Christian’. Identity politics may have finally come full circle.
In Australia, a nation where we now have almost wall to wall Labor governments, the lesson is crystal clear. Only conservatives who have the courage to not only articulate but to passionately fight for conservative convictions have a hope of cutting through to the electorate. Pandering to the Left by adopting net zero, or playing the insidious diversity, inclusion and equity game, deservedly spells disaster.
The times have changed. Conservatives must stop being cowards. The CPAC weekend in Sydney is as good a place to start as any.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/10/the-curse-of-conservatism/
****************************************************Pfizer Covid vaccine caused 'debilitating' lesions om her tongue that left 60-year-old woman unable to eat for months
A 60-year-old woman suffered 'debilitating' lesions on her tongue after receiving Pfizer's Covid vaccine – with each shot making her symptoms worse.
Her side effects, which also included a dry mouth and inflammation, were so painful she was left unable to eat.
Doctors struggled to find the culprit for nine months, during which she lost 17 pounds (8kg).
By the time she was finally diagnosed, her swollen tongue had began to split open leaving deep, agonizing sores.
She was diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome, a condition that sees the immune system go haywire and damage healthy parts of the body. Her symptoms were finally cured with a six-week course of topical steroids.
Doctors chronicled the rare side effect in a report published last month in the American Journal of Case Reports.
The unidentified patient, from Australia, received three vaccine doses in total – two of which formed the initial course, as well as a single booster.
Similar symptoms were also documented in patients infected with coronavirus, which led to the condition being dubbed 'Covid tongue'.
Oral sores are not a new phenomenon after a vaccine and have been spotted in people following flu, hepatitis B and papillomavirus jabs.
But only a handful of cases have been reported after Covid vaccines, despite billions of doses being administered worldwide.
The unnamed patient developed sores in her mouth about three days after receiving the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Her symptoms had partially abated before she received the second dose, after which the symptoms returned still more severely.
She underwent a cadre of blood tests to rule out other diagnoses such as HPV and other infections.
She was referred to an outpatient rheumatology clinic with suspected Sjogren syndrome, an autoimmune disease which causes the immune system to attack glands that produce moisture in the eyes, mouth, and other parts of the body.
Doctors first prescribed a topical version of clonazepam, a benzodiazepine that when ingested orally, can treat burning mouth syndrome.
When that did little to alleviate her symptoms, doctors prescribed an oral steroid which caused symptoms to improve 60 per cent, but treatment stopped because it was causing the woman abdominal pain.
Doctors finally settled on a lower dose topical iteration of the steroids dissolved in water and taken consistently for about six weeks until symptoms abated.
The condition was not easily diagnosed and doctors were puzzled at first. While oral symptoms can be associated with the Pfizer vaccine, they are uncommon and likely under recognized by providers who do not specialize in oral healthcare.
Writing in the journal, the doctors said: 'A subsequent review of the timeline of history and medications, including vaccinations, identified a clear relationship between the exacerbation of oral symptoms after each [Pfizer-BioNTech] vaccination.'
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) database for Covid vaccine side effects does not include oral symptoms.
A major caveat is that reporting the adverse effects is voluntary and therefore cases may be underreported.
'This case demonstrates that oral symptoms can be associated with BNT162b2 vaccination, which is likely under-recognized by practitioners outside the field of oral health,' the doctors said in the case study.
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The "voice" for Aborigines will be powerful
Some recent events in Melbourne and in the Federal Court have shown us what is in store for us if the Aboriginal Voice is implemented. First, poor Daniel Andrews. He must feel that the whole world is against him. All he did was announce that his government will massively expand the Maroondah hospital in Melbourne and rename it the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, as a suitable monument to mark the reign of our late Queen. It was therefore a proposal that he would do something worthy and decent and undoubtedly within the proper role of an elected government.
But now, he has been set upon by the entire left-wing establishment who have demanded that the re-naming of the hospital be abandoned and that it keep its present name of Maroondah, which is a perfectly good Aboriginal word meaning ‘throwing leaves’. And the proposed new name has sent the Left and its camp followers into a frenzy. For them, to rename the Maroondah Hospital after the monarch is an endorsement of colonialism, imperialism, racism and all the other horrors that allegedly come with our history and our present system of government. No Aboriginal, it is said, would feel safe going into a hospital with such a name.
In one sense it serves Andrews right that he is in such trouble. He was trying to capitalise on the upsurge of sentiment and sympathy for the monarchy and the outburst of love and respect for the Queen. He was trading on this development and bathing in its reflected glory when, suddenly, the whole issue rose up from nowhere, turned on him and has given him an almighty kick in the backside.
He is now under siege from his own cabinet and party, the wider Left and their hangers-on, and the sycophantic media, all of whom have told him to revoke his decision. If he does, the Left will claim it as a great victory and manoeuvre for more such victories; he will then be putty in their hands and lose all authority. If he sticks with the decision, he will galvanise the entire left-wing apparatus against him and, with the state election only three months away, anything could happen. So, perhaps it serves him right. Let him squirm!
But far more significant than Mr Andrews’ travails and embarrassment is the fact that the whole issue shows us what life would be like if the Voice were put into our constitution, passed by legislation and set to work. It will intimidate elected governments until it gets it own way.
And, to complete the equation, we have the second significant event of last week, which can only increase the likelihood that the Voice will not just be a debating society, but will exercise real power to change the decisions of elected state and federal governments.
That is because a federal court judge has just handed down his decision in the Santos Barossa case. Albanese has said many times that litigation will not be able to change government policy. But the court has decided, even without the Voice to back it up, that the giant, $3 billion Barossa gas field cannot go ahead because Santos, according to the judge, did not adequately consult with those who have ‘spiritual connections’ and hunting and gathering rights over the ‘sea country’ of the Timor Sea. If litigation can stop a major project of this size and importance, even without the Voice, how much more ferocious will the litigation war become with the Voice in full flight as it moves to stop major developments. How many projects like Barossa will be stopped when the Voice starts baying for blood?
To show us how this will happen, let us return to the ‘throwing leaves’ among the sylvan groves of Maroondah, but imagining a time when the Voice is fully operational. The elected government decides to double the size of the Maroondah Hospital to cater for the vastly expanded population and to rename it the Queen Elizabeth II.
The Voice will have control, so Albanese has told us, of ‘matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’. Clearly, extending a hospital, part of the public health activities of the government, and giving it a name that is said to make Aboriginals feel unsafe, is a matter relating to Aboriginals. A cavalcade of organisations and individuals have told us so. Accordingly, the Voice has the right to object to it and to advise the state government to reverse its policy, which Andrews is now being told. The government considers the whole thing all over again and decides to proceed with the re-naming.
The Voice could not fail to be emboldened by the obvious willingness of the federal court to do as it did in the Santos Barossa case and set aside a government decision because there was inadequate consultation with Aboriginal interests. Nor could the Voice fail to be emboldened by the willingness of the High Court to find that Aboriginals are not subject to the regular law because they are Aboriginals and above the regular law. The matter goes through the courts which have no difficulty in finding that the government did not consult properly or fully with the local ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’. Moreover, the court will say that the Voice has immense and powerful standing because it was passed at a referendum and the decision to re-name the hospital should therefore be set aside. That clearly is what will happen because it is what is intended to happen.
Will this be the end of democracy? No, but it will be a fundamental and immense upheaval to our democratic system of government as competing interests are locked in litigation over every decision of significance and race will determine how those decisions are resolved. Is that what we really want for Australia? I hope not.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/10/brown-study-256/
******************************************************Fantastic lies about white settlement of Australia
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has thrown his support behind truth-telling as a softener for the emotional campaign for the Voice to Parliament referendum. Let’s hope he’s not relying on the SBS series "The Australian Wars" billed as ‘the documentary that reveals the truth of Australia’s history’.
The first episode of the show, produced by Rachel Perkins, daughter of the late Charles Perkins, made a number of claims which cannot be verified but serve to vilify the nation’s European colonisers.
In the introductory episode the staggering claim is made that 100,000 Aboriginals were murdered by troops or settlers in wars which lasted a century.
There is no evidence presented to justify this statement and even the final findings of the eight-year long Colonial Frontier Massacres Digital Map Project (elements of which have been successfully challenged) conducted by University of Newcastle emeritus professor Lyndall Ryan do not support this figure. The Guardian, which supported Professor Ryan’s flawed project, analysed the data and found that between 11,000 and 14,000 Aboriginal people died.
Which leaves a credibility gap into which Perkins’ 89,000 to 86,000 alleged deaths have fallen.
War is usually defined as a state of armed conflict between two countries or different groups within a country but it clear that there was never a state of war between Great Britain and an Aboriginal nation as there were no Aboriginal nations, no matter how nation is defined.
Further, the groups of Aboriginals who resisted European settlement did not constitute a coherent body.
Wars is too strong a term for what were at best deadly skirmishes between soldiers and a handful of Aboriginal clan leaders initially and later between small Aboriginal bands and police or settlers.
The claim is also made that children were taken as ‘slaves’ and that women and children were the most valuable commodities in the nascent colony though there is no evidence that slavery was ever practised by the colonisers and certainly no evidence that women and children were traded as commodities.
The wars, according to the documentary, were brought about because Governor Arthur Phillip bypassed an ancient legal system on his arrival.
This is Bruce Pascoe humbug on steroids. There was no Aboriginal legal system covering the continent. It was very much different strokes for different folks depending upon which clan or tribe they belonged to. In much the same way as some Aboriginal oligarchs today sequester all the royalties arising from mining in their areas and deny funding to those who aren’t part of their clan or kinship group.
Another of the many demands the Voice makes is for a treaty with Australia, which not only supposes that there is an actual cohesive Aboriginal nation and that such a nation could have a treaty with the nation that it exists within, which is patently nonsensical, but it also begs the question why didn’t any Aboriginal seek a treaty as the Maori had done when the tide of European settlement reached New Zealand?
I put this question to Sir Tipene O’Regan (now Ta Tipene O’Regan) twenty-three years ago at his Auckland home during the 1999 APEC conference.
O’Regan, who was named 2022 New Zealander of the Year in March, is the son of an Irish surgeon and activist Rolland O’Regan and Rena Ruiha, who was a member of Ngai Tahu tribe.
As the driving force behind a number of successful land and sea fisheries claims for the Ngai Tahu with legendary negotiating skills, his views on indigenous claims are worth listening to.
He told me that there were vast cultural differences between the Maori and the Aboriginals. All indigenous people are not the same. He said he had attended international meetings of indigenous groups and felt closer to Native Americans from the Pacific Northwest (in particular the Kwakiutl), than the Australian Aboriginal representatives.
‘We are both seafaring people, when Europeans arrived we understood trade and treaties, culturally we are similar, we carve, we had complex oral histories detailing our heritage.’
The Maori nobility, he said, were able to recite their family lineage and this oral recitation of genealogy (whakapapa in Maori) was essential to define who was privileged and who was a slave.
‘Because knowledge of your whakapapa was essential, the Maori embraced writing to set down their family trees so they would not lose their identities and within the first century of the arrival of Europeans, the level of literacy was higher among Maori than among the settlers.’
The Maori, he said, were pressed for space and resources and each tribe or iwi had clearly defined boundaries which required the development of a diplomatic code if there was not to be perpetual war.
When Europeans landed, the shore dwellers could not retreat as they would be encroaching on the tribe up the hill. They had to negotiate a settlement with the new arrivals and arrangements for them to collect wood and water. They could not retreat.
Aboriginals, on the other hand, in his view, had almost unlimited opportunities to withdraw and they did.
I was unfortunately unable to contact Ta Tipene through the University of Auckland to seek his view on the Voice but as we don’t yet know in what form the Labor government proposal will be presented, the questions would be hypothetical.
Perkins and her crew are in no doubt about the need for a Voice, treaty and truth-telling.
Perhaps they could just start by telling the truth and letting the nation decide whether the rest is necessary.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/10/australian-notes-321/
************************************29 September, 2022
A major overhaul of Queensland’s energy sector will involve construction of the ‘world’s biggest’ pumped hydro project
This is nonsense. For pumped hydro you need TWO dams, at astronomical cost. Where is the money going to come from? Will it reduce the funding for hospitals, police and pensioners? Realistic cost estimates and realistic statements about how other spending will be affected are needed. There is no sign of either.
When there are so many other needs for funding (ambulancees, housing etc.) already crying out, this proposal is verging on criminal. And for what? To replace s perfectly good electricity supply that we have already. It will buy a few votes from Greenies, that is all
A major overhaul of Queensland’s energy sector will cost $62bn over 13 years and involve construction of the “world’s biggest” pumped hydroelectric power plant project, ending the “reliance” on coal in the state’s publicly owned power plants by 2035.
The goals of the Queensland Energy Plan include hitting a new, higher renewable energy target of 70 per cent by 2032, though the state’s emissions reductions target of 30 per cent below 2005 baseline levels will not change.
The targets will be legislated.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk released the state’s long-awaited 10-year Queensland Energy Plan at her annual state of the state address on Wednesday afternoon, saying the “race was now on” to secure “clean energy supply chains”.
“We must invest now, not just for our climate,” she said. “We must address this issue at the same time we focus on new job opportunities to bring everyone along with the clean energy industrial revolution at our doorstep.”
Ms Palaszczuk confirmed Queensland’s plan was to get 70 per cent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2032, and 80 per cent by 2035.
Natural renewable resources are energy sources with an endless supply so they can be continuously replenished. Some examples of renewable resources include the wind, sun, geothermal heat and water.
Part of the plan will include building two new pumped hydroelectric plants — one west of Mackay and the other at Borumba Dam by 2035.
There will be a new “SuperGrid” built to connect solar, wind, battery and hydrogen generators across the state.
“The super grid brings together all of the elements in the electricity system with the poles and wires that provide Queenslanders with clean, reliable and affordable power for generations,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“That super grid delivers around 1500 kilometres of transmission lines from Brisbane up to North Queensland and out west to Hughenden.”
Publicly owned coal fired power plants, which make up the majority of the state’s coal fired assets, would be “converted” to clean energy hubs from 2027. And their “reliance” on coal would be stopped by 2035.
Ms Palaszczuk said this would be “done in a measured way”. “We won’t convert coal power stations until there is replacement firmed generation,” she said. “We will keep our coal fired power stations as back up capacity until replacement pumped hydro energy storage is operational. “We will be able to turn the stations back on if something goes wrong.”
The state will also build a “hydrogen gas ready turbine”.
The energy plan will cost an estimated $62bn between now and 2035, with the funds to be spread across state and federal governments and the private sector.
“By 2035 Queensland … will have no regular reliance on coal and be at 80 per cent renewable energy,” Ms Palaszczuk said. “That’s because we will have more pumped hydro energy storage than the rest of Australia combined. “Today is about being bold with an energy and jobs plan that has tangible aims and palpable outcomes.”
The latest data shows Queensland’s energy mix in 2021/22 was 21.4 per cent renewable, up from 19.6 per cent between August 2020 and July 2021.
The state government has been ramping up its energy-related announcements in the last week, with Ms Palaszczuk travelling out to South Burnett on Monday to reveal a $780m commitment to building Australia’s largest publicly owned wind farm. The Tarong West Wind Farm in the South Burnett would create enough electricity to power up to 230,000 homes.
At a press conference this morning, Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said it would power “the size of the Gold Coast”, and would be the “equivalent of taking 230,000 cars off the road”.
He said existing cattle farmers located near the wind farm would be able to operate as usual.
The project will include up to 150 turbines and generate 500MW, with 200 jobs created during the construction phase and 15 ongoing roles when the farm up and running.
Earlier, the Greens said Queensland risked being “laughed out of the room” over its climate policies, with the party urging the Palaszczuk government to accelerate the closure of coal-fired stations and adopt a transition plan for the workforce.
Greens MP Michael Berkman said Queensland risked breaching its Paris Agreement unless it includes the closure of the state’s power stations by 2030.
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Albanese government would ‘absolutely’ welcome a Tesla manufacturing plant
Australia had a long history of making cars. It stopped because it was uneconomical. It just bumped up the cost of living. Would Musk's Australian factories be able to compete with his factories in China? Not likely. Not without a nice little subsidy out of the pocket of the Australian taxpayer
Infrastructure and Transport Minister Catherine King says the Albanese government would “absolutely” welcome Tesla opening a manufacturing plant in Australia.
Her comments come after the company’s most senior executive in Australia hinted the electric vehicle giant could expand its manufacturing capabilities here.
Board chair Robyn Denholm told the National Press Club in Canberra earlier this month the company wanted to have manufacturing capability on every continent.
She said Tesla needed to “be in all of the major markets” in order to compete in a world moving towards the widespread use of electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries.
Ms King said on Wednesday the “incredibly disappointing” winding down of the Australian car manufacturing industry had implications for research and development across the manufacturing sector.
The Albanese government has been enthusiastic about ramping up local manufacturing and indicated this could include making cars once again.
But Energy Minister Chris Bowen was noncommittal when asked on Wednesday if he thought it was realistic to expect cars to be made in Australia again.
“We’re very excited as (Ms King) said, right up and down the supply chain,” he said.
“The economics of electric vehicle manufacturing are very different to traditional internal combustion engines, whether it’s full vehicles or those components of vehicles along the way.
“And as I said at the outset, the more we have an electric vehicle market in Australia, the more that will support electric vehicle component and indeed, potentially in due course, manufacturing.”
Mr Bowen and Ms King made the comments as they unveiled the federal government’s consultation paper, outlining the framework for a new national electric vehicle strategy.
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Camp fees spark fears popular Straddie beach spot Blaksley will close under native title
Restrictions on access by others nearly always result from a grant of native title
Boaties and campers to a popular beachside camping site on Minjerribah, North Stradbroke Island, fear the introduction of camping fees by the state government could lead to the closure of their holiday hideaway.
The $7-a-night per permit fee, or $28 for a family, was put in place last week, on the first day of the September school holidays, when the state government also set out stringent regulations for the beach site.
The site will be limited to 10 tents and bookings capped at seven nights with permit fees paid to the state government prior to arrival.
Despite the site being a remote bush setting with no inroad, campers must abide by check-in and check-out times with no arrivals before 2pm and all vacated by 11am.
Further regulations will be implemented this week, when the state will remove all rubbish bins and make it mandatory for each camping booking to have its own Australian-standard portaloo.
Long-time visitors pegging out tent sites last week were surprised to see a new billboard advertising the fees and announcing the “new campground” rules.
Blaksley Slip is on aboriginal land and is part of the Naree Budjong Djara National Park, jointly managed by the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation, known as QYAC, and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.
Traditional owners and departmental officers worked together to develop the visitor management policies.
A spokesman for the Department of Environment and Science said the introduction of overnight permit fees was not a precursor to closing the site. “We need to be able to monitor the site to make sure that campers are being respectful in the area,” the spokesperson said. “Having people buy permits makes patrolling a lot easier.
“Native title exists at this site and it is aboriginal land under the Aboriginal Land Act 1991 but QPWS has no plans to close this site in the near or distant future.”
The spokesperson said because the camping area was in the national park, land, flora and fauna was protected and it was illegal to disturb, remove or destroy it.
The permit system, introduced this month, followed concerns unregistered campers were unlawfully bringing pet dogs and illegally cutting down trees for firewood.
But Cleveland resident Luke Seaborne, who has been visiting the campsite for 30 years, said he believed the new regulations were designed to drive people away and has started a petition to keep the area public.
He said it was not the first time changes to rules at public campsites on the island had been made over school holidays with the worst occasion in July 2020 when the island’s five main caravan parks closed.
Adder Rock and Adams Beach campgrounds closed in 2020 for maintenance work while Bradbury’s Beach site, at Dunwich, remains closed to the public.
A year later, campers were astounded when the island’s Minjerribah Camping banned tents at three of the island’s main campgrounds over Easter.
Caravan sites at Amity Point, Adder Rock, Thankful Rest, Bradbury’s Beach and Adams Beach all closed to tourists for the two weeks despite the state government easing Covid restrictions the week before.
Mr Seaborne said taking away the bins and introducing permit fees would deter tourists.
“Having a maximum of 10 tents is ridiculous and limiting camping to one week is also a way of driving people away,” he said.
“My friends and I will pay the fees but we are furious with the limits on tents and booking times and we believe they are designed to get rid of campers.
“Taking away the bins will inevitably mean rubbish is left on the beach.
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Peta Credlin says Australians are being treated as if 'we're all but racist' if they don't support the Voice to parliament
Australians are being 'morally shamed' into voting for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, a conservative columnist argues.
Peta Credlin, the former chief-of-staff for Liberal prime minster Tony Abbott, said the proposed Voice will be a race-based body that is more about 'power than recognition' but this is not how it is being sold.
'It will be pitched to voters in oversimplified terms: as being for or against Aboriginal people,' Ms Credlin wrote in The Australian.
The Voice is a proposed body of representatives from First Nations peoples across Australia that will advise federal parliament on matters concerning Indigenous people.
Its creation will require a change to the Australian Constitution that will have to be brought in by a successful referendum vote.
As an example of 'oversimplification' Ms Credlin pointed to the launch this week of what she called the 'big business' campaign for a 'yes' vote, which is backed by the Uluru Statement Group.
The ad features Indigenous playwright and actor Trevor Jamieson telling rapt children the hopeful story of how First People are allowed a 'say' in matters affecting them, which they haven't had.
'The "feel-good" yarning to children around a campfire, is a sign of things to come,' Ms Credlin wrote of the minute-long commercial, which will be mainly targeted at online audiences.
She noted that for previous referendums the federal government had funded campaigns both for a yes and no vote, but Ms Credlin doubted that would be done this time by the Albanese government.
'Labor will rely on big corporations to deluge us with the Yes message and hope, without the millions to match them, that no one picks up the arguments of the No side,' she said.
Ms Credlin accused those pushing for a Voice of being deliberately vague about what the body will do.
'The voice has to make a difference or what's the point of having it?' she wrote. 'Yet that difference can't be spelled out without almost certainly dooming it to defeat, hence the lack of detail.'
Ms Credlin believed Indigenous people already have a substantial say in the nation's affairs, pointing to the number of MPs who identify as Indigenous.
'Why establish a separate Indigenous voice to the parliament when it already includes 11 individual Indigenous voices that were elected in the usual way, without any affirmative action or race-based selection criteria?' she wrote.
'Why give one group of people, based on race, a special say over the actions of our parliament and our government that's denied to everyone else?'
She argued the Voice was really a grab for power. 'There's abundant reason to be cautious about entrenching in our Constitution a race-based body that even Malcolm Turnbull once described as a third chamber of the parliament,' she wrote. 'It’s easy to see where this could end up going – down the path of co-governance.'
Ms Credlin said the Voice had not really been 'thought through' and the danger is that Australians would be morally shamed into voting a 'race-based' Voice 'based on a vibe'.
'A couple of decades ago, we would have marched in the streets about a race-based body in our Constitution,' she wrote. 'Now we’re told we’re all but racist if we don’t support it.'
Will Australians vote for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament?
A poll by the Australia Institute in July found strong support for the Voice to be added to the Constitution.
The poll found 65 per cent would vote yes, up from 58 per cent when the same poll was run in June. Some 14 per cent said they would vote no, with the other 21 per cent undecided. Support was highest among Greens voters, but even 58 per cent of those Coalition aligned would vote yes.
For a referendum to succeed, a majority of the states must also vote yes, but the poll showed that was also easily covered.
All of the four biggest states had comfortable majorities with Victoria on 71 per cent, Queensland 66 per cent, WA 63 per cent and NSW 62 per cent.
Support was highest at 85 per cent for Australians aged 18-29 but those over 50 were still above 50 per cent yes.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has indicated the Voice referendum question is likely to be: 'Do you support an alteration to the Constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?'
Three lines would be added to the Constitution to create the advisory body; one stating it may 'make representations to parliament' on issues concerning Indigenous Australians; and that Parliament may legislate how it works.
To succeed a referendum must both get an overall majority of votes and a majority of voters in the majority of states.
Polls conducted in July indicated Australians strongly support the Voice to parliament with 65 per cent of respondents saying they would vote yes.
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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 September, 2022
Record Deaths in Australia from COVID-19 Despite 96.4% of 16+ Fully Vaxxed
Despite the fact that the population of Australia is nearly universally vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, TrialSite has reported that record numbers of deaths accumulated at the beginning of 2022. This is despite the universal protection of the vaccine. Yet breakthrough infections led to growing numbers of deaths in the most at-risk cohorts such as the elderly.
Now, mainstream media starts to acknowledge the trend. Recently, the Sydney Morning Herald reports in “COVID complications Push Australian deaths to highest number in 40 years,” that based on an analysis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics population data that total deaths nationwide are 18% higher in the quarter when compared to the prior year, rising from 36,100 to 46,200 deaths.
Labeled as “COVID-19’s hidden impact,” more people have died in Australia in the March quarter than any time in the last 41 years. Half the deaths in this period were from COVID despite an overwhelming vaccination rate.
Australia is one of the most vaccinated populations in the world against COVID-19 yet as TrialSite reported earlier this year has experienced unprecedented pandemic related deaths. Does this trend evidence a failure of the COVID-19 vaccines?
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Pauline calls out Muslim whiner
Pauline Hanson has been labelled a 'scumbag' in the Senate for refusing to withdraw a tweet telling Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi to 'p*** off back to Pakistan'.
Ms Hanson doubled down on her attack on Tuesday, offering to take Ms Faruqi 'to the airport' after she tweeted saying she could not mourn the Queen's death.
The One Nation leader's offer shocked politicians with Greens senator Jordon Steele-John shouting 'you scumbag' across the chamber.
Ms Faruqi moved a motion to censure Ms Hanson, saying 'I have the right to talk about this issue (the Queen and the empire) without being racially vilified'.
Ms Faruqi had originally moved that the Senate (a) condemns all racism and discrimination against migrants and people of colour;
(b) assures all migrants to Australia that they are valued, welcome members of our society;
(c) affirms that, if Parliament is to be a safe place for all who work and visit here, there can be no tolerance for racism or discrimination in the course of parliamentarians’ public debate;
and (d) censures Senator Hanson for her divisive, anti migrant and racist statement telling Senator Faruqi to 'piss off back to Pakistan', which does not reflect the opinions of the Australian Senate or the Australian people.
Labor later amended the motion, changing the first and last parts to condemn all racism and discrimination 'in all its forms'.
The government also removed the censure of Ms Hanson in particular to broaden it to 'calls on all senators to engage in debates and commentary respectfully, and to refrain from inflammatory and divisive comments, both inside and outside the chamber at all times'.
During a heated debate on Tuesday, Ms Hanson would not retract her comment, which followed a tweet from Ms Faruqi calling the Queen 'a leader of a racist empire' on the day of her death.
'Condolences to those who knew the Queen. I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples,' Ms Faruqi posted.
'We are reminded of the urgency of Treaty with First Nations, justice & reparations for British colonies & becoming a republic.'
Speaking in the Senate, Ms Hanson said: 'As I have explained myself, I will not, NOT retract what I've told Senator Faruqi or any other Australian that's come here for a new way of life, to disrespect what is Australian to me.
She then referenced her previous comment telling Ms Faruqi to go back to Pakistan if she did not support the Queen. 'And she can do and go where I've said,' she added on Tuesday. 'I make the offer, also, to take her to the airport'.
Mr Steele-John then roared 'you scumbag' at Ms Hanson.
Ms Faruqi had previously slammed the British empire for 'enslaving millions of black and brown people around the world'.
Ms Hanson, who once moved a motion in the Senate that it was 'OK to be white', fired back at the Greens politician by suggesting she get out of Australia and that she had taken advantage of everything the country had given her.
'Your attitude appalls and disgusts me. When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country,' Ms Hanson said.
'You took citizenship, bought multiple homes, and a job in a parliament. It's clear you're not happy, so pack your bags and p*** off back to Pakistan.'
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A habitual criminal to be farewelled at Victorian state funeral
Marvellous the difference that skin colour makes
The Boon Wurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Woiwurrung and Taungurung man died at the age of 79 earlier this month.
The state funeral will take place at the prestigious Hamer Hall on October 18 and will be streamed into the state's prisons, where Uncle Jack volunteered to support inmates.
A member of the Stolen Generations, Uncle Jack was taken from his family by the state when he was just four months old.
His early years were marked by abusive institutions and disconnect from his Aboriginal identity.
The trauma of his upbringing left a long-lasting mark and Uncle Jack battled drug addiction, homelessness and imprisonment at various stages of his life.
But he forged a path back to his family and culture and became an advocate for truth-telling, using his life experiences to educate Australians.
After his death, Ian Hamm, the chair of the Healing Foundation Stolen Generations Reference Group, said Uncle Jack "dedicated his life to healing our nations".
'No Victorian quite like Uncle Jack Charles'
Now known as the "father of black theatre", Uncle Jack co-founded Nindethana, Australia's first Aboriginal-run theatre group in 1971.
His acting career spanned decades, with his star soaring when he was the subject of the award-winning 2008 documentary Bastardy.
As Australians mourn the loss of an acting legend, those close to the 79-year-old Aboriginal actor say his legacy of love, warmth and truth-telling will endure.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said Uncle Jack's family had accepted the offer of a state funeral. "There is no actor, no activist, no survivor and no Victorian quite like Uncle Jack Charles," Mr Andrews said.
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Tyrannical pseudo-science
As if we haven’t had enough of politicians in our faces in the Peoples Republic of Victoria in the last two and a half years, we now have Dr Monique Ryan in the Federal Parliament courtesy of the Woke and bespoke voters of Kooyong. Dr Ryan is a neurologist and says she is a woman of science; therefore (presumably) she cannot be questioned on her views on Climate Change, after all, she is a scientist and the science is settled
I live outside Melbourne on the edge of the western plains in a tiny town called Toolern Vale, where there are more horses and rabbits than humans. We are 70km from Ballarat and the westerly wind in winter blowing from Ballarat is infinitely colder than any mother-in-law’s kiss. We are very much aware of, and exposed to, climate change, but out here we call it the weather.
I have had a gutful of being hammered with the new climate religion which appears to have little basis in science. Its adherents are a group of virtue-signalling, privileged elites who, in their delirium and zealotry, use selective climate data and extreme language to spread the word via propaganda and are brainwashing our young, infecting our Parliament, and slowly destroying our prosperity.
At present I am paying at least four times the amount I should for electricity despite having a bank of solar panels. In the near future, I can look forward to a completely random electricity supply which will interrupt my ability to earn an income and put me in third-world living conditions. My taxes are propping up the renewables market thereby deliberately sabotaging the supply of essential fossil fuels.
Chris Bowen is hell-bent on forcing me to sell my V8 ute, replacing it with a not-fit-for-purpose EV and, to top it off, wind turbine transmission lines are coming through my neighbour’s property. I hear our Prime Minister thinks the changing climate is a threat to the ‘survival of our way of life’; well Prime Minister, it is not the weather that threatens my way of life, it is your bizarre, delusional, religion-based reaction to it.
News from the UK and Europe informs us that their citizens are soon to enter the winter from hell – not because of the weather per se, but because of a shortage of baseload power and the available power they do have is astronomically expensive. Many people will be unable to afford both food and heating and people will die. Already governments are telling their citizens how they can use the available power.
Is Dr Ryan aware of this situation? If so, does she think the science differs in the southern hemisphere, or that we live in a parallel universe?
Not being a woman of science, I will put it in layman’s terms. Let’s say you walk into a pub and sit down at the bar; the bloke next to you orders a drink, he takes a swig of it and falls to the floor – dead. Would you turn to the barmaid and say I’ll have what he’s having, but make it a double? That is what Dr Ryan wants you to do; despite having already seen the first season of the blockbuster series European Dream – No Electricity, No Industry, No Future, she appears to want us to follow the UK and Europe over the edge of a cliff.
Make no mistake, this is not about saving anything – this is about an entire class of privileged zealots in wealthy seats forcing their religious beliefs onto us. If you question them and ask for a reliable energy source, you’ll be cast out and called a heretic. If you object to following UK/Europe into third-world chaos and misery you’ll be told the science is settled.
In the spirit of science Dr Ryan, I propose an experiment.
The electorate of Kooyong goes off the grid. Wind turbine transmission lines will be run along the Yarra River in Kew and Hawthorn. Solar farms will be built in the parks and golf courses of Balwyn, Canterbury, Deepdene, Hawthorn, Mont Albert, Camberwell, Glen Iris, Kew, and Surrey Hills. The electorate is to function solely on wind and solar-generated power. Limited battery storage will be permitted – baseline domestic batteries, the type the government would install in public housing. In my electorate of Hawk – I volunteer to go off the grid, no renewables, no batteries and I will have a small modular reactor installed in my back paddock.
It’s about time Dr Ryan and the rest of these self-righteous, puffed-up toffs made a real sacrifice on the altar of Climate Change. Money means nothing to the virtue-signalling green electorates, so they should feel some Climate Change piousness by turning their green spaces into wastelands of solar panels and transmission lines; they should live with the result of relying on 100 percent renewables.
Dr Ryan, charity starts at home, lead by example; get out of my face and out of my environment.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/09/get-your-science-out-of-my-face/
************************************27 September, 2022
Did the Reserve Bank's money printing cause inflation? The bank says it's complicated
This is a sophisticated article so it is good to see it in the public prints. It omits mention of two important facts.
1). The banks initially got the new money. So what did they do with it? No mystery. They almost gave it away as low interest housing loans -- which rocketed up real estate prices, including rents. So that was a HUGE blow to the cost of living.
2.) Due to the lockdowns, there was a HUGE loss of available goods and services. There were far fewer goods and services for ANY money to buy. There was a big new mismatch between demand and supply. So what was available came at an increased price. So that too greatly increased the cost of living.
So between those two things, The increased money supply WAS largely responsible for inflation. It was not the only factor. Bad weather and Mr Putin also played a part in their own way
Do you remember how the Reserve Bank printed a huge amount of money in the pandemic? Have you been wondering if it's responsible for the inflation we're seeing?
The RBA says it's a complicated question to answer, and it's trying to encourage people to think more deeply about money itself. Here's what that means.
The bond-buying program
In late 2020, the RBA began buying hundreds of billions of dollars worth of government bonds.
It was an emergency stimulus measure. The program ran from November 2020 to February 2022, and saw the RBA buy $281 billion of federal, state and territory government bonds.
Last week, the RBA published a review of the program which found it broadly helped to support economic activity during the crisis.
However, there were a few passages near the bottom of the review that were very interesting.
They had to do with money printing.
RBA official says outlook for global economy is worrying
RBA deputy governor Michelle Bullock warns of risks in the global economy, but says the RBA's ability to create money helped Australia's economy through the pandemic
A Caucasian woman with brown hair, wearing glasses and a blazer.
Read more
See, the RBA's bond buying was an exercise of "money printing" because the bank was creating money to buy the bonds.
To be more precise, it was waiting for Treasury to sell the government bonds to authorised investors (ie institutional banks), then it would buy the bonds from those banks.
And when it bought the bonds, it would pay for them by simply electronically crediting the accounts that those banks had at the RBA.
For example, let's say the RBA bought $100 million worth of bonds from a particular bank.
It would say to that bank, 'Here you go, we've gone to the computer and added an extra $100 million to your exchange settlement account. Thanks for the bonds."
The RBA's act of money printing clearly increased the supply of money in Australia. But the RBA says it didn't have a significant impact on the overall supply of money. What does that mean?
Well, think of what qualifies as money.
Money comes in many different forms. It comes in the form of currency (notes and coins), and savings deposits, and term deposits, and a bunch of others.
Consider what happens when you withdraw currency from an ATM: the value of your currency holdings increases, and the value of your deposit holdings decreases, but the stock of "broad money" in the economy doesn't change.
So, when we talk about an increase in the supply of money, we need to be clear about what type of money is increasing, and how that's impacting the overall supply.
And we also need to know if the extra supply of money is actually being spent, or if it's being stashed in savings accounts or under peoples' beds where it won't be adding to inflation.
It won't add to inflation if it's not being used to buy anything. Which brings us back to the RBA's bond buying.
The Quantity Theory of Money
In the RBA's review of its bond purchase program (BPP), it's defended itself against accusations that its "money printing" is largely responsible for the inflation we're experiencing now.
It says some people have been drawing on a theory popularised by Milton Friedman that links inflation to the rate of growth of the money supply.
According to that theory, if you assume money circulates in the economy at a constant rate (ie a constant "velocity"), then a large increase in the money supply, owing to the bond-purchase program, would lead to a sharp increase in inflation.
But the RBA says the world's not that simple. Why? Because the "velocity" of money isn't stable, for one. It's been falling for decades in Australia, and it crashed in the pandemic when people couldn't leave their homes and there were fewer opportunities for money to circulate in the economy. That's why the RBA began buying bonds in the first place, to push more money into the system.
Now, you get the velocity of money by dividing nominal GDP by broad money.
Broad money, as the name implies, is the broadest measure of money that includes every type of money in the economy (I've produced a table below that shows the different types of money).
Eagle-eyed readers may notice that, according to the graph above, the velocity of money has actually picked up a little recently.
That suggests broad money has started circulating through the economy at a faster pace, after lockdowns ended.
Wouldn't it follow from that, with so much extra money in the economy and with people starting to spend that money more quickly, inflation would obviously be picking up?
Well, again, the RBA says it's not that simple. It says its bond purchase program only significantly increased a particular kind of money, and we need to understand how that type of money can be spent.
"While inflation has increased following the bond-purchase program, it is not clear that this can be explained by the Quantity Theory," the RBA review says.
"Different components of the money supply can move independently over time. "While the bond purchase program led to a sharp increase in exchange settlement (ES) balances and thus 'base' money, the increase in the broader money supply, which is relevant for nominal expenditure in the economy, was not as large," it says.
So, what exactly is "base" money?
The RBA makes a distinction between different kinds of money depending on how accessible the money is.
If you're able to get your hands on the money quickly to spend it, it's considered "liquid."
For example, the cash in your pocket is extremely liquid, but the money in your term deposit isn't as liquid because it can take time for you to gain access to it.
That's why central banks categorise money into different "monetary aggregates" to reveal what type of money is in an economy, and who has access to it.
That's the category of money that experienced a sharp increase in supply from the RBA's bond-buying program.
When the RBA bought the government bonds from banks in the secondary market, it credited the banks' ES accounts which are held at the RBA, and those balances, which are a form of money, fall into the category called "money base."
As you can see from the table above, the value of the entire supply of "money base" money was $550 billion in July.
In February 2020, it was worth $116.2 billion. So, the supply of that specific category of money has increased by $433.8 billion since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, the supply of broad money - which captures all money in the economy - has increased by $624.3 billion.
That means the increase in base money accounted for 70 per cent of the increase in the economy's entire money supply during the pandemic.
And crucially, that "base" money wasn't put into the deposit accounts of individuals who could freely spend it. It was initially put into the ES balances that large financial institutions held with the Reserve Bank.
It was up to those institutions how they spent it. They could try to lend it to other people, or they could try to invest it in other assets, or they could use it to buy their own bonds, or whatever.
And it's not like they can collectively rush out and spend it all at once, keeping other things equal, because they still have to satisfy their liquidity requirements with the regulator.
In other words, the financial system is complicated. According to the RBA, it's wrong to simply assume that its money printing was a big driver of this inflation.
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Our nation’s real crisis is our rental stress
It’s a reasonable question to pose: should we have had a summit on the rental crisis rather than a summit on jobs and training? After all, we are very close to full employment and most of the suggestions from that talkfest had already been decided or were unhelpful – multi-employer bargaining being an obvious example.
Let’s face it, hardly a day passes when there isn’t a story about a stressed family or individual unable to find affordable rental accommodation. Reliable tenants are turfed out of their rented house; renters make several applications, only to be knocked back each time; rents are increasing at alarming rates and gobbling up higher proportions of net incomes.
Given that affordable and safe shelter is one of our most basic needs, the rental crisis is an issue that should concern all levels of government. Let’s not forget here that around one-third of the population are renters and even though the proportion of the population who are homeowners appears to have levelled out in recent years, the absolute number of renters has risen quite sharply. When it comes to dealing with the rental crisis there is a great deal of woolly thinking, and initiatives are put forward (and sometimes implemented) that make matters worse.
There really is only one word you need to focus on when it comes to the policy challenge of ensuring adequate rental accommodation: supply.
Before we get to the core solutions, it’s worth painting a picture of rental accommodation in Australia. There are actually some differences across the states and territories; there are also some differences from other countries.
The vast majority of rental accommodation is provided by the private sector, with public housing accounting for a small proportion (around 4 to 5 per cent). There is relatively more public housing in South Australia and the ACT. Until recently, public housing has been declining proportionately as old stock is demolished and new building programs have been slow to get going.
The type of rental accommodation varies from stand-alone houses to apartments. There is some boarding house accommodation, but a lot of this is substandard. The proliferation of high-rise apartment buildings in several cities has led to higher proportions of renters living in apartments than was once the case.
In terms of who owns these rental properties, it’s very much a mum-and-dad affair in Australia, with 70 per cent of owners of rental housing owning just one investment property. Less than 2 per cent of investors have five or more properties. (Several parliamentarians own multiple investment properties.)
There is very little corporate ownership of long-term rental accommodation in Australia, which contrasts with several other countries. While there is a lot of discussion about a build-to-rent model, there are numerous impediments to the involvement of property trusts and superannuation funds, particularly related to tax. The fact is that the returns on investment in residential rental accommodation have been too low to attract large-scale investment.
In the meantime, there is a stereotype of the avaricious owner with multiple properties making huge claims against the taxpayer via negative gearing. This is highly misleading. In point of fact, the fiscal costs of negative gearing have fallen significantly – at least until recently – in line with falling interest rates.
According to the latest figures (2019-20), the cost of negative gearing to the budget was only $166.5m compared with more than $9bn in 2007-08.
Indeed, one of the factors explaining the rental crisis is the relative absence of investors in the residential real estate market.
Following on from the direction of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in 2016, loans to investors were rationed and by 2020 investors were selling more homes than they were buying. In addition, some owners of rental properties were switching from long-term rental arrangements to Airbnb. It’s not clear that the overall impact of the switch has affected long-term rental supply or prices significantly, but in particular markets it clearly has had an impact.
Some state governments also have decided to introduce legislative measures intended to give tenants a better deal on ending of leases, permission for pets and other measures. For the owners of properties, these laws have made their investments less attractive and potentially discourage new investment. Changes to land tax also have eroded the value of investment properties, with the recent proposed Queensland law (to include interstate properties in the determination of the rate to be levied) potentially driving down the returns for investors.
Unsurprisingly, governments have shown concern for the predicament facing so many renters.
One common response has been to support first-home buyers to enable renters to escape the rental treadmill. Examples include first-home buyer grants, exemptions of discounts on stamp duty and access to concessionary finance. Almost all of these increase the price of housing by acting on the demand side. There is also an incorrect assumption that most renters in distress are just one step away from home ownership. The reality is many renters are not close to home ownership nor is it on their radar.
Two new terms have entered the discussion: social housing and affordable homes. Social housing is just another term for public housing – in part to gloss over the many problems known to be associated with public housing.
All state governments have ambitious plans to fund the building of additional social housing but, given the waiting lists, the new accommodation will be filled quickly. With the low turnover of existing tenants, there will be a need for more supply.
Affordable housing refers to below-market rental accommodation for frontline workers close to places of work. Judged by the shambles of a previous attempt to establish such housing under Labor’s National Rental Affordability Scheme, it should not be assumed new initiatives will succeed.
Notwithstanding, the federal government is proposing to a $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund to build 30,000 new social and affordable housing properties across five years. This is a drop in the ocean and encroaches into a space that is the role of states.
The only real solution to the rental crisis is more rental properties. This solution is even more important given the federal government’s determination to drive up the number of migrant arrivals. Getting the corporate/superannuation sector involved would be helpful, but this is unlikely to deliver short-term gains given the impediments that need to be removed.
State governments should realise that putting their feet on the accelerator and the brake at the same time doesn’t work – they need to make it unambiguously more attractive for private investment in the rental market to relieve the extreme pressures we see and the hardship for families and individuals this entails
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Qld fishing being hijacked by Green extremist thinking
The fishing industry in Queensland has been hijacked by greenies and it’s sending professional anglers out of business.
The latest Palaszczuk Government decision has been masqueraded as some sort of “save the fish’’ campaign, suggesting unless fishing bans on Spanish mackerel stocks were made they wouldn’t survive.
Rubbish. Spanish mackerel stocks have been replenished spectacularly in recent years.
It’s a stitch up by a fisheries department that has been infiltrated by conservationists who’d rather eat salad than fish.
This move by Fisheries Minister Mark Furner is just another example of a government caving into the Green movement, which it is tied to at the hip.
Charter boat operator and Cairns Professional Game Fishing Association spokesman Dan McCarthy is furious but not surprised. “Minister Furner and the QLD Labor government seem to always back green extremist ideology over hardworking Queenslanders,’’ he said. “More small businesses are now looking at their life’s work and their futures being trashed to please urban greenies.
Mr Furner’s anti-fishing program has reduced recreational catch to close to zero at one fish per person or two per boat.
Mr McCarthy says it’s the dodgiest science he’s seen. “These include warnings from scientific experts who specialise in Spanish mackerel and fisheries management who have been very critical of the process,’’ he said.
“They’ve used a baseline biomass from 1911. You can’t make this stuff up.’
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Telstra consumer and small business calls are being answered in Australia
What a relief! Dealing with foreign accents over the phone can be difficult
Over the past months, we’ve hired around 2000 new team members across the country so we can answer consumer and small business calls in Australia. It’s another of many changes we’ve made to create a better customer experience.
Our team are your neighbours. They’re located in cities and towns across Australia, including regional hubs like Maryborough, Bunbury and Bathurst. Thanks to hybrid working, this means the person helping you could be in your state, suburb, town or – who knows – even your street. On any given day, nine out of 10 of our consumer and small business service team choose to work at home.
Answering your calls locally
We regularly ask you what you want to see from us. What we heard loud and clear was that you wanted a change in the way we answered our calls, so we did it. It’s a change that also deepens our local expertise.
For quick questions – like checking your bill summary, managing your services or even troubleshooting connection issues – we have the My Telstra app. But for more complex problems or a bit of extra help, you told us you want to speak to someone who gets you. Someone who understands your service history, and knows what you’re going through.
During the Queensland floods earlier this year, we had customers in Brisbane speaking to local team members who understood first-hand the challenges they were facing. Being there – locals helping locals – this motivates our team every day.
https://exchange.telstra.com.au/say-gday-call-centres-back-in-australia/
************************************26 September, 2022
Former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard reflects on her blistering 'misogyny speech' 10 years on
Amusing. Omitted below is that the views she criticized were widely held among Australian men. So her popularity among male voters dropped to only 10%, fatal for the next election. So her own party then booted her out of the PM job
The former Australian Prime Minister - the first and only woman to hold the role - famously delivered a blistering speech on sexism in Australian politics during a session in parliament in October 2012.
The comments sparked a debate that reverberated around the world.
A decade later, the 60-year-old says that she did not realise at the time how significant her words would be.
'Giving the speech, I didn't have any sense of the impact it would have' Gillard tells this week's issue of Stellar Magazine.
'If you'd asked me 30 seconds after I sat down, "How is the press gallery going to report this? How is it going to reverberate?" I would have said, "I don't see that this is going to reverberate in the world." So I didn't have that sense about it.'
Within minutes, Gillard realised the true impact of her rousing words. 'Even by the time I'd walked back to my office from the chamber – which is only a two- or three-minute walk – there were starting to be calls and a reaction beyond Canberra' she tells the publication. 'So I got an early inkling from that, that it was going to have some sort of emotional resonance beyond the confines of Parliament House.'
Gillard believes her speech resonated with women around the world who shared her experiences.
'I think its power has been that there are millions of women – and I feel like I've met millions of them – who have lived through sexist experiences, misogynistic experiences' she said.
Julia served as prime minister from 2010 to 2013. In 2012, she was praised for her strong stance on sexism in government during a heated debate on the parliamentary speaker's text scandal.
Gillard spent 15 minutes attacking leader of the opposition Tony Abbott before the Australian House of Representatives during a debate over a motion to sack the Speaker of the House, Peter Slipper after a series of text messages he sent to his male assistant referring to women in a derogatory way were made public.
She accused Abbott of sexism, addressing the former Liberal prime minister throughout her speech.
Among her comments she said: 'I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. I will nota nd the government will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. Not now, not ever.
'If he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he doesn't need a motion in the House of Representatives. He needs a mirror.'
Gillard was widely praised for her speech, with New Yorker Magazine even suggesting at the time that then-American President Barack Obama could learn a thing or two from Gillard in politics following the heated debate.
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Climate models ‘a global bank risk’
Bank regulators could cause “major systemic risk to the global financial system” if they continue to use climate models with little understanding of the uncertainty inherent in model projections, some of Australia’s most senior climate scientists have said.
The warning, published in the August issue of the journal Environmental Research, comes as efforts to assess risks to the financial system associated with climate change are growing.
Lead author Andy Pitman, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, told The Weekend Australian: “Climate models are very valuable tools for many applications but they are not something I want used to decide investment strategies for my superannuation.”
The central issue is the difference between weather and climate and the inability of models to predict weather events at city scale.
Professor Pitman said attempts to use dynamical downscaling to get far higher resolution data was “excellent science but not science designed for the financial sector”.
Climate risk is a growing concern for financial market regulators and central banks.
In 2017 a group of central banks and financial supervisors formed the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), to work out how to future-proof the global financial system from climate change.
The network hypothetical scenarios provide a common reference point for understanding how climate change (physical risk) and climate policy and technology trends (transition risk) could evolve in different futures.
The network’s climate-risk methods are rapidly emerging as the de facto standard.
The Reserve Bank has said it will use network-derived climate scenarios in its internal analysis of climate-related risks.
According to the Environmental Research paper, the network’s efforts commonly combine the use of integrated assessment models to obtain changes in global mean temperature and then use coupled climate models to map those changes on to finer spatial scales.
But the UNSW scientists, warn that deep uncertainty exists in climate projections, at local scales, that cannot be ignored.
The paper said “if all central banks use a methodology that is systematically biased, this could itself lead to major systemic risk to the global financial system”.
The main problem is that climate models are not designed to predict the weather.
“While it is understood that ‘weather’ (the day-to-day variability) and ‘climate’ (the average of the day-to-day variability over several decades) are not interchangeable, and despite acute risks being weather-related, ‘weather and climate’ tend to be combined when discussing material risks to the financial sector,” the paper said.
“Unfortunately, physical climate models do not represent weather-scale dynamical responses or how weather changes the interactions between the thermodynamic and dynamical responses to global warming reliably. This is linked, in part, to the spatial resolution used by the models (approximately 100 × 100km pixels) which are too coarse to capture weather-scale processes.
“Broadly, this introduces a serious limitation in determining future climate risk for the financial sector.
“Material extremes will almost always be weather-scale phenomena which are least skilfully simulated by existing global climate models.”
The paper said the current NGFS scenarios do not represent the range of plausible climate outcomes at a country level and most banks, insurers and investors are using these scenarios without fully accounting for uncertainty.
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Grid renewal generates billion-dollar shock as costs of energy transition become clear
Australian consumers have been told to brace for big hikes in their power bills after a watchdog revealed the true costs of overhauling the grid to deal with the renewable energy transition.
In a decision heralded as a landmark, Western Australia's economic regulator this month said the state's major electricity network provider should be allowed to spend $9 billion over the next five years – $1 billion more than it requested.
Network— or poles and wires — costs typically account for up to half the average electricity bill, with the rest made up of costs associated with generation, retailing and environmental policies.
Economic Regulation Authority chairman Steve Edwell said the draft decision reflected the urgent need for upgrades to Western Power's network to ensure it could handle the surge of renewable energy flooding onto the system.
But Mr Edwell, who was also the inaugural chairman of the Australian Energy Regulator, said it was also a sign of what was to come around the country, where poles-and-wires companies face a race against time and a huge increase in costs to make sure they can keep up with the energy transition.
"The period between now and 2027 is pivotal," Mr Edwell said. "We've got to get it right and we've got to make sure the grid is in as good a shape as it can be to enable this transformation to continue at pace. "That's the broad context and it's a context which is repeatable across the nation.
"With a whole bunch of new technologies coming in and the generation mix fundamentally changing rapidly, we're in a different paradigm."
Throughout Australia, poles-and-wires companies that transport electricity between generators and consumers are required to have their spending plans vetted by regulators.
This is because network providers are considered what are known as natural monopolies, which would otherwise not face competitive pressures in their spending and pricing decisions.
Biggest shifts at the small scale
Under its draft determination, the ERA said Western Power's five-year spending plans to 2027 would be allowed to rise significantly compared with the past five years.
The watchdog noted that while much of the increase accounted for the effects of higher inflation and interest rates, there also needed to be a "material bump" in spending on new pieces of kit.
Chief among them were renewable technologies such as medium and large-scale batteries to help "firm" the network as the amount of wind and solar on the grid increased.
But Mr Edwell said there was also an allowance for smart meters, which gave those responsible for keeping the lights on much greater visibility over things such as rooftop solar output.
On top of this, Western Power would be allowed to spend more putting power lines underground to reduce the risks from storms, floods or bushfires, while the utility would be able to fast-track the rollout of so-called standalone power systems in regional and remote areas.
Crucially, Mr Edwell said there would also be room for a big bump in spending on cyber security – an area identified as a key risk as things such as smart meters made the grid more vulnerable to attack.
Widespread adoption of rooftop solar panels and smart appliances are increasing the risk of crippling cyber attacks on Australia's electricity grid, say experts.
As a result, he said capital expenditure by Western Power would rise from $2.9 billion between 2017 and 2022 to $3.7 billion over the next five years.
"What's happened is the distribution system, the small poles and wires, hasn't had a lot of visibility before," he said.
"In some respects it's been the quiet part of the network – all the action is happening upstream in the transmission area.
"What's happening now with so much solar PV and two-way energy flows and then battery storage ... is that distribution network owners have got to have a lot more visibility over what's happening in that part of the network."
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Cashless debit card users voice anger, apprehension about its looming end
It's what kept the women and children fed in many Aboriginal communities
As Labor moves to axe the cashless card, there is apprehension in northern Australia about life after the controversial form of compulsory income management.
The scheme quarantines 80 per cent of people's welfare pay onto the card which can't be used for alcohol, gambling or cash withdrawals.
More than 17,000 people in Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory use the card – and once it's gone, Labor says income management will be made voluntary in all of those sites, except the NT and parts of Far North Queensland.
In those areas, a "new enhanced" income management card will be rolled out next year.
Mixed feelings on card's demise
In Kununurra, views of those on the cashless debit card are
nuanced and varied.
Some are glad to see it go, while others fear its removal could cause mayhem in an area that has long grappled with domestic violence and social dysfunction.
For Mr Green, he said he eventually appreciated the card, as it helped make sure he always had rent money, and enough funds to see his kids through school.
"To me it was a lifesaver ... it controls my spending," he said.
Labor went to the recent election pledging the card's end, citing reports it stigmatised people and failed in its bid to break the welfare cycle and reduce social woes.
Legislation is before the Senate which, if it passes with amendments this week, will mean people can transition off the card from October.
Miriwoong woman Majella Roberts said the card helped her save money for her six children. "On pay day you save it for a couple of days ... without people asking for it," she said. "Use it in the shops, clothing shops, even for cabs as well."
Now, however, she is happy it is being scrapped, because she is sick of struggling to find cash when she needs it. "Some shops, like the garage, they don't use those cards. You have to have cash," she said.
About 30 kilometres away in Cockatoo Springs community, elder Ben Ward said the card should go, and agreed with the move towards a voluntary system.
"It's not giving us our freedom and self-determination," the senior Miriwoong man said. "If we don't have the choice then why the hell are we here?"
Under Labor's new voluntary system, the government said those who choose to be on income management will have 50 per cent of their income quarantined, as opposed to 80.
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25 September, 2022
Why would anyone bother being a landlord these days?
Like most businesses, being a landlord can have both big rewards and big losses. One unscrupulous tenant can send a small landlord broke.
A crucial factor is government. Only a government could implement policies that harm both landlords and tenants. Yet they often do just that.
Part of the reason why is seen in an old saying among economists: "All the worlld loves a farmer and hates a landlord". It's pretty true. Governments subsidise farmers and harass landlords. Yet both food and housing are essentials
“We are now asking Queenslanders out there – business, organisations, church groups – if you have any properties or land that can help us, we will work with you.”
That was Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last week, quoted in this newspaper, delivering a laugh-out-loud moment to those familiar with the issue.
Words are cheap, action counts, and when it comes to action Queensland is doing the exact opposite of working with people who own property or land to help them provide rental accommodation. The state has just changed its laws so as to effectively levy tax on land owned in other states.
The move has shocked and angered the property and investment sector, and is predicted to cause more landlords to sell out of the Queensland private rental market, and make the current rental shortage worse.
However, Queensland isn’t the only state in the grip of a rental shortage and it isn’t the only jurisdiction that has driven private investors out of the housing market.
Propertyology research data says more than two million individual investors fund 27 per cent of our current housing stock, and more than 70 per cent of them have a taxable income under $100,000. Ninety per cent of these investors own one or two investment properties, and only 0.9 per cent own more than six.
Yet in recent years various levels of government, local councils, banks and insurers have acted on the assumption that these small-time investors can tolerate being slugged with ever higher levels of interest, rates, fees and taxes, and being asked to meet ever higher levels of compliance and obligation. There also has been the assumption that these investors will always continue to carry the cost, the risk and the hassle of the provision of accommodation for others while being on the receiving end of community hostility due to being portrayed as taking houses off first-time home buyers and otherwise being greedy, immoral and terrible to tenants.
In February last year, the Australian Landlords Association produced a paper, Safe as Houses, on the topic that forecast the rental shortage across our nation. Our national vacancy rate is less than 1 per cent, the lowest level on record, and rent, nationally, has risen almost 14 per cent in the past year.
“Being a landlord is becoming increasingly less attractive,” the ALA said back then. “With less landlords, there are fewer rental properties, increasing competition between tenants, resulting in increased rent and in some case homelessness.”
Whether dwellings are for rent or sale, there simply are not enough of them to meet our needs.
The Grattan Institute points out that heading into the Covid-19 pandemic, Australia had just over 400 dwellings per 1000 people, which was among the least housing stock per adult in the developed world. We also had experienced the second greatest decline in housing stock relative to the adult population across the 20 years leading into the pandemic.
During the pandemic, many people felt the need for more space. The Reserve Bank estimates this created demand for an extra 140,000 homes, offsetting the temporary fall in population growth.
In a recent address called The Great Australian Nightmare, researchers from the Grattan Institute put forward several solutions to the rental crisis. One idea is that industry super funds such as Cbus and AustralianSuper should buy swathes of houses and rent them out at market rates, to step in and fill the gaps left by the individual investors who have abandoned the market.
According to the Grattan Institute, ordinary investors often make “terrible landlords” anyway. As they have mostly small holdings, they apparently prefer shorter leases and relaxed tenancy laws and often are reluctant to make simple repairs.
However, if an industry super fund were the landlord, the theory is they would have “a brand to protect”. They also could use “economies of scale across thousands of properties to offer a higher-quality service directly – think professional tradies on call 24 hours a day – rather than sit behind traditional property managers”.
The only problem with all this is the current regime of land taxes, which “simply make it uneconomic for large investors to own residential property rented at market rates”. These land taxes need to be reduced dramatically so the super funds can viably invest. However, taxes on ordinary landlords should be increased by abolishing negative gearing.
I approached Cbus and AustralianSuper for comment. Are they interested in dipping into their cash reserves to buy thousands of houses to rent? Neither fund would expressly rule it out, although both funds emphasised that their role was to create a return for their members.
I do not agree with the theory that institutional landlords are generally better than individual ones. Australia has a high cost base and buying a house is difficult. There are no longer enough rental properties to go around because there are no longer enough people willing to be landlords. It has been made all too hard for too long.
Yet the governments that punish landlords will not step up themselves and provide enough rental accommodation to meet our needs. As a society, we do need private individuals to take the risk, make the effort, buy a house and rent it out. Before too long, and after enough pain has been felt, governments will have to make being a landlord attractive again.
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Australia’s disastrous ‘Zero Covid’ experiment
What if I told you that lockdowns and zero-Covid mania did far more harm than good to human life?
Unlike sharp lockdowns in Europe and the Americas, Australia’s early lockdown in March 2020 did reduce Covid cases to zero for a time. Flush with this success, Australia imposed sharp travel restrictions on Covid-ravaged countries around the world. Australian ex-pat citizens were barred from coming home, even if their visit was to care for elderly parents suffering from isolation.
Despite this extraordinary policy, Covid kept coming back to Australia. Over and over again, entire regions were locked down whenever a few cases were found. Through October of 2021, Melbourne’s residents had suffered through nearly 270 days of lockdown – the most in the world.
Schools closed and children suffered. Vital medical treatments were delayed or cancelled, including for cancer patients. The initial purpose of the lockdowns was to protect the Australian healthcare system, but even in 2021, when there was almost no Covid circulating, queues for care lengthened. Depression and anxiety levels skyrocketed, especially among young people. Thousands of small businesses shut down forever.
Australia’s initial zero-Covid ‘success’ created a trap. Official public health exaggerated the risk of death from Covid. This, despite the fact that studies found that Covid infection primarily poses a high 5 per cent+ mortality risk for unvaccinated elderly people. For the young, survival rates exceeded 99.9 per cent. For young and old Australians alike, the lockdowns imposed far more harm than Covid.
Public support for lockdown stayed high in Australia on the heels of public health propaganda that Covid infection posed a high risk of death for all, regardless of age or underlying health condition. And the government obliged, implicitly promising a zero-Covid future that it knew it would never be able to deliver.
The advent of a vaccine in December 2020 should have provided a way out of the zero-Covid trap. At great cost, the lockdown policy had ‘worked’, but there was no endpoint to it that did not involve isolation from the international community forever.
Perhaps complacent because of its zero-Covid ‘success’, the government delayed securing contracts with vaccine manufacturers. Since lockdown was popular, It did not feel the urgency to vaccinate that the rest of the world felt. At the beginning of August 2021, only 16 per cent of Australians were fully vaccinated.
And the public health officials used the vaccination campaign to chase an impossible goal – herd immunity through universal vaccination. Covid spread in many countries with high levels of vaccination, infecting vaccinated and unvaccinated people alike. The vaccine, effective in reducing mortality risk from Covid infection for the elderly, is ineffective at stopping disease spread. Nevertheless, government and public health officials demonised the unvaccinated, often rendering them second-class citizens.
When the Omicron wave arrived, the inevitable happened in Australia. Zero-Covid and lockdowns failed, and the disease spread everywhere. By May 2022, Australia passed America in total Covid cases per capita, and by August 2022, Australia passed the European Union. If Australian policy aimed to keep Australia free of Covid, it failed.
With two and a half years of hindsight, an evaluation of Australia’s lockdown-focused zero-Covid strategy is possible. On the plus side, Australia delayed the inevitable spread of Covid throughout the population to a time after the development, testing, and deployment of a vaccine. Despite having experienced more Covid cases per capita than the US, it has a fraction of the number of Covid-attributable deaths per capita.
On the negative side is the tremendous burden on the Australian population that has come from being isolated from the rest of the world for such a long time and from the intermittent lockdowns the government imposed on the people. All-cause excess deaths – below baseline levels in 2020 – were 3 per cent above baseline in 2021, despite zero-Covid, and are far above baseline thus far in 2022. Among the causes of this spike in excess deaths are the lockdowns themselves.
After the vaccine arrived, Australia’s decision to use it to free itself from its zero-Covid trap was smart. However, Australia failed to vaccinate its population with urgency, exposing its people to a full year of zero-Covid harms. If the government had adopted the strategy of vaccinating for focused protection of older and high-risk populations, Australia could have opened much earlier.
So, the best case for Australia’s Covid strategy is that it delayed the entry of Covid in-country until the development of effective vaccines. However, it’s not even clear whether the strategy saved lives, with cumulative all-cause excess mortality on par with Sweden’s focused protection strategy. And the harm done by disconnecting Australia and other developed economies from the rest of the world included millions of poor people thrown into poverty. Ultimately, Australia’s zero-Covid strategy was a grand, immoral, and incoherent failure.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/09/australias-disastrous-zero-covid-experiment/
**************************************************Transgender worship
It is commendable that the Australian Football community embraces former North Melbourne player and coach Dani Laidley. But it is nauseating to see that embrace transformed into mindless fawning.
It should be possible to accept Dani Laidley as a person without turning the famous footballer into a transgender icon.
Laidley, who admitted to being a deeply troubled person, is trying to rebuild a life after drug abuse and facing criminal charges for stalking and breaking an AVO.
Laidley now identifies as a woman.
Like I said, no one begrudges 55-year-old Dani Laidley happiness, nor the right to live as they choose.
But wanting the best for Laidley is not reason enough to blind ourselves to reality.
Dani Laidley is a biological man – who pleaded guilty to stalking a woman – who has now appropriated womanhood.
The football media would have you believe Dani Laidely is Cinderella.
And no, I’m not exaggerating. That was literally how The Age newspaper described Laidley’s appearance in a long white dress at the Brownlow Medal ceremony on Monday night.
‘Dani Laidley’s Cinderella moment steals the show at the Brownlow,’ the newspaper reported.
The Daily Mail went further, reporting that Laidley ‘brought a touch of old Hollywood glamour to the carpet’.
Laidley wore a ‘stunning off-the-shoulder white gown’ and ‘was all glammed up for the outing, her makeup palette consisted of dewy foundation and a smoky eye’ reported the Daily Mail breathlessly.
Seven Network presenter Emma Freedman gushed that Laidley was the highlight of the Brownlow Medal red carpet.
Many said Laidley ‘stole the show’, suggesting that Laidley looked better in a dress than the women.
Of course, the media coverage insists that Laidley is a woman.
But the public is not so easily convinced, and the backlash on social media was enormous.
People are prepared to quietly accept grown adults living as they please. What they are not prepared to do – or not yet anyway – is to be gaslighted by Woke sporting organisations or journalists.
Many people questioned Laidley’s invitation to the Brownlow Medal ceremony considering Laidley had never won the award and was not a current player or a coach. Invitations to the black tie event are strictly limited.
Perhaps the AFL invited Laidley as a gesture of goodwill, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Again, it’s commendable that people go out of their way to include a much-loved former player who has lost their way.
And Dani Laidely can wear whatever Dani Laidley wants.
But for the AFL, the Seven Network, and major news outlets to pretend Laidely is a glamorous woman, bringing style and glamour to the event as if Laidley were some kind of later-day Grace Kelly is just silly.
And for the public to then be chided for failing to play along is sillier still.
Women’s rights campaigner Sally Grover wrote:
‘To be honest, I can’t imagine a man getting a “Cinderella moment” after drug, stalking and DV charges *unless* he claimed he was a woman, and therefore is “stunning & brave”.’
Grover is right, of course. If Laidley had still identified as a man it is highly unlikely there would have been an invite to the Brownlow, even if Laidley did qualify with on-field deeds.
The double standards of the media and the AFL are as obvious.
You have to feel for Laidley’s former teammate Wayne Carey. Carey, regarded by many as the greatest player the game has seen, was kicked out of a Perth casino last month after he was found to be in possession of white powder.
Carey has insisted he was not carrying any illicit substances, and that it was an anti-inflammatory drug to help manage pain.
Nevertheless, he has been dumped from a radio role, his regular column in The Age has gone missing, and a recent speaking engagement at the annual St Kevin’s Old Boys grand final luncheon in Melbourne was cancelled at the last minute. Perhaps he should have gone in a dress…
If that comment seems nasty, it’s not intended to be. Many people on social media made the connection. It’s the obvious conclusion from watching the carry on around Dani Laidley; a carry on that invites incredulity.
Dani Laidley deserves compassion because Dani Laidley is a fellow human being and none of us are immune to the vicissitudes of life.
But compassion that demands everybody lie, and that chides those who don’t, is no longer compassion; it has become something else altogether.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/09/the-brownlow-cinderella/
***************************************************Courts lift suppression orders on Tax Office whistleblower Richard Boyle’s landmark case
The South Australian courts have lifted suppression orders that would have stymied the media’s ability to report on a landmark case launched by tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle.
The decision, which follows an intervention by Guardian Australia, paves the way for media to more freely report on the first major test of Australia’s whistleblowing laws, which will likely have significant consequences for the protections available to others who speak out about government wrongdoing.
Boyle, an Adelaide-based tax office employee, blew the whistle in 2018 on his agency’s aggressive use of extraordinary garnishee powers to claw back debts from taxpayers and businesses, which devastated small businesses and destroyed livelihoods.
Boyle is now facing 24 charges, including the alleged disclosure of protected information and unlawful use of listening devices to record conversations with other ATO employees. He faces a potentially lengthy term of imprisonment if convicted.
Boyle has taken the unprecedented step of invoking Australia’s whistleblower protections to shield himself against prosecution.
It is the first time the Public Interest Disclosure Act has been used in such a way, and Boyle’s case is widely regarded as a major test of the nation’s whistleblower laws, which are already overdue for reform.
Our Australian morning briefing email breaks down the key national and international stories of the day and why they matter
Last month, after Guardian Australia and other outlets requested access to documents in the case, commonwealth prosecutors sought suppression orders, which would have hindered the ability to report on the whistleblower case.
Prosecutors argued such reporting would have prejudiced Boyle’s criminal trial, should it proceed.
Guardian Australia, represented by Stephen McDonald SC, intervened to argue the suppressions were too broad and unnecessarily infringed on the principles of open justice.
District court judge Liesl Kudelka on Friday decided to revoke the existing suppression order and grant access to key documents supporting Boyle’s case.
She did so after Boyle indicated he opposed the making of the suppression order.
The PID Act hearing is expected to begin on 4 October in Adelaide.
Labor has publicly committed to overhauling the PID Act, though the scope of those reforms are not yet clear.
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23 September, 2022
How to win friends and influence people
Some people clearly need lessons
Indigenous protesters have defaced a mural of Queen Elizabeth II on Australia's National Day of Mourning, sparking widespread outrage.
Massive crowds gathered in Sydney and across Australia on Thursday to protest the monarchy and call for reforms for First Nations people following the Queen's death a fortnight ago.
As part of the demonstrations, activists sprayed over the mural in inner-Sydney Marrickville and spray painted the Aboriginal flag over the Queen's face.
Nine News reporter Chris O'Keefe branded the spray painters 'disrespectful' on his 2GB radio show.
'I say defaced, because the Queen's face has been covered in yellow paint, with the red and black parts of the flag on the top and bottom it's terribly disrespectful,' O'Keefe told listeners.
He also claimed the activists were trying to censor history by covering over the mural.
'This history needs to be told, and it needs to be taught and as a country, we are coming leaps and bounds in recognising and facing this history,' O'Keefe said.
'I strongly believe that censoring this history cannot continue but we are talking about Queen Elizabeth.
'On a day where she has only been buried three days ago these kinds of offensive remarks do one thing and one thing only, polarise our country.'
Protests continue around the country, with hundreds gathering in state capitals to hear speeches on the effects of colonisation impacting Indigenous Australians.
First Nations activists and allies also burned an Australian flag in Brisbane, and smeared 'blood' over an emblem on the British Consulate in Melbourne.
The explosive protests have seen those in attendance call for treaties, a republic and the 'decolonisation' of Australia.
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Miners cite CFMEU law-breaking to split from union
The CFMEU”s mining and energy division has documented 145 instances of law breaking by the union’s construction and general division as part of its bid to split from the union.
After losing an initial attempt to split from the union on technical grounds, the mining and energy division’s new application to the Fair Work Commission relies on contentious changes introduced by the Coalition government in 2021.
Under the changes, the commission can accept an application made more than five years after their merger, but the mining division has to document the construction division’s record of not complying with workplace or safety laws
In evidence tendered to the commission, the mining and energy division says the construction and general division has engaged in 145 contraventions of the Fair Work Act.
In contrast, it says mining and energy has been involved in one instance of contraventions and penalties.
If approved, the new Mining and Energy Union would seek to transfer 21000 members from the CFMEU. and be in a “very strong financial position” with more than $120 million in assets.
It says it brought in $14.37 million in total comprehensive income.
The manufacturing division is separately seeking to split from the CFMEU, and wants to be known as the Australian Production Industries and Finishing Trades Union. It proposes to have 9611 members and just under $5 million in assets.
According to the mining and energy division, the construction and general division has $122 million in net assets and total comprehensive income earned $10.78 million.
If members of both divisions vote to split, the rest of the union could be known as the Construction and Maritime Union. or the CMU.
The union’s former national secretary, Michael O’Connor, has declared a breakdown in relations between rival officials “unfixable”.
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Leftist crap taught even in an elite school
Freedom of speech is an essential element of a modern, functioning Western society. It allows us to express opinions and ideas without interference or threat of reprisal. When healthy debate is encouraged, ideas are tested and we invariably achieve a better outcome.
As an Independent secondary school student, I see this right increasingly threatened both by peers and the school institution itself. More and more we are made to conform to a single popular belief on various fronts.
I am a white male. Sadly for me, history class has become less of a lecture on the fascinating events, people, facts, or lessons learned and is instead a very public shaming for the actions of our white male predecessors.
Being labelled as ‘privileged’ or as a ‘white colonist’ is not uncommon. In fact, racism is often the theme of different subjects – from the books we study in our English class, to the units and topics we learn in our history classes.
While a strong understanding of this topic’s long and dark history is necessary, it should not be wielded as a weapon against a particular demographic of students.
We are taught ‘you cannot be racist toward white people’. I am sure the Jewish under Hitler, the Irish under English Lord Cromwell, and countless others over the years may not completely agree with this line of thought. Yet to make even a slight suggestion of this can result in a hostile response from classmates or even be detrimental to grades and reports issued by the school and its teachers.
Feminism is also regularly at the forefront of class discussion and is often unfortunately used to promote a victim mentality.
Open discussion about this topic is frequently suppressed by both peers and the school, resulting in many concepts being presented through a biased lens where men are typically depicted as villains.
An example is the gender pay gap. A quick Google search will show that in 1969, the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission ruled that women should receive equal pay to men for work of equal value. Mentioning this indisputable fact will often lead to the label ‘misogynist’.
As with racism, there is no denying that women have lacked opportunity and privilege in the past. The origins of feminism are well-founded and it is important to understand the history, acknowledge and learn from our mistakes, then move forward together as a single community. Continuing to promote a victim mentality, especially amongst young and developing minds, results in division and dangerous movements such as the #KillAllMen hashtag that has been recently trending on Twitter.
Gender and sexual orientation introduce further complexity to school communities.
I’m sorry, you’re bi? Oh, and you’re pan? And you are non-binary? My apologies, I have used the wrong pronouns. They/them? I see, and singular they for you, ze/zem for you, and it/them for you. Understood. Oh, and you’d like me to learn your flags together with your pronouns? Okay… I’ll do my very best to remember those, together with the sexual, gender, pronoun, and flag preferences of my 150 other classmates.
But with the utmost respect, there may be occasion where I stumble. No… No… I’m not homophobic, biphobic, transphobic or enbyphobic. I was raised to lead with empathy and treat all humans with dignity and respect regardless of their identity. It is just that my maths, physics, and history also need attention at the moment, and unfortunately there are only so many hours to learn in the day.
Schools should provide an environment where young aspiring minds can openly and freely debate controversial cultural and political issues and have the opportunity to do so even in a non-mainstream way. However, Independent secondary schools have sought to push a single narrative to the detriment of many students.
Is this an attempt by the school to appear more progressive?
Is it for the fear of being ‘cancelled’?
While I am fortunate and grateful for my educational opportunity, it is nonetheless concerning to see such basic and fundamental freedoms gradually stripped away through no fault of our own.
The school community has become divided into conservative and progressive extremes. In reality, the best ideas and solutions are typically found somewhere near the centre after healthy debate. These groups must collaborate and work together – like a football team in which conservative defenders rely on what has worked in the past to staunchly protect the goal while creative liberal attackers attempt to find new and innovative ways to score.
Those students that do not bend to a single popular belief become ‘white privileged, misogynistic, -phobic’ in the mind of the school and in the eyes of their peers.
This leaves me wondering, are those now doing the labelling and marginalising any better than those they are targeting for historic misdemeanours?
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/whats-it-like-to-be-a-male-student-at-secondary-school
*******************************************************"Truth" and Aborigines
There are certain expressions which, although ridiculous, serve a useful purpose in alerting readers that what follows is fallacious gibberish. Phrases such as “hate speech”, “white privilege” and the insufferably smug “wrong side of history” are just a few examples.
Now a new word has emerged in the vernacular of the virtuous. It is time, they will say, that this country undergoes the process of ‘truth-telling’.
The aim of this, we are told, is for the good of the nation and to bring us together. “When we think about the effect that a national truth-telling process would have on Australia, it’s remarkable,” said Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney in July at the Garma Festival in north-east Arnhem Land. “I see this as, you know, a thousand flowers blooming.”
As to what is supposedly stopping Indigenous Australians from telling their stories about the effects of colonisation in the absence of the proposed Makarrata commission, Burney did not elaborate. Nevertheless, a mostly compliant media has adopted the term, referring to it with respect and even reverence. So much for journalists avoiding loaded terms.
It was a subject that featured last week on ABC’s Q+A. “When it comes to truth-telling, these are going to be really difficult conversations,” said Wiradjuri and Wailwan lawyer Teela Reid. Perhaps so. But if you serenely proclaim the transgressions of others warrant your truth-telling, be ready for a few unpleasant facts yourself.
We can start with Reid’s comments about the one match suspension of NRLW Indigenous player Caitlin Moran for gleefully referring to Queen Elizabeth II as a “dumb dog” on the day of her death. “Free speech isn’t free in this country, particularly for First Nations people,” said Reid. “I think we really need to make sure that when First Nations women are speaking out, we’re not being overpoliced. I mean, this is, you know, just shocking to me.”
She has a point. Just ask Country Liberal Party senator and Warlpiri/Celtic woman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price about the abuse and threats she cops from Indigenous activists when she calls out violence in Aboriginal communities. It is a truth that Indigenous women and girls are 31 more times likely to be hospitalised due to domestic and family violence related assaults compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts.
Last month Northern Territory Supreme Court judge Judith Kelly lashed out at terms such as “systemic racism” and “institutional racism,” telling a group of female lawyers there was a “cultural component” to Indigenous violence.
“There is the culture in some communities that tolerates violence against women and others that blames the victim and prioritises the interest of the male perpetrators over the female victims,” she said. “That, in my view, can only be changed from within those communities.”
But these domestic killings would receive virtually no publicity if not for a prominent judge deciding to do a little truth-telling about Indigenous culture. To quote Bundjalung, Yuin and Gumbaynggirr man Nyunggai Warren Mundine: “Don’t these Black Lives Matter?” Or are he and Price in the category Reid referred to last week when she sneeringly observed that “colonisers will always cherry-pick a black voice that suits their agenda”?
If Reid and other activists want truth-telling, bring it on. It is true to say the homicide rate in some NT towns is nearly twice that of the United States. It is also a truth that Indigenous youth suffers disproportionately from parental neglect. And is true that only 41 per cent of Indigenous children attend school 90 per cent or more of the time compared to the national rate of 70 per cent.
This is not to distract from the reality that colonisation had a devastating effect on the Indigenous population. Nor do I deny the massacres that took place or the attitude that the original inhabitants were a doomed people, the colonial administrators believing their obligation was simply to “smooth the dying pillow”. Those shameful aspects are already part of our history curricula, as they should be.
But if we to have truth-telling, then enough of the exaggerations and outright falsehoods. Eighteenth century explorer Captain James Cook was not a conquistador. Rather, he was a decent and enlightened man as well as one of history’s greatest navigators. It is also true he is fundamental to this country’s history, and that his vilification and obliteration have nothing to do with tolerance and everything to do with imposing a revisionist ideology.
It is an unfortunate truth that Australian students are taught the claims of Bruce Pascoe, an author who is to Indigenous history what John Pilger is to journalism. It is also a truth that a gullible media not only failed to scrutinise his ludicrous conclusions, but also treated them as an article of faith.
And it is a truth that governments devote enormous resources to addressing Indigenous disadvantage. As a federal parliamentary report noted in 2019: “Over the last decade, the Productivity Commission’s Indigenous Expenditure Reports … have consistently shown that total Commonwealth, state and territory government per capita expenditure on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is approximately double the per capita expenditure on non-Indigenous Australians”.
Dark Emu author Bruce Pascoe. Picture: Luke Bowden
Dark Emu author Bruce Pascoe. Picture: Luke Bowden
It is also true to say that many of the so-called progressive commentariat and Indigenous activists loudly decry governments for the state of these communities but refuse to acknowledge the root causes other than blaming racism and colonialism.
And it is true there is such a thing as an Indigenous bandwagon. The 2021 census recorded that 812,728 people identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, an increase of 25 per cent from 2016. And it is a truth that many of these arrivistes are motivated by a rent-seeking industry that mandates everything from holding so-called welcome to country ceremonies to employing ‘cultural safety’ officers.
It is also a truth that the mere act of elaborating these truths can see you hauled before a human rights commission or anti-discrimination tribunal. It is also true that the truth of one’s assertions is not an absolute defence to such action.
It is a truth that no matter how many treaties are signed, or how many truth commissions are held, the intention is not to reconcile but rather to reinforce a permanent sense of guilt in mainstream Australians. And it is a truth that in the wretched Indigenous settlements little will change as a result.
But you know what isn’t the truth? Claiming whitey is the source of all Indigenous misery.
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22 September, 2022
The banality of Leftism
"Semper", the magazine put out by students at the Univresity of Queensland, has been going for a long time. I even had a couple of things in it back in the '60s. Its main virtue is that it can occasionally be funny. In good student fashion it also tries to be new and daring but mainly ends up being simply offensive when it tries that.
It has just had a success of sorts in that direction. A writer there has been offensive enough to be noticed by the real press. He found a way of being offensive about the Queen. He put up a broadly Marxist critique of her position.
But how banal can you get? A Marxist view of monarchy could hardly be more hackneyed and timeworn. There is zero new, original or interesting in it. There have always been far-Leftists sneering and snarling at monarchy and the British monarchy in particular. In its own terms it was a failure for Semper to publish something so boring
It was also however an exhibition of incomprehension. The writer clearly has no understanding of why millions of people shed tears at the death of the Queen. How sad to have such a large gap in one's understanding of the world. Psychopathic insensitivity, perhaps? He has plenty of precursors on the Left in that case
The late Queen Elizabeth was labelled as the “banality of evil” in an opinion piece published in a leading Queensland university’s controversial student magazine a day after her death.
University of Queensland’s student magazine Semper Floreat published the piece titled “Goodbye to the Queen of Nothing, Really” on September 9.
The article was written by student Duncan Hart who described himself as a writer for left wing newspaper Red Flag, which was established by the Socialist Alternative.
In the article, Mr Hart labelled Queen Elizabeth as the “banality of evil” whose “personality and agency were absolutely irrelevant to history”.
Mr Hart said he stood by the article and said he planned to stand alongside First Nations Australians in protest against the monarchy on Thursday morning.
“In reality, there was nothing extraordinary about the ex-Queen at all. Her entire life was an example of the banality of evil, of a person whose personality and agency were absolutely irrelevant to history,” Mr Hart’s article read.
“While the ex-Queen presided over innumerable symbolic events and as the head of state for multiple nations, her entire role and social position was and will continue to be predicated on the total inactivity of the monarch.
“The monarchy as an institution is nothing more than a monument to social parasitism, of the concepts that immense wealth and privilege belongs to a few God-given rights while the majority of us scrape by with whatever we can.”
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The domestic violence gravy train
Bettina Arndt
Vimala, a retired Indian university lecturer, looked forward to spending time with her son, a Sydney-based doctor, his wife, and newborn grandchild. But it quickly became apparent that things weren’t going well between her son and his wife.
Twice during her brief visit, her daughter-in-law called the police alleging domestic violence over trivial arguments with her husband. On one occasion she decided she wanted beef for dinner and demanded her husband provide it. Vimala explains: ‘Her fridge was stacked with chicken, fish, and lamb but she decided she needed the beef straight away, and threatened to call the police if my son didn’t give in.’
The young woman had a standard response anytime her husband asked her to do something which displeased her: ‘I know all the services and who to call if you tell me to do something I don’t like.’
The woman had acquired a friend who worked in a DV support service – a friend who proved useful when she returned with her child after a trip to India to be met by social workers who whisked her off to a women’s shelter. This affluent doctor’s wife received six months’ accommodation via the shelter while their support team orchestrated a mighty family law battle over custody, fueled by her allegations of domestic violence.
The well-oiled system set up to support DV victims all just rolled out: legal aid; support services; victim’s compensation. Meanwhile, her husband fought to maintain his medical practice despite his violence order restrictions and his wife spreading news of his ‘violence’ throughout the small community. He’s a lucky man – in the end he managed to fund the half-a-million-dollar legal battle and now has majority care of his son.
Vimala wrote saying that from an outsider’s perspective, the services available to Australian women claiming to be domestic violence victims are just unbelievable.
Most people have no idea of the extent that domestic violence benefits have mushroomed over the last few decades. The industry has set up an immense system of special services costing our community billions of dollars which no one dares question.
That’s because, like all such schemes, this huge juggernaut is based on a kernel of truth, a very genuine need that everyone would support. Who’d quarrel with providing proper support for a frightened woman escaping a dangerous man?
Our federal government spent 3 billion over the past decade on the safety plan to protect ‘women and their children’, with untold billions added from all the fundraising by community groups, private companies, and organisations across the country. People rightly dig deep for this important cause.
But the fortunate truth is only tiny numbers of women in this country are actually in peril. Official statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety Survey show that just over 1 per cent of women have been physically assaulted by their partners in the past year. Yet this critical fact is inevitably swamped by statistics which include emotional, psychological, financial abuse, and threats of violence for women over their lifetimes, to give a truly frightening impression of widespread risk for women.
The vast majority of these women are not in a dangerous situation. The public doesn’t realise they are forking out mainly to help women who are very rarely under threat. They may have unpleasant partners who are reluctant to pay their credit card bills, but there’s just no logic for the billions being spent to ‘keep them safe’.
Yet we have created this moral hazard, inviting all these women to think of themselves as victims and hence eligible for the services now on offer. The result is on display in the inflated figures from police reports, blown out by numerous domestic violence allegations which serve to gain strategic advantage in family law battles. Many women are encouraged to make such allegations by lawyers or friends telling them they are genuine victims and deserve special treatment in the family court system.
No evidence of physical violence is required to make such an allegation. Any experience of emotional abuse or an alleged fear of violence is enough to set the ball rolling, with the ‘victim’ eligible for the truckload of financial payouts, cheap services, and support.
There’s widespread concern in our community that for every dollar spent on genuine domestic violence victims, vast sums end up in the hands of women who are at no real risk. I’ve made videos with two police officers speaking out about this rorting of the system, here and here.
The list of domestic violence payments and handouts is really something else. Take a look at these government special benefits which are usually available only to female victims. These payouts simply require asking someone to support the victim’s story – like a local DV centre, doctor, or police report – systems set up to automatically believe the woman and treat men as potential perpetrators.
Our state and federal governments are falling over each other to display their generosity towards our culture’s most favored victim
Meanwhile, male victims have nowhere to go – there’s not a single government-funded centre offering refuge to men. Boys 14 and older are not welcome in women’s refuges which take in their mums and siblings. Yet, while vulnerable males are ignored, women can have pets are taken care of by the RSPCA.
Forget about those leaky boats, long stays on Christmas Island, and grovelling appeals to immigration courts. The fast and sure way for newcomers to arrange permanent residency is a domestic violence claim. Law firms everywhere are touting for business in this lucrative field, as I discussed some years ago on YouTube with law professor Augusto Zimmermann.
Naturally, the Woke big end of town is keen to dole out investors’ dollars to this worthy cause.
There are special arrangements for tenants in rental agreements.
The push is on for 10 days paid domestic violence leave, a stunning impost on business which the Australian Chamber of Commerce estimates could cost a cool $2 billion annually. The only proof required is the usual tick-a-box system dependent on victims’ stories which employers don’t dare challenge.
That whole list of perks palls into insignificance compared to the advantages of domestic violence victim status in family law battles. An unproven allegation of domestic violence sets women up on a path that allows for smooth sailing throughout family law proceedings, creating enormous, costly obstacles for their partners which often end up destroying the father’s relationships with his children and robbing him of much of his life’s earnings.
Often men discover a divorce is on the cards only when police appear at their door announcing an apprehended violence order – which means they aren’t allowed in their homes, and are often denied contact with their children, severing close connections until matters are resolved in the courts, mums firmly established as the primary parent with dad on the outer.
That’s just the beginning. The family law system favours women alleging domestic violence in any number of ways: seizing of the marital home; free legal aid and court advocacy services; denying perpetrators cross-examination of victims; and setting aside the rebuttable presumption of shared parental responsibility creating major impediments to a father’s ongoing relationships with children.
The couple is excluded from attending what is normally compulsory mediation and other alternate non-adversarial pathways; victims usually retain a larger slice of the assets in financial settlements plus the man labelled a perpetrator encounters profound prejudice through the family law process.
This extraordinary level of incentive will tempt even the best of women to take advantage of these services. After all, most women heading for divorce have experienced the threats and harsh words common to marital unhappiness that are now labelled ‘domestic violence’. So, she’s not making a false allegation, is she? Just rightly claiming emotional abuse.
Enough already? You may think the job is done – surely the system is now primed to offer every possible protection to domestic violence victims.
Not so fast. The sisterhood is busy thinking up new ways that women can use to make life hell for an ex accused of domestic violence. Like domestic violence registers, online lists of men accused of domestic violence.
Some years ago, one of these was published in Australia, but then some bright bloke had the brilliant idea of hacking into the register and publishing details of the women who’d dobbed the men in. Unsurprisingly the register immediately disappeared.
But there’ll always be more, like the electronic surveillance of perpetrators being used in some states, forcing them to wear monitoring devices.
The endless promotion of this cause is truly impressive. But how shameful that so little of this massive effort and expenditure protects those genuinely in need.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/09/the-domestic-violence-gravy-train/
******************************************************Greens: Don't bother us with facts
Are Greenies EVER interested in the facts?
Imagine being a political party that obsesses about identity-driven virtue signalling as the most important qualification for Parliament – and then not even being able to get that right.
The NSW Greens have been forced to apologise – not once, but twice – for seeking donations to elect the first Indigenous woman to State Parliament.
The Greens – whose commitment to solar panels and wind turbines is matched only by their obsession with race and gender – failed to notice that two Indigenous women had already been elected.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be so hard on them. We live in an age where the chief medical officer cannot say for certain what a woman is.
Authenticating aboriginality is even more complicated, involving proof of ancestry and confirmation of acceptance by the Indigenous community.
Nevertheless, when identity politics is your raison d’etre you’d expect the Greens to be at least competent.
A fundraising email for Greens Upper House candidate Lynda-June Coe told supporters ‘there’s never been a First Nations woman in the NSW Parliament’.
Except that wasn’t true, and if the Greens devoted half as much time to studying history as they did to cultivating grievance, they would have known that.
In defence of the Greens, maybe we can agree it was their truth. But I digress.
The email went on to ask supporters to donate $25 so ‘we can change that’.
It took someone on Twitter to point out that Linda Burney, an Indigenous woman who is currently the Indigenous Affairs Minister, had served as the member of Canterbury for 13 years before entering federal politics.
The Greens issued an apology on Tuesday, but virtue-signallers-gonna-virtue-signal. So the apology went like this:
‘This email was incorrect and a correction and apology has been emailed this afternoon.
‘The email intended to note only that Lynda-June would be the first First Nations person in the Upper House of NSW Parliament.’
All was not lost. See what they did there? While voting Green wouldn’t result in the first First Nations woman in Parliament, it would result in the first First Nations woman in the Upper House of Parliament.
Except that wasn’t true either, so the Greens’ apology had about as much value as the Greens’ climate policy – net zero.
Auburn MP Lynda Voltz – whose grandfather was Indigenous and grew up on the St Clair Aboriginal Mission in Singleton – was elected to the NSW Upper House in 2007 and served for 11 years.
So the Greens, having already apologised, were then forced to apologise for the apology. Their economic policy was beginning to make more sense!
Greens NSW State Election Campaign co-ordinator Andrew Blake wrote:
‘Greens NSW unreservedly apologise to Ms Burney and Ms Voltz and acknowledge the work they have done for the people of NSW during their time in NSW parliament.’
In claiming that the Greens were the one group you could count on to recognise Indigenous women, the Greens had become the one group that failed to recognise Indigenous women.
Awkward.
All of which leaves the Greens with an enormous problem.
‘Help elect the third First Nations woman to the NSW Parliament’ doesn’t have quite the same appeal as their original virtue signalling strategy.
The Greens will now be forced to find another reason to recommend their candidate, or perhaps find a different candidate that belongs to a smaller identity group.
Alternatively, the Greens could just stick to policy (except they aren’t much good at that either)
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/greens-a-masterclass-on-how-to-fail-at-identity-politics/ ?
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Sydney: no petrol or diesel cars, no gas, no future
New South Wales is in for an energy nightmare, and it makes no difference whether they vote Labor, Green, or Kean at the next election.
There is a plot underway to ban the purchase of all petrol and diesel cars and outlaw gas connections in new properties.
Too bad, I guess, when the next blackout comes along. I’ll be boiling water on the stove and having a hot dinner – the rest of the state will be staring at the darkness eating a packet of biscuits.
Before we get into the nonsense, I have a question for Labor’s Anthony Albanese.
If cutting our emissions in half by 2030 is the government’s chief priority, why has Labor decided to import 400,000 new people next year? How many services and privileges are the rest of us going to lose in order to maintain our existing standard of living and endure the emissions cut with all these additional ‘carbon units’ wandering around?
No really, Albanese. Are we saving the planet or pushing toward a ‘Big Australia’ which requires ‘Big Infrastructure’ for your union mates?
As far as anyone can determine, the Labor government is deliberately making the quality of life for Australians paper-thin so that we can be comfortably bundled up into a Treasury report.
The nonsense specific to NSW is coming out of the Committee for Sydney thinktank – also known as ‘a collection of people paid to sit around and make everyone’s lives miserable’.
The Decarbonising Sydney report reads more like a guide to return to the stone age:
Sam Kernaghan, the Committee’s Resilience Director, said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report (August 2021) had put an intense focus on what a warming world would look like, and the need to accelerate climate action.
‘We still have time, but not much,’ he said.
‘We can’t wait until 2050. We need to set ambitious and optimistic goals for 2030 – goals that show leadership and set the direction.
‘These actions will help Sydney play its part in combating Climate Change, but they’ll also provide benefits to our communities, economy, and environment – from improved air quality to lower household bills and more resilient energy grids that are better able to cope with the extremes of weather that we can expect to face in coming years.’
Utter fantasy. The more ‘green’ our grid goes, the higher our energy costs climb. This is a worldwide pattern that some call ‘teething issues with transition’ but the rest of name as ‘a permanent flaw’ that is opening like the Mariana Trench beneath our feet.
The Sydney Committee’s plan is to funnel as much money as possible into the billionaire renewables barons. If their business model is so successful, why are the increasingly poor public paying for it?
Why hasn’t anyone asked the Committee what they plan to do about global shortages of raw materials that currently prohibit the creation of their energy dreams?
It’s almost like the ‘thinktank’ didn’t ‘think’ about any of the real-world practicalities and instead prefers to prattle off dangerous idiocy from their gilded city cages without having any clue that their comfort comes off the back of coal, oil, and gas.
Their plan (if you can call it that) is to halve Sydney’s emissions by 2030. We could probably achieve that by putting a stop on the flight plans and unnecessary mansions of Sydney’s richest businessmen and politicians, but in a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ reality, only the peasants will suffer.
Banning gas to households is stupid and petty. The government is not doing it to ‘save the planet’ – they are doing it because they desperately need the gas reserves to prop up their failing renewables grid. They don’t want to come out and say that because it involves admitting that solar and wind require fossil fuels to work.
If politicians opened a few nuclear plants, citizens could have as much cheap gas as they wanted, instead, panic is setting on the energy industry as unreliable renewables shake grid stability to its core.
If you do any sort of real work in this country, banning petrol and diesel cars is going to be a catastrophe. The state government wants vehicles sales to be 100 per cent EV, but as of 2021, there were only around 10,000 in the whole state (because no one wants them).
As pointed out earlier, the world doesn’t have the resources to build these cars and Australia doesn’t have the power grid to charge them.
At the same time, NSW is pushing for solar on homes made from the same limited resources that EVs require. The natural consequence is what we are already seeing around the world – huge price increases in EVs and renwables. Their costs are growing in tandem and they have no price ceiling as resources dry up.
Owning your own car is soon to become a fantasy for the middle and working classes.
The report says as much. One of their priorities is a ‘shift to car-sharing’ that says:
‘In the future [of Sydney] people are going to use a car when they need one without having to own one. Car-sharing (as represented today by companies like GoGet) and ride-sharing (as represented today by companies like Uber) are the early examples. As the vehicle fleet evolves toward autonomous electric cars; it’s simply not going to make sense for people to own their own cars when they can summon one to get where they want to be at any time. The net result will be a massive gain of urban space as all of the street space and garages can be converted to new uses. Sydney should do everything in its power to support this transition.’
They also want to see a ‘dynamic road pricing plan’ to make your trip to the city even more unaffordable.
This will make the eco-fascists happy. Their goal is not to facilitate a green ‘change’ to our transport sector, it’s to strip cars away from the population to improve their Net Zero goals. While those penning these thinktank travesties live in the middle of the cities, half a block from civilisation, everyone else in the country is going to have to go out and find themselves a horse and cart – that is, provided you’re still allowed to own farm animals.
Where is the Liberal government? They are supposed to protect the people from this kind of selfish, reckless, bureaucratic garbage.
If you are wondering where all of this comes from, Kernaghan, the man behind the virtuous plan, worked with the Chief Resilience Officers ‘across Australia, New Zealand and across Asia to develop and implement comprehensive city resilience strategies as part of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities Network’.
Most of the links for the 100 Resilient Cities Network no longer go anywhere, with their webpages long-dead, just like our cities will be if we keep pursuing the thought bubbles of Utopian ideologues.
http://spectator.com.au/2022/09/sydney-no-petrol-or-diesel-cars-no-gas-no-future/
************************************21 September, 2022
Educational apartheid in Australian schools?
Retired school principal Chris Bonnor thinks so. See below. His basic beef is that children from affluent homes do better at school. He ventures no explanation of why that is so. He simply says that it is deplorable. But is it changeable? He seems to think that it obviously is but he makes no argument to that effect. He is enclosed in a warm cloak of his own righteousness that frees him from any obligation to justify his views.
He does not at all consider the very well attested fact that higher IQ kids do better at school and that IQ is mainly hereditary. Findings to that effect have emerged repeatedly for over a century. So there never will be an equality of educational outcomes.
Chris could probably live with that but what really burns him up is that the kids who do well also come from more affluent homes. And -- horrors! -- they even go to private schools!
Again Chris fails to ask why that is so. It's a pretty obvious deduction that smart people will in general be smart at making money too. So the smart parents of smart kids will be able to give the kids concerned comfortable homes and a good educational experience. That dastardly IQ is behind the high SES background of the more successful students too!
But no evidence or reasoning will have any impact on our Chris. He is a rigid bigot who believes what he wants to believe and damn the evidence. That educational inequality must always be with us is incomprehensible to him. He is good at hate, though. Calling natural inequality "apartheid" is scurrilous. He is at best a buffoon
If we sat down 40-plus years ago to write a prescription for a social/academic apartheid system of schools operating on an unlevel playing field, we couldn’t have done it better. It is a structural oddity which has placed Australia as an outrider on the OECD stage.
In the process, it effectively discounted one of the key findings of the Gonski Review, something that seems to lie at the heart of our problems. This problem isn’t hard to find. Anyone can go to the My School website and easily discover that the NAPLAN results coming out of the schools tends to match the socioeconomic status (SES) of the students going in each day.
But there’s more. Gonski reported – and other research confirms – that the collective impact on student achievement comes even more from the SES of each student’s peers, than from their own family. In the world of schools, negative peer effects are associated with students from disadvantaged social backgrounds; positive effects with students from advantaged backgrounds.
Parents and teachers know about this peer effect and that knowledge drives our enrolment shift from low to higher SES schools. School principals certainly know, and competition between schools too often degenerates into an unseemly competition to get preferred students.
The combination of such peer impacts on student outcomes in an already segregated system of schools calls out for a review of how our school system is structured and what we should be doing to create a more inclusive system and socially diverse schools.
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Forensic laboratory DNA results ‘untrue’, public inquiry finds
Bureaucratic laziness at work. That is shocking enough. What makes it more so is that dodgy forensic science has been going on in Queensland government laboritories since at least 2005. At least some people have been sacked over it this time
Forensic scientists at Queensland’s DNA laboratory have been making “untrue” statements to courts, prosecutors and victims of crime since 2018, damning findings of a public inquiry reveal.
The government-run lab, a major focus in The Australian’s investigative podcast, Shandee’s Story, has been ordered to immediately change expert witness statements issued in the past five years, affecting potentially thousands of criminal cases including rapes and murders.
Led by recently retired Court of Appeal president Walter Sofronoff KC, the inquiry released alarming interim findings on Tuesday that the lab issued statements of “no DNA detected” and “insufficient DNA for further processing”, when samples had not been fully tested and there was a chance that usable DNA could be found.
Queensland’s unusually high threshold for testing, demanded samples contain double the number of cells required in NSW before they could progress to DNA profiling.
If samples fell below the threshold, they were reported by the lab as having “insufficient DNA” or “no DNA detected” to police and in the formal witness statements prepared for scientists to give evidence in court.
But the inquiry has heard it is possible to extract “either a full or partial profile” below Queensland’s threshold, meaning the statements routinely produced by the lab are “untrue”.
Mr Sofronoff recommended every witness statement issued since 2018, when samples were reported as having insufficient or no DNA, be identified by the lab “without delay”.
Once identified, the lab must prepare a correction explaining “the statement was not correct and that the sample contains a low level of measurable DNA which, if fully processed, might produce an interpretable profile”, for those samples initially reported as having “insufficient DNA”.
In each case deemed as “no DNA detected”, the lab must clarify that the statement was incorrect and “that further work might result in a usable profile, but that that is unlikely”.
In the 40-page report, handed to cabinet on Tuesday morning, Mr Sofronoff said the discovery that witness statements have been issued that are untrue was “deeply concerning”.
“I am of the opinion that the practice of putting forward these untrue statements as true expert evidence is a profound issue for the administration of criminal justice, for the integrity of police investigations and for decisions made by victims of crime,” he wrote.
“The belief in the truth of these statements should not be permitted to continue for a day longer.”
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Australia has become a nation ruled by fools
We have surrendered power over every aspect of our lives and industry to fifteen debating chambers in eight ruling cities. These assemblies are controlled by lawyers, unionists, centralists, green dreamers, power seekers, and tax consumers.
Their direct cost alone is horrendous.
There are 837 politicians (ignoring local government). Each has a salary (say $200,000), travel and office costs (say $150,000 per year), and staff costs (say $200,000) – a billion here, plus a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking real money.
Now add all the state and federal governors, the cabinets with their limos and press corps, eight armies of tax collectors, and the accountants and lawyers trying to protect taxpayers from them. Then there are the building costs with each citadel probably getting its red-and-black flag (the NSW version flag cost $25 million).
But salaries and perks are a minor part of their real cost. The killer costs are incurred when they use direct investments or fiddle the rules on taxes and subsidies to chase impossible green dreams.
Most of our 837 politicians and their servants are obsessed with Net Zero and, learning from the Covid lockdowns, they now dream of Climate lockdowns.
Devoid of engineering talent or economic common sense they presume to design our electricity network (but they ban emissions-free nuclear power while planning the destruction of the old reliables, coal, gas, and hydro). Although the green-infected electricity grid is struggling to meet current demands, they ‘plan’ to add even greater loads to turn water into hydrogen, push water uphill, charge giant batteries and power subsidised fleets of electric vehicles.
Pretending to save the bush, their green mandates and subsidies are replacing useful grasslands and valuable resources of hardwood, softwood, mulga, and saltbush with bird slicers, roads, poles, wires, plastic, metal, concrete, and glass as the new green energy landscapes. Then they plan to use this intermittent low-density green energy to produce hydrogen which can never recover the energy used to produce it, and also consumes nine tonnes of fresh water for every tonne of hydrogen produced.
Ignorant of the realities of food production, they turn grasslands into havens for weeds and pests, and lock-the-gates to explorers, farmers, foresters, and fishermen. They think we can have drought and flood mitigation without dams, timber without foresters, minerals without mines, and food without farmers and fishermen.
They reward people who won’t work and tax those who do. Ignorant of the benefits of federalism, they strive to destroy federalism by inventing a ‘National Cabinet’, and run endless centralising summits, enquiries, and talkfests. Soon, the veto of The Voice could make anything and everything impossible!
A cold hungry winter is about to show Europe the deadly dangers of listening to green dreamers. It is surely time for Australia to withdraw from foreign entanglements like the Paris treaty, and chop Canberra’s green tentacles, limiting its duties to defence, foreign affairs, and maintenance of free trade (exactly as our founders intended).
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/09/ruled-by-fools
************************************************Australian Greenies don't like honour to the Queen
The Victorian Greens say they will move a motion in state parliament calling on the Andrews government to immediately reverse its “disrespectful” decision to rename a Melbourne hospital after Queen Elizabeth II.
Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday announced a re-elected Labor government would spend between $850m and $1.05bn on rebuilding Maroondah Hospital in Melbourne’s east.
Mr Andrews said the rebuilt hospital would be named after the late monarch, “as a mark of respect to her unwavering commitment to healthcare and our community”.
But Indigenous groups and the Greens have attacked the government over the move, claiming it will make Aboriginal Victorians feel “culturally unsafe”.
Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam foreshadowed the motion – to be moved later on Tuesday – saying the decision “to change the name of a hospital from an Aboriginal word to the name of a foreign monarch representing colonisation is completely disrespectful and erases First Nations language”.
“As Victoria embarks on its historic treaty process Labor must listen to First Nations communities and act now,” Dr Ratnam said.
“What is Labor thinking changing the name of a hospital from a First Nations word to the name of a foreign monarch representing colonisation?
“It is a disrespectful decision that erases precious Woiwurrung language. This is not what treaty looks like.
“If this government is serious about treaty it would listen to First Nations communities and act now, not later.”
Mr Andrews defended the decision on Monday, saying the local government area which is home to the hospital will continue to be known as Maroondah.
Mr Andrews dismissed opposition towards the renaming by the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, saying members of the body had been elected only to “negotiate treaty”.
Assembly co-chair Marcus Stewart on Monday tweeted a phrase in Taungurung language which he said closely resembled “get in the bin” in response to Mr Andrews’ announcement the hospital would be renamed in honour of Queen Elizabeth.
“They are elected to negotiate treaty,” Mr Andrews said.
“That’s what they are elected to do, and we are delivering that treaty.
“It’s a brand new hospital for Melbourne’s east, and it’s going to get a new name, and it’s going to be absolutely fantastic.”
The surrounding local government area would still be named Maroondah and the redeveloped hospital would be close to the Maroondah Hwy, Mr Andrews said.
“I think it’s very well known and understood the Queen was a very strong supporter of the NHS in Britain,” he said.
“She was someone who opened hospitals in Victoria … I don’t think anyone could question her compassion and her genuine care for patients in hospitals.”
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20 September, 2022
Your bureaucracy will not protect you. (Their priority is to protect themselves)
A Tasmanian mother whose child has been living on a property with a man alleged to have sexually assaulted her two other children has been reunited with her child, after what she says is years of inaction from child protection authorities.
Ashley* signed her children into her mother's care about 12 years ago, when she was experiencing severe health issues that saw her go into a coma. "I basically signed them over because child protection came in and said, 'If you don't, we're going to have to put them into foster care'," she said.
About two years ago, one of Ashley's children disclosed her step-grandfather had been sexually abusing her for about a decade. Since then, Ashley says another one of her children has made a similar disclosure, and reported it to police.
Those two children came back into Ashley's care but her third child still remained at the property. Ashley said she had been contacting Tasmania's Department of Communities about her concerns for the third child's welfare since April 2020 but no action had been taken.
In June, she told the ABC that child safety officers had decided not to act because the step-grandfather was no longer living at the home. He had instead moved into a caravan parked on the property.
But soon after Ashley shared her story with the ABC, the department started investigating the grandmother and the child was returned to Ashley and her ex-partner's care.
"I went to the media. They only reacted and they only got involved again because [of it]," she said. "I wouldn't have got a call back at all if I didn't bring this to the media's attention."
Ashley said although she had been advised by a child protection worker that her case had been closed, she held "a lot of anger" that the department "didn't step in" sooner.
The Department of Communities said it was "inappropriate to discuss individual case matters relating to specific children and families".
More than 1,000 people from across the country came forward as part of a major ABC investigation into child protection failures this year.
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The picture that shows what it's REALLY like to have an electric car in Australia
The alarming photo, taken in Millers Point, in Sydney, exposes the potential safety issues raised by charging electric vehicles for some drivers - a problem only set to get worse as ownership increases.
The makeshift charging set-up involves a a yellow extension lead hanging off an upstairs balcony, then looped around the branch of a tree and plugged into a powerboard.
From there another lead lays in some bushes and in a gutter before being plugged into the Tesla.
The photo was posted by 2GB's Ben Fordham on his Facebook page, who described it as 'plate of spaghetti' and argued that makeshift set-ups like this are an 'accident waiting to happen'.
Fordham claimed the 'bizarre' scene raises the question of whether the infrastructure exists for people who don't have garages, or designated parking spots, to own EVs.
The man who took the photo told Fordham it looked like a scene from a third world country. 'I was walking down the street to work and couldn't believe my eyes
The radio host said a pattern is emerging of people trying to get involved in the EV 'revolution' but facing 'roadblocks'.
Those include people who don't have off-street parking to charge their car at night.
Fordham said scenes such as the 'bizarre' scene in the photograph will be even more common when millions of EVs are on the roads.
'Tangled power lines from people's houses - hanging along fences and dangling down trees. 'It's something you'd expect in a third world country.'
Even when charging stations are attached to power poles demand for access would cause problems, Fordham said.
NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean responded to the photo, saying 'fast charging infrastructure' would avoid owners having to take such drastic measures.
Fordham also claimed power supply would also be an issue. He said with coal fired power stations set to close the already overloaded system might not cope with millions of EVs charging at once.
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Europe detransitions: Australia left behind as Europe distances itself from extreme gender affirmation
An Australian obstetrician first warned the world of the dangers posed to unborn babies by the (then) widely prescribed maternal anti-nausea drug Thalidomide. Australia was relatively slow to halt its use – with devastating consequences still being felt decades on.
Today, despite warnings from clinicians in Australia and abroad, Australia risks repeating the same mistake over the medical treatment of children questioning their gender identity or suffering from gender dysphoria.
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard, John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, and Maple Leaf House Transgender and Gender Diversity Clinic for children were all scrutinised by committee chair Greg Donnelly in the Budget Estimates Hearing for Health last week.
Donnelly rang the alarm: ‘What we have in plain sight is an absolutely scandalous situation playing out in real time.’
Such warnings are not new. In 2019, the National Association of Practising Psychiatrists backed a call by paediatrician Professor John Whitehall and 257 other doctors for then federal Health Minister Greg Hunt to hold an inquiry into paediatric clinical interventions for gender dysphoria.
Since that unheeded call, the UK’s Cass Review into gender identity treatments for children, led by eminent paediatrician Dr Hillary Cass OBE, found puberty blockers have ‘unknown impacts on development, maturation, and cognition if a child or young person is not exposed to the physical, psychological, physiological, neurochemical, and sexual changes that accompany adolescent hormone surges’.
The UK’s Tavistock children gender clinic is now facing imminent closure as its service model was found by Dr. Cass to be fundamentally failing to provide appropriate care. Finland, France, and Sweden are urging extreme caution, with the renowned Karolinska Institute so alarmed by serious adverse effects and physical deformities in youth three to four years after the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones that they have discontinued their use outside of strict clinical studies.
UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid strongly reacted to the revelations of the Cass Review: ‘I’m deeply concerned about the approach to gender identity services for children.’
‘It’s already clear to me from her interim findings and from the other evidence that I’ve seen that the NHS services in this area are too narrow, they are overly affirmative, and in fact they’re bordering on ideological.’
‘As Health Secretary, I was determined to protect vulnerable children from being failed by gender identity services at the Tavistock. This is welcome news and absolutely the right decision based on the independent evidence gathered by Dr Hilary Cass.’
Last week, Minister Hazzard responded by simply dismissing bilateral radical mastectomies being performed on young girls in NSW as ‘complex’, quibbling over party politics and belligerently jousting with Committee member Mark Latham.
Hazzard is typical of those supporting or taking a path of least resistance to the transgender narrative – signalling Woke credentials to avoid the ire of gender ideologues and the rabid left media. Raising concerns about these experimental interventions attracts narcissistic projection from trans-activists who demonise, deplatform, and destroy. I should know, I have first-hand experience.
Both here and overseas, the absence of evidence of the long-term safety or efficacy for these experimental treatments, along with the mounting body count of detransitioners, is alarming. Australian gender clinics, modelled on the Tavistock, are continuing to persist with the ‘affirmation pathway’ to permanently alter the minds, bodies, and genitals of children and young people.
Active Watchful Waiting, a new network of Australian health care practitioners formed to share information on the harms being done to minors from so-called ‘gender-affirming care’, said normal scientific protocols have been overridden due to ideological pressure, and that young people with gender dysphoria or confusion should be helped with active, compassionate, respectful, and exploratory therapy.
Despite a serious three-year mental health history, Jude Hunter’s child was denied this approach by NSW Health. Jude says she declined a referral from John Hunter Hospital for her 17-year-old mentally unwell daughter to the ‘multi-disciplinary team’ for testosterone treatment. But, she has claimed, that the discharge summary from John Hunter Hospital falsely recorded that she had consented. Jude’s daughter was prescribed testosterone after two appointments, and has recently returned home after a three-year estrangement from her family, suicidal with regret over irreversible changes to her body.
Jude and her husband desperately pleaded for help from the multi-disciplinary team now located at Maple Leaf House, but says they were turned away after being told it was not a crisis service. Jude now funds her daughter’s therapy. ‘This is a medical scandal, my daughter should never have been prescribed testosterone as a mentally unwell teenager.’
Maple Leaf House continues to claim puberty blockers are reversible and should be started young. They fail to disclose puberty blockers are contested, experimental, and have not been tested on humans for adolescent gender dysphoria. The three animal studies conducted found harmful impacts including increased anxiety and despair-like behaviour.
During questioning, Minister Hazzard championed the pro-trans charity ACON saying ‘they are doing a very good job’, and ‘I am certainly not going to insert myself into the most complex of complex issues for youngsters who might be suffering from gender dysphoria’. ACON receives an annual special grant of $12 million directly from the NSW Minister for Health with a further $8 million announced this year, partially for establishing a new gender clinic for children at Saint Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst.
ACON runs a website, Transhub, targeting minors and parents for social, medical, and surgical interventions. It claims puberty blockers are an ‘effective and safe part of the hormone therapy toolkit for young trans people’. Several pharmaceutical companies are ACON sponsors, including AstraZeneca Pty Ltd, manufacturer of Goserelin sold as Zoladex, used for puberty suppression in male children, and promoted on Transhub.
Given that medical negligence litigation is being prepared both here and overseas, political apathy and the influence of a taxpayer-funded charity should not be the reason we continue to sacrifice children on the altar of an ideology that sells a false panacea of affirmation, pharmaceuticals, and surgery as a cure for distress.
Donnelly urged a more careful, considered, and multi-disciplinary approach, ‘It will remain to be seen what detailed responses will be forthcoming.’ Let’s not wait until Hazzard is enjoying his taxpayer-funded parliamentary pension in retirement before we get an answer.
Australia must urgently conduct an inquiry into what will be a medical scandal akin to Thalidomide. We must stop fearing attacks from trans activists – if I can do it, surely the government can put on its big girl pants and do the same. Decades from now, do we really want to be looking back having failed to act when we should have, again?
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/09/europe-detransitions
*********************************************Feminism resisted
A recent story on news.com.au that revealed gender equality for chief executive roles at Australia’s top public companies is still 100 years away for women attracted more than a hundred comments with many labelling it as “absolute rubbish” and “nonsense”.
The “striking” findings came from a report released last week by Chief Executive Women, which showed that just 14 ASX 200 companies were led by women in 2022.
It also revealed that there were 46 public companies, including a number of well known Aussie brands, which had no women in their executive leadership team.
But calls to address the “disturbing” trend and set gender balance targets, among other initiatives, were hit with a slew of comments criticising the moves.
‘It’s called discrimination’
The comments described the initiatives as discriminatory, claimed companies would be less profitable if led by women, accused females of only wanting “cushy” roles and alleged that if the gender pay gap existed then women would be hired more to save money.
“Yet more BS about hiring someone based upon gender. It is called discrimination. As a share holder of any company I would expect them to hire the best person based upon their skills and merit rather than choosing second or third best due to their gender,” one person wrote.
“Probably why they are still solvent. No wasted money on diversity programs and promoting poor staff based on gender/race,” another claimed.
“All quotas do is saying you’re deliberately going to hire a worse candidate than you have the opportunity to,” wrote one commenter.
“Probably has something to do with a lower percentage of women that are prepared to put in the sacrifices to climb the corporate ladder,” said one man.
‘Go woke, go broke’
Many of the comments were adamant that people should be promoted based on merit rather than gender coming into play.
“Maybe they know “go woke, go broke” and prefer to promote based on talent rather than race or gender,” one person wrote.
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19 September, 2022
Scurrilous journalism award
At least it cost the lying media a bundle. Dr Laming has an account here telling how grievously the media lie hurt him. He shares there what it's like be the centre of a media stitch-up. Australia's defamation laws have their problems, but in Laming's case they ensured that some justice has been done him.
Had the journalists concerned just checked with Laming before rushing into print the story would never have been published -- as it was an easily refuted story.
But the opportunity of sliming a prominent conservativre was just too juicy to miss. Leftists hate those dreadful conservatives who keep puncturing their balloons so horror stories about conservatives seem obviously correct to them
The contentious entry criteria for the Walkley Awards could be overhauled as part of the independent review into a reporting prize given to a since-discredited story about former federal MP Andrew Laming.
Last Wednesday, Dr Laming won a defamation case against Nine in relation to one key element of its award-winning report, after the network accepted that it was untrue.
On Friday evening, the foundation directors announced a review into the Walkley Award won earlier this year by Nine journalists Peter Fegan and Rebeka Powell for their March 2021 reports about Dr Laming, one of which falsely claimed the then politician had committed the criminal act of “upskirting” – taking a sexually intrusive photograph of someone without their permission.
In one of three reports about Dr Laming’s alleged misconduct in March last year, Nine quoted a witness who said he’d seen the MP take an inappropriate “upskirting” photo of a female staff member while she was stacking a bar fridge at her Brisbane workplace.
The woman was wearing shorts, not a skirt, at the time. The photo was deleted before anyone from Nine could view it. Dr Laming was questioned by police about the alleged incident, but was never charged.
Dr Laming has always strenuously denied any wrongdoing in relation to the matter.
Fegan and Powell won the 2021 Walkley Award in the television/video news reporting category for their report on Dr Laming’s alleged misconduct; the pair also won a Clarion (at the Queensland media awards) for their investigation into the MP.
In its statement on Friday, the Walkley Foundation said it would commission an independent review of the “particular award” given to Fegan and Powell, but it is widely expected that the review will also scrutinise the wider issue of whether journalism that is the subject of ongoing legal proceedings should have caveats attached as part of its conditions of entry.
Currently, entries for major journalism awards in Australia, such as the Walkleys, require a disclosure if the reporting is the subject of ongoing legal action.
But there are no rules governing the overturning of awards if subsequent legal action finds the story to be untrue, as was the case with the Laming “upskirting” claim.
Dr Laming has claimed that Walkley organisers had known for “nearly a year” of his complaint that a story submitted for the awards had made “baseless” upskirting claims against him.
Dr Laming told The Australian on Sunday that he wants to play a key role in the review. “Through my lawyers I have notified the Walkley Foundation that I wish to submit materials to it for their consideration,” he said.
Dr Laming is unhappy that the Walkleys – which he describes as “Australian journalism’s highest honour” – lent weight to the Nine story by publicising comments that lauded the story when it won the prize.
“The comments made by the judges at that time lauding the network and journalists for their work in the face of ‘legal pushback’ is hard to reconcile with the complete abandonment of Nine’s defences and its subsequent unconditional public retraction and apology to me,” he said.
“Despite being on notice at the time of a legal dispute and the waves of retractions, apologies by others over republications of Nine’s story, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (which oversees both the Walkleys and the Clarion Awards) persisted with both a state and a federal award – and as of right now, even despite announcing a review, they continue to refuse to rescind what is now an award for effectively a story that been withdrawn, deleted and has been accepted by all as a work of fiction.”
Dr Laming said that he initially made allegations to the MEAA in October last year.
“We first notified the MEAA of baseless allegations in the Nine TV news story in October 2021, so they have been made aware of our complaint for nearly a year,” he said. “The MEAA would know that Nine publicly abandoned its unmeritorious truth and honest opinion defences last month, and in my view, from that moment the awards … became completely untenable.”
Dr Laming says he has so far received no response to a letter he addressed to Walkley Foundation chief executive Shona Martyn last week. He asserted in the letter that the Walkleys needed to do more than simply leave it in the hands of award recipients to return them.
“There is already sufficient evidence at hand to rescind the award, and leaving it in the hands of recipients to return awards is weak,” he wrote. “By continuing to promote these awards, the Walkley Committee further harms my reputation through imputation that the stories were true. Nine now admits they were not, and these court documents are public.”
He concluded his letter to the Walkleys: “I reserve my rights in this regard.”
Dr Laming’s former LNP colleague James McGrath has also written to the Walkley Foundation, calling for Nine’s award to be withdrawn.
“The broadcaster has admitted the allegations against Dr Laming were untrue,” Senator McGrath wrote.
“Why haven’t you withdrawn the Walkley Award from Ch9? In light of the above admission from Ch9 I ask you to withdraw the associated Walkley Award.
“If you are not prepared to withdraw I would ask you justify your reasoning.”
Despite repeated requests from The Australian for further clarification around the parameters of the independent review, the Walkley Foundation declined to comment.
Nine also declined to comment.
The terms of Dr Laming’s settlement with Nine, which included an apology, were confidential but the network is understood to be liable for more than $1m in damages and legal costs.
In its apology, which was read to the court, Nine said: “9News unreservedly withdraws those allegations about Dr Laming and apologises to him and his family for the hurt and harm caused by the report.”
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Electric vehicles might be booming in cities but diesel remains king on the land
How do you run a battery-powered machine for 24 hours straight?
While passenger car manufacturers are rapidly moving to electric power to meet emissions regulations and market demand for cleaner urban transport, machinery dealers in Western Australia are raising concerns that similar pressure to switch their equipment to electric will prove unworkable in remote and regional areas.
Diesel still powers the majority of machinery in the state's agricultural sector, and dealers do not see that changing anytime soon.
Dealers and buyers of agricultural equipment also are concerned about what will eventually replace the current generation of conventionally powered tractors and headers sourced from US and European manufacturers.
"It will be determined by what happens overseas," Farm Machinery and Industry Association of WA executive officer John Henchy said.
"Because Australia is a relatively small market, manufacturers aren't going to develop something specifically for us, so it just depends on what happens overseas."
Electricity supply a challenge
Mr Henchy said the state's agricultural sector was unique in many respects.
Tractors, headers and self-propelled sprayers around Western Australia operate around the clock during seeding and harvesting, something existing electric systems would not currently be able to do.
"The size of our operation, particularly in WA, where we have big farms, there are distance challenges, and critically, electricity supply challenges," he said.
"So overseas might develop something but it's got to be compatible with the way we do things in WA."
Athol Kennedy, from an Esperance machinery dealer, said there were no signals from government about the future of fuel in agriculture.
"We hear and see nothing to guide us," he said. "I don't think they have a plan for us."
Mr Kennedy said there were concerns about using batteries in agriculture, particularly given 24-hour working cycles and pressure on regional power grids.
"I cannot see how we in Australia can use electricity to run our agricultural sector," he said.
"Our infrastructure through the whole of WA wheatbelt is struggling to run our houses and our workshops."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-19/future-of-farming-fuels-electric-vehicles-diesel/101452356
************************************************Potemkin emission controls
They are not nearly as tough as they seem. Loopholes mean that lots of big polluters will skate
Labor may fail to hit its 2030 climate target because flaws in the Albanese government’s proposed safeguard mechanism have created a “large hole” in its emissions reduction policy, the firm which modelled the target has warned, with half of all major polluters gaining a financial benefit from the scheme.
The operators of 215 large industrial facilities – contributing 28 per cent of Australia’s emissions – are weighing up Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen’s overhaul of the mechanism, which anchors Labor’s 2030 pledge to cut emissions by 43 per cent and is due to kick in from July 2023.
Carbon and electricity adviser RepuTex, which initially modelled the 2030 target, said a government plan to provide free carbon credits to high emitting companies – without requiring them to represent pollution cuts – could see Labor fail to hit its flagship climate change policy goal by the end of this decade.
According to RepuTex, companies would not be required to demonstrate any emissions reductions and would instead receive credits simply for being better than average. The credits would be used by the government to provide a financial subsidy to “cleaner” facilities.
“The plan to provide free credits to facilities where their emissions are below an ‘industry average’ could lead to other undesirable outcomes, with half of Australia’s 215 largest emitting facilities in line to receive a financial windfall – instead of being required to reduce their emissions,” RepuTex said.
The modelling firm said the financial benefit would seek to make ‘cleaner’ products and processes cheaper, but in reality it would be spread across the board. It would mean half of Australia’s giant LNG export industry – which makes up 10 of Australia’s top 20 highest-emitting facilities – would be given free credits and would not be penalised for emissions increases.
“By definition, half of all LNG facilities perform better than an industry average, even though they are among the country’s largest-emitting facilities,” RepuTex managing director Hugh Grossman said.
“These facilities would not be accountable for their emissions. Instead they would receive free credits, which could be banked, or sold to realise a windfall gain. While this aims to reward ‘cleaner’ processes, in practice, half of all fossil fuel producers could simply receive a financial benefit, instead of any emissions constraint.”
Amid an intensifying debate over the long-term use of oil and gas in Australia’s energy mix, the move could lock in fossil fuel production by creating a new subsidy. Current definitions suggest nearly 80 per cent of covered emissions and over half or 118 of all safeguard facilities could be classified as emissions-intensive and trade-exposed industries, with exemptions potentially undermining climate change goals.
Mr Bowen, who is expected to finalise the government’s plan within four to six months, said high-emitting companies, many with their own net zero by 2050 targets, must get on board to drive emissions 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Australia’s $4.5bn carbon market is also under the spotlight, with former chief scientist Ian Chubb leading a review probing integrity issues after whistleblower Andrew Macintosh described the scheme as a rort.
The review of Australian Carbon Credit Units follows allegations from Mr Macintosh, the former chairman of the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee, that a majority of carbon credits issued by the Clean Energy Regulator were flawed.
“Integrity of crediting is key to any emissions market,” Mr Grossman said. “If credits used by industry do not represent one tonne of emissions abatement, and that credit is used to offset emissions – as is the case here – then we would not see any real emissions reductions. Emissions reductions would occur in accounting terms only.”
The Morrison government made a major change to the carbon offsets market in March, allowing owners of land-based schemes to sell ACCUs on the open market rather than at lower prices to the Commonwealth. As a result the price of ACCUs crashed by more than a third, given market fears of an oversupply of the carbon units over the next few years. Prices have recovered by about a quarter and are trading at $30 per tonne.
The Minerals Council of Australia has warned the Albanese government against adopting a “one size fits all” safeguard mechanism amid concerns that exporters could be left behind by international competitors. Whitehaven Coal chief executive Paul Flynn has warned that Labor’s plan to drive down emissions in the industrial sector was a “carbon levy by stealth”.
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Diversity "training" -- aka brainwashing
It is not just young and impressionable university students who are being compelled to attend virtual re-education camps before being permitted to proceed with their degrees, but also older and considerably less impressionable members of society whose university days are but a distant memory. Apparently, you can never be too long in the tooth to have your thinking checked.
It has recently come to light that volunteers at the State Library of Western Australia have been on the receiving end of a passive aggressive email which ‘encourages’ them to take part in an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island cultural awareness training module. If for any reason, said volunteers decide to decline the offer, their names will be put on a list of troublesome dissenters, and they can expect a phone call asking them to explain why it is they are bigoted racists.
According to the recipient of the communication, this is not the first woke imposition that staff have had to endure. The question is, how long will it be until the library does what the Art Institute of Chicago did last year, which was to shut down its volunteer program and fire more than 150 white unpaid staff in the name of ‘equity and diversity’?
As it turns out, this kind of coercion is quietly taking place within numerous Australian organisations. Staff at the Department of Prime Minster and Cabinet, Gold Coast Health, the Fair Work Ombudsman, Libraries Tasmania, City of Melton, and the Royal Life Saving Society have also been compelled to undertake an Indigenous Cultural Training module developed by the SBS Inclusion Program.
A few of the model’s components will teach you how to ‘recognise the importance of spirituality in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures’, to ‘grasp the impact of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ and to ‘comprehend the trauma felt by the Stolen Generations and the intergenerational trauma still being felt today’. Finally, it will you give you the ‘tools to move forward in the reconciliation process as both an individual and a business’. This module it seems, works wonders. It promises that in just half an hour, you will be transformed from a knuckle-dragging, cultural philistine into a fully enlightened and culturally proficient human being.
Clearly however, the Royal Life Saving Society has decided that half an hour of cultural competence training simply won’t do the trick. Under the guise of ‘Diversity and Inclusion’, it directs interested parties to a LinkedIn page which is a veritable smorgasbord of identity politics, critical race theory and radical gender theory. Among the offerings are six hours and thirty minutes of ‘Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging for all’, 28 minutes of ‘unconscious bias,’ 55 minutes of ‘using gender inclusive language’, 15 minutes on how to fight gender bias at work, and 3 hours and 52 minutes of ‘how to engage meaningfully in allyship and anti-racism’. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
It goes without saying that not one of these training modules is designed to teach you how to swim, spot a rip or develop techniques in advanced resuscitation. They are specially designed to train you to think in a different way, to alter your attitude and to question your beliefs. They are, to all intents and purposes, meant to brainwash you. This is a recalibration, designed to shift your loyalty from one moral code to another through hours and hours of relentless, mind-numbing ‘training’.
In his book A Time to Build, Yuval Levin puts forward a theory that when institutions fail to fulfil their essential roles in society and instead focus on trivial matters outside their remit, trust in them declines. The basis for Levin’s thesis is a distinction between formative institutions serving a social role and performative institutions that only provide a stage for partisan politics. As Levin notes, ‘When we don’t think of our institutions as formative but as performative – when the presidency and Congress are just stages for political performance art, when a university becomes a venue for vain virtue-signalling, when journalism is indistinguishable from activism – they become harder to trust. They aren’t really asking for our confidence, just for our attention.’
The revelation that Ambulance Victoria spent $760,000 on diversity officers while 33 Victorians died because there were not enough people to take emergency calls makes that particular institution very hard to trust indeed.
There has not been a push by the Victorian public for Ambulance Victoria to spend countless hours on obscure theories about gender, power, and race. Rather, the orders to pursue the woke agenda have come from the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, which was handed down in March this year in a diabolically lengthy Volume II of its ‘Workplace Equality in Ambulance Victoria’.
The reason why employers are pursuing this agenda so vigorously is because they have the full support of the permanent political class occupying government agencies and departments. There is no way that Ambulance Victoria would be focusing on ‘unconscious bias’ and ‘diversity and belonging’ if the government was not leading by example.
Australian governments ought to be the custodians of a rich liberal democratic tradition of freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and equality before the law. The federal government has also expressed its commitment to these values in international law, by becoming a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Article 18 of the ICCPR outlines a signatory’s commitment to protect the right of individuals to think freely and entertain ideas and hold positions based on conscientious, religious, or other beliefs.
This entails protection against brainwashing or indoctrination. Agencies such as the Australian Human Rights Commission have been specifically established to uphold these values.
But instead of defending the civil and political rights of individuals, the AHRC has become one of major proponents of radical and divisive ideologies which have become the established norm in the public service, and are now taking root in the private workplace.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/quick-somebody-call-a-diversity-officer/
************************************18 September, 2022
Should minorities be angry at the Queen?
ABC journalist Stan Grant is. He is part Aboriginal and apparently grew up among them. Some excerpts from his comments follow below after this note.
Since the Queen was a-political it is pretty dumb to blame her for ANYTHING Blame the governments of her time maybe but she had no part in their decisions or actions.
But the big problem with the sorrow he expresses below is that Grant assigns NO responsibility for what blacks underwent to Aborigines themselves. He attributes all the woe felt by Aboringines to British colonialism.
But look at another colonized group. The people of Hong Kong were until quite recently a literal Crown Colony. So how do they feel about the Queen and the British legacy? The mourning there for the Queen was epochal. It was at least as great as the demonstrations of feeling in Britain itelf. They loved the Queen.
Clrearly it was not colonialism that was bad for the colonized. It has to have been something else that caused grief to Aborigines.
And what that was is no mystery. The people of Hong Kong are Chinese and, as such, the inheritors of thousands of years of civilization. So they were well equipped to thrive under Britain's civilizing influence. So they appreciated the opportunities that Britain brought and vigorously grasped those opportunities to their own great benefit
Aborinigines, by contrast, come from the most primitive type of culture -- a hunter/gatherer culture. They had none of the mentality, customs, attitudes and skills that the Chinese do. Aborigines have traits and abilities that equip them well for their ancestral lifestyle but those same traits tend to be a hindrance rather than a help in adjusting to modern civilization.
No doubt both Aborigines and Hong Kongers were at times badly treated by their respective governments but the Aborigies did not adapt. They simply lacked the ability to do so. And from that the rest of their experience flowed. They simply could not help themselves and others were slow to come forward to help them. And now that many attempts have been made to help them there are still many who seem unhelpable. Given their origins that will continue
I called my mother this week and she told me the story of her childhood brush with royalty over again. I have thought about mum and dad and all of my family, of my people — First Nations people — who die young and live impoverished and imprisoned lives in this country.
We aren't supposed to talk about these things this week. We aren't supposed to talk about colonisation, empire, violence about Aboriginal sovereignty, not even about the republic.
We've skirted around the edges of the truth of the legacy that the Queen leaves in Australia, a reign that lasted almost a third of our colonial history.
I'm sure I am not alone amongst Indigenous people wrestling with swirling emotions. Among them has been anger. The choking asphyxiating anger at the suffering and injustice my people endure.
This anger is not good for me. It is not good for my mental health. It is not good for my physical health. I have been short of breath and dizzy.
But that is nothing compared to what too many other Indigenous people go through day after day. Those languishing in cells. Those who take their own lives. Those who are caught in endless cycles of despair.
This past week, I have been reminded what it is to come from the other side of history. History itself that is written as a hymn to whiteness.
History written by the victors and often written in blood. It is fashioned as a tale of progress, as a civilising mission.
As historian Caroline Elkins writes in Legacies of Violence, her history of the British Empire, for hundreds of millions of people "the empire's velvet glove contained an all too familiar iron fist".
From India to Africa to Ireland, the Pacific, the Caribbean and of course here, Australia, people from the other side of history have felt that fist.
It is not a zero-sum game. There are things in the British tradition that have enriched my life. But history is not weighted on the scales, it is felt in our bones. It is worn on our skin. It is scarred in memory.
How do we live with the weight of this history? How do we not fall prey to soul-destroying vengeance and resentment, yet never relent in our righteous demand for justice?
At times like these I struggle with that dilemma. Because Australia has never reached a just settlement with First Nations people.
But again, we don't talk about that this week.
I have felt a sadness at feeling adrift, estranged from friends and colleagues. Sadness at knowing that at times like these there is a chasm between us.
I have watched as others have worn black and reported on this historic event, participated in this ritual mourning. And knowing I cannot.
They come to this with no conflict. I cannot.
********************************************************
Monarchy works well as a constitutional system for Australia
Ultimately, this is not a celebration of the celebrity life of Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Mountbatten-Windsor. It is a reaffirmation of the supremacy of the democratic system of governance known as a constitutional monarchy.
The Paddington Bears are more revealing than they at first seem. It was only during the Platinum Jubilee festivities back in June that the cute film with the Queen, Paddington and the marmalade sandwiches was aired. Prior to that, the Queen was a socal media celeb only thanks to her similar comedic cameo role in a James Bond spoof for the 2012 London Olympics and, of course, for her starring role as the lead character in the Netflix hit The Crown. Astonishingly, for the best part of 70 years this very private individual was known to the public by her handbag, her horses, her corgis and, er, that’s about it. It is astonishing that after 70 years in the public eye, after a squillion encounters with the public, after being scrutinised by the world’s media for decades, pretty much all that anyone could find to visually convet an emotionsal response to the Queen’s death was a cute little advert made a couple of months ago.
That alone is testament to how over her entire life, and often presumably at great personal cost and pain, the woman herself never resorted to trading on her own emotions in order to garner public affection.
Today’s celebrity-obsessed, emotion-driven Millennials have grown up in a world that demands visual totems or ‘emojis’ in order to instantly convey and advertise ‘personal’ feelings. So it’s not surprising that many latched onto the bear and the marmalade film – a superb bit of cross-brand promotion which managed to simultaneously flog the Paddington books and movies, the Queen (the monarch), the other Queen (the pop group), London tourism, the grandeur of Britain’s old homes and the entire category of British marmalades and cream buns. (The skit was written, incidentally, by Simon Farnaby, who co-wrote Paddington 2 and who plays the footman in the spoof.)
That the Queen and her ‘Firm’ have so cleverly cultivated popularity without ever choosing to stoke populism is the single greatest achievement of Elizabeth’s long reign. It’s a trick that no other royal family has ever managed to achieve. It is something no presidential dynasty has ever pulled off. And it is something that no other form of government, no dictator, no junta or no republic has succeeded in emulating. The longevity of the loyalty to Her Majesty is testament above all to the enduring power and attraction of a constitutional monarchy, where the sovereign is the source of all authority without ever exercising any and is placed in the pinnacle position in our Constitution not in order to wield ultimate power, but in order to deny it to anyone else.
For that reason it is imperative that the constitutional monarch remains above politics. Prince Charles fell into the trap of allowing his concern for the environment to spill over into embracing and even advocating for political outcomes, most noticeably and unacceptably by promoting the ‘Great Reset’ on behalf of the World Economic Forum and by his relentless climate change doom-mongering. He has now solemnly pledged to leave such activism to others and, at this stage, we must take him at his word.
Strip away the pomp and ceremony – all of which is emulated (poorly) and copied (tastelessly) by every despotic regime in the world – and what makes these celebrations so important is they are not a personality cult. No rent-a-crowds. No bussed-in supporters. The crowds are there thanks to the authenticity of the institution.
Here in Australia, through a unique blessing of history, we are privileged to enjoy all the benefits of a constitutional monarchy with very few of the financial costs. We would be insane to give it away.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/god-save-our-cm/
***********************************************************If you’re told ESG is the next big thing, beware of greenwashing
Joe Kennedy famously said that when the shoeshine boy gives stock tips, it’s time to get out of the market. The story goes that the investor exited the market just ahead of the great Wall Street crash of 1929, clued in to a bubble created by dilettantes piling in.
More recently, an ad popped up in Australian bus shelters, which read “this is the sign you’ve been looking for to get into crypto”. Shortly after, cryptocurrency tanked.
So when a public relations conference told me this week that ESG is the next big thing, I took it as a warning that it’s about to be over.
In the last few years, environmental, social and (corporate) governance, or ESG, has become an increasing concern for companies which realise that securing their long-term profitability depends on the wellbeing of the environment and the societies in which they operate. The “governance” part is monitoring that the organisation isn’t making decisions which deliver profit right now but run counter to actual laws or implicit norms. Banks turning a blind eye to the money trail leading to paedophiles, for instance, or casinos knowingly participating in money laundering.
ESG can seem simple: commit to reducing emissions, develop a modern slavery statement and, above all, become a values-led organisation. Only, anyone who believes it’s that simple is almost certainly doing it wrong.
That has always been the case, but the war in Ukraine and growing concerns over China’s activities at home and abroad are making it more obvious how just how wrong the simplistic approach is.
Germany is the poster child of half-baked ESG. Under former Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe’s largest economy began shutting down its nuclear power plants, planning to use gas as a “bridge” while transitioning entirely to renewables. Many analysts warned against the move, pointing out the strategic dangers of relying on Russian gas. But Merkel persisted and many German investors fell in line, in the name of ESG.
Of course, we now know how that turned out. The ESG value of the nuclear shutdown was one-dimensional: it failed to balance the pros and cons of nuclear against other potential fuel sources, or take into account the geopolitical context. As a result, when Putin invaded Ukraine, Germany continued to pay for Russian gas and, in doing so, funded a war it opposes. In fact, it wasn’t until the beginning of September, when President Putin retaliated against NATO sanctions by shutting off gas supply to Europe, that many European countries, Germany included, stopped handing hard currency to Putin.
Now it can no longer rely on hypocrisy to keep the lights on, the power crisis is sending the German economy into recession. Companies face insolvency due to soaring energy prices and people are facing huge bills for heating their homes. “Warming centres”, or heated community halls, are being established across Europe to prevent people freezing to death in their apartments. If a new strain of COVID appears, these could also become hubs of transmission. The poor, naturally, will be hardest hit. If this is environmentally and socially responsible, what on earth is not?
In another ESG complication, building greater renewable energy capacity can lead to an increase in slavery and child labor. That’s because 80 per cent of solar panels are manufactured in China and a significant share of the materials for them comes from companies in Xinjiang Province, using forced Uighur labour. Climate change versus slavery – is there an acceptable trade-off? And if so, who decides what it is?
Even the fashionable expressions of organisational “values” can quickly lead from sublime intention to ridiculous action. Late last year, the legal faculty of a major Australian university proposed that the academics make a public resolution of support for the Indigenous Voice to parliament. While personally in favour of a Voice, my legal academic friend recalls her acute discomfort at being called on to make a public statement of this kind despite her lack of constitutional expertise. Expressing her values in this way forced her to breach a professional ethic.
Real ESG is as complex and layered as the world it is practised in.
The result of overly superficial ESG action is sometimes called greenwashing. “Greenwashing businesses routinely underinvest in their ESG reporting, using corporate spin as a proxy for a real strategy and progress against it,” according to Luke Heilbuth, CEO of BWD Strategic, a consultancy focused on helping businesses navigate the complexities of ESG.
Company regulator ASIC defines greenwashing as “the practice of misrepresenting the extent to which a financial product or investment strategy is environmentally friendly, sustainable or ethical” and has issued advice that the practice falls under its ban on misleading or deceptive statements. Given the current fashion for ESG-as-advertising, it seems almost inevitable that an increasing number of companies boasting of their ESG credentials will find themselves in breach.
Heilbuth, a former diplomat, believes companies serious about ESG need to appreciate the geopolitical context, but can realise opportunities in doing so. As the world splits into two major powers, responsible countries will focus on building green manufacturing in Australia to take advantage of our minerals and other natural resources. We must.
“Beijing also controls much of the infrastructure required to refine the minerals critical to the energy transition,” he says. “Chinese refineries supply 50 to 70 per cent of the world’s cobalt and lithium and over 90 per cent of rare-earth minerals.”
While the far-sighted Chinese look to harness the commodities of developing nations connected to the Belt and Road, and export expensive services to them, it will be strategically and ethically necessary to ensure we aren’t reliant on them.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told Putin grandly this week that we must “play a guiding role to inject stability and positive energy into a world rocked by social turmoil”. See, it’s easy to make war and unethical practices sound good. It’s harder to actually practice ESG. The spin is no longer enough.
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HSC students ditch difficult subjects in search of higher marks
The number of HSC students taking physics has tumbled to its lowest in 20 years, while the proportion of girls studying the subject has failed to budge in more than a decade.
A snapshot of this year’s HSC subject data shows 7730 students are studying physics – almost 2000 fewer students than a decade ago – as biology, business studies and personal development, health and physical education (PDHPE) enrolments climb to near 10-year highs.
Physics enrolments fell after a new syllabus was introduced in 2018, as the course became more mathematical, shifted to traditional physics and focused more on areas like quantum mechanics and astrophysics. Students are also selecting other science subjects such as earth and environmental sciences and science extension.
Simon Crook, a physics education expert and consultant, said students are choosing easier subjects due to the difficulty of achieving a band 6 in physics and chemistry. “And when you have low staff morale and teacher shortages that exacerbates the problem,” he said.
There are dwindling numbers studying maths at the highest levels, with enrolments in the three advanced maths courses offered at HSC level falling 12 per cent in 20 years.
Of this year’s physics students, 22 per cent are girls. In chemistry and biology the proportion of girls studying the subjects has risen slightly, with 48 per cent and 65 per cent respectively.
Data from the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) data reveals biology enrolments continue to surge: 19,173 students opted to take the subject this year, up 14.5 per cent from ten years ago. Business studies increased by 18 per cent and PDHPE enrolments have grown 20 per cent.
Meanwhile, enrolments in modern history and economics have flatlined, while ancient history has taken the biggest hit with 6530 enrolled this year – almost half the number enrolled in 2012.
NSW Science Teachers Association vice president Lauren McKnight said the 20 per cent drop in physics over ten years is concerning, but she welcomed the growth in biology, investigating science and science extension.
“Students turning away from academically difficult subjects such as chemistry and physics possibly reflects more on the nature of the exams, student workloads, and the overt focus on band performance,” she said.
NSW History Teachers’ Association Jonathon Dallimore said the addition of many new HSC subjects over the years means students now have more options. “One reason that students have maintained their interest in modern history is the content – the crisis of democracy, dictatorships, modern conflicts.
“This is all so clearly connected to current events giving it a sense of real immediacy, whereas on the surface ancient history can appear to some students as more detached from the news cycle.”
HSC student Chelsea Leung from Brigidine College in Randwick, one of five physics students in her year, attributes her curiosity and interest in “knowing how things work” as her motivation for studying the subject.
“When experiments work and support your hypothesis, it is so satisfying. I am looking into biomedical engineering at university,” she said. “I want to help people, I’d love to make hearing aids or medical devices.”
A NESA spokesperson said enrolments are consistent with previous years, with maths, biology and business studies attracting the largest numbers for nine years running.
“Year-on-year HSC course enrolments fluctuate based on a number of factors,” the spokesperson said. “Students may choose HSC courses for a number of reasons including their interests, future goals and courses most suited to their pathway to university, employment or further studies.
“Young women are very well represented in science courses, particularly in biology and science extension.”
There are 75,493 students studying one or more HSC courses this year, with exams starting on October 12.
Macquarie Fields High teacher Melissa Collins said year 12 students were still dealing with challenges after ongoing COVID-19 disruption this year, and next week the school will run five days of wellbeing initiatives for HSC check-in week.
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Free Wi-Fi is now available to anyone across selected Telstra payphones
These days most of us take smartphones for granted. But we know there are still many people who are isolated or in vulnerable circumstances who have access to a mobile device, but no data to be able to connect with others.
From today, around 3,000 of our Wi-Fi enabled payphones across Australia will offer free Wi-Fi access to anyone, with work already underway on the rest of our 12,000 payphones to provide free Telstra Wi-Fi over the next few years.
This was the next step in ensuring all Australians are able to stay connected and follows our decision last year to make calls from public payphones free.
Over the last few years we’ve seen payphones play a vital role in many communities across the country, particularly those impacted by disasters such as the recent floods in Northern NSW and Queensland, and summer bushfires.
These areas are where we are prioritising upgrading our payphones to be more power resilient and enabling Wi-Fi across around 1,000 payphone locations.
In addition to being able to make calls from these locations, access to Wi-Fi allows more people to connect with loved ones to let them know they’re safe and to access other important online resources.
Almost 19 million free calls have been made from Telstra payphones in the past year, with over 250,000 calls made to critical services like Triple Zero (000) and Lifeline. Centrelink was the most dialled service from payphones in the past year.
Those calls show more than a 70 percent rise in call volume from payphones when compared to the previous year, showing the vital role the humble Telstra payphone still plays in our community.
As part of our T25 strategy, we are committed to supporting digital inclusion and keeping customers in vulnerable circumstances connected. Making payphone calls and Wi-Fi free and accessible to everyone is a reminder that technological change is about more than just innovation.
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17 September, 2022
Australia Seen Dodging Recession Even as China Slows, US Teeters
Inflation occurs when monetary growth outpaces productivity growth. Australia is fortunate that high prices for its commodities tend to converge on monetary growth, meaning inflation will be lower than for elsewhere
Australia’s economy is expected to avoid recession in the coming year even as its top trading partner China slows sharply on Covid restrictions and rapid US policy tightening raises risks of a downturn there.
Soaring export prices and a weaker currency are bringing a cash windfall Down Under at a time when other developed economies are flashing warning signs. A very tight labor market and still-elevated savings are also helping Australian households cope with rapidly increasing borrowing costs.
“We expect a soft landing, not a recession,” said Jo Masters, chief economist at Barrenjoey Markets Pty Ltd. “Australia is both an energy and food exporter, and the Australian dollar is -- and expected to remain -- below fair value.”
Bloomberg surveys back her view: the chance of recession in the next year in Australia is 25%, versus 60% in the UK, 50% in the US and 35% in New Zealand.
The charts below outline Australia’s advantages in a darkening global outlook.
Expectations that Australia will avoid two straight quarters of contraction are reflected in a bond market where the yield curve has steepened. That contrasts with US yield curves that have inverted, a sign recession may be coming.
The chart above uses Australian three-year bonds and US two-years as these are the respective short-term benchmarks.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is in the midst of its sharpest tightening cycle in a generation, having raised rates by 2.25 percentage points since May. But it’s now approaching a neutral rate, potentially allowing it to return to smaller, quarter percentage-point moves. That compares with a Federal Reserve that may deliver a third straight three-quarter-point increase later this month.
https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/australia-seen-dodging-recession-even-190000920.html
********************************************************Desperate electric car charging set-up in Sydney
Images have emerged of the lengths a Sydneysider has gone to to charge their electric car in the city’s northern beaches.
Photos and vision shared by 2GB showed a long orange power cable snaking its way all the way down from a home to the car parked out on the street.
The surprising scene was spotted on a suburban Manly street on Friday morning.
A cable protector was placed on the footpath to shield the cord, while it appears it is looped around the fence when it is not in use. Powerpoints were also hidden underneath the car, presumably to protect them from rain.
2GB breakfast show host Ben Fordham called the set-up “bizarre” and “strange”. “In order to charge it, the owner has to run an enormous power cord from their property all the way out onto the road,” he said.
“It's one of the longest extension cords I’ve ever seen and that’s when the person is lucky enough to have found a park right outside their home.
Local man Mark said the cables were a “hazard” risk. “This is going to be a big problem as a trip hazard as well as an electrical hazard to any children,” he told 2GB.
Fordham said it showed the issues Australians could encounter as electric cars become more prominent. “We just need to work out in Australia how we are going to charge all of these vehicles,” he said. “I reckon that only 30 per cent of people in my street have a garage, I’d say 70 per cent do not.
“If we're reducing the driveways and reducing the garages, there are going to be fewer points to charge your electric vehicle, which pushes them out on the street.”
Transport for NSW advises electric vehicles can be charged at home, work or in different public locations like highways and supermarkets. Generally, level 1 electric vehicle supply equipment is used at a home and can take anywhere between five to 16 hours to charge.
A range of public charging stations are littered across NSW that drivers generally use if they do not have off-street parking.
Beyond using long extension cords, electric car owners have also been known to attach chargers to nearby street light poles that have spots for them.
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Fears public holiday will spark health service chaos
Doctors are encouraging Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to stand by her statement that elective surgery will not be postponed due to the last-minute National Day of Mourning public holiday.
“We wrote to the government on Monday asking for clarification for the many patients who are booked in for surgeries or important outpatient tests and appointments on September 22,” the Australian Medical Association Queensland chief Maria Boulton told The Courier-Mail.
“We have been told that the state and federal governments are working together on a decision about elective surgeries but patients need to know. Some have been waiting for months for operations, they have taken time off work, sorted out childcare and been prepared for the day. What will happen if the surgeries are cancelled? Where will these patients be on the waiting list?” Dr Boulton said.
The AMAQ president said that private hospitals would be making their own decisions but holiday penalty rates and staff off due to childcare centres being closed can make it difficult to operate as normal.
“Many GPs will close on the day due to high penalty rates for staff. It’s not ideal with some clinics due to see hundreds of patients on that day,” she said.
When asked about the September 22 public holiday at a press conference on Tuesday morning, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said elective surgery would still be conducted.
“My understanding is that elective surgeries will not be postponed,” she said.
Australian Medical Association president Steve Robson has also highlighted his concern that elective surgery would be cancelled and said that there had been a lack of understanding of the level of shuffling of schedules and staffing rosters that would be required across the health sector.
“I have spoken to Dr Robson and we realise that each state will have different attitudes to this,” Dr Boulton said.
“We understand the holiday was called at the last minute but patients and doctors need to know what is happening and a decision needs to come,” she said.
A Queensland Health spokesman told The Courier-Mail that discussions were taking place.
“The Queensland Government is working through any impacts the public holiday will have on health service delivery,” he said.
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New regulations put aged-care homes at risk of ‘ruin’
Hundreds of residential aged-care homes could collapse after new reforms aimed at improving residents’ care punched a half- billion-dollar hole in the sector’s budget, the industry’s peak body has warned.
Aged and Community Care Providers Association chief executive Paul Sadler said one third of homes in Australia faced closure, leaving thousands of residents “homeless”, because the government’s new funding model would fail to cover the cost of additional requirements for residential homes.
Legislation passed in July increased funding from an average of $195 to $225 per resident per day. The cash boost, to start next month, was designed to help providers hire and train more staff, produce quarterly financial reports (rather than annual) and meet new quality standards.
Providers are racing to expand their workforces before they are required to meet a mandated 200 care minutes per resident each day, including 40 minutes with a registered nurse, commencing in October 2023.
A financial analysis has found the funding is insufficient. StewartBrown, an accountancy firm that specialises in aged-care research, has forecast an estimated funding gap of nearly $499m by next year. It said annual wage increases, rising inflation and mandated care minutes would increase the cost of resident care to $231.81 per person per day, leaving a $6.89 shortfall of funding per day per person.
In a survey of 55 per cent of all residential aged care homes during the past financial year, the firm found nearly one third of homes were already operating in a cash deficit, sparking warnings from Mr Sadler that the new reforms would push indebted providers over the brink.
“We are hearing from metro and regional providers that they will struggle to cover the full cost of care minutes and added administration costs even with the additional funding, and again this becomes even more acute in regional settings,” Mr Sadler said.
“The second concern is … whether there will be enough staff there in the first place. The whole sector is likely to experience underfunding.”
The government will introduce a mandate of 24/7 nurses in aged-care homes from October next year, exacerbating the strain on the sector’s overstretched workforce.
Mr Sadler estimated hundreds of providers would seek exemptions to the push for a 24/7 nurse mandate and about one in five providers, or 500 homes, would be unable to put a registered nurse on overnight.
The government disputed the findings of the analysis by StewartBrown, with the Department of Aged Care saying its own analysis found the new funding arrangements would be sufficient for facilities to deliver the increased minutes of care.
“StewartBrown’s analysis assumes that only 65 to 70 per cent of care funding should be spent on direct care, taking into account a gap between funding and care expenditure. This is much lower than the current average, and is unlikely to be acceptable to the community,” it said. “The new aged-care reforms will not put residential aged-care homes at risk of closure.”
The department said that from October 1, a “substantial funding uplift” would commence to help providers meet the 200 care minutes requirement. “The uplift is equivalent to around $5.4bn in funding for the sector over the four financial years from 2023-24,” it said. “At a per resident level, funding is expected to increase from an average of $192 per resident per day … to $225 per resident per day.”
It said that 2022-23 residential care funding would increase by 13 per cent to $17bn and the average government funding per resident would be more than $85,000.
Provider Whiddon’s chief executive, Chris Marmarelis, said the majority of homes would be “net worse off” in 2023.
He acknowledged the laws were an improvement on the previous model after the royal commission into aged care found it had rewarded homes with the highest proportion of sick residents. However, Mr Marmarelis expressed concern the projected funding was not sufficient to cover the new requirements.
Eldercare chief executive Jane Pickering said the provider had forecast a $3m funding gap by October next year.
Ms Pickering said it would be able to meet the 200 minutes but had “no idea” how it would fund or comply with a 40-minute nursing care mandate as it grappled with a shortage of 30 nurses.
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"Green" subsidies in Australia
Simply to list the subsidies available for green purchases (think here solar panels, small batteries, LED lighting, shower heads, home insulation, electric vehicles, etc,) would require the space of several columns. So let me pick out just a few examples. In Victoria, you can get $1,400 plus an interest free loan if you want to install solar panels on your roof. There is also a thousand dollars available for solar hot water. Even better, there is nearly $3,000 for a solar battery. If you want to upgrade your heating or cooling, there’s another grand available.
For those homes that generate excess electricity that is fed back to the grid, there are ‘feed-in tariffs’. Initially, the size of these tariffs was obscene. In Queensland, for instance, households were paid 44 cents per kilowatt hour and those who signed up early will enjoy this rate until 2028. More recently, feed-in tariffs have crashed and are generally well below 10 cents per KWh.
When it comes to buying an electric vehicle – they are now called zero emissions vehicles (ZEVs) to emphasise their worthiness – there’s an upfront grant of $3,000 in Victoria but the car has to be worth less than $69,000. No top-of-the-line Tesla for you. You may have to pay a small road user charge in the future but the overall amount in dollar terms will be small compared with the excise on petrol and diesel paid by less well-heeled motorists.
One of the first actions of our new federal treasurer, Jim, was to remove the fringe benefits tax from the purchase of electric vehicles. In this instance, the maximum value of the car is $85,000. Treasury calculates that the owners can save between 5 and 9 grand per year – not bad if you can afford the purchase price in the first place.
Getting back to Bloomberg’s Greener Living, one interesting fact contained in the document is that Norway, the nirvana of EV enthusiasts, taxes the living daylights out of petrol/diesel cars, thereby propelling the shift to EVs – sorry ZEVs. The average tax imposed on normal vehicles is $US15,000 – which is 22,500 big ones here.
It’s actually surprising that anyone at all in Norway, which by the way is the size of a handkerchief, would even contemplate buying an internal combustion engine vehicle with that sort of impost. The Sheriff would be extremely proud of the politicians who dreamt up this grand theft.
And don’t forget the absence of road tolls, free parking and the use of bus lanes that further entice the Norwegian public to do the ‘right thing’. You wonder whether it might be cheaper for the government to simply give EVs – OK, let’s just forget ZEVs – to every citizen with a driving licence.
But don’t think it’s just the Europeans who are into these reverse Robin Hood subsidies. The US government under great uncle Joe is really ramping them up. And this is on top of the raft of subsidies that exist at the state level, particularly in California.
Under the laughably titled Inflation Reduction Act, there are new point-of-sale tax credits for all electric vehicles although there are some price and income caps. It turns out that unless subsidies take the form of an immediate reduction in the sale price, they don’t work very well and the Biden administration has acted on this advice.
The IRA (funny that) also restored a 30 per cent tax credit for both home solar and home battery storage systems, extended out to 2034. There are also subsidies for heat pumps and electric induction stoves.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/09/robin-hood-robin-hood/
************************************16 September, 2022
Dai Le’s patriotic speech leaves Left severely triggered
Australian, Dai Le, federal member for Fowler, delivered a spectacular ‘Australians-are-racist’ narrative-buster in her maiden speech.
To the chagrin of Leftists, the newly elected representative also wore a traditional Vietnamese áo dŕi fashioned into an Australian flag.
Le, a newbie on the federal political scene, made heads spin by wearing what the Independent MP said was a celebration of Australia as the land of ‘hope, freedom, and endless possibilities’.
Dai Le explained:
‘Mine is a refugee settlement story. I was seven years old when Saigon fell during the Vietnam war in April 1975. My mother was forced to flee with my two younger sisters escaping communism. It was a time of chaos and confusion.’
Having survived both breast cancer, and communism, Le paid tribute to the Australian people and their embrace of her family after Le, her sister, and mother fled Vietnam – following the predominantly North Vietnamese betrayal of the Paris Peace Accords.
Of Australia, Le said:
‘You [the people] welcomed my mother – my family – with open arms. You gave us comfort, food, and a warm bed to sleep in.’
Adding more for Leftists to hate, Dai Le used the opportunity to acknowledge, and thank the 60,000 Australians who served during the Vietnam war, saying she wanted to ‘pay tribute to all of the Australian servicemen and women who fought for our freedom in Vietnam, and who continue to serve us today’.
The member for Fowler in Sydney’s West, also spoke on the importance of individual responsibility, implying a distaste for the evils of government dependency.
Le slammed the recent abuse of power by bureaucrats in Australia, equating state and federal responses to Covid with communism.
‘The last time I looked, a government that takes away individuals’ liberty to choose how they want to live work, and raise families, was called a communist dictatorship. A political system that my family and I escaped from and many other refugees escaped from especially the Vietnamese Australian community.’
Le lambasted the overreach, adding:
‘We weren’t allowed to travel beyond the five-kilometre radius from our homes. We were told to get travel permits. We were forced to get tested every three days. We had helicopters flying around our area, as well as police on horseback, and men in uniforms knocking on people’s doors.’
The morale-boosting patriotic speech outshone sitting Labor member for Reid, Sally Situo – also a refugee who fled communism – and her Woke-compromised tribute to the nation in July.
In a quick shot aimed directly at Australian Labor’s policy of party first, people last, the Independent MP said, it was Labor ‘parachuting Kristina Keneally into her electorate’ that prompted Le to step up.
Responses to Le’s speech were mixed.
Legacy media didn’t know what to do with Le’s affection for faith, flag, and country, with a nervous SBS appearing to quickly steer readers away from the iconic patriotic statement. They then chose to focus on Le’s Vietnamese heritage as a reason to up-sell multiculturalism.
The Sydney Morning Herald seemed to be as unimpressed as their readers.
Possibly encouraged by the cropped image of the áo dŕi, which cut out context of the flag and created a visual misconception, many of them voiced disgust saying that the MP’s dress was the reason Australia needed a republic.
Writing in the comments section of David Crowe’s article entitled, The dress that spoke louder than words, one user wrote. ‘It reminds me of Culture Club wardrobe when Boy George was draped in US flag skirt during the US tour.’
Another user slammed Le’s speech, writing, ‘Perfect match. The dress was as over-blown and over the top as the speech.’
One reader commented, ‘No doubt Pauline [Hanson] is taking note for her next “look how patriotic I am” parliamentary stunt.’
In contrast, ex-pat Israeli, Australian Rebel News roving reporter Avi Yemini, shared part of the speech to Twitter, rightly noting:
‘…Dai Le, is more of a patriot than anyone else in that chamber. Today she gives Australia hope.’
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/dai-les-patriotic-speech-leaves-left-severely-triggered/
***************************************************Top doctor is FURIOUS at ABC star Norman Swan for frightening Aussies about Covid-19 with 'dated' information: 'Stop scaring the public'
Swan/Swirsky is a reliable Leftist who studied medicine but never practiced as a doctor
ABC health guru Norman Swan copped a social media smackdown from a leading medical researcher after tweeting an old article about Covid health complications.
Melbourne University Professor Fiona Russell, who is considered an eminent authority in child medicine and infectious diseases, told Dr Swan he needed to talk to 'qualified people' about Covid effects after he tweeted a two-year-old article.
It was a stinging putdown for Dr Swan, who is the National Broadcaster's pandemic pundit of choice and has a dedicated taxpayer-funded podcast on Covid called Coronacast, where he's interviewed as an expert voice on the virus.
Prof Russell was replying to Dr Swan's tweet of a Washington Post article from April, 2020, which was headlined: 'Young and middle-aged people, barely sick with covid-19, are dying of strokes'
'This is not a benign virus,' Dr Swan wrote in the tweet. 'Wishful thinking won't make it go away. Currently on a stuffy plane. Few masks.'
Prof Russell said the outdated article failed to account for current circumstances or recent research.
'Norman this article is Apr20,' Prof Robson wrote. 'We have high uptake of vaxx & most ppl have already been infected. 'There is no solid evidence to show reinfections are worse in vaxxed ppl or kids-actually the opposite. 'The public deserve to hear from qualified ppl on these topics. Pls talk to them.'
Melbourne Urology specialist Dr Ranjit Rao also pointed out the article was dated. 'Stop scaring public Norman,' Dr Rao tweeted. 'If you're that worried, stop flying and leave everyone to make their own risk assessment.'
Another Twitter user tweeted pictures of Dr Swan unmasked at various public events. 'Yet not a single mask being worn by you in any of these pictures of you interacting with the public. Do as I say, not as I do,' the tweet said.
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COVID stress eases in young people: survey
Young people are more positive about their lives and in less psychological distress as Australia comes out of the pandemic, a new study shows.
More than two in three young people aged 18 to 24 said their lives had improved in the past year, while there was a five per cent drop in psychological distress, ANU's Professor Nicholas Biddle found.
Prof Biddle said stress remained above pre-pandemic levels, with young people "the most dramatically impacted" by COVID-19. "Overall this is really encouraging news," he said. "It's heartening to see the majority of young Australians say they are feeling much better ... even though they still face ongoing pandemic pressures."
While young people recorded the biggest decline in psychological distress, Australians of all ages felt better than they did in October 2021.
More than half of those surveyed said they thought their life was worse in May 2020, months after tough restrictions including lockdowns were introduced. This dropped to about one in five - or 20 per cent - in August 2021.
"Wellbeing and mental health outcomes have improved over recent months as lockdown conditions have substantially eased and despite high case numbers," Prof Biddle said.
The report is based on 12 surveys of 3500 Australians over two years.
It comes as national cabinet decided pandemic leave would remain in effect as long as mandatory COVID-19 isolation periods are in place. The payments were due to expire at the end of the month.
National cabinet also agreed to limit the number of payments to three in six months unless people can argue extraordinary circumstances.
The ACTU welcomed the decision to extend the payments. It said it was critical workers were able to isolate while they were infectious.
The union's assistant secretary Liam O'Brien said financial incentives for people to stay home while sick should remain.
"Paid pandemic leave needs to stay in place as long as working people are being asked to isolate and take time away from work to control the spread of the virus," he said.
"The third of our working population who do not have access to paid sick leave cannot be expected to go without pay to keep the rest of the community safe."
https://thewest.com.au/politics/covid-stress-eases-in-young-people-survey-c-8242870
***************************************************Australia's love of pickups and SUVs is slowing down the country's efforts to reduce carbon emissions
Sales of electric vehicles nearly tripled in Australia last year but average emissions from new cars only decreased by two per cent.
The commission's report, released on Thursday, said that was partly due to increasing sales of SUVs and utes where there were fewer cleaner vehicles options.
More than 43,000 utes were sold in Australia between 2020 and 2021, while large SUV sales rose by about 25,000.
Many of those vehicles emit more than 210 grams of CO2 per kilometre.
Australia is falling behind other countries when it comes to its average vehicle emissions, the report states, with 45 per cent of new cars sold emitting 160 grams or less of CO2 per kilometre. That's compared to 90 per cent of all new cars sold in Europe.
More needs to be done to encourage Australians to purchase electric vehicles, the commission said in its report. "Increasing investment in public recharging stations, preferential tax arrangements and other incentives, and the adoption of emissions standards can lead to significant uptake in greener vehicles," the report states.
Battery and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles represent just 0.23 per cent of Australia's 18.4 million vehicles. About 2.8 per cent of Australia's 2021 car sales were electric.
That's compared to 17 per cent in Europe, 16 per cent in China, five per cent in the United States and 4.4 per cent in New Zealand.
"The National Transport Commission continues to collaborate with governments and industry to develop the data needed to support the commitment of all jurisdictions to transition to a zero emissions fleet," the report said.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/aust-ute-suv-sales-stall-173100511.html
**************************************************China makes Australian Greenie policies look stupid
It is a tale of two cities. First is Barcaldine, Queensland, which has been left reeling after a proposed coal-fired power station was recently crushed by state and federal Labor governments worried about carbon emissions.
Second is Ordos, Inner Mongolia, where locals are celebrating the commissioning of phase one of their new Shanghaimiao power station with 1,000 megawatts coming online. Workers are in the process of completing phase two, which will take total capacity up to 2,000 megawatts.
Interestingly, the capacity of Shanghaimiao is similar to the capacity of the Eraring power station in New South Wales, which Origin Energy plans to close in 2025 due to economic pressure from heavily subsidised renewable energy projects.
In both Barcaldine and Ordos, the power stations shared a commitment to the latest ‘ultra-supercritical’ coal-fired power station technology. This means less coal is required to generate each megawatt of electricity and, therefore, fewer carbon emissions are produced.
The key difference is the one in China was built, whereas the one in Australia remains locked in red and green tape hell.
Australia’s was held back despite the abundance of affordable and reliable energy it would generate, the 545 jobs it promised to create during construction, and the 90 ongoing operational jobs.
The determination of state and federal Labor to block the construction of coal-fired power stations is in stark contrast to China. According to a report in the New Scientist in April, China is building more than half of the world’s new coal-fired power plants.
China accounted for 52 per cent of the 176,000 megawatts of energy under construction around the world in 2021. In just one year alone, China added three times more coal-fired power generation than exists in Australia today.
Australia has an abundance of high-quality coal which has proven to be a lucrative export commodity for generations. When burned, it allows other nations to access affordable and reliable electricity, and in many cases, has helped lift them out of poverty.
Yet Australia’s leaders stand silently by while our affordable and reliable baseload electricity, generated by that same coal, is replaced by highly subsidised renewables that require vast amounts of backup energy and extra transmission lines to work. All of this adds a huge cost to taxpayers.
The Minerals Council of Australia, a club for the major mining companies, has boasted of the hundreds of new high efficiency, low emissions (HELE) coal-fired plants in operation or in planning and construction.
The MCA even spruiked how these plants could deliver ‘reliable, base-load energy while reducing CO2 emissions by up to 40 per cent’ saying:
‘Coal has a fundamental role to play in the provision of low cost, reliable energy for the foreseeable future.’
Meanwhile, the MCA makes no mention about how Australia would be able to benefit from these new technologies.
Is it because key MCA members vocally endorse Net Zero in order to provide the requisite political cover from activists to continue to mine and export coal, all while our domestic power supply is being thrown under the proverbial bus?
It’s hard not to think this is why they led the charge to close down the Australian Coal Association and its ‘Coal21’ outreach program, which was devoted to the roll-out of new technologies.
The stakes for Australian domestic and industrial energy users are high.
In Victoria, the ageing Hazelwood power station was closed with just six months’ notice in 2017, resulting in a wholesale power price jump of 85 per cent. The imminent closure of Liddell Power station in the Hunter Valley will, no doubt, have a similar effect.
Had these power stations been replaced in an orderly and sensible manner using the latest technologies, the National Electricity Market would still have an abundance of affordable and reliable energy, instead of being in the midst of the current energy supply crisis.
In addition, environmentalists could have welcomed the reduced amount of carbon emissions associated with ‘ultra-supercritical’ power-generating technology.
The key remaining coal-fired power plants in Australia slated for closure in the next decade should all be maintained, refurbished, and operated until such future time as baseload generation is available, either from high-efficiency, low-emission coal or nuclear sources.
Queensland Senator Matt Canavan gets it right when he says:
‘Remember when they said there was no one that wanted to build a coal-fired power station? Then when someone says, “Yes, I do!” They say, “Sorry, you can’t get approval…”’
China, which has firmly rejected the policy of Net Zero emissions by 2050, is getting on with the job of providing reliable and affordable power for its people and industries.
If Australia had the same attitude, communities in the Galilee Basin could look forward to an influx of new jobs, and Queenslanders could be more confident of enjoying efficient, affordable, and reliable energy well into the future using the coal beneath our feet.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/a-tale-of-two-cities/
************************************15 September, 2022
The snobby dark side of Australia's universities: How a State school student was 'humiliated' so badly at a university Open Day he almost gave up his dream of becoming a doctor
An interesting story. I think I need to put my sociologist's hat on to explain it. The Muslim guy obviously lacked social skills and awareness.
The early days at university are a time of uncertainty and some anxiety for most students. And they reassure themselves by hanging out with other freshers that they know -- usually from their old school. It is not snobbery. It is an adjustment to a new environment and experience.
So if you have no-one there that you know you are at a largely inescapable disadvantage -- as Mr Khan was. His prior environment did not prepare him for university. It was a new milieu for him.
I was in a similar sitution. I actually taught myself for the Senior exam so I knew nobody at university when I first went there. As it happens, that did not bother me. I was used to running my own race. But I did do what Mr Khan should have done: Join campus special interest groups. I met people that I became friendly with that way. I even joined a university army unit, which I enjoyed greatly. Approaching people you don't know out of the blue and with nobody or nothing to introduce you is just not British and will get you nowhere
A medical student has claimed his neighbourhood and the humble state high school background led to him being led to him being 'snobbed' at one of Australia's most prestigious universities.
The experience was so humiliating that Fahad Khan said it almost caused him to give up his dream of becoming a doctor.
In a TikTok video, which has almost 50K likes, third-year medical student Fahad Khan recalled his experience of attending Sydney University's Open Day as a year 12 student in 2016 from western Sydney.
Under the caption 'Getting snobbed @USyd Open Day as a person from Western Sydney' Fahad said the first thing he did was go to the medicine information session.
'I saw that there were two medical students, I think, and about 10 Year 12 students with them,' Fahad says. 'When I went close to them I heard them speaking about things like 'does Mr X still teach maths and does Mrs X still do that?' 'And they were all having a laugh and I went 'look they are all mates, that's like pretty nice'.'
The caption on the TikTok video changes to: 'This is why I believe there's parts of USyd with a toxic selective/private school culture' as Fahad describes trying to join in the conversation.
'I tried to say hello and they ignored me,' he says. 'And then I say it again... I say 'Hi my name's Fahad'. 'And they all turned around and they looked at me and then they looked away and one of the medical students was like 'oh, hi'.
'And then they all started talking about their high school again and I said 'what the hell? They just like kind of ignored me',' Fahad says.
'But I said 'You know what? The session is starting in five minutes, maybe this is just a group of mates and fair enough if they want to talk to their mates before they start talking to everyone, that's fine'.'
However, things did not improve when the session started. 'The first question they asked was 'Which high school did everyone go to?',' Fahad says. 'Most of them were James Ruse students, there was some Sydney Boys [High] and Sydney Girls. 'I was the only student from a non-selective non-private school.'
Fahad describes what happened next as 'unbelievable'. He said all those from the selective and private schools were taken to one side of the room to talk to the medical students while he was left alone on the other side.
'I asked them 'Am I coming? Am I also included in this?'
'And the medical student turned around to me and he was like 'Oh, there's like this third medical student going to come, you hang out with that person' and I was like 'What the hell?'.'
The third medical student did not show up.
Fahad decided he was 'going to force' himself into the experience. 'So, I went there and I sat with them, and I forced myself to sit with them and do what they were doing,' Fahad says.
'And I kid you not throughout the entire 100 per cent of the session they were talking about inside jokes from their high school.
'Whenever I asked a question like, 'How was first year? How was second year?' they were like, 'Oh yeah, it's alright'. 'Then they looked away and started talking about their high school again and I was like, 'What the hell is wrong with these people?'.'
Fahad said the experience was shattering. 'I remember leaving that session completely humiliated,' he says.
'Then on the train home I remember thinking about how my peers at school would laugh at me when I said I wanted to be a doctor and they would just say to me 'you know some dreams are out of reach'. 'That day almost made me believe I couldn't be a doctor.'
The comments underneath the video made it clear that Fahad's experience wasn't unique.
'I went through usyd med as one of the only non selective/public schooled/low SES students and it was so isolating being around so much privilege,' one wrote.
'Usyd was so toxic, I transferred there my 2nd uni year and the vast majority of people looked down on me for the area I came from,' another said.
'Definitely a superiority complex held by many students at usyd,' another wrote.
Fahad's story touched at least one person who said they were associated with the university.
'From someone that works at USYD: Really sorry you had to go through this man. Was heartbreaking to watch,' they wrote.
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Pauline Hanson slams senator as an 'out-of-touch, pants-wetting Greenie' after tweet about Queen's 'racist' empire
Bravo for Pauline!
Pauline Hanson has launched another extraordinary attack on a Greens senator days after telling her to 'p**s off back to Pakistan'.
The One Nation leader took offence to Pakistani-born Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi tweeting that she would not mourn the death of The Queen at the weekend.
'I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples,' Senator Faruqi posted last Friday.
'We are reminded of the urgency of treaty with First Nations, justice and reparations for British colonies, and becoming a republic.'
Senator Hanson then launched her scathing attack on Senator Faruqi - which the Greens deputy leader says stirred up 'racist' hate speech against her.
The minor party deputy is planning to launch a parliamentary censure motion against Senator Hanson when the Senate returns, and is considering a formal complaint to the Human Rights Commission.
But Senator Hanson was undeterred by this - launching a second, stinging attack on Senator Faruqi.
'Mehreen Faruqi showed extremely poor judgment with her insensitive and highly offensive statement about The Queen, and as is so typical of pants-wetting Greens, now that she's been called out she's pretending to be a victim,' she said. 'It's classic "Karen" behaviour: all entitlement and no responsibility. Mehreen Faruqi is not a victim of anything.
'Faruqi is just another rich, privileged, out-of-touch Greenie faithfully executing her dear leader's strategy to disrespect and insult the institutions which have helped make Australia one of the most socially inclusive and diverse nations in the world. 'Including the very institutions which allowed her to come to Australia and make it her home.
Last year Senator Faruqi slammed the British empire for 'enslaving millions of black and brown people around the world'.
Senator Hanson, who once moved a motion in the Senate that it was 'ok to be white', earlier tweeted Senator Faruqi had taken advantage of everything Australia gave her.
'Your attitude appalls and disgusts me. When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country,' she wrote.
'You took citizenship, bought multiple homes, and a job in a parliament. It's clear you're not happy, so pack your bags and p**s off back to Pakistan.'
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NIMBYs make housing unaffordable: Grattan Institute
Unfortunately for would-be new home owners, local councils often bow to NIMBYs
NIMBY campaigns have helped drive up house prices and rents, a leading economist has argued, as younger Australians are shut out of the market by opposition to high-density developments.
In a speech on Wednesday night, Grattan Institute economic policy director Brendan Coates said soaring house and land values “sit at the heart of some of Australia’s most pressing policy challenges”.
Coates said federal and state governments need to make tough decisions on housing policy to improve affordability as younger Australians struggle to get a foothold in the housing market.
“Either people accept greater density in their suburb or their children will not be able to buy a home, and seniors will not be able to downsize in the suburb where they live,” he said in his Henry George Commemorative Lecture.
“This is a problem we can fix, but only if we make the right choices.”
House values across the country had swollen to $10.1 trillion by March this year, driven by a record-low official cash rate of 0.1 per cent and aided by government concessions including HomeBuilder grants. While the property markets in NSW and Victoria have taken a $200 billion hit since the Reserve Bank started ratcheting up interest rates to counter high and rising inflation, prices remain above pre-pandemic levels.
One fix Coates proposes is an increase in medium or high-density development to meet demand.
“It is a myth that all new first-home buyers want a quarter-acre block. Many would prefer a townhouse, semi-detached dwelling, or apartment in an inner or middle suburb, rather than a house on the city fringe,” he said.
Zoning restrictions and local opposition to higher-density development is the problem, Coates said, with Reserve Bank research from 2020 estimating that restrictive rules added up to 40 per cent of the price of homes in Melbourne and Sydney.
“The key problem is that many states and local governments restrict medium- and high-density developments to appease local residents concerned about road congestion, parking problems, and damage to neighbourhood character,” he said.
“The politics of land-use planning – what gets built and where – favour those who oppose change. The people who might live in new housing – were it to be built – don’t get a say.”
Heading into the pandemic, this contributed to the lack of available housing with just over 400 homes per 1000 people, which Coates said was “among the least housing stock per adult in the developed world”.
That lack of housing hasn’t just affected home prices. Record low rental vacancy rates in cities and regional areas has helped drive asking rents to new levels.
“Less than 1 per cent of rental properties are currently vacant – the lowest level on record,” Coates said. “The typical asking rent on a new property is up nearly 14 per cent nationally over the past year.”
States have responsibility for land-use laws and planning, but Coates said the federal government “can and should help boost the supply of housing”.
“First, the most obvious way the federal government can materially reduce housing demand is by reducing the capital gains tax discount and abolishing negative gearing,” he said.
The government should pay states to build more housing, through targets for new construction and payments for exceeding those targets, but also help strengthen building codes to ensure developments are well-designed.
He also said more needs to be done to fix tenancy laws to make renting more attractive, including by helping tenants secure longer leases.
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First multi-strain COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in Australia after government backs Moderna shot
The federal government has approved a COVID-19 vaccine that specifically targets two coronavirus variants of concern, including the original Omicron strain.
Health Minister Mark Butler said the government had accepted a recommendation from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) on the use of a new Moderna vaccine as a booster shot for people aged 18 years and older.
The move marks the first time a multi-strain COVID vaccine — otherwise known as a bivalent vaccine — has been approved for use in Australia.
The new shot is already being used in other countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom.
Unlike other approved vaccines, which only target the original Wuhan strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the bivalent one also targets the original Omicron BA.1 strain.
"This is an important first step in showing how mRNA vaccines can be adapted to different dominant variants and subvariants," Mr Butler said in a statement.
The first doses of the bivalent vaccine have already arrived in the country and will now undergo batch testing by Australia's medical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
They will be introduced into the rollout as existing stocks of Moderna's already-approved COVID-19 vaccine are exhausted.
How effective is it?
The vaccines already in use in Australia provide protection from severe disease against Omicron subvariant infections, but ATAGI found Moderna's bivalent shot provides a modest improvement in the body's immune response.
All jabs provide significant protection from severe disease against Omicron subvariant infections.
Infectious disease physician and microbiologist Paul Griffin, from the University of Queensland, said the approval of the bivalent vaccine did not "detract from how well our original vaccines have worked".
"The virus has continued to change and so we need to update our vaccines accordingly," he said.
Infectious diseases expert Robert Booy said lab data showed this bivalent vaccine was helpful in preventing infection from all Omicron variants, over and above what existing vaccines are expected to provide.
"However we don't know about efficacy because that requires doing a study of many thousands of people, so we have to rely on the immunogenicity, the antibody production," he said.
"And we know that neutralising antibodies with the vaccine are high and protective against the common Omicron strains BA.4 and BA.5."
"But we can see that the vaccine is effective [and] worth having."
Professor Booy also said the bivalent vaccine could be used as a fifth shot in the future. "So if you've had four … you would have had the most recent one within the last few months, and that would protect you until at least Christmas," he said. "So it might be something you do in March or April, at the same time you get your flu jab."
Dr Griffin said it could also help keep Australians safe for some time to come. "The thought there is that it'll get better, broader cross-protection, maybe even against new emerging variants when they do arise," he said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-12/moderna-multi-strain-covid-vaccine-approved/101430876
************************************************************Anthony Albanese confirms extension of paid pandemic leave
Anthony Albanese says national cabinet has agreed to extend pandemic leave disaster payments beyond the scheme’s expiry on September 30.
The Prime Minister said payments will remain in place for “as long as mandatory isolation periods” are applied by states and territories.
The payments will continue to be co-funded by the federal and state governments, and revealed there has been $2.2bn in payments made.
Mr Albanese said Services Australia would crack down on payments, amid concern 2.6 per cent of claims triggered “real time fraud checks”.
Claimants will only be able to claim the payments three times over a six-month period, unless in “extraordinary” circumstances.
“There is some evidence that Services Australia identified that since July 20, 2022, 2.6 per cent of all claims received triggered real-time fraud checks in the system and of those, more than 50 per cent were subsequently rejected and some 15 per cent were subsequently withdrawn by the claimant.
“Services Australia data indicates also that over the six months to the 30 June 2022, claims made by individuals who claimed more than once, of these, about 13 per cent were claimed four or more times, that is a claim every 6.5 weeks or more.”
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September 14, 2022
Planning Minister Steven Miles set to exercise powers and order Redland to draft new strategy for more housing
Local councils are the big obstacles to development
Deputy Premier Steven Miles is poised to fire off a terse ministerial directive officially forcing a southside council to overhaul its lagging housing strategy.
The top-level order, expected as early as today or tomorrow, will force Redland City Council to overhaul its housing policy and explore land supply options in southern Thornlands.
The housing crisis issue will be raised on Friday at a roundtable meeting, ahead of next month’s Queensland Housing Summit.
In an unsigned draft of the ministerial directive, seen by Quest Newspapers, Mr Miles threatens to use his powers and get his department to undertake any necessary work with the council to foot the bill.
“The strategy must ensure the council plans for residential growth that is sufficiently diverse and that supports affordable housing outcomes,” the draft directive said.
“It must also assess the current housing stock and future supply ... using property-level base data, as at mid-2021.”
News of the impending ministerial directive followed Redland City Council’s failure to meet an August 30 deadline to send Mr Miles an updated strategy outlining future land supply areas and detailing plans for housing diversity.
That triggered a bitter row last week over the council’s “outdated” policy, which Mr Miles said was partly to blame for the state’s unprecedented housing crisis.
It also raised the question about the council’s town plan, which may not be compliant as the state approved it on condition an updated housing plan would be drawn up using the latest population figures.
An Infrastructure Department spokesman said the state had told Redland “on a number of occasions” that its 2011 housing strategy was inadequate and based on outdated population data from 2006.
“It does not take into account significant population and housing challenges of the past decade.” the spokesman said.
“The current strategy identified the city would need 66,200 dwellings by 2031, however, as of 2021, there is already a total of 65,200 dwellings in the Redlands area.”
Redland council said it was one of the few councils in southeast Queensland meeting its dwelling targets and a state land supply report found it had sufficient residential land.
It said there had been 9970 building approvals for all housing types across the city between 2011 and 2022, which was in line with all state government orders.
Last year, Redland’s population was estimated to be 161,730, and was growing at an annual rate of about 0.65 per cent, slower than Brisbane’s growth of 0.73 per cent. Redland also had a residential vacancy rate of approximately 0.4 per cent.
That compared with Logan’s population of 350,740 and growth rate of 1.84 per cent, largely due to more housing being built.
The Planning Department spokesman said the state would continue to press Redland council on the need for a strategy to address land supply released and housing diversity.
Under state government guidelines, Redland must approve 17,200 new dwellings by 2041, including 12,500 on land already under development and 4700 homes on land yet to be released.
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Queensland schools facing ‘critically’ low teacher shortages
A scathing national report has revealed not enough is being done to address mounting concerns into teacher shortages with parts of Queensland facing critically low levels.
The Productivity Commission, in its interim report reviewing the National School Reform Agreement, said overworked teachers were leaving the industry in droves.
It comes after Education Minister Grace Grace revealed in May there were more than 1000 teacher vacancies throughout the state.
The commission’s report said regional, rural and remote areas continued to suffer from longstanding shortages.
Commissioner Natalie Siegel-Brown said teachers were over burdened with “low value” tasks and were spending less time teaching than compared to international counterparts.
“Ideas we are testing to improve teaching quality include giving teachers more time to teach,” Ms Siegel-Brown said.
“Reducing teacher workload would also increase the time they have to prepare for lessons and undertake professional development.”
More than 3000 teachers were surveyed in the report, which highlighted heavy workloads, high stress levels and a lack of a work life balance as the key reasons they were considering leaving the industry.
Ms Grace revealed during a question on notice in May that Queensland had 1050 teacher vacancies, up by nearly 300 from 2021.
It included 220 in Central Queensland, 240 in North Queensland and 167 in metropolitan areas.
“Teacher vacancies are a normal part of the workforce cycle and can occur for various reasons,” Ms Grace said at the time.
“Vacancies open and close continually throughout the year and local workplace planning ensures that many of these vacancies are identified in advance and filled to minimise disruptions to classes.”
Ms Grace said the teacher vacancy rate made up of two per cent of the 54,000 teaching workforce.
According to the Queensland Teachers Union, 12 schools in mining towns throughout Central Queensland were faced with “critically” low shortages.
Dysart State High School had six teacher vacancies out of 14 staff and Moranbah State High School had 12 vacancies, the union’s July journal revealed.
Union president Cresta Richardson said staffing levels and unsustainable workloads continued to dominate issues raised by its members.
“The QTU continues to develop meaningful strategies and policies to help address the teacher shortage while attracting new and retaining existing teachers to our valued profession,” Ms Richardson said.
Private schools throughout the CQ region are also desperately for teachers.
St Brendan’s College at Yeppoon has five full-time teaching positions available in mathematics, science, agricultural science, religion and legal studies, according to an advertisement on Seek.
Gladstone's Chanel College and Mackay’s Holy Spirit College are both advertising multiple positions each.
In bid to attract more teachers to the industry, the Department of Education offers teachers financial support in study, paid internships and a permanent teaching position post-degree at a Queensland classroom, as part of its turn to teaching program.
It also offers incentives including lump sum payments, return flights, self-contained accommodation and guaranteed return to school as part of the EB10 agreement.
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Palaszczuk Govt’s watered down laws a green light to unfettered bikie violence
Once again, Queensland is in the grip of unfettered bikie violence and unfortunately police are losing the fight to stop the killings.
Watered down laws under the Palaszczuk Government have given gang members the green light to maim and kill, and it is clear bikies have no fear of law enforcement as they go about their daily lives of trafficking drugs and standing over people.
Not one bikie has been convicted in the past few years under Queensland’s so-called “tougher’’ consorting laws aimed at cracking down on gangs.
Like youth justice, the Palaszczuk Government talks a big game on keeping bikies under control, but it squibs it at the 11th hour.
Former premier Campbell Newman did plenty wrong during his three year tenure from 2012-2015, but cracking down hard on bikies was not one of them.
The Newman Government acted swiftly and decisively after the so-called Broadbeach bikie blitz in 2014, when innocent restaurant patrons were dragged into a frenzied bikie shooting.
It dismantled the bikie laws to ensure they could not consort – banning colours in public and introducing tougher prison sentences – but the bikie gangs are now back bigger and uglier than ever.
Yesterday’s brazen daylight killing in Carindale, where a man linked to the Comancheros was stabbed to death by five men, shows that authorities have a long way to go to stopping bikie-related violence.
Police last month charged more bikie-associated people of the cold-blooded assassination of former Finks member Shane Bowden, gunned down in his car in 2020.
He was shot 21 times in his driveway. In NSW, we see similar stories of wanton murder involving bikie retribution.
The Carindale incident shows bikies remain motivated and hungry to exact retribution towards rival gang members.
The problem is that innocent people can sometimes get caught up in the crossfire. That’s when it affects us all.
It’s time for the Palaszczuk Government to take a leaf out of Newman’s playbook and start getting fair dinkum about bikie violence. It must end.
The law right now is a toothless tiger.
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Boost in lithium battery manufacturing in Australia
The universal shift toward a clean energy economy has lithium classed as a critical metal and Australia is fast becoming a manufacturing hub for lithium-ion batteries.
Australia is the largest producer of lithium metal, producing approximately 50% of the world’s lithium as hard rock lithium concentrate. In 2021, Western Australian mines produced about half the world’s lithium, at an estimate of 55,000 metric tons.
The last 12 months have seen increased lithium battery manufacturing facilities begin production in Australia. In 2021, Energy Renaissance based in the Hunter Region in NSW, became Australia’s pilot lithium-ion battery production facility.
In 2017, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) produced Australia’s first lithium battery at its purpose-built battery testing facility, The National Battery Testing Centre (NBTC).
Humiscope director John Morgan stated that lithium-ion batteries are highly energy efficient and are being used to power hybrid and electric cars. Humiscope, an Australian-owned company, is experienced in designing and building ultra-dry lithium battery manufacturing and testing rooms.
Over the last year, Humiscope has been contacted by three separate manufacturers from three different states in Australia, each requiring a different size manufacturing facility. In late 2021, NBTC contacted Humiscope to discuss having a second dehumidifier installed as they expand their testing facility.
Morgan explained that due to Australia’s significant weather variations with fluctuating humidity from region to region and at different times throughout the year, environmental control during battery production is essential.
“When designing lithium battery production facilities, it is important to understand that lithium-ion is a highly reactive and flammable alkali mineral, and the batteries consist of several hygroscopic chemical components. These chemical components attract moisture,” Morgan said.
“Due to the chemical sensitivity to moisture, specially designed ultra-low dew point, ultra-low humidity, ultra-dry rooms are required to both test and manufacture lithium batteries.”
Lithium-ion batteries are the most popular battery used today. They are lighter than alkaline batteries and offer high operation voltage and high-power storage, therefore widely used as a power source for portable devices such as mobile phones, laptops, and digital cameras.
There has been an exponential worldwide increase in lithium production since 2017, with analysts from GlobalData stating that lithium demand will more than double by 2024.
https://www.ferret.com.au/news/lithium-battery-manufacturing-australia/
************************************13 September, 2022
Scandalous misuse of hospital beds
One would think that giving the "blockers" absolute priority to welfare housing would be an obvious step forward. But bureaucracy could thwart even that. Why does each client have to have a bureaucratic "plan"? Getting them into accomodations should be a first step, not a last step. Planning is all very well but when it leads to months of waste of precious resources it is idiocy. But idiocy is to be expected of Left and centrist governments
NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has launched an ambitious bid to free disabled people waiting an average of five months in hospital despite being medically ready for discharge, taking up more than a thousand sick beds unnecessarily and costing taxpayers up to $1bn each year.
Mr Shorten has challenged his agency to respond to disabled people within four days once alerted that they were ready to be discharged from hospital.
He also revealed plans to hire more NDIS staff to be stationed in hospitals and giving them the authority to make faster “on the spot” decisions to fast-track discharges.
Currently, NDIS participants are waiting 160 days on average for the National Disability Insurance Agency to get them out of hospitals, even though they have been deemed fit to leave.
Mr Shorten pointed to possible reasons behind the delays including bureaucracy or lack of appropriate accommodation.
The Australian has obtained exclusive details of the proposed Hospital Discharge Operational Plan, which shows that, of the 2328 NDIS participants in hospital, 1384 were medically ready for discharge.
Mr Shorten said the current wait times were “unacceptable” and costing the hospital system up to $3m a day. “If there’s 1500 people on average every night in Australia in a hospital when they could be in medium term or long-term accommodation elsewhere, if each person is costing north of $2000 a night for care that means every night in Australia $3m ticks over,” he said.
Of those NDIS participants ready for discharge, 451 were in NSW, 276 in Victoria, 258 in Queensland and 177 in WA. Most, or 735, had an NDIS interim plan while the other 649 were yet to receive one.
The Hospital Discharge plan is aimed at pressuring the NDIS into improving outcomes for disabled Australians, with Mr Shorten and his state counterparts setting a number of targets to fast-track the transfer of NDIS participants out of hospitals.
The targets include contacting a participant within four days of the agency being made aware they are medically fit to be discharged and getting their NDIS plan in place within 30 days, down from the current average of 80 days.
Mr Shorten said the targets and accompanying reporting framework would help reveal what was causing the long discharge delays.
“We’re going to set some goals,” he said. “Whether they’re realistic or not remains to be seen. These goals, to use a metaphor, are like a dye you might put in an MRI scan. I’m not saying we’ll achieve this overnight, or even in a year, but let’s find out where the obstacles are.
“Is it clunky bureaucracy? Is it a lack of long-term accommodation? Is it a lack of paid care and support teams within the community? Is it poor communication between hospitals and other departments? It could be all of the above, but let’s find out.”
Mr Shorten said the reporting framework, which would measure outcomes against the new targets, was about “keeping the system honest”.
“This data is not about blaming the states or feds, let’s just deal with the truth,” he said.
“The truth will show us what we’re not doing right.”
The operational plan would increase the number of Health Liaison Officers – which are NDIS staff offered to hospitals to assist their discharge teams – by more than 20 per cent by the end of September.
This will increase the number of HLOs from 33 to 40, with the aim of growing the pool of such staff over time.
NDIS hospital teams will also receive additional training and the authority to make decisions about home and living plan variations for participants on the spot.
Mr Shorten said the plan and its bold targets were intended to push the agency.
“I’ve challenged the agency to explain why we can’t achieve these standards,” he said.
“There may be good reasons but I want to understand why. It’s not good enough to shrug our shoulders and say ‘too hard’.”
Work is also being done between the Commonwealth and the states to ensure that, where a participant is not eligible for specialist disability accommodation, timely access to social housing can be sourced.
Mr Shorten said that while he believed there were vacancies in disability accommodation in some areas, he was worried that in places such as Tasmania and regional Australia the stock of places was “insufficient”.
Mr Shorten said the plan was aimed at improving good will not only between Australians with disabilities and the agency, but between the Commonwealth and states as well.
However, he maintained states and territories needed to do more in supporting disabled Australians. “I still think states aren’t paying enough towards NDIS,” he said.
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Renewables push won’t bring down Australian power prices any time soon
Last week in parliament, Anthony Albanese attempted to explain how electricity prices were determined in this country: “It is not really rocket science. You don’t need an economics degree … to know that if the market changes from a more expensive level of energy to a cheaper level of energy, you get cheaper energy prices … That is why (Australians) got solar panels on their roofs.”
It may as well be rocket science for the Prime Minister because he clearly doesn’t understand how electricity prices are set or the irrelevance of the example of the installation of small-scale solar panels by households.
It is the case that households are subsidised to install rooftop solar panels, with the precise arrangements varying from state to state. They are then further subsidised through generous feed-in tariffs for any surplus electricity that is fed back into the grid. These subventions are paid for by taxpayers and other electricity consumers without solar panels.
The households that got in early have done the best, with some of the most generous deals being grandfathered by state governments. Those that have taken up the offer to install solar panels recently have done less well. After taking account of the capital expenditure and the fact panels don’t last very long and can be unreliable, they offer a reasonable but not excessive return.
Most households with solar panels remain connected to the grid: after all, the sun goes down and there can be cloudy and wet days. While some have invested in small battery storage, this is an expensive option, although it is further subsidised in some jurisdictions such as South Australia.
Electricity retailers charge a service charge as well as a tariff based on usage. Across time, we should expect this service charge to grow proportionately as the penetration of solar panels increases further. In effect, this is the option price for customers for remaining connected to the grid. Albanese is correct that Australians have been encouraged to install solar panels because of the possibility of saving money on their bills. Where he is astray is to think this is an efficient way to reduce emissions as part of a climate change policy.
Abatement costs per tonne of CO2 are very high for these sorts of small-scale efforts relative to all other measures. And these types of subsidies are a case of Robin Hood in reverse – wealthier households with their own freestanding homes are effectively subsidised by other households, including renters and those living in apartments.
Let me return to how electricity prices are determined in the national electricity market, which links five states and the ACT. Albanese is adamant “renewables are the cheapest form of new energy” and “that we stand by our modelling”. But electricity is not like the market for most goods. Shifting up the supply curve at certain times of the day won’t necessarily reduce the overall price paid by consumers. Supply must meet demand at all times, 24 hours a day, every day. It is the marginal supplier that determines the price at any point, with suppliers bidding into the market and the operator ensuring the market clears.
What has emerged recently, as the penetration of large-scale renewable energy has risen, is large variations in the wholesale price of electricity across the day. On sunny and windy days, the price can be low, sometime negative, during the day, but the price shoots up at night when the sun sets and the wind often dies down. At this point, renewable energy is not useful and only reliable or firming generation (coal, gas, hydro) can be used to meet demand.
Another feature of the electricity market is that these diurnal variations in the price undermine the economics of firming generation, particularly coal. Because coal-fired plants operate on a continuous basis, the losses they incur during the day need to be offset by profits made at other times for them to stay in business. But with many plants ageing and the price of coal rising steeply, the likely effect of more renewable energy is to hasten the exit of plants, which puts upward pressure on electricity prices. Indeed, the higher the penetration of renewable energy, the greater the increase in prices unless new reasonably priced firming capacity quickly enters the market.
Californians are struggling to escape a scorching heatwave, as the state's power grid operator raised an…
Gas-peaking plants are an obvious answer but the price of gas is high and rising.
It is why there is much discussion and some investment in large-scale batteries. The trouble is that we have not reached the point of achieving economic, long-duration batteries – they can provide power for only a few hours. Given the shortage of minerals needed for construction of these batteries, the outlook for batteries to counterbalance the inherent intermittency of renewable energy is highly uncertain.
It is also why the Snowy 2.0 project is important because it provides a substantial source of storage that can be used to firm supply. But the costs and timeline of this project have blown out and 2027 looks like the earliest starting date. While there are investigations being initiated on other possible pumped-hydro projects, they are unlikely to make any difference for years.
The federal government also is placing much store by additional investment in transmission as a way of connecting far-flung renewable energy projects to the grid and potentially adding to the reliability of renewables generation. There are numerous problems with this solution, including that regulated transmission lines earn a guaranteed rate of return for owners and the price of transmission simply flows to consumers. Transmission and distribution costs amount to 40 per cent of the retail price, with the wholesale price another 25 per cent and the remainder mainly the retail margin.
The bottom line is our Prime Minister, even with his economics degree, has a lot to learn about electricity prices. The average wholesale price in the June quarter was triple the level of a year ago and the Australian Energy Regulator predicts prices will stay high for years. Retail customers are about to be hit with much higher bills. Elsewhere, the higher the penetration of renewable energy, the higher are electricity prices: think Denmark and California.
Albanese and Energy Minister Chris Bowen quickly need to walk back from their pledge that average household electricity bills will fall by $275 a year. It also would be useful if they acknowledged that pushing more renewable energy into the system as well as subsidising unpopular new transmission lines are not magic bullets. State energy ministers should take note.
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Government moves to address housing crisis as 1,000 people relocate to Queensland each week
Freeing up the market is what is needed but that won't happen. Leftist governments are incapable of letting go
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will stage a summit to address the state's growing housing crisis, amid calls to have every Queenslander in a home by 2032.
An initial roundtable will take place on Friday, ahead of the Queensland Housing Summit to be held in October.
"Nothing is more important than having a roof over your head — it's a basic need – and the stories of people without secure housing are heartbreaking," Ms Palaszczuk said.
Ms Palaszczuk said the state would consider "all options" raised during the roundtable and summit. "I want Queenslanders to understand I recognise that this is an issue," Ms Palaszczuk said. "There will be key actions that come out of it.
"It is a shock to see people living out of their cars or not being housed but this is a big job. "We've been thinking about [how to address] it for a while and I think tackling it in two stages is the right way."
"Nothing is off the table and we don't pretend to have all the ideas."
"By the 2032 Olympics every Queenslander should have a place they can call home.
"Right now, working Queenslanders and families are living in tents, women and children are returning to domestic violence relationships, and elderly people are sleeping on couches, because there is nowhere for them to go."
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the LNP welcomed the summit and would attend, if invited. "We want to make sure that there's KPIs set and that they're met," he said. "Queenslanders living in their cars and tents deserve this to be more than a talkfest … there needs to be action."
Housing pressure driven by mass interstate migration
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the housing pressure was being driven by mass interstate migration, with about 1,000 people moving to Queensland each week. "We expect this population growth to continue for the foreseeable future," Mr Miles said.
"The stories of single mums, sleeping in their cars with their children should be a call for action for all elected and industry leaders [that] we need more affordable homes."
Ms Palaszczuk said 50,000 people had moved to Queensland during the past financial year. "Pre-COVID, it was 20,000, so that's more than double … and that number is only going to increase," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"The federal government has increased the migration intake that's going to be coming from overseas, this is also going to be an issue raised at National Cabinet, it's going to put added pressure on what already is a pressure cooker.
Shadow Housing Minister Tim Mander said the opposition was calling for more land supply and affordable housing targets.
"There's been no leadership for the last seven years, that's why we welcome the summit … because it's by engaging the sector or those stakeholders that we'll know what those targets will be, whether it's in social housing or affordable housing or the lots that need to be released," Mr Mander said.
"They're the type of things we hope to see at the end of this summit – if we don't get that, well, it's been a major, major disappointment."
The roundtable will bring together the Premier, Deputy Premier as well as the Public Works, Communities and Housing ministers with the Brisbane Lord Mayor and the Local Government Association of Queensland.
It will also involve key non-government stakeholders including QShelter, QCOSS, the REIQ, Property Council of Australia, Master Builders and the Planning Institute of Australia among others.
It will address critical issues including unlocking land and housing supply and fast-tracking social housing.
Property Council of Australia Queensland executive director Jen Williams said increasing housing supply must be a priority. "We haven't been delivering enough dwellings here in Queensland for quite a while now," Ms Williams said.
"Things like 'build-to-rent' – incentivising that to happen, which is purpose-built rental accommodation, we know that renters are the ones who are hurting the most at the moment.
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Sky-High Airfares Hit Australia’s Labor Recovery, Minister Says
The high cost of global travel right now is fueling Australia’s worker shortage, the country’s trade minister said, with the jobs market the tightest it’s been in almost 50 years as the Covid crisis eases.
Pre-pandemic, foreign students and young travelers filled a key role in the Australian labor force, working in restaurants and other service-sector jobs, Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Los Angeles, on the sidelines of a meeting of Indo-Pacific trade ministers on Friday.
Since the country dismantled its strict pandemic border regime earlier this year, demand for these sorts of visas has been high, but would-be workers are being deterred by “capacity and cost,” he said.
Expensive airfares are “an impediment to getting things back to normal in terms of staffing,” said Farrell. A lack of flights, with airline capacity not yet back to pre-pandemic levels, is also deterring workers, he said. “We’ve got to somehow address that.”
The minister ruled out the government subsidizing workers’ airfares, saying companies that relied on these sorts of employees had received financial support during the pandemic to stay in business and retain staff. Many of the working travelers -- known as “backpackers” -- who filled labor gaps before Covid came from the US and Europe, Farrell said, adding that the cost of airfare from the US to Australia had roughly tripled from pre-pandemic times.
Travel demand has skyrocketed as countries scrapped border restrictions, taking many airlines by surprise.
Tickets out of the UK over the northern hemisphere summer were up by almost a third, according to online travel agency Kayak, while flights from Australia were roughly 20% more in April than they were in 2019, a Mastercard Economics Institute study found. At the same time, carriers have been reluctant to return their full fleets to service in case the surge in demand is temporary. Rising fuel prices and inflation have also played a role.
12 September, 2022
Stark evidence of how landlord and tenant legislation has "helped" tenants
In a single-minded attempt to "protect" tenants, the government has made it hard for landlords. So guess what? Landlords are people too so they have got out of the game and sold off the properties they once rented out. Hence the shortage. A government that wanted to help tenants would make it easier on landlords, not harder. I once had six houses that I rented out. I now have none. The battle got too hard
It's an heroic thing when a landlord puts a property worth half a million dollars into the hands of tenants with only a trifling security deposit to protect their interests but it's heroism that is rarely recognized. And no Leftist government will recognize it. Hate and grievance are their themes
Working Queenslanders in the state’s regional communities are being forced into homelessness despite earning a steady income, disturbing both advocates and industry leaders.
Veteran support services have described the dire wave of those squeezed on to the streets as the “new cohort” of Queensland’s homeless.
The alarming reality for those who are employed but displaced was revealed as emergency tents are flown into communities across the breadth of the state, detailing the urgent nature of the state’s housing crisis.
It comes as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last week refused to convene a housing summit amid mounting pleas from stakeholders and advocates for the government to work with industry to develop new ideas to address the state’s housing needs.
Anglicare Central Queensland chief executive Carol Godwin said residents in Rockhampton were burdened with the same tightening of the market which has squeezed the community into insecure housing.
She said there are now low income working families presenting for support who she described as the “new cohort” of homeless regional Queenslanders, which “we have never had in the past”.
“What really has surprised us is we’ve seen significant pressures for those that are even working to secure housing,” she told The Courier-Mail.
“If you’re a young person, even if you’re sharing, forget about any private rental being affordable — it simply is not.
“Even if it was affordable, no one would house you anyway — there’s just nothing there for you.”
The vacancy rate in Rockhampton was crunched to 0.3 per cent, according to SQM Research — a desperate shortfall of available housing experienced in nearly all Queensland communities.
In Toowoomba, where the rate has fallen to 0.4 per cent, the minuscule available stock has led to a near 50 per cent rise in homelessness in three years, Lifeline Darling Downs chief executive Grant Simpson said, citing Queensland Council of Social Service data.
“That’s a phenomenal increase (in homeless people),” he said.
“If you go out further west in Queensland in remote and very remote areas, it exponentially increases out there even more.
“It’s just a very significant issue that seems to be increasing and there doesn’t seem to be a short-term solution to alleviate it.”
Finding a rental in the state’s regional market has been getting tougher, according to locals, even if they have the finances to back them up.
For 25-year-old Amity Ellis, securing a rental in Mackay after moving from her hometown in Tasmania has been “very difficult”.
“I work 38 hours a week on casual wages, and I still can’t seem to find anything,” she said.
“I will apply for a property and have it be unsuccessful the next day.”
Being from interstate also means she has limited options to rely on when house applications fall through each week.
“It’s been very difficult. I’m from Tasmania so I only know a handful of people that can offer me support,” she said.
In the meantime, she’s been fortunate enough to stay with her partner and his family, but the 25-year-old receptionist is keen to get a place of her own.
“My housing is very complicated … I can stay with my partner and his family but they just had a new born baby so it’s a little over crowded,” she said.
Amid the crisis, caravan parks have evolved into makeshift crisis centres across the state with the peak body declaring members are being swamped with the highest ever levels of inquiries.
And Caravan Parks Association of Queensland chief executive Michelle Weston said it was “unusual cohorts” of people seeking immediate refuge.
“Parks that I’ve spoken to have indicated they’ve got families who are living in a tent in their park for a period of up to three months,” she said.
“These are families with young children and two parents who are both working — these are not people who would normally be in a situation where they are without a standard rental property.
“I haven’t seen it at a point like this in the past,” Ms Weston said, who has been operating in the industry for at least a decade.
The alarming reality of the crisis has led to Queensland St Vinnies chief executive Kevin Mercer — along with Ms Godwin, Mr Simpson and about a dozen other stakeholders and advocates — demanding Ms Palaszczuk convene an urgent housing summit.
“The whole system needs to be around the table,” Mr Mercer said.
“It needs to be an action-oriented outcome and there needs to be some real results and real action that comes out of it with a serious investment to get the traction we need in the long term.”
Mr Mercer told The Courier-Mail his charity foundation has resorted to handing out tents in the Atherton Tablelands near Cairns as well as Toowoomba, Roma, Warwick and Noosa on the Sunshine Coast.
He conceded this was an “inadequate response”, but it was also revealing of the scale of the crisis.
“It’s better than sleeping on the street and uncovered but it’s not the right response,” he said, adding that St Vinnies volunteers felt the “anguish” of being forced to provide the emergency option.
“It’s working people who have been displaced out of their homes because they can’t afford the rent increase or the landlord sold the property,” Mr Mercer said.
“They’re working in that community; living in that community; kids go to school in that community, but there’s no living options.”
In outlining the urgency of the need for the state government to convene a summit, Mr Simpson said it was crucial the private sector were included to allow various specialists to contribute to the solution.
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Evidence-free assertions about climate change
If there is evidence for your case, you don’t need activists to glue themselves to the road to try and convince others to believe in your ‘cause’. Armed with evidence, you don’t need to bluster and disparage your political opponents. If you have evidence for your case, you don’t behave like a smug, arrogant ignoramus, inside or outside Parliament.
It was an enfant terrible of the climate alarmist Michael-hockey-stick-Mann, who years ago labelled the climate alarmist movement as a cause when he derided dissenting climate scientist Dr Judith Curry for her views, saying, ‘It’s not helping the cause. Nor her career…’
Mann should be reminded that science does not exist to support ‘causes’.
I am motivated to make these points in the wake of a series of overheated, under-informed comments by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, The Hon. Chris Bowen.
He is so loud and derisory in his Parliamentary outbursts on matters to do with his portfolio that his behaviour invites ridicule. One might say that he exhibits the unquestioning confidence of the truly ignorant.
Confucius once said, ‘Real knowledge is knowing the extent of one’s ignorance.’ And while I’m quoting people, it was Charles Darwin who said, ‘Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.’
Back in 2010, 43 Fellows of the Royal Society (The United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences, a Fellowship of some 1,600 of the world’s most eminent scientists) wrote to its then president, Paul Nurse, to complain about the unscientific tone of the society’s messages on Climate Change. Eight years later, a group of 33 current and former Fellows of the Geological Society wrote an open letter to their president in similar vein.
The letter notes:
‘The IPCC position matches observations that almost half of the warming that has occurred over the last 150 or so years since industrialisation, had already happened by 1943, well before the rapid rise of industrial carbon dioxide. This difference of opinion is critical, for if carbon dioxide did not cause the pre-1943 warming, the claimed consensus that Catastrophic AGW is caused by human carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution, which is supported by GSL, must be mistaken.
‘As this letter makes clear, it is not true that 97 per cent of scientists unreservedly accept that AGW theory is fixed, or that carbon and carbon dioxide are ‘pollutants’ and their production should be penalised; how can the primary nutrient in photosynthesis be a pollutant? We also note that 700 scientists have made submissions to the US Senate expressing dissent from the consensus and 166 climate scientists issued a challenge to Ban Ki Moon on the eve of the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009 to provide proof of human-induced global warming, which he did not do.’
My point here is that there are plenty of scientists whose work in the wickedly complex field of climate science is available for scrutiny. Ministers should avail themselves of all relevant information to their portfolios before playing with policy blocks.
Not far behind Bowen in blustering rhetoric is the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Several times he has summoned up the angry gods of extreme weather events as examples of the dangerous ‘Climate Change’ that his government dragon will slay with the Net Zero mantra.
For example, in early July 2022, Albanese was commenting on the floods which had devastated large regions in Sydney’s northwest. He told the media how Climate Change was causing ever-increasing extreme weather events. He repeated this at a news conference in early September.
My concern is that the Prime Minister is making emphatic public statements that are simply wrong and swiftly contradicted by history. Perhaps he has not been properly advised on this topic? His alarmism flies in the face of the IPCC’s SREX special report of 2012 on extreme weather, which conceded that warming could well reduce extremes, rather than increase them – another glaring contradiction. Further, it would be 20-30 years before any climate effects on extreme weather would even be detectable against natural climate variability, if ever. The 2013 IPCC report broadly endorsed those findings.
While the Prime Minister and his ministers continue to peddle false alarms about ‘Climate Change’ using ordinary weather events which contradict even the questionably reliable IPCC Bible on the subject, no one dares to call them out. Does the government have any advisers who can steer them off such … well, inaccuracies?
When the IPCC was set up over 30 years ago its objective was ‘to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic [i.e., human-induced] interference with the climate system’.
The original mandate from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for the IPCC was to address ‘dangerous human-caused Climate Change’. That set the agenda, which became the ruling orthodoxy, a circular argument that starts with the conclusion it is trying to prove.
The main dogma of Climate Change science is stated in the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:
‘It is extremely likely that more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010 was caused by the anthropogenic increase in GHG concentrations and other anthropogenic forcings together. The best estimate of the human-induced contribution to warming is similar to the observed warming over this period (Figure SPM.3).’ (IPCC 2014)
Chris Bowen, Anthony Albanese, and the whole Parliament wrapped up in the narrative of climate terror may like to heed the words of biosciences researcher Dr Javier Vinós and petrophysicist Andy May:
‘There is no evidence confirming this dogma. It is based on computer model results that were programmed with the same assumptions that emerge from them, in a clear case of circular reasoning.’
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/show-us-the-evidence-minister/ ?
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$1bn “golden ticket” visa scheme to be axed over concerns its gives criminals a pathway to citizenship
The $1bn-a-year “golden ticket” visa scheme will be axed following concern it has given criminals a pathway to Australian citizenship without proper checks and growing evidence the program has a profoundly negative impact on the economy.
The move follows revelations by The Australian that while more than 7000 Chinese citizens have been granted the $5m Significant Investor Visas, not a single applicant in the past 10 years has been rejected under the character test designed to help exclude criminals or those with suspiciously obtained wealth.
The scheme is expected to be killed off within the next year as the government pivots sharply to give priority to skilled worker visas, a move that will cause serious ructions in the multibillion-dollar business investment visa industry, where financial advisers, migration agents, banks and specialist investment firms have reaped huge rewards for a decade.
The government signalled a move away from business investment visas at the Job Summit, with the number of visas in the program halved for this year, in part because the enormous backlog of applications was thwarting attempts to process visas for desperately needed skilled workers.
Experts have flagged concerns over a class of Australian visa that has operated for 10 years with zero rejections.… More than 7,000 Chinese citizens have been approved for the Significant Investor Visa scheme, which requires a minimum investment of $5 million. The so-called 'golden ticket' visa confers an More
On Sunday, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said the significant investor visa scheme was “a really big problem” in the immigration system.
“I think most Australians would be pretty offended by the idea that we’ve got a visa category here where effectively you can buy your way into the country,” Ms O’Neil told Sky News.
“I don’t see a lot of great benefits to the country currently … some really important journalism has pointed out that there are some potential security issues here in this visa.”
Figures obtained by The Australian show 2370 super-rich Chinese nationals have been granted primary visas, along with more than 5000 family members, under the Significant Investor Visa scheme, which requires a minimum investment in Australia of $5m and confers an automatic right of permanent residence.
None of those who applied has failed the “character test” since the scheme was introduced in 2012, and just 23 were refused for failing to provide accurate information.
Investors can gain citizenship even if they spend only 40 days a year in Australia and unlike other visa holders, they are not required to learn or speak English. There is also no upper age limit.
Australian Treasury calculations suggest a business investment visa holder will cost Australian taxpayers $120,000 more in public services than they pay in taxes over their lifetimes.
“The lifetime impact on the Australian budget is negative because these are people who generally are coming in at quite a late stage of their life, often at the end of their business career, and are coming to Australia basically to settle down and retire,” Ms O’Neil said.
“It is a visa program that I think isn’t adding value to the country and it’s something we will be looking at in the context of the review of the immigration program I have just announced. At the moment, I can’t see a lot of reasons to maintain it as part of our program.”
As governments around the world shut down passports-for-sale schemes in a bid to stop organised crime syndicates and corrupt regime officials hiding their loot, police and security agencies fear Australia has become the go-to destination for those with big enough wallets.
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The most stupid decision of Palaszczuk’s team will hurt Qld
In a field as big as the Melbourne Cup, the most hare-brained, stupid, appalling decision of the Palaszczuk government has just emerged, and it will have far-reaching impacts for the prosperity of Queensland.
Whoever signed off on the great land tax heist, both the bureaucrat and the relevant minister, should be banished from Queensland forever, tarred and feathered, never to set foot across the border ever again.
Here’s how the new land tax levy works. From June next year, the Palaszczuk government is raising property tax on investors who also own land interstate.
The new tax will not affect investors who own land in Queensland only, however, if you own a property in another state or territory, you will be handed a bigger bill.
For example, in a case study provided by the government, say you own a property with a land value of $745,000 in Queensland and $1,565,000 worth of land in Sydney – not uncommon at all – your land tax bill will go from $1950 to $8422.
The government has passed new laws, which now allow it to bill you for the total value of the investors’ land holdings.
Property experts say the “double tax’’ will reduce home values and force up rents.
Economic experts say that it’s a “money grab’’ designed to bolster the government’s coffers at a time when it is trying to deal with a $100bn debt.
The problem is it will come back and bite the government on the bum as interstate investors abandon Queensland.
It’s certainly a disincentive for investors in the southern states to buy Queensland property, and maybe that’s all part of this peculiar and wider plan, to drive down prices to make housing more affordable.
Maybe it’s just another extension of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Covid-19 plan that “Queensland hospitals are just for Queenslanders’’.
Now, it’s Queensland houses are just for Queenslanders. It takes that xenophobic, jingoistic State of Origin mentality that the Premier plays on so heavily to a whole new level.
Treasurer Cameron Dicksaid before the last election there’d be no new taxes. Except of course for mining companies, corporate bookies and now people investing in Queensland property. Is it constitutional? Surely a smart lawyer would tear it apart in the High Court.
Doesn’t the Constitution’s key mandate suggest free trade between the states and territories?
It reinforces the notion that this government will do anything, say anything, to raise extra cash because it needs to keep feeding the addictive, bloated and ever-expanding public service bureaucracy.
This is the same corpulent public service that pays union fees to the same unions that donate huge amounts to the Labor Party to be re-elected. Did somebody say Ponzi scheme?
More Coverage
Fears Palaszczuk land tax grab could drive investors away
It is bad policy from a government that now doesn’t even pretend to govern with competence, ethics and morals.
They pretend to care, yet with failings in health, integrity, waste, juvenile justice, the economy and now the property industry, they simply don’t.
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11 September, 2022
GOD SAVE THE KING!
That was my immediate and proper response when I was told that Her Majesty the Queen had died. Britain is never without a monarch. When one passes the successor is immediately known and recognized.
Like untold millions worldwide I was upset to hear of her death and shed a tear over it. Australia is a monarchy and I think you have to be a citizen of a monarchy to understand the emotional significance of that.
I also shed a tear when the previous monarch died. I was only nine when King George VI died but even then I felt the significance of the occasion.
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King Charles III now Australia’s head of state
King Charles III is Australia’s new head of state following the death of his mother the Queen, who is being mourned with an outpouring of tributes and community affection for her more than 70 years of service as Australia’s monarch.
King Charles automatically became Australia’s head of state when the Queen died, but he will be formally named in the role in a proclamation ceremony at Parliament House on Sunday.
Charles has also become head of the Commonwealth, an association of 56 independent countries and about 2.5 billion people. For 14 of these countries, as well as the UK, the King is head of state.
Following an extended period of mourning for the Queen, thoughts will turn to Charles’s coronation. Seventy years ago, the process took 14 months, but it could be a lot swifter this time. There is no rule as to when a coronation has to be held.
The last three coronations all took more than a year to prepare.
High commissioners from the Commonwealth were involved on the committees that planned the Queen’s coronation. They will be involved again.
Commonwealth leaders were among those mourning the Queen on Friday. In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had been reading news reports about the monarch’s ill health before going to bed. A “police officer shone a torch into my room at around 10 to five this morning ... I knew immediately what it meant”, she said. “I am profoundly sad.”
PNG Prime Minister James Marape said: “Papua New Guineans from the mountains, valleys and coasts rose up this morning to the news that our Queen has been taken to rest by God.”
Across Australia flags were lowered to half mast and federal parliament was suspended for at least a fortnight.
The Queen’s death triggers 14 days of events including a national memorial service and a national day of mourning. Anthony Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon, together with Governor-General David Hurley and his wife Linda, are due to head to London on Thursday ahead of the Queen’s funeral at Westminster Abbey, the date of which is yet to be confirmed but is likely to be Sunday, September 18 or Monday, September 19.
They will be joined by Australia’s charge d’affaires to the UK Lynette Wood and her partner, bringing the official Australian delegation to six. Ms Wood will represent Australia at a series of formal events in Britain over the coming days in the absence of an appointed high commissioner.
Under Australia’s longstanding Operation London Bridge plan for the Queen’s death – which is synchronised with the UK’s plan of the same name – Friday was designated as “D-Day” and is followed by 10 days of official events.
The mourning period will be extended to an anticipated two weeks in Australia, with a national memorial service and a national day of mourning to be held when the Prime Minister and Governor-General arrive back from attending the Queen’s funeral.
At dusk on Friday, a 96-gun salute was sounded by the Australian Defence Force at Parliament House in Canberra – one round for every year of the Queen’s life – while the Sydney Opera House was illuminated in her honour.
Foreign diplomats and members of the public began to arrive at federal parliament and Government House in Canberra on Friday, and at the residences of state governors, to sign official condolence books. Online condolence books have also been established on the Governor-General’s and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s websites.
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Charles III to be proclaimed King in Australia at ceremonies around the country
Governor-General David Hurley will proclaim King Charles III's ascension to the throne at a solemn ceremony today. Prime minister Anthony Albanese will make the recommendation at a meeting of the Executive Council at Government House at 11am on Sunday. The Governor-General will then make the proclamation at midday outside Parliament House.
The ceremony will include a welcome to country, followed by the proclamation with God Save The King to be performed and then a 21-gun salute.
Flags that have been flying at half mast will return to full mast until dusk.
State governors will make their own proclamations at ceremonies around the country. NSW announced free public transport all day so people could attend the historic event outside parliament from 12.30pm.
The Sydney Opera House sails will continue to be illuminated in the Queen's honour, as are other landmarks.
On Saturday, Mr Albanese, Mr Hurley, and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton laid wreaths to honour The Queen at Parliament House in Canberra. 'She was a constant reassuring presence,' Mr Albanese said.
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Trump comments on the Queen:
The whole of civilization is in mourning. The passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the enlightened monarch who reigned over the United Kingdom for 70 years, is a loss felt by billions around the world.
This week, and in the weeks ahead, we especially grieve for the royal family — we can only imagine their sorrow.
And we express our solidarity with all the people of the United Kingdom and every realm of the Commonwealth she so loved.
Few in history have more fully exemplified the traits of dignity, steadfastness, resolve, duty, and patriotic devotion.
She counseled 15 Prime Ministers and 13 Presidents, and was the longest-serving monarch in the history of England and the United Kingdom.
Spending time with Her Majesty was one of the most extraordinary honors of my life.
I grew up in a household where Queen Elizabeth — her grace, her charm, her nobility — were deeply admired, especially by my mother, who came from Scotland.
The times we spent with the Queen at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle are memories Melania and I will cherish for the rest of our lives.
Her Majesty had a sharp mind, missed nothing, and always knew exactly what to say.
At our unforgettable State Dinner three years ago, we got along wonderfully, talking the whole evening.
That same week, the 75th anniversary of D-Day, we sat side-by-side to honor the sacrifice of the British and American warriors who fought and bled together in the Second World War.
I will forever be grateful for the privilege of getting to know this unparalleled leader.
As monarch, Her Majesty the Queen was the personal embodiment of nearly a century of British history.
Every Prime Minister from Winston Churchill onward served under her. When I asked her who was her favorite, she told me she liked them all.
She saw her country through the Blitz of London, the Cold War, the Falklands conflict, the coal miners’ strikes, Brexit, COVID, and so much more.
No matter what challenges came, she was always there for her people—resolute and unflappable, stabilizing and reassuring by her very presence.
In the face of all adversity, she embodied the uniquely British attribute of a firm and quiet resolve.
The qualities that served Queen Elizabeth so well as monarch also endeared her to the hearts of countless people all over the world.
From Africa to Asia to the Americas, she was the United Kingdom’s greatest emissary.
Through her travels to well over 100 countries, she touched countless lives, spreading confidence, goodwill, and admiration for British values everywhere she went.
Nowhere was this truer than in the United States.
The treasured friendship and precious bond between America and the United Kingdom, which we call the Special Relationship, meant that Her Majesty the Queen was truly special to us as well.
She was respected and beloved by the American People like few other figures in modern times.
Above all, the Queen was great because Britain is great. In her person, the world witnessed the fullest expression of the British spirit. The virtues she epitomized were the virtues of the British people.
By her example, we saw what it means to be British—a people who are strong and unwavering, wise and just, noble and majestic; a people who are serious, but good-humored; proud, but righteous; and indeed a people who are a blessing to the entire world.
That was Queen Elizabeth, and that is the United Kingdom. She was Great Britain at its very best.
It will take time for us to fully absorb the extent of this loss. She was indispensable—a beloved Sovereign of her Kingdom, an icon to the world, a legend in her time.
As we grieve, we are comforted that King Charles III will be a great and outstanding successor to his cherished mother.
Melania and I were blessed to get to know him well when we visited England.
He dearly loves the U.K. and its people. I know he will prove to be an inspiration to the British People, and that under Charles’s reign, they will continue to persevere through all challenges, and push relentlessly onward toward their great destiny in which Queen Elizabeth II so deeply believed.
God bless the Queen. God bless her family. God bless the United Kingdom.
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9 September, 2022
Opposition mounts against bid to abolish cashless debit card
Independent senator David Pocock has expressed concern over Labor’s legislation to abolish the cashless debit card, urging the government to establish a clearer pathway to transition away from compulsory to voluntary income management.
The calls come as several senators challenge Labor over the Bill, arguing there has not been enough consultation with Indigenous communities despite a promise to have done so before proceeding with legislation.
A Senate inquiry into the government’s Bill to abolish the CDC – which quarantines 80 per cent of a person’s welfare payments on a debit card – last week heard evidence from federal bureaucrats warning it could take at least a year to find a technologically equal replacement for the CDC.
Indigenous leaders have also said the government risks leaving a “vacuum” if it rushes the abolition of the CDC, calling for an adequate replacement and warning of “dire” impacts for Aboriginal people if there isn’t one.
Labor passed legislation through the lower house in August to abolish the card amid concern it was unfairly stigmatising First Nations people, fulfilling a promise it made during the election campaign.
The legislation will end compulsory income management in most of the CDC’s program areas, other than in the Northern Territory and Cape York. Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth says communities outside the NT and Cape York can “self-determine” whether or not to accept a new form of income management following the abolishment of CDC. However, Indigenous leaders have grave concerns about a return to the BasicsCard which was used before the CDC was introduced.
Senator Pocock called on the government to undertake consultation with communities and ensure there was an equivalent card with appropriate technology for those who wished to use it.
“We have to ensure we have the best technology and it is clear it is not the BasicsCard which is very limited and limiting,” he said. “It’s a big problem to resolve and has to be done in a way that’s managed appropriately. “There needs to be consultation with First Nations communities and how that is managed with additional services.
“For people in Cape York, the system that they developed relies on the technology of the CDC and it is important that they have access to an equivalent.”
Senator Pocock supports the CDC model in place in Cape York, initiated by Noel Pearson and Queensland’s Family Responsibilities Commission. Mr Pearson told the Senate hearing that abolishing the scheme in Cape York would wipe out 20 years of work.
“You will repeal the card and then you will walk away and leave us to the violence, leave us to the hunger, leave us to the neglected children,” he said.
Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie and United Australia Party’s Ralph Babet both expressed concern about the removal of the CDC without a clear transition plan.
Senator Lambie called on Labor to “reassure” communities about the next steps. “The Cashless Debit Card is going, but there’s thousands of people on it who are afraid of what comes next,” she said. You can’t just rip the card out of these communities and expect them to be OK. Labor needs to reassure these communities that there’s a plan for what comes next.”
Senator Babet advocated for a “clear” solution needed to address drug and alcohol problems in Indigenous communities, after meeting with Indigenous Country Liberal Senator Jacinta Price, who is a strong proponent of the CDC program.
“I have spoken with Senator Jacinta Price and Aboriginal leader Warren Mundine, who both have real-life experience living and working in remote Aboriginal communities,” Senator Babet said.
“From those conversations it is clear that a solution is needed to address the very serious problems of drug and alcohol abuse and the resulting domestic violence. I will be liaising with Senator Price to visit remote Aboriginal communities in the coming weeks where I will be speaking with members of the Aboriginal community for their views on the CDC.”
Opposition health and aged care spokeswoman Anne Ruston is preparing to introduce amendments to the Bill next week in a bid to suspend all debate and force the government to undertake community consultation.
Senator Ruston said the Coalition’s CDC was built on very advanced technology that allowed users to access welfare payments through a superior banking platform, while the BasicsCard operated as a pre-loaded gift card that required merchants to opt in.
“The government needs to come back with what their long-term income plan is,” she said. “There is about 4500 people in the NT who voluntarily chose to go on the CDC who will overnight have nothing. What’s going to happen to them? Will they be forced back on to the BasicsCard? “We have no information as to what’s going to be put in place to support these people.”
An Australian National Audit Office report in June highlighted a lack of evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of the CDC.
Implemented in 2016, the scheme was designed to encourage socially responsible behaviour by quarantining 80 per cent of a person’s welfare payments on a debit card to prevent it being spent on alcohol and gambling.
It was introduced in Ceduna, South Australia, East Kimberley and the Goldfields in Western Australia, and then expanded to Bundaberg and Hervey Bay in Queensland. The cost reached $36m in 2020-21, with nearly 17,000 people participating as of February this year.
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No realism in sight about Australia's electricity supply
In their frantic efforts to avert a long forecasted but never arriving climate disaster, activists have managed to bring on a very real energy Armageddon plunging Europe back into a new dark age, and Australia may yet follow.
Australia has so far been spared scenes of citizens queuing for hours to buy coal (Poland), reverting to wood fires to heat their homes (Germany), or businesses facing closure due to energy costs (the UK), but power prices have skyrocketed, the grid has become considerably less reliable and it is set to get worse.
When the Liddell power station in NSW closes in 2023, almost 2 gigawatts of reliable supply will vanish from the system. That may not sound like much compared to the almost 60 GW of generating capacity in the National Energy Market, but it represents firm, dispatchable (that is, it can be switched on and off at command) power in a market that is increasingly dominated by renewables, the output of which is dictated by the sun and the wind.
Even with Liddell still operating the grid’s problems are bad enough. As previously noted in this publication (‘Transition to Lunacy’, 30 July) the government is expected to pay perhaps $1.7 billion to major power users who agreed to stay off the grid during a full-blown power crisis mid-year, and electricity prices still spiked. In Queensland wholesale power prices more than doubled to an unheard-of average of $323 a megawatt-hour in the June quarter. When brown-coal-fired power stations ruled the old state grids 20 years ago, wholesale power might have cost about $40 a megawatt hour.
More closures are to follow Liddell. Origin Energy will shut the 2,880 megawatt Eraring coal-fired power station in 2025, and Victoria’s Yallourn power station (1,480 MW, brown coal) is scheduled to close in 2028. To put those closures in perspective, when Victoria’s Hazelwood power station representing just 1,600 MW closed in 2017, the Australia Energy Regulator later noted that average electricity spot prices increased between 85 and 32 per cent across the eastern states.
The new Labor government has not only proved oblivious to this looming crisis, it has placed near impossible conditions on the one major, reliable generator to be built, a $600 million 660 MW gas-fired plant at Kurri Kurri in the Hunter region of New South Wales.
The Morrison government pushed through construction of this generator, designed as a fast-reaction plant to meet peaks in demand, in the teeth of opposition from activists and Labor. Since then Labor has reversed its opposition but only on the condition that 30 per cent of gas used by the generators is green hydrogen from day one of operation, expected to be in December 2023. Further, all of the plant’s gas supply has to be hydrogen by 2030, or in just eight-years time.
Although the plant can run on hydrogen as opposed to vastly more convenient natural gas, there are no sources of green hydrogen in that region or any significant sources anywhere else in Australia. During the federal election in February, Labor declared that it would set aside another $700 million for the Snowy Hydro Authority, which will run the plant, to make green hydrogen on the site. In other words the government wants to build a renewable energy power plant on site to generate power which will then use scarce fresh water to create hydrogen. The resulting hydrogen will be used to power the gas plant to produce electricity.
To have any chance of meeting the 30 per cent target consistently, the project will also need some so far undiscovered means of storing hydrogen safely in large enough quantities, to tide the gas plant over long periods when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine.
One of those who tried to convince the government, specifically the Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen, that this eccentric approach just would not work was Snowy Hydro chief executive Paul Broad. As well as publicly declaring that the commercial use of hydrogen as a fuel was years away, Broad also tried to tell the government that, with Liddell closing, the grid needed several peaking plants, not just one. Those plants could then be powered up very quickly when the wind dies over large areas of the eastern seaboard, which is expected to happen all too frequently, and turned off when it starts to blow again. This is not an efficient way to run any grid, and will certainly not be cheap, but activists will still have their wind farms and the lights will remain on, for now.
All that sensible advice seems to have fallen on deaf ears with Broad resigning in late August, citing clashes with Energy Minister Bowen.
Another problem contributing to friction between the two men was that of the Snowy 2.0 project. Conceived as a giant water battery using existing dams by the conservative government of Malcolm Turnbull in 2017, the capital cost of the project has blown out from the original estimate of $2 billion to more than $5 billion, not counting extensive work on transmission lines to connect the project. The project is now expected to cost more than $10 billion, with no hope of recovering even a portion of that cost from revenue.
With the National Energy Market, the grid for Australia’s east coast, heading towards potential disaster when Liddell closes in 2023, drastic measures are required. Coal and gas plants must be kept open and, if necessary, diesel plants found and put into service, just as the South Australian government did in 2017 in response to a massive state blackout. The SA plants are still there as backup generators and, at 276 megawatts available at any time, they can contribute vastly more power in an emergency than the much-vaunted Hornsdale battery at Jamestown.
However, the Federal government shows little sign that it understands the problem, let alone the need to devise a workable solution. To date the new Labor government has only made things worse.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/the-energy-end-is-nigh/
****************************************************************End prosecution of ATO whistleblower, Dreyfus urged
Legal groups and former senator Rex Patrick have renewed calls for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to stop the prosecution of Tax Office whistleblower Richard Boyle.
Mr Boyle, a former public servant, spoke publicly in 2018 about aggressive practices by the Australian Taxation Office, including hardline use of so-called garnishee notices, used to claw back tax debts from individuals and business.
ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle is facing 24 charges. Ben Searcy
He was charged with offences related to the misuse of sensitive information, telephone tapping and recording of conversations without consent. The case will be the first time a provision under the federal whistleblower law, the Public Interest Disclosure Act, is tested in a criminal case.
The Human Rights Law Centre this week called on Mr Dreyfus to discontinue the prosecution, following his move to end the case against lawyer and whistleblower Bernard Collaery.
“Whistleblowers should be protected, not punished. There is no public interest in this prosecution going ahead,” Human Rights Law Centre senior lawyer Kieran Pender said. “Richard Boyle did the right thing – he spoke up about wrongdoing taking place within a powerful government agency.
“Boyle has been vindicated by three independent inquiries, which collectively found that the ATO had misused its debt recovery powers, and that the ATO’s internal investigation of Boyle’s whistleblowing was superficial. Yet, he finds himself on trial for telling the truth.”
Earlier this month, legal groups and whistleblower advocates commended Mr Dreyfus for ordering the end of the prosecution of Mr Collaery over national security leaks, ending a four-year saga sparked by Australia’s efforts to spy on the government of East Timor.
The former ACT attorney-general was charged in 2018 with offences under the National Security Information Act for allegedly seeking to help his client, the intelligence operative known as Witness K.
The former Morrison government spent almost $6 million on the prosecution of Mr Boyle, and the Collaery case, according to figures released earlier this year.
“Like the Collaery case, the prosecution of Richard Boyle is unjust and will have a chilling effect on prospective whistleblowers,” Mr Pender said.
“This case warrants the Attorney-General’s intervention to end it.”
Mr Boyle’s case is being heard in the District Court of South Australia and is expected to last at least two weeks. If he is unsuccessful, a full trial before a jury is expected in October. It was due to start on Tuesday but has been delayed due to COVID-19.
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Peter Dutton warns miners their projects could be 'vetoed' by the Indigenous Voice, pushes nuclear power and 'delights' in knowing more mining needed for electric cars
Peter Dutton has mocked climate activists and warned mining bosses the Indigenous Voice to Parliament could have their projects 'vetoed'.
The opposition leader issued a call to arms to the industry to attack the Voice and other key policies at a Minerals Council of Australia lunch in Parliament House.
He also ramped up his push for nuclear power in Australia and celebrated that electric cars just meant more mining. 'We have no idea what it means for the mining sector,' he said in a fiery speech to an appreciative crowd.
'We don't know whether a Voice that doesn't represent the elders that you negotiate with or that your agreement is with in a particular location, now, they might be usurped and [the Voice will] exercise a veto, right? 'That would damage your employees, that would damage your business.'
Mr Dutton said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asking the industry to support the advisory body 'sight unseen' without knowing the ramifications. 'We're all in favour of reconciliation and we're all in favour of sensible reforms and we'll stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the government to do that,' he said.
'But this preparedness to sign up to please others I think is a disease within corporate Australia at the moment.'
Mr Dutton said he took joy in knowing environmental activists were conflicted about the need for more mining to produce green technology.
The inconvenient truth for activists is that decarbonisation will require more mining. I take some delight knowing it must keep them up at night,' he said.
He also warned mining and construction projects, and even critical infrastructure would 'increasingly become prey to green activism and warfare'.
Mr Dutton claimed the government's climate bill that will cut Australia's carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 'ceded control to climate advocates'.
He said many of the more than 2,000 climate court cases worldwide were the result of national emissions targets like the one that passed parliament on Thursday.
Mr Dutton argued those who didn't like coal or gas should support Australia creating a nuclear power industry, especially as the country had so much uranium.
'The imperative on all of us to create affordable and reliable and where possible emissions reduced energy necessitates that we at least have a conversation about nuclear,' he said.
'I think especially since Australia is home to one third of the world's deposits of uranium, we have a wonderful opportunity to add value to that resource.
The opposition leader cited left-wing leaders who supported nuclear power as evidence that Labor should get on board. 'Bob Hawke was strongly in favour of nuclear energy and couldn't get it through the left of his party,' he said.
'That crazy right-winger in Canada, Justin Trudeau, is embracing small modular reactors.
'If you don't like coal and you don't like gas, unless you believe clean hydrogen is about to be a reality, then what else firms up renewables? And I don't know the answer to that question beyond nuclear.'
Mr Dutton also raised the spectre of unions disrupting the mining industry or driving up costs with bargaining agreements across multiple companies. He said industry leaders needed to speak out against Labor empowering unions, even if, he claimed, the government retaliated against them.
'The Labor Party is great at retribution, I get that, particularly at state level, particularly where you have contractual arrangements where part of the business relies on consideration of applications, so I instinctively understand that,' he said.
'But it is frustrating if the view is that 'well, we'll just leave it to the Liberal Party to argue for there to be an adherence to what was even a Rudd-Gillard model, we'd settle for that.'
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8 September, 2022
The Australian town where tourists are telling others to stay away
The word deliberately missing in the report below: "Aboriginal". 4,000 out of the 18,000 population of Mt Isa are Aborigines and it is their children who are the problem. You need to know that to expain why the problem is so bad. It would be "racism" to do anything about it
It is hard to think of anything that would work. Vigorous prosecution of offenders is probably all that could be tried
Tourists are writing scathing reviews to warn fellow Aussies to stay away from a popular outback town as youth crime threatens to destroy its reputation.
Travel website TripAdvisor has been flooded with reviews warning tourists on road trips across northern Australia to avoid the Queensland mining town of Mount Isa.
According to the latest crime data, Mount Isa has a property offence crime rate of 1167.37 incidents per 100,000 people in the town - which is more than triple the state average.
A Sydney family, who left Mount Isa before their three nights of booked accommodation was up, explained why tourists should stay away.
'I really hate to leave bad reviews and this one is based pure and simply on the youth crime,' the family wrote.
'I would not recommend anyone staying in Mt Isa. We found the managers to be very friendly and helpful but unfortunately, it does not alleviate the problem of crime.
'My advice is, just stay away from Mt Isa.'
Another family acknowledged the amenities and campsite where they stayed were good but raised concerns about security.
'There are no gates so anyone can walk in at anytime and this is not acceptable in a town with so much crime already,' they wrote.
'Will NEVER go back again and I am posting this to hopefully help others in deciding to NOT stay here because it is unsafe and we were extremely uncomfortable all night.'
A third couple from NSW titled their review 'Avoid avoid avoid' after staying for several weeks waiting for their car to be fixed.
'We were here 16 days. In that time the people beside us had their wallet stolen from car,' they said.
'We had our van door opened at 2.45am one morning. Few days later around 2.30am, heard voices got up peaked around blind just to see a teenager reaching for door handle by time.'
The online reviews sparked anger from local state MP Robbie Katter, who urged Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to 'show leadership and step in' to address the issue.
While he admitted to Daily Mail Australia youth crime was a huge issue in the town, he said he didn't want to deter tourists from visiting the region.
'My advice is to take precautions,' he said.
'Most of what Mount Isa has to offer for visitors is outside the town and is amazingly spectacular, which should be enjoyed by all Australians.'
Mr Katter said local tourism operators were doing their best but had been hampered by the lack of government intervention to address youth crime.
'It's a double-edged sword for them. They want travellers to come here but at the same time, they can't ignore the fact it's an issue,' he said.
Island BMX Club, a local bike spot, was one of the town's most recent victims.
Vandals broke into and set fire to the club last week, leaving behind a trail of extensive damage.
It was the latest blow for the club, which is already struggling financially post-pandemic and was only in operation due to the generous support of local businesses.
Heartbroken officials shared photos of the damage, including burned walls and inside the trashed club house where items, including food had been strewn.
'The toilet and shower facilities are complete burnt and will be condemned,' the club wrote.
'The club house has been destroyed with nearly all equipment smashed, doors and windows ripped out and general club and track damage.
'At this time we are unsure what this will mean for the future of BMX in Mount Isa.'
The Mount Isa CBD was also placed into emergency lockdown last weekend due to two separate police operations.
Mr Katter urged Ms Palaszczuk to 'show leadership and step in' to address the issues he told parliament last week.
'Violent and destructive youth crime is tearing North Queensland communities apart, and they are crying out for help,' he said.
'Mount Isa now has multiple businesses boarded up and TripAdvisor recommends that people do not stay for safety reasons.
'Given the inaction by the relevant ministers, will the Premier show leadership and step in to ensure that alternative tools, such as relocation sentencing, are delivered?'
In her response to Mr Katter, Ms Palaszczuk acknowledged youth crime as a serious issue in many Queensland communities, including Mount Isa.
'These are very complex issues. Unfortunately, some young children who are involved in youth crime do not have safe and secure homes,' she said.
'We need to continue to grow our foster care system and we must recognise that that needs to be culturally appropriate as well.'
Four of the top 10 districts for property crime are part of Mr Katter's electorate, including Mount Isa, Doomadgee, Mornington Island and Normanton.
He called on the state government to offer $1500 security grants to those affected in crime-ravaged communities.
'This crime wave doesn't discriminate, people have packed up their bags and left towns, as well as businesses who are under siege already have, or are prepared to, shut up shop as a result of crime, and this is a crying shame in every instance,' Mr Katter said.
'If the government clearly aren't willing to change any laws to help, then we need to find any small way to assist people financially that want to be proactive and assist in putting these offenders away.'
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Fascism in Australian universities
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull was invited to deliver a lecture by the Sydney University Law Society. He was shouted down, sworn at and labelled ‘ruling class scum’ (RCS) by a motley collection of student protesters and others. The former PM had to be escorted out by the police. Turnbull was livid, describing what had happened to him as ‘complete fascism, just extraordinary’. He challenged Australia’s oldest university, and Turnbull’s alma mater as it happens, to take some action to protect free speech on campus.
Based on my own rough and ready reckoning on the back of an envelope – look out Neil Ferguson, Imperial College pandemic modelling professorship here I come – that makes twice when I’ve ever fully agreed with Mr Turnbull. (The other time was when, as PM, he offered the states income tax power – as exists in every other federal democracy in the world – and our useless, mendicant, one-size-fits-all loving premiers, Liberal as well as Labor, turned him down flat.) But my point here is that Turnbull is right, at least in this sense. In today’s academic world, Australia’s and the wider anglosphere’s, if you’re perceived to be a conservative (I don’t say that these protesting students were particularly bright, or that they excelled in aptly characterising the actual location on the political spectrum of visiting RCS speakers) then the scope to speak one’s mind, for many, is a good deal more circumscribed than it is for those espousing bog-standard progressive orthodoxies and green-left woke creeds. You never read of lefties being shouted down on campus, do you?
Needless to say, this incident provokes various observations. First off, Mr Turnbull was prime minister at one point in time, right? Is it just now dawning on the man that our universities aren’t nearly as open to the John Stuart Mill notion of a cauldron of competing views to drive the search for truth as they were back in his day at Sydney Uni? Has our former PM missed the whole woke takeover of universities under which listeners’ sensibilities and feelings of being offended trump speakers’ entitlements to say their piece so that campuses need safe spaces and trigger warnings and, heck, statues need to be taken down because they’re too confronting? I work in the university sector so trust me, I know. This problem existed just as much four years ago, when Mr Turnbull was PM, as it does today. So what did the Turnbull government do, or try to do, to fix this university free speech problem? Nothing, would be my answer. Team Turnbull was completely useless on every axis of concern. If you attended university three or four decades ago then what you recall is nothing like today’s campus reality.
Senior university administrators could fix this problem in under a month. On entering university you tell all students that part of the deal is being exposed to views they may not like. Higher education in part demands that. It needs students to think analytically about views different to their own. If you attend, that’s the deal, full stop. Then, if anyone is shouted down on campus (be it guest speaker or in-house professor) expel all the students involved, no exceptions, no backing down, no way back to the university for them. Do it very publicly too. Be prepared to weather any student protests as regards this disciplinary action.
Take this approach once or twice and the problem of shouting down speakers disappears, even as regards invited RCS lecturers. But top university administrators around the English-speaking world almost never do that. They hedge, equivocate, duck and weave. They tell Mr Turnbull the matter is being looked into and he’ll be welcomed back on campus but students are unlucky if they receive even a mild admonishment. In essence these vice-chancellors and the other (now myriad) senior apparatchiks deal in sophistry and casuistry. I think in part that’s because bravery is not a characteristic that is rewarded in the struggle to move up the university sector greasy pole. And also in part it’s because university top administrators are even more left-leaning politically than the median campus professor (and boy is that saying something in a world of collapsing viewpoint diversity where conservative academics are becoming an endangered species).
In the US, where political donations are public information, they know this is true, that top administrators are even more pronouncedly left-leaning than their left-leaning faculty. I think it’s true here in Australia too. Try this thought experiment. How many academics who were opposed to reciting an acknowledgement of country do you think could ever get any administrative job at all? How many who oppose the Voice or indirect quotas for women and various minorities could get one of those $600,000 p.a. deputy vice-chancellor gigs? How many Liberal-voting VCs do you reckon there are in this country, and I mean when it’s a PM Abbott or Dutton not Malcolm? Let’s be blunt. Sometimes (though probably not in this Turnbull instance because, heck, he’s not actually a conservative) the top university administrators feel a modicum of sympathy for the protesting students’ position.
And now a third, related observation. Our universities today make a point of making open displays, in vague and amorphous terms, of their commitments to free speech on campus. The facts on the ground, however, are often otherwise. Codes of conduct make the university both investigator and judge. In the Peter Ridd case in the Full Federal Court the majority justices were at least honest, they said academic freedom (and hence free speech) wasn’t really a protected value. Bad luck. At the High Court of Australia the justices went into overdrive virtue-signalling about the importance of academic freedom but then held against Peter Ridd because he infringed the Code of Conduct by speaking out about what was happening to him in the disciplinary proceedings. Our top judges implied there was some magical unspecified way Ridd should have run his case. Bollocks! For me, that shows our top judges haven’t really got a clue what life is like on today’s university campuses for many iconoclasts, dissidents and non-conformists, call them ‘conservatives’ to save time. Heck, as I write this I personally know of conservative academics currently having their codes of conduct (not from my uni) brought to bear for refusing to play the woke, ‘genuflect before the new identity politics Gods’ game. Just telling me, or anyone, breaches the code of conduct (so we used top spycraft).
Under the Ridd decision they’re in big trouble if this can be proved. So how do they run a defence and raise money? The Ridd decision was a woeful one in practice. It leaves university dissenters, in practice, out in the cold. They’re treated like RCS, but without the R and C. So just the S.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/ruling-class-scum
**************************************************************My government turned me into an ‘anti-vaxxer’
A government power grab created the anti-vax movement
Julie Sladden
I’ll come clean. Like most people defending their position on the Covid jabs, I used to start my apology with, ‘I’m no anti-vaxxer!’
Having probably received more vaccines than most, given I am both a doctor and fairly well travelled, I naively thought this approach might earn credibility with vaccine enthusiasts. I should have saved my breath.
Over the last two years, the government-endorsed segregation and dehumanisation of those who exercised their right to refuse the jab, has forced me to change my identity.
When Australia locked down in 2020, I soon tired of the daily command ‘Stay Home, Save Lives!’ mantra, turned the TV off, and started researching.
I discovered the government-imposed lockdown measures were replacing perfectly good pandemic plans that were updated August 2019. These were plans which, from what I could tell, hardly saw the light of day despite how much they cost to put together.
Australia, and much of the world, was ‘off script’.
No attention was being given to the well-documented costs of lockdowns and no effort was directed toward early treatment options. Nor were there attempts to improve the immune health of Australians through measures like nutrition, reducing alcohol consumption, and exercising. None.
With all this hand-washing, comfort eating, drinking, isolating, and fear mongering Australians were sitting ducks as far as their health was concerned. Meanwhile, the government and Chief Health Officers told us to sit tight and wait for the ‘saviour’ vaccine to arrive.
In August 2020, when Scott Morrison announced: ‘I would expect (the vaccine) to be as mandatory as you could possibly make it,’ I felt my eyebrows rise. Just how was our Prime Minister going to do that? The ethical, medical, and legal implications concerned me.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority (AHPRA) position statement on Covid vaccination arrived in the mail in March 2021, and I felt my eyebrows rise again. AHPRA effectively told doctors to fall in line with government policy, warning that regulatory action may follow if a practitioner promoted anti-vaccination statements or undermined the immunisation campaign. More groundwork being laid.
Finally, in June 2021, Lt. General John Frewen was appointed as head of the National Covid Vaccine Taskforce. It became apparent we were part of a military-style operation, especially considering there were actual military forces policing our streets.
When the vaccine arrived in Australia, I decided to perform a personal risk-benefit analysis.
As a cancer survivor (I’m well now, thanks for asking), it had taken years to regain full health and I was keen to stay that way. The Covid risk calculator estimated my chance of survival at over 99 per cent. Not bad.
I then looked to the mRNA vaccines. Early data from overseas showed some concerning safety signals and surprising evidence of similar transmission rates by both vaccinated and unvaccinated. I could only surmise: we had new drug technology, with limited data, worrying safety signals, and indications it didn’t prevent infection or transmission.
For me, the risks did not outweigh the benefits, especially if it meant I could still infect my patients.
When the Tasmanian government mandated vaccines for all healthcare workers, I personally went, research in hand, and spoke to as many politicians as I could, recommending they adopt a risk management approach.
I spent hours writing, phoning, and visiting – arguing the point based on scientific evidence, ethics, and medical resource management.
I reasoned our state couldn’t afford to lose any healthcare professionals who would rather walk than take the vaccine.
I pleaded for the middle ground and a strategic approach including personal protective equipment (PPE), rapid antigen testing, and Telehealth – not just vaccination – to preserve both autonomy and the workforce so the healthcare system didn’t suffer further.
Many sympathised behind closed doors, but were unwilling to speak publicly (except Senator Eric Abetz, thanks Eric).
When the mandates came into effect, I chose to remain unvaccinated along with hundreds of others and was forced to stop work. I wasn’t even allowed to do Telehealth (can someone please explain that to me?). It felt punitive.
Now the truth is coming out.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced no difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated as the vaccines don’t prevent infection or transmission.
In addition, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has received more adverse reports in 2021 through June 2022 (18 months) for Covid vaccines than over the past 50 years for all other vaccines combined. This is not simply because of the number of Covid vaccinations.
Around the world there has been a significantly higher rate of reported adverse events and deaths for Covid vaccinations when compared with non-Coid vaccines like measles, polio, and flu vaccines.
And finally, the latest hospital admission statistics do not support the claim that the unvaccinated are more at risk of serious Covid disease, hospitalisation or death.
Just how bad is it? We don’t know. There is no long-term toxicity, carcinogenicity (cancer-causing), genotoxicity (effect on genes), or fertility studies.
This ‘thing’ that we have been doing the past two years, is not healthcare. I don’t know what it is, but it is not healthcare, and it was obvious from the start. It is not benefiting the ‘greater good’. It is not looking after grandma. It is not ‘doing our bit and protecting others’. It is not saving lives.
It never was.
As the fog of Covid-war lifts, I suspect we will realise more people have been harmed because of this single-minded ‘vaccine-or-bust’ approach than any other intervention foisted on the people before now. It truly is an iatrogenic crisis caused by bureaucrat-prescribed ‘medical’ treatment.
If an ‘anti-vaxxer’ is someone who cannot give informed consent to a ‘vaccine’ that fails to prevent infection or transmission, has alarming safety signals, must be taken to earn back the right to live and work in society, for a disease that has a greater-than 99 per cent survivability rate, then ‘yes’, I’m an anti-vaxxer…
My government made it so
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/my-government-turned-me-into-an-antivaxxer/
***********************************************************More Warmist deception
In public discourse, there are those promoting the truth, and those looking to further their agenda. This is most obvious regarding the topic of Climate Change where feelings and ideology are weaponised to not only win the argument, but to scorch the earth of opposing views.
Into this battle swaggers The Australia Institute, a Canberra think tank staffed by Greens-loving activists and commentators. Their Climate Change rhetoric is infused with UN-style anti-human de-growth dogma — a study in green-left ideology dedicated to choking Australia’s economy and future opportunities that forms part of the wider agenda to constrain fossil fuel production.
Throw enough mud and it sticks, and TAI’s partisan analysis of Climate Change and energy leaches into the public debate like toxic sludge. TAI is often quoted by The Guardian Australia, and then regurgitated online in blogs such as Renew Economy, Crikey, The Saturday Paper, and The Conversation.
In March 2022, TAI released Fossil fuel subsidies in Australia asserting that the fossil fuel industry was provided $11.6 billion in subsidies in 2021-22. The exaggerated claims were widely repeated including online by news.com.au.
In other words, for every minute of every day in the 2021-22 budget period these subsidies cost the public $22,139. For context, $11.6 billion is 56 times greater than the $206.8 million budget of the National Recovery and Resilience Agency.
In direct contradiction, the Productivity Commission calculated that 2020-21 assistance to the entire mining industry, not just the fossil fuel industry, was just $476 million.
The mining sector received only 4 per cent of allocatable assistance ($476 million), despite accounting for 11.5 per cent of value added — meaning it was the least assisted sector relative to its size.
This would imply that there has been a significant overstatement in the amount of subsidy from governments to fossil fuel industries by listing the $8 billion diesel fuel rebate — which is neither a subsidy, nor is it specific to the fossil fuel industry.
The report also claims $200 million of equity in Kurri Kurri Power Station used to firm wind and solar, and $900 million in federal tax concessions for aviation fuel. At a state level, the report incorrectly lists government investments in profit-making state-owned power stations, mines, ports, and railways as fossil fuel subsidies.
In May 2022, TAI penned APPEA members who pay no income tax, which argues for higher taxes on resource companies. The author, widely quoted by The Australian and other news sources, wants us to believe that gas companies get a free ride, based on selectively edited tax data, and without considering costs and deductions.
The report cherry-picks just five gas companies, but APPEA (Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association) represents over sixty full-member companies, making no attempt to convey the huge expenses incurred in developing resources, such as the $100 billion construction cost of Queensland’s three LNG projects.
A more holistic review of the ATO tax data would have revealed that other APPEA member gas companies paid a combined total of $5.4 billion in taxes in the same period, with an additional $7.8 billion in Petroleum Resource Rent Tax.
Furthermore, the report used modelling figures from 2012, suggesting that $85 billion would be collected by government from eight LNG trains. The industry ended up with six trains, and a much smaller estimate of $58 billion in government income over the twenty-five-year life of the projects.
In the August 2022 op-ed, It’s time to tax mining and energy giants properly, TAI executive director Richard Denniss argues for higher taxes on Australian gas companies, citing the $137 billion total revenue of the Norwegian oil and gas sector as an example of a ‘good resources tax system’.
This is a flawed perspective as the Norwegian government sells oil and gas itself, in addition to collecting fees and taxes from private sector petroleum companies. Australian governments derive income from fees, taxes, and royalties, but do not extract and sell oil and gas. As Australian taxpayers do not provide the massive capital required to develop natural resources, and do not sell these resources directly, the comparison is invalid.
Further muddying the waters is the lack of separation of oil production from natural gas production. These commodities have different markets, different benchmark pricing, and furthermore, Australia does not produce significant amounts of oil. How much of Norway’s petroleum income is from oil, and how much from gas? As the saying goes, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.
These offerings, however, provide some insight into the mindset of the staff and leadership at The Australia Institute, in direct contradiction to their mission statement.
Our Goal: The Australia Institute provides intellectual and policy leadership. We conduct research that drives the public debate and secures policy outcomes that make Australia better. We are confident that we consistently deliver on the promise of our motto: research that matters
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/09/too-many-climate-change-think-tanks/
7 September, 2022
Horrifying video shows the moment a 15-year-old girl viciously attacks a pregnant mum from behind and tries to rip her handbag away
Once again something important to an understanding of the story is not mentioned. But the skinny brown legs of the assailant identify her as Aboriginal. Relations between Aborigines and the rest of the community are notoriously bad in Western Australia
Horrifying footage shows the moment a teenage girl violently attacks a pregnant mother from behind as the woman took her two children for a stroll.
The 37-year-old mum was walking with her two children down a Perth laneway in Smallman Place, Ashfield, at about 12.40pm on Monday when the young girl approached from behind.
CCTV captures the teenager violently pulling the mother along the concrete footpath by her hair after sneaking up in her in the laneway.
The desperate mother tried to hold onto her pram, which then toppled over as she was slammed onto the ground - leaving the children screaming in fear.
Footage of her arrest shows her swearing at officers while other household members cry out he background.
The mother escaped the attack with minor cuts and bruises but police held concerns for her pregnancy as she fell onto her stomach.
The girl was charged with one count of robbery and is set to appear in Geraldton Magistrates Court on September 13.
Police released the CCTV footage of the attack to help piece together what happened.
Anyone with relevant information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Footage before the attack showed a teenager riding a scooter down the laneway behind another young girl.
****************************************************
Catholics’ gender warning for schools
Catholic schools have been strongly advised not to assist in efforts to affirm gender transitions in students through the use of drugs or surgical interventions and that “a human being’s sex is a physical, biological reality”.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference will advise schools that, for the vast majority of children and adolescents, gender incongruence is a psychological condition through which they will pass safely and naturally with supportive psychological care.
The guidance, to be issued on Tuesday, urges Catholic schools to avoid assisting in the issue of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or surgery to limit possible infertility, “unnecessary damage” and “future possibilities for healthy human growth”.
The nation has more than 1700 Catholic schools educating about 780,000 students.
The guidance voices grave concerns over an affirmation-based approach to students experiencing gender dysphoria and instead steers educators to a “biopsychosocial model” based on research showing a high correlation between “childhood gender incongruence and family dynamics”.
“In this model, practitioners promote ongoing psychological support for the child or young person through engaging with families,” the guidance says. “By discovering the child’s and family’s stories, practitioners are able to understand the gender variance felt by the child or young person within the context of family and their domestic environment.”
Pastoral care initiatives that are “in conflict with the generosity of the Christian vision” are also to be “respectfully avoided”, including concepts that say gender is arbitrarily assigned at birth, gender is fluid and that gender is separate from biological sex.
“Research data strongly suggests that, for the vast majority of children and adolescents, gender incongruence is a psychological condition through which they will pass safely and naturally with supportive psychological care,” the guidance states. “Studies quote between 80 to 90 per cent of pre-pubescent children who do not seem to fit social gender expectations are not gender-incongruent in the long term.”
Catholic school leaders are told to recognise that society has “widely adopted the belief that each person’s innermost concept of themselves determines their gender identity”. But they are warned these recent changes were “in conflict with the Catholic understanding of creation, in which every person is created good and is loved unconditionally as they are”.
Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli, the chair of the Bishops Commission for Life, Family and Public Engagement, said the guidance document elevated the dignity of every person rather than “defining that person by any single characteristic”.
He said Catholic schools adhered to the “foundational principle that each person is created in the image and likeness of god, and is loved by god”.
“That principle guides this document, which we offer to our schools to support them in walking compassionately alongside each student we are invited to educate,” he said.
The document is aimed at providing support and care to students. It makes no recommendations that would result in students being expelled because of their gender identity.
Catholic schools are encouraged to cater to the needs of students experiencing gender incongruence, a term recommended for use by educators over the term “transgender”.
The document recommends that schools provide unisex toilets or a change room area not aligned to biological sex to increase safety and options for vulnerable students. It also proposes to offer “flexibility with uniform expectations” to cater to the diversity of the student body.
However, all school documentation is to record students’ biological sex at enrolment. The guidance notes that “it may be lawful” to exclude a student from single-sex competition if they are over the age of 12 where the “strength, stamina or physique of competitors is relevant.”
It advises educators to refer to commonwealth guidelines when developing school policies, and argues it is “paramount” for all sporting environments to be inclusive and safe.
The guidance comes amid public debate surrounding the ability of transgender students to participate in school sports, a discussion that was stoked during the election campaign after Scott Morrison’s hand-picked candidate for the seat of Warringah, Katherine Deves, ran on a platform to ban transgender competitors from participating in female sports. Ms Deves said a ban would ensure the safety of female competitors, but faced a backlash for a number of tweets she wrote arguing that transgender girls had been “mutilated and sterilised”.
In the new guidance, Catholic school are encouraged to be diligent in “resisting the incursion of political lobbying, ideological postures” and various organisations which may be “at odds” with the school’s mission. It also gives licence to principals who may feel the need to decline the involvement of politically motivated organisations.
National Catholic Education Commission executive director Jacinta Collins said the guide would be discussed at the National Catholic Education Conference underway in Melbourne. “Recent comments by eminent psychologist Professor Ian Hickie highlight the increasing number of medical professionals who are challenging the gender-affirmative approach and are supporting the biopsychosocial approach, which is less invasive, holistic and more closely aligned with a Catholic world view,” she said. “It remains critical that our Catholic schools can speak about the Church’s teachings on these matters in an informed way, underpinned by the principles of respect and human dignity.”
The guidance recommended that schools review of a number of subjects in the curriculum to ensure schools were well placed to deal with “most matters that may surface if a student is undergoing psychological and/ or medical intervention”.
The federal government provided $8.24bn in funding to Catholic schools in 2020, which is close to the $8.67bn spent on government schools, while the states and territories contributed $2.2bn.
*******************************************************
Unisex toilet rollout recommended for Queensland Catholic schools
Queensland Catholic schools have been recommended to install controversial unisex toilets or change room areas to support students in gender transitions, according to the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
The conference has released a guide on gender and identity to support Catholic schools in responding to the individual social and pastoral needs of students in a “sensitive” way.
Queensland has more than 300 Catholic primary and secondary schools and more than 150,000 students.
The guide, Created and Loved, said a review was being undertaken in several areas with schools well placed to deal with most matters that may surface is a student is undergoing physiological and/or medical intervention.
Unisex toilets have been the subject of controversy in Queensland schools in the past.
The state government was forced to backflip on a gender neutral toilet block that was set to be installed at the $80m Fortitude Valley State Secondary College following parent and expert outcry.
St Eugene College at Burpengary also installed unisex toilets without consulting parents to trial a gender-neutral approach to “match what happens in family homes”.
Chair of the commission Archbishop Peter Comensoli said the guide offers principles that can
be used by Catholic education authorities for their own contexts.
The guide recommended schools provide a unisex toilet and change room area or create a private bathroom space not aligned to biological sex to increase the access and safety options of vulnerable students and potentially alleviate anxieties.
Appropriate bathroom and sleeping arrangements would be required to ensure students felt safe and supported on school camps and events.
Further, it recommended schools offer flexibility with uniform expectations that cater to the diversity of the student body.
It also recommended schools ensure any school policy states that all documentation is to record a student’s biological sex when they’re enrolled.
“Catholic schools are well placed to handle the above practical matters sensitively and thoughtfully, keeping in mind that the majority of students experiencing gender variance may not desire or seek out a medical intervention for transition,” the guide read.
Education specialists including principals and teachers were consulted by the bishops and advice was sought from parents with children facing gender questions.
It also heard from bioethicists and experts in the field and from the international church community.
“The Catholic Church and our schools begin from the foundational principle that each person is created in the image and likeness of God, and is loved by God,” Archbishop Comensoli said.
“That principle guides this document, which we offer to our schools to support them in walking compassionately alongside each student we are invited to educate.”
A Queensland Catholic Education Commission spokeswoman said the guide reinforced the work being done and support being provided to Queensland Catholic school students.
The spokeswoman said schools, school leaders and staff would be able to reference the guide to establish a safe and trusting relationship with students where issues of identity can be discussed openly.
“Catholic schools are communities of faith, and that faith is lived out through the care, respect and love shown by staff to all those in their care, within strong, supportive and respectful school environments,” she said.
“The guide provides schools with a framework for making decisions in the local context to support the wellbeing of all students. “The primary aim of Catholic schools is to provide nurturing and supportive environments for all students.”
*****************************************************
Anonymity for men falsely accused of rape
Bettina Arndt
‘No man should have to go what I went through,’ said the teary John Jarratt, after a jury took 15 minutes to decide he was not guilty of an alleged rape forty years earlier. He’d been through twenty months of what he called ‘media death row’, with the worldwide press coverage traumatic for his entire family.
The accusation came from a former flatmate – Jarratt admitted he had sex with the woman, but said it was consensual. She said she’d been inspired by #MeToo and took action when the well-known Australian actor was at the peak of his career, starring in Wolf Creek II. Even after the jury tossed the case out and Jarratt successfully sued The Telegraph for reporting he had ‘got away with rape’, the incident will always be part of his history.
‘The woman who perpetrated the evil lie against me walked away scot-free,’ said Jarratt, calling for laws to be changed so that neither party is identified unless someone is convicted.
Last week I spoke to Daniel Janner, QC, a UK barrister who has set up an organisation called FAIR, (Falsely Accused Individuals for Reform), pushing for legislation to give anonymity to those accused of sexual offences.
Daniel’s father, Lord Janner of Braunstone, was twice the target of false sexual abuse allegations resulting in a well-publicised police raid on his home and parliamentary offices. None of the accusations against him were tested in court before his death in 2015. Daniel is clear that he believes the motivation for the allegations was possible lucrative victims’ compensation claims.
Daniel’s group was launched in 2019, with a demonstration outside Parliament led by Sir Cliff Richards, who had faced his own nightmare through being accused of historic sexual abuse. Sir Cliff described his four-year ordeal which turned him into a ‘zombie’, stopping him sleeping for years: ‘I don’t think I will ever get over it.’
FAIR’s first petition attracted over 27,000 signatures but that initial momentum was derailed for two years by Covid lockdowns. Now the group is actively pushing for an amendment to the next criminal justice bill to make it an offence to identify or publish information about someone accused of a sexual offence unless they have been charged. An exception would be made in special circumstances, like a historic institutional rape case where there’s abundant evidence of wrongdoing and a high likelihood of other victims.
At one time teachers and other professionals had legal protection from being named prior to conviction but then the UK system was captured by the feminists and became victim-centred, with accusers being given anonymity and the accused allowed to be publicly named. Every time there’s an attempt at reform, feminists claim alleged perpetrators must be named because publicity is essential to encourage other ‘victims’ to come forward to ensure prosecution.
This argument may hold up in some historic institutional rape cases, but it is absolute nonsense in the majority of sexual assault cases. For a start a lot of the perpetrators are kids – in Australia, the largest group of sexual assault perpetrators are aged between 15-19. Most of these are date rape or hook-up cases involving young people struggling with the issues of consent.
It’s nonsense to suggest there’s always a bunch of other victims who could come forward. Yet the sisterhood controlling our justice system gets away with this monstrous lie, ensuring even students can be named and shamed. The argument that victims deserve special protection due to the unique opprobrium associated with sexual crimes also applies to the falsely accused. Yet that obvious fact is totally ignored.
While it’s great to see people trying to get laws changed to protect the anonymity of accused men, it also makes sense to try to ensure false accusers face the music for what they have done.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/09/anonymity-for-men-falsely-accused-of-rape/
6 September, 2022
Judge admits a plague of domestic violence towards Indigenous women
Aboriginal men are hard on their women and children. I have seen it myself
In a speech to a group of female lawyers this week, Justice Judith Kelly said false claims of individual and systemic racism detracted from the search for solutions to the far higher rates of domestic violence in Indigenous communities. “Talking honestly about the problems that exist and encouraging honest and open public debate would have to be a good start,” Justice Kelly said.
“And by speaking honestly about the problem, I mean not self-censoring for fear of being branded a racist by the ideologues of the new ‘anti-racism’ religion.”
Justice Kelly said people and institutions, including the legal system, were casually and inaccurately labelled as racist without any evidence.
“The underlying assumption of this ideology appears to be that Aboriginal people must exist in a permanent state of victimhood, an assumption that is in fact deeply racist,” she said.
“Further, among those in thrall to this ideology, labelling someone or something ‘racist’ seems in many cases to be an end in itself – not a prelude to remedial action, but a substitute for it.”
Justice Kelly earlier this year spoke to The Australian about an “epidemic of violence” plaguing Aboriginal women in the NT at the hands of their partners.
Those comments drew criticism from the NT’s Australian of the Year, Leanne Liddle, at the Garma Festival. Justice Kelly said while Ms Liddle, as director of the Aboriginal Justice Unit, had said many useful and positive things, her comments at Garma were not among them.
“Ms Liddle invited the audience to reflect on what might be meant by ‘people’ and she was quoted as saying: ‘I feel strongly that such language reflects an undercurrent of racism – an othering of Aboriginal people that exists within our society’. I am sorry Leanne feels that way so let me make my meaning clear,” she said.
“By ‘people’, I meant ‘people’ – not ‘people other than Aboriginal people’. I want all the people of Australia in cities, towns, the bush and bush communities to know what is happening so that, just maybe, something might be done about this terrible scourge.”
Justice Kelly noted that in the past 22 years, two Aboriginal men had been shot by police. In the same period, some 65 Aboriginal women were killed by their partners. The police shootings received massive media coverage, but the deaths of those women were barely noted.
She described two instances where Aboriginal women were killed by their partners in front of numerous witnesses who did nothing. Other victims, she said, were actively discouraged from reporting violence and may be punished for doing so.
“Everyone is willing to talk about the over-representation of Aboriginal men in prison. It has been called Australia’s shame and so it is,” she said. “But … the stream of Aboriginal men going to prison is matched by a steady stream – a river – of Aboriginal women going to the hospital and to the morgue.”
She said false claims of individual and systemic racism detracted from the search for solutions.
“The causes of this epidemic of violent abuse are multiple and complex … unemployment and passive welfare dependency; lack of access to adequate education, health and mental health services; lack of adequate housing and consequent overcrowding; substance abuse; dispossession and loss of culture,” she said. “And one that deserves a stand-alone mention – the ‘rivers of grog’ that run through our communities.”
*************************************************
Fascist Victoria
In late August 2020, pregnant mum, Zoe Buhler, was charged and handcuffed in her own home by Victoria Police, accused of inciting a protest in breach of public health orders.
Her great ‘crime’ was to put a message on Facebook promoting a ‘peaceful protest’ – with social distancing measures and masks – to ‘end lock downs’ and ‘stand for human rights’.
The Assistant Police Commissioner, Luke Cornelius, alleged Ms Buhler had ‘engaged in serious criminal behaviour’. He referred to those objecting to lockdowns as ‘batshit crazy’.
How serious was this charge, given it has been dropped weeks away from a state election? Surely a serious charge should be pursued fully through the courts?
‘Clearing the political decks’ is how some cynics might view it.
Many Australians, and others across the world, are familiar with the vision of Zoe Buhler being handcuffed by police in her kitchen. It is the unfortunate stuff of Covid legend.
On Tuesday, police withdrew the charge. It took police two years to do the right thing. Many questioned the validity of such so-called crimes that turned ordinary citizens into criminals for things like … walking outside.
During this time, Victorians experienced things they never thought they would in a free country, one in which democracy and respect are fundamental tenets of our peaceful way of life.
Other than Black Lives Matter gatherings, Victorians observed their right to protest being annulled with pepper bullets and tear gas. Citizens were filmed running from police officers who used batons and a bravado in clips that went viral worldwide.
Had these crowds been assembling in the streets to riot, to burn buildings, to loot, to murder, to wreck, or to create mayhem, then Victorians would have understood such aggression by the police.
But these crowds had gathered for freedom.
They gathered for the right to go to work, the right not to be forced to take vaccines, and the right for their children to go to school or playgrounds.
They rallied for democracy, for the return of the Parliament to make decisions, and against the absolute authority of emergency power contained in the Premier.
It was under Labor’s watch that the police chased protesters, hurried on grandmothers from park benches, handcuffed a pregnant mother, held elderly men on the ground, and kept Melbournians locked down for 23 hours a day unable to travel – or even walk – further than 5 kilometres from their homes.
The Premier offended many Victorians during this time, locking them out of their state. They were stopped from being with their dying parents or attending their funerals. One of his most offensive statements was, ‘We had no choice.’
Let me be very clear: the police had a choice about whether to charge Zoe Buhler.
It is why Labor must apologise to Ms Buhler for their contempt of individual rights and why their government must explain to the Victorian people why police were instructed to act so aggressively.
An explanation as to why it took two years for the charge to be withdrawn would also be welcome.
The Police Minister should now consider sacking the Police Commissioner and his Assistant, Luke Cornelius, the same officer who sympathised with Black Lives Matter protesters and their right to gather.
It seems apparent that, like much of the Victorian bureaucracy, Victoria Police has been politicised and the law has been used to hush citizens who disagree with the government.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/apologies-are-not-enough/
*****************************************************Million Australian ‘teen robots’ on path to illiteracy, OECD warns
A global education leader has criticised Australia’s shallow school curriculum for producing “second-class robots’’, as damning new data reveals a million teenagers are on a track to illiteracy over the next five years.
Andreas Schleicher, education and skills director with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, has warned that Australia has “made learning often a mile wide, but just an inch deep’’.
“I would say that is one of the real challenges in Australia,’’ he says in a speech prepared for the National Catholic Education Conference next week.
“The challenge is to teach fewer things at greater depths.
“If you look at the top-performing education systems, that’s what they do. They often focus more on deep conceptual understanding rather than just surface content.’’
Mr Schleicher called for more rigour in the curriculum to teach children to think for themselves and collaborate, instead of educating “second-class robots, people who are good at repeating what we’ve told them’’.
“We have made students passive consumers of a lot of learning content,’’ he said.
Mr Schleicher oversees the world’s biggest comparative school test, the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which has revealed a startling slide in achievement among Australian 15-year-olds compared to students from 75 other industrialised countries over the past decade. Since 2003, Australian students have dropped from 11th place in maths to 29th, from eighth place in science to 15th, and from fourth to 16th in literacy.
Criticism of the national curriculum – which was simplified and “decluttered” in April following a two-year review – coincides with warnings of alarmingly low literacy levels among students.
The most recent PISA test, involving 14,000 Australian students in 2018, found one in five teens reads at the lowest of seven levels of proficiency – a level the OECD regards as “too low to enable them to participate effectively and productively in life”. Only 60 per cent read at a “proficient standard’’ of level three.
Learning First chief executive Ben Jensen has extrapolated the data to calculate that 800,000 Australian students have substandard literacy levels. He predicts that will soar to a million by 2028, unless they are given help to catch up with reading and writing.
“Translated across the school system, that means a million students, out of just over four million, who cannot read well enough to have a productive career and a full life,’’ he writes in Inquirer on Saturday. “The evidence shows that when students who are behind are taught clearly identified and sequenced knowledge appropriate to their grade level, using high-quality instructional materials, they can accelerate … learning and make up huge ground.’’
Dr Jensen also criticised the new national curriculum, which the Australian Primary Principals Association has declared “impossible to teach”. He said Australia’s curriculum is “not high-quality and knowledge-rich’’.
“It does nothing to guarantee the knowledge students are supposed to learn,’’ he said.
“It fails to provide teachers with comprehensive, high-quality instructional materials.’’
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, which released the new curriculum in April, has withheld the 2022 NAPLAN results until year’s end. Last year’s testing of a million children found one in five teenage boys is semiliterate, with one in 10 girls and one in five boys failing to reach the minimum standard for writing in Year 9.
Mr Schleicher, a physicist and statistician who studied in Australia for his masters in science from Deakin University, is special adviser on education policy to OECD secretary-general Mathias Cormann, Australia’s former finance minister and special minister of state. He said that in PISA’s reading literacy tests, “Australia has gone backwards’’.
“I’m not saying that Australian students learn less necessarily but when it comes to those advanced knowledge management skills, this is where they increasingly struggle,’’ he said.
Mr Schleicher said the curriculum must teach children to out-think robots, and “think for themselves and collaborate with others’’. He said top-performing education systems “look at the realm of human knowledge, the realm of ethics and judgment, the realm of political and civic life, the realm of creativity, aesthetics, design, of physical health, natural health, economic life’’.
“(They teach) those fundamental concepts that make us different from the artificial intelligence that we have created in our computers. Teaching fewer things at greater depths is really one of the key challenges.’’
Mr Schleicher said the most successful countries in education used “rigour, making sure that students are challenged in every moment of their learning’’.
“It’s about focus, teaching fewer things at greater depths.
“Success is about remaining true to the disciplines, helping students understand the ideas, the foundations of a discipline.’’
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Dispelling myths about water in Australia
Ron Pike
The myths about water are many. They range from Australia being the driest continent on earth, to all of our rivers dying from overuse, right up to the government being required to return water to the environment.
Most of these myths are rooted in ‘environmentalism’, a political movement which has become a form of religious belief that fosters a sense of moral superiority in the believer but does not burden him with adherence to scrutiny or veracity.
These particular environmentalists arrogantly believe their cause is so important that they should not be questioned or challenged in scientific debate. Have you ever heard an environmentalist explain what the environment is, or where it resides?
For many years now I have used municipal flood records to refute the oft falsely repeated claim that since we invested in water conservation and irrigation, we have had fewer over-the-bank flows (floods) than in the century previous.
In reality, we have had many more, and you do not need a degree in anything other than common sense to work out why.
Environmental bureaucrats continue to argue against these truths, and other indisputable facts, and use their error to justify the iniquitous Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
But here are some not-so-well-known facts that should be shouted out in the present flood of misinformation about our water resources.
Australia has more precipitation per head of population than most other countries on Earth.
Some examples; expressed in megalitres per person: Australia: 140, Brazil 130, USA 33, Japan 6, United Kingdom 4.
Of our precipitation, about 13 per cent runs to the sea and this amounts to about 290 million Megalitres per year from the mainland and 50 million megalitres from Tasmania.
While the amount we use for all mankind’s purposes varies from year to year, it rarely exceeds 5 per cent of this huge volume.
How then is it possible for anyone and most of all Politicians, to argue that our rivers are over-committed?
How can the federal government justify overriding Section 100 of the Constitution to return water to ‘the environment’ when the people of Australia only use 0.4 per cent of the precipitation that falls from the heavens?
Surely federal action via the MDB Plan is an act of extreme incompetence and a depravity against the Australian people?
Politicians, if they are to regain any credibility, must recognise that the bulk of our runoff is between Adelaide and Cairns, which is right where we need it. All we must do is conserve these huge flows in times of excess and where necessary divert westward.
Mankind has yet to develop a better water conservation system than the building of dams. Doing so will massively grow our economy, generate a huge growth in jobs, and if practically managed, stop most of our flood damage.
But flowing from this revelation of where our water resources are, is a much bigger and more important truth that has been buried by those not saddled with a commitment to truth.
The Australian river with the largest run-off by a very large margin is the Murray River. As Sturt rather boldly stated when he progressed from the Murrumbidgee to a river he called the Hume, ‘I have found Australia’s Mississippi.’
This is not surprising when we consider that the Mighty Murray has a catchment of one million square kilometres which includes most of Australia’s snow country, a fact overlooked by our dishonest environmentalists.
The outflow from the Murray most years is more than double our next biggest river, which is the Clarence.
Now consider this before we look at some historical Murray outflows. The total storage capacity for all dams in the MDB including the Snowy Scheme is 29 million megalitres. Measured at Euston these are some of the historical flows in the Murray River.
1956 120,000,000 megalitres
1957 2,400,000 megalitres ( a very dry year)
1962 36,000,000 megalitres
1963 35,000,000 megalitres
1964 36,000,000 megalitres
1969 24,000,000 megalitres
1974 60,000,000 megalitres
1975 72,000,000 megalitres
1984 36,000,000 megalitres
2022 estimation 70,000,000 megalitres
During the dry years of the Millennium Drought, the flow past Euston only dropped below 2,400,000 megalitres. in one year.
The flow past this point in 2010 and 2011 which ended this drought is believed to be over 30,000,000 megalitres. each year and outflows have remained around this and above every year since.
So why is the Murray-Darling Basin Authority releasing around 2,400,000 megalitres of stored water every year into an already swollen river? It is an absurd waste of a needed resource. The lower Murray is always awash with more water than we can possibly use and this is why we can never successfully manage this resource until we build Chowilla Dam.
While reliable details for all years are not available, I believe the picture painted by the facts we have, clearly show a system not overburdened by irrigation extractions and a system that would hugely benefit from more storage.
What should be screamed is that the system is over-regulated by multiple bureaucracies; from Canberra, the states, and local government and is not over-committed for irrigation.
Recent debate about our water resources has been appalling to watch, and any rational arguments have been drowned out by the politics of perception. Truth as expressed above has been washed away by media-generated emotion of ‘dying rivers’, a water-starved environment, and dead fish.
How is it possible to argue that we, the people, are depriving ‘the environment’ of water when the people are only using 0.4 per cent of the total precipitation and around 5 per cent of runoff?
The lack of truth in public discourse relating to our water resources has not only killed off rational debate, but has undermined our human decency that flows from acceptance of that truth and unpins our respect for one another.
As a result, previously thriving communities built on the abundance of our water resources and a respect for one another’s ambition and enterprise are regressing.
The management of our largest water resource, the Murray-Darling system, is a sin against the people of Australia and if Prime Minister Albanese is serious about job and wage growth he must take the breaks off the peoples ‘Tools of Trade’, which are Water, Power, and Fuel.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/09/dispelling-myths-about-water/
5 September, 2022
Father’s Day is worth celebrating
I had a good fathers' day
Father’s Day is too often written off as a Hallmark Holiday. Yes, it is a recent social construct, but when it comes down to it all of our festivals are social constructs.
This one has its roots in various feasts, festivals, commercial, and religious days around the world that have since been formalised.
Today, Father’s Day forms part of a collection of days that honour family roles. They are not compulsory. They are not public holidays. If they offend you or you’re determined to wallow in negative feelings – as is the case with The New York Times – you’re free to ignore it.
What matters to the rest of us is the spirit of a day. Saying, ‘Thanks dad!’ once a year is a healthy thing for society, especially in the current ideological environment that seeks to label men as ‘toxic’ and dangerous by their very nature.
When little boys are born, they are separated out as ‘future rapists’ or the heirs of ‘white supremacy’ and ‘colonisation’ by the same cult that makes doctors feel guilty about ‘assigning’ gender at birth. Our culture too often seeks to destroy the bonds of fatherhood at infancy and paint fathers as something to be watered down, made more palatable, and – if possible – replaced entirely by a second mother.
If the men of Western Civilisation lean into their biological instincts to be strong providers and protectors, they are charged with crimes against groupthink. If they complain about advertising campaigns that attack them for existing, they are decried as insensitive.
God forbid men present themselves as tall, slightly wild-looking, masculine, and un-manscaped creatures capable of killing a Huntsman spider or fixing stuff around the house.
Modern men, as a species, are getting weaker. They are being coaxed into effeminate behaviour as the cult of womanhood pushes itself into the public sphere – a public sphere, mind you, that can’t seem to define what a woman is. In some arenas of Woke, the best woman is a man.
Such is the Age of Confusion we find ourselves in.
Here’s a tip, women like strong men. Women look for masculine creatures to balance their femininity. Maybe the reason that so many young women are single is not, as suggested by some, the ‘culture of Tinder’ but the far more problematic lack of manly-men who make good prospective fathers.
Masculinity is something worth defending, as is the vital role of men when it comes to leading the family.
This Sunday, we simply say thank you to the fathers that are looking after the next generation.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/fathers-day-2/
*********************************************Top doctor Luke McLindon sacked, shunned for divisive Covid research
Gynaecologist and obstetrician Luke McLindon has proved to be a headache, even an embarrassment, to the bosses at Brisbane’s Mater Hospital.
In June, the leading health facility terminated his job as the head of fertility services for not having the Covid-19 vaccine – against Queensland Health’s mandate.
And now the controversial doctor has stirred up a storm over data he says makes a preliminary link between the Covid-19 vaccine and miscarriages.
His unfinished research – which is heavily disputed by the Mater and counter to multiple studies that have found the vaccine is safe for pregnant women – was leaked and promoted by anti-vaxxers online.
Dr McLindon wants his early research to be investigated further, but his personal stance against vaccine mandates is not helping his fight for serious consideration of his findings.
“I’ve been shunned and isolated and in a very difficult place both personally and professionally,” he told The Sunday Mail. “I am not an anti-vaxxer, I’m just against mandates, and as a GP I delivered the scheduled immunisations to patients for years.
“As an obstetrician my patients were mostly all vaccinated. “I have never encouraged anyone not to be vaccinated.”
Dr McLindon, a long-time clinical researcher in infertility and recurrent miscarriage, told peers in a closed meeting that he had discovered a rise in the number of early pregnancies lost to women following the Covid-19 vaccine.
“I told the group that the rates looked too high but needed further investigation and made it clear the findings must not be spread,” he said.
“I was horrified by what I saw online. “It was used as anti-vax fodder and my actual data was not yet complete. “Those numbers were very early and they were worst possible scenario. “They needed to be moderated and adjusted as more time passed.
“News travelled fast in the medical world in Queensland and I have been distanced and frozen out.”
The doctor said at 51 he will likely have to start life again in a different career.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommends all people trying to conceive to have the Covid vaccine. Several studies have found the vaccine to be safe for pregnant women.
As he fights for his reputation, Supreme Court documents show the doctor lost his position at the Mater as he failed to adhere to the vaccine mandate for medical professionals.
Dr McLindon is one of a group of Queensland doctors who launched a legal challenge to the chief health officer’s vaccine mandates for hospital and healthcare workers.
“That is my personal decision due to a heart condition,” he said.
A Mater spokesman confirmed that the doctor no longer practised at the Mater but would not clarify the reason. Dr McLindon said he too was not at liberty to comment on the reason for his termination.
But court documents show that Mater chief executive Dr Peter Steer terminated his employment on June 9 as he had not complied to the vaccine mandate and did not provide an exemption.
“I wish to have peers review my findings before formally releasing,” Dr McLindon said. “The aim is to find a reputable international journal who sees the importance of this work to add to the scientific literature in this space.
“I have an intimate knowledge of these women’s menstrual cycles, time of conception, bloods, ultrasounds, vaccination status and timings.”
Colleagues say the controversial gynaecologist is a respected doctor and a “decent human being”. “Research needs to start somewhere,” one doctor said. “As experts in a field we have an obligation to be intellectually honest. “This includes being absolutely sure of your data and allowing others in the field to crosscheck your findings.”
********************************************************
Border closures ‘ruined people’s lives’, says mum of stranded boy
It’s been a whole year since a Queensland mother was reunited with her young son after an agonising two-month separation because of border closures – and the family is convinced it was all for nothing.
The tear-jerking moment – when little Memphis ran into mother Dominique Facer’s arms at a Brisbane airport – resonated with thousands of Queenslanders grappling with “inhumane” border restrictions during Covid.
Memphis, who was three at the time, had been visiting his grandparents in regional NSW when the borders slammed shut in July 2021, stopping him from returning to his home at Howard in the Fraser Coast region.
It took until September 3 for the little boy to be brought home after a big fight from his Queensland mum.
Ms Facer still questions the necessity of the harsh lockout laws and the motives of an unbudging Queensland Premier reluctant to grant exemptions.
When she learned Annastacia Palaszczuk was planning to reopen the border between NSW and Queensland on October 18, just six weeks after winning her long battle to see her son again, it was a “slap in the face”.
“I still have a hard time grasping the event and just the whole timeline of it,” she said.
“It feels like we went through all that sh-- because they were just clutching at straws, but they were ruining people’s lives and businesses in the process, so what was it all for?”
“When you look back on it now, you think to yourself, they put people through that crap for nothing and was a shock to the system and kind of a slap in the face when I found out the borders were opening because they could have just done that from the start.
“Palaszczuk has never reached out or said anything to us, which would have showed she had remorse or a bit of decorum but she never once reached out, nor did (chief health officer) Dr (Jeanette) Young.”
Looking back, Ms Facer still feels sorry for the people who missed out on saying goodbye to their loved ones and those who died completely alone.
She said she was “one of the lucky ones,” who, with the help of Opposition Leader David Crisafulli, the “awesome” staff at Angel Flight and the media crusade that campaigned for her, was finally able to reunite with her son. “I still can’t believe it that many people cared,” Ms Facer said.
“You think, oh yeah, this sucks for me, all my friends and family understand but when you get thousands of different people all rallying together for you, and siding with you, understanding your pain, it’s pretty next level.
“I remember being at Archerfield and seeing all the media but not realising they were there for me because I saw a big plane come in and thought someone political or important was also landing there.
“When I walked out to the tarmac, I saw the news chopper and someone said ‘yeah, you’re on live television’ and then all the journalists started lining up ready to come at me for an interview, I was like, ‘hooly dooley’.
“Even now, you still get the looks. This woman came up to me in a shop and she heard me say Memphis’s name and she said, oh my God, is that the little boy that was stuck in NSW?’
“And I laughed and said, ‘yeah this is Memphis’ and she was like, ‘OMG, I cried my eyes out watching him run to you’.”
******************************************************
For this teacher weighing up a return to the classroom, there are bigger issues than pay
Including ineffective discipline options
Paige Rundle is on long service leave from the profession she loves, but admits it's unlikely she will return to teaching full time.
Ms Rundle is one of thousands of registered Australian teachers opting not to step back into the classroom, as the teacher shortage worsens.
But she says it's not a question of pay. "The money's not that bad — it's that they've taken teaching out of our hands," she said. "They've got to give teachers the freedom to actually teach."
There were 1,050 teacher vacancies in Queensland as of the end of May this year. This compares to 760 vacancies in a similar timeframe last year
Teacher shortages are not a problem unique to Queensland, with modelling showing the demand for secondary school teachers across Australia will outstrip graduates by more than 4,100 teachers over the next three years.
A national action plan is expected to be endorsed by December to recruit and retain more teachers, with talk of better pay for more experienced staff.
Ms Rundle said she hoped any national action plan would address common concerns among teachers about the curriculum, workload and discipline.
"At the moment it's a rotating wheel where the same kids get suspended; they come back, and it's a 'reward' to be sent home again. And the kids know we can't do anything about it. "All the while, it is disruptive to the whole class."
Ms Rundle said, in addition, teachers were now expected to do a lot of parenting – making the classroom an unappealing environment to work in.
Queensland's Education Minister Grace Grace has sought to reassure parents that teacher shortages are not affecting students' NAPLAN results.
"The Grattan Institute has given Queensland a gold star for growth in student outcomes so we're very proud of that," Ms Grace said.
"We are providing added incentives for teachers to teach in regional and remote Queensland, so hopefully that will really give us a boost along in terms of teacher numbers."
Parents are worried about the long-term consequences of the shortage and the impact of their children's education and future.
"Parents are concerned in … making sure that kids have appropriate supervision at school," P&C's Queensland chief executive Scott Wiseman said.
'Linchpin role'
Queensland Teachers Union vice president Leah Olsson said there needed to be a "discussion at the dinner table" about the value of teachers to society.
"We need resourcing for our state schooling, and we need respect for the linchpin role that they play in our community," she said.
Ms Olsson said better incentives were also needed, such as paid-for flights, to attract teachers to regional and rural areas of Queensland.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-05/what-will-entice-teachers-back-to-the-classroom/101396046
************************************A major Central Queensland coal mine expansion approved
A major Central Queensland steelmaking mine will undergo a massive expansion after getting the green light from the State Government.
More than 700 jobs will be supported during the expansion of Carborough Downs near Moranbah, increasing the metallurgical coal mine’s lifespan by another 11 years.
The underground mine, which is owned and operated by Fitzroy Australia, currently employs about 700 people, with almost 70 per cent of its workforce being local or drive-in, drive-out workers.
Coal production from the expansion is expected to begin in the next 12 months.
Resources Minister Scott Stewart said Carborough Downs was a “significant” employer and economic contributor to the Isaac region, with the extension ensuring the future stability of jobs.
“This investment is a strong vote of confidence in Queensland resources sector, including our state’s large deposits of high-quality steelmaking coal,” he said.
“Importantly, this extension will create flow on economic benefits for the entire Isaac region, from tools, safety and workwear suppliers right through to our pubs, café’s and accommodation providers.
“Queensland offers a great lifestyle and having good jobs available in the regions is an important way to sustain this.”
Mr Stewart said the resources sector in Queensland supported about 77,000 jobs, with regional areas accounting for two-thirds of all mining jobs.
“Queensland is naturally blessed with the world’s highest quality metallurgical coal, which the world needs to make steel,” he said. “Even as the world transitions to renewables, metallurgical coal for steel will remain an essential, and valuable, international export commodity for Queensland.”
3 September, 2022
Jacinta Price LOSES IT at Anthony Albanese and says he has a 'tiny little mind' that can't tell the difference between a multi-millionaire African American basketballer and Aboriginal Australians living in the desert
Senator Jacinta Price has blasted the Prime Minister for his 'petty political stunt' after he met basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal to discuss the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with O'Neal after the NBA legend requested a meeting in Sydney to learn more about the referendum.
In a newsletter on Friday, Country Liberals Senator Jacinta Price slammed Albanese for 'trotting out an African American multi-millionaire' instead of listening to the Indigenous voices already in Parliament.
'Albo couldn't resist the opportunity to do a presser with a celebrity like O'Neal,' Ms Price wrote. 'In his tiny little mind he probably couldn't see the difference between a multi-millionaire African American basketballer and Aboriginal Australians living in remote and rural Australia.
Ms Price urged the Prime Minister to listen to Indigenous Australians already in parliament, lobby groups and head to remote communities to hear directly from them.
'There are REAL Aussies facing REAL problems that need REAL solutions, they don't need such shallowness with no substantive plans when they're being faced with such serious issues,' Ms Price added.
'They don't need an Indigenous Voice handpicked by the government, and they don't need an American celebrity's voice.
'Indigenous Australians have their own voices, they are many and varied and you should start listening to them.'
The Indigenous Senator labelled Albanese as a 'pathetic, attention-seeking, virtue-signalling PM' and noted he was missing from Shaq's Australian highlight's clip.
The newsletter ended with a postscript followed by the famous 'surprised Shaq' meme.
'P.S. When you realise you were just used to implement racial division in another country's constitution,' Ms Price wrote.
MS Price, the former deputy mayor of Alice Springs, was elected at the May 21 poll for the Northern Territory as a member of the Country Liberal Party and has openly criticised the government's Indigenous policies.
The Aboriginal senator donned a traditional headdress and rallied against what she called 'handouts' and 'symbolic recognition' for Indigenous Australians in her first speech to Parliament on July 27.
On August 24, O'Neil burst into the PM's press conference with his imposing 216cm frame dwarfing Mr Albanese, who stands at 173cm.
The towering basketball greeted the PM before gently pulling the hand of Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney to touch his forehead in a strange exchange.
'Hello Australia, nice to see you,' he told the press, before telling the PM and Senator Burney: Congratulations to you guys and I want you to know Shaq loves Australia, all right?'
The former NBA star was supposed to pledge his support for the referendum but instead delivered a couple of vague platitudes and quickly left.
He turned and left the room within 10 seconds of arriving, pausing only to remind the PM he would need him to 'give him that clearance too' to take home the boomerangs he had earlier been presented with.
The PM insisted the meeting with the basketball star had been a huge success, telling media later: 'It was a very positive conversation. He is interested in this country, his second visit to Australia.
'He knows that we are a warm and generous people, and he wanted to inform himself about what this [Voice] debate was about... by engaging directly with the Minister for Indigenous Affairs and myself as the Prime Minister.
'It is a really positive discussion about the way that Australia is seen in the world.'
Albanese said he hoped the NBA legend will lend his profile to promoting a campaign to support the referendum.
***************************************************
The Labor party is obsessed with brown skin
Not since Gulliver’s Travels has there been such an absurd visual image: a giant of a man towering over a land of pipsqueaks and midgets, as they grovel and fawn at his feet. The giant was of course a real one, the seven-foot-tall African American basketball player and occasional rap artist Shaquille ‘The Shaq’ O’Neal. The pygmies were of course metaphorical ones; the leading lights of the Albanese government; Labor’s Lilliputians.
As our editor pointed out on this page a week shy of the last federal election, in his warning to voters, an Albanese Labor government would comprise of ‘possibly the lowest calibre of intellects and individuals ever to assemble in a single federal parliamentary party room (other than the Greens, but that should go without saying)…’. Indeed, the events of the past week prove the accuracy of that prediction.
Only a moron would fail to see that there is no possible connection between this particular African American celebrity and those who are supposedly crying out for a ‘Voice’ to represent them in our parliament other than… the colour of his skin. There is literally nothing whatsoever that qualifies Mr ‘Shaq’ to speak on behalf of a single dispossessed or aggrieved indigenous Australian other than… the colour of his skin. There is no linkage, no matter how remote or tenuous or contrived, between a wealthy retired basketball player and the complexities involved in changing our constitution other than… the colour of his skin. There is no line that can be drawn in any credible way between alleged past atrocities committed against aborigines that can only be addressed through an entire new apparatus of government and a man who has made millions of dollars out of throwing a basketball around than… the colour of his skin.
Which leads to the inescapable conclusion – denied repeatedly by anxious commentators and politicians alike – that the Voice is about race, it is wholly about race, and it is about nothing but race.
But the stupidity does not stop there. As has been pointed out by numerous astonished commentators, Mr O’Neal is in Australia to promote an American gambling enterprise. In other words, The Shaq and his overseas sponsors make money out of a perfectly legal but – to many on the wowser Left – morally dubious activity that causes significant unhappiness (and worse) to many long-suffering individuals within the indigenous community.
Yet this inconvenient fact appeared to not bother Labor’s cheer squad one whit. Indeed, the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas, as woke as they come, tweeted – in response to the negative commentary that followed hard on the heels of the Prime Minister’s ridiculous stunt – ‘If you think Shaq doesn’t matter you haven’t lived in the multicultural suburbs of melb where I come from. He is a god.’
A god no less! A god who, it appears to have escaped Ms Karvelas’s attention, is happy with uber-misogynistic lyrics in his songs (yes, he’s a rapper as well) such as, ‘Taxiderm your bitch head, mount it on a wall’ and ‘We want the exotic, erotic ladies, not them toxic ladies that burn a lot’. So it can’t have been his songwriting skills that canonised Mr O’Neal in Ms Karvelas’s eyes.
What’s more, Shaquille O’Neal has gone on record praising Donald Trump. So it can’t have been his politics that conferred divine status upon him, either. What on earth could it have been?
Oh, that’s right… the colour of his skin.
Tanya Plibersek, another of Mr Albanese’s short-in-moral-stature ministers, decided that what qualified The Shaq for such a privileged role in promoting the Voice is his support for Black Lives Matter. Except, Mr O’Neal has been just as vocal in supporting the police against the supporters of BLM. So, no, it can’t be that. Which takes us back to her undoubted appreciation of… the colour of his skin.
Mr O’Neal is here to make a buck and we wish him well in that endeavour. That he was canny enough to use the preening, patronising racism of our left-leaning politicians and media to his own advantage is no indictment on him but a savage indictment of them. What this episode – savagely condemned by both Jacinta Price and Lidia Thorpe alike – demonstrates is that the Labor leadership team are as gullible and foolish as star-struck teenage girls.
Worse, much like Joe Biden – who famously proclaimed, ‘If you don’t vote for me, you ain’t black’ – this mob are racist to their very core, unable to see anything beyond the black skin of an African American. Shame on them.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/09/labors-lilliputians
*********************************************"Voice": Part of the relentless push of the modern Left to foment racial hatred and instil grievances
Our beloved country under Labor’s proposed ‘Voice’ will become one gigantic apartheid state. Australia will boast apartheid and racial segregation from Broome to Ballina, from Cape York to Cockle Creek.
Racism, rather than mateship, is to be our overriding creed.
As former Fraser minister Neil Brown suggests, when the qualification for being part of a body such as the ‘Voice’ can be reached only by members of one race, the Aboriginal race, all other races are excluded. That is racism.
Ramesh Thakur reminds us, ‘It will be impossible to put the genie of racialised identity back in the bottle, ever.’ He goes on to quote US Chief Justice John Roberts, who said: ‘The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.’
It is a sentiment that was beautifully articulated by actor Morgan Freeman back in 2005 – before the Left decided to weaponise America’s dormant racial animosity as a modern political tool. Freeman silenced 60 Minutes host Mike Wallace who said, ‘Black history month you find…?’
‘Ridiculous,’ replied Freeman.
When asked why, Freeman added, ‘You’re going to relegate my history to a month? What do you do with yours? Which month is “white history month”? Well, come on, tell me?’
After Wallace clarifies that he is Jewish, Freedman continues, ‘Okay, which month is “Jewish history month”?’
‘There isn’t one.’
‘Oh… Do you want one? I don’t either. I don’t want a black history month. Black history is American history.’
Perplexed, Wallace asks, ‘How are we going to get rid of racism?’
‘Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man, and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.’
Morgan Freeman was right. Racism only exists if people say racist things and keep obsessing about race in every aspect of their lives. There is only one American history and there is only one Australian Constitution. Unfortunately, the prism of race has become a default setting thanks to the relentless push of the modern Left to foment racial hatred and instil grievances in order to garner votes.
Remember Joe Biden’s, ‘if you don’t vote for me, you ain’t black’ sneer?
We are at the point where the conversation about race has gone beyond parody and descended into outright lunacy. Time keeping is racist. Maths is racist. Golf balls are a product of colonial exploitation. It’s a miracle teachers are still allowed to write on blackboards with white chalk.
This absurdity has a darker side, such as white students being restricted in common spaces of some American colleges to avoid something called ‘white violence’. In Nigeria, white models have been banned from advertisements. And when it comes to the downright terrifying, groups in South Africa are walking around openly shouting, ‘Kill the Boer, kill the farmers!’ This is a call to murder based on race.
In Australia, we are blessed to have largely escaped racial violence and extreme racial tensions, but for how much longer? This is what concerns me.
The last few years have seen increasing agitation about race in this country. Under Labor, these racial differences could soon be enshrined in our Constitution. We are doing the very opposite of what Morgan Freeman and John Roberts advised.
Instead of ceasing our conversation about race, we have made it the number one national priority. It is all we talk about. Indeed, we are being forced to talk about it and everyone will have to keep talking about it in the lead-up to, during, and after the referendum – whatever the result.
Australia will end up talking about race forever.
This is not the path to reconciliation. I fear it is the beginning of a new Australia. An Australia that judges its citizens by the sins of their ancestors and colour of their skin. An Australia redefined through race and underpinned by a re-writing of history, malicious myth, untruths, propaganda, and parasitic activism that helps no one except itself. Even the ABC fact checkers had to admit that the often cited claim that Indigenous Australians were covered by the flora and fauna act – which did not classify them as human beings, and only changed when the Constitution was amended following the 1976 referendum – was a myth.
The ABC’s Stan Grant even managed to turn our most famous historical poem into a story of race, ‘I love a sunburned country, a land of sweeping plains, of rugged mountain ranges. It reminds me that my people were killed on those plains. We were shot on those plains, disease ravaged us on those plains.’
This hyper-racialised future that pits Australia’s children against each other from the earliest age based on their skin colour, will be a scar on our politics.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/09/giving-racism-an-aussie-voice/
*************************************************The jackboot trampling Australians
George Orwell once wrote: ‘All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.’
He was someone who knew intimately the danger he was warning against, and also rightly said – even more ominously – via 1984:
There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always – do not forget this, Winston – always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.
Sadly this is no longer just the stuff of fiction and dystopian novels. Our Orwellian overlords have done extremely well in keeping the masses under their jackboots by hyping up fear, panic, and paranoia over a virus. Two years of lockdown hell – especially here in Melbourne – has taken its toll. Many broken lives, and many lost lives – due to suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, business collapse, and so on – have been the ugly result.
I never want to go through all that again, as would be the case with all freedom-loving citizens who have had a gut-full of the Big State doing its best to emulate Big Brother. Thankfully, it is more or less over – or so it seems. But just as a rapacious carnivore wants ever more, after having gotten a taste for blood, so too our statists have loved the power and control they so easily were able to get over the past few years.
They do not want to give it up. Indeed, they want more.
A whole new era has been ushered in, and it is not just most politicians who love it so. Plenty of folks at the top of the food chain have been rubbing their hands with glee as they see their new world order so nicely coming about. It has been a dream run.
Here down under our power-hungry premiers are still intoxicated by their newfound powers. They not only want to stay in complete control over the masses but they want to punish any and all recalcitrants who have dared to not bow down and worship them and their draconian edicts.
Consider two recent examples of this. This is what the tyrants in Queensland are now up to:
Queensland’s Education Department is docking the pay of 900 school staff who did not get the Covid vaccine, saying that ignoring the mandate put others at risk. Staff members including teachers, teacher aides, administration staff, cleaners and school officers will have a ‘small-scale temporary reduction of one increment of pay’ for 18 weeks, the department said.
‘Approximately $25-$90 per week gross, proportionate to the normal pay that a staff member receives,’ a spokesperson from the department said. ‘The disciplinary penalty imposed on staff are individualised to each person’s circumstances.’ The staff received a letter this week informing them about the decision, however a 20-week period had been flagged with them.
The letter stated the action was ‘appropriate’ for the severity of the matter and hoped staff would follow future directions. A direction from the state’s Chief Health Officer required school staff to be vaccinated against Covid from November last year, but the decision was revoked in June and staff have since returned to the workplace.
Talk about dictatorship in action: ‘You will be punished for refusing our orders. You will be made an example of. You will suffer for this.’ As if they have not suffered already. Thankfully, there has been a little bit of pushback to this.
The article also says this:
Teachers Professional Association of Queensland secretary Tracy Tully said impacted teachers had been informed earlier this year they would face disciplinary action for not complying. ‘Whilst they were on suspended leave without pay, they received a letter saying that they are advising that there would be some disciplinary action, but they weren’t sure what it would be,’ she said.
‘By doing that, it actually puts people into a high state of alert and fear.’ Ms Tully said the teachers had already been penalised financially. ‘The teachers have already been disciplined by being stood down without pay,’ she said. Ms Tully said some teachers would appeal the decision with the Industrial Relations Commission.
University of Sydney social scientist specialising in vaccines Professor Julie Leask said the reduced pay policy was from a time when high vaccination coverage was crucial to reduce transmission but was now ‘outdated’. ‘It is unlikely to achieve what these policies should be trying to achieve, which is either to encourage vaccination or to ensure that others are protected from transmission,’ she said. Professor Leak said these policies only ‘alienate and drive mistrust’. ‘This policy appears to be more of an anger-based policy than an evidence-based,’ she said.
But another state is also getting in on the persecution, making life even more difficult for all those rebellious lepers there. As one news item reports:
WA Police say more than 50 officers are facing disciplinary action over their refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19 – as a legal challenge against the state’s vaccine mandates by one of their own was comprehensively rejected by a WA Supreme Court judge. Ben Falconer has spent almost nine months fighting against the mandates issued by WA Police to all its workers late last year – a battle that took so long that the mandates were lifted in the meantime.
That battle was lost on three fronts on Tuesday, when Justice Jeremy Allanson methodically picked apart arguments around irrationality, proportionality and bodily integrity. ‘It was not, in the words of counsel for the applicant, a maelstrom in a petri dish. The measures that were taken are undoubtedly extraordinary, but that does not establish that they lacked rationality so as, for that reason, to be beyond power,’ Justice Allanson said.
More Statist thuggery in action. As one social media mate of mine said:
Now that Ben Falconer lost his case, they want to punish everyone who didn’t agree to be force vaccinated. Disgraceful to ever mandate a vaccine, let alone a total blunder that doesn’t even prevent transmission, let alone everything we’ve learned since even then, but to go after them at this stage is just shameful. Let’s just keep making the wound bigger even after the threat has passed, and make sure our law enforcement officers know that their value is 0. Total shambles.
Quite right. All dictators thrive on fear, intimidation, and bullying. These Labor premiers – and others like them – have become experts in this. And the really scary thing is what we are seeing down under is no different from what we see in Communist China with its social credit system: good behaviour and good thought (as determined by the State) will be rewarded; bad behaviour and bad thought will be punished.
China and Australia are much closer than we thought – and in more ways than one.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/08/where-the-jackboot-never-fades/
****************************************************The incorrectness of coal
He spoke too soon. It’s always a gamble going out on a limb. But when Richard Marles, then a Labor shadow minister, spoke in 2019 about the (temporary) collapse of the world market for thermal coal he didn’t have to add that ‘at one level that’s a good thing’.
Shane Wright, the economics writer who pops up in the Age and Sydney Morning Herald, also opted for a florid description: ‘coal is like candlesticks’. According to him, ‘the Candle Makers’ Union of old was wont to say 150 years ago: the light bulbs, they’ll never catch on’. So droll (and inaccurate) of him to predict the demise of coal in this way.
Now you could argue that Wright doesn’t count and Marles only a little bit, but Treasury also has it in for coal. Take the assumption from this year’s Budget delivered at the end of March – less than six months ago – that the price of thermal coal (used to generate electricity) would decline from $US320 per tonne to $US60 per tonne by the end of the September quarter 2022. (It’s currently trading close to $US400.)
You might think I have made a mistake typing these numbers. But no, in the span of just over a half a year, the Treasury expected the global price of thermal coal to fall by nearly three-quarters notwithstanding other predictions contained in the Budget that the outlook for the global economy was fairly rosy. (Precipitous declines in other commodity prices, apart from oil, were also anticipated.)
This was despite the fact that the war in the Ukraine was in full swing, the price of natural gas in Europe was skyrocketing (it had actually risen sharply before the war) and Europe was being forced to turn back to coal to maintain its output of electricity. Don’t Treasury officials read the international press? Or maybe they stopped reading after the glorious victory of the Glasgow Cop 26 and its faux commitments from some countries to get out of coal, including Germany.
There is surely an irony that Germany is now ramping up its coal-fired electricity generation – using brown coal, indeed – after it became clear that the flow of cheap natural gas from Russia could no longer be assured. The government has even reluctantly agreed to extend the lives of the last three remaining nuclear plants. That’s right, renewable energy doesn’t really cut it when a crisis emerges. Other countries to turn back to coal include Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and the UK.
Actually, it seems a lifetime ago when the climate-fest was held in Glasgow. It was only last November and Boris was still at the helm. He was flitting back and forwards to convince some uncertain world leaders of the need to sign up for the net-zero journey – sadly, including our own prime minister, Scott Morrison. (It’s not clear how many other ministerial positions he also held at the time.)
As it turned out, it was probably the peak of climate fear-mongering, with all the likely urgers there to make themselves look important and/or to snaffle more government largesse. Our own Twiggy Forrest had his own stand providing free bumf about green hydrogen to anyone who walked by. Even Greta turned up after a long train ride, although her impact is clearly waning.
One of the biggest points of contention at the conference was the call to phase out coal, which the ‘greenest’ countries supported, or phase down, a position supported by Australia, India and even the US. Rather than go away without any ‘consensus’, the final decision was unanimous agreement that (unabated) coal should be phased down and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies should be removed.
What a joke those days of verbal wrangling turned out to be! Thermal coal is now at historically high prices; metallurgical coal is even being used to generate electricity with its price sometimes lower than that of thermal coal – unheard of; and global demand for thermal coal is expected to be higher next year than this year. Demand is particularly strong in China and India.
The International Energy Agency, well-known for its lop-sided bias towards anything renewable and away from coal, has had to admit that its predictions of the early demise of coal as a source of energy have been completely wrong. The term ‘stranded asset’ is unsurprisingly absent from its more recent reports.
We have also seen the predictions of the ESG crowd go pear-shaped as coal companies announce record profits and dividends. When mining giant Anglo American decided to peel off its thermal coal division into a separate company, Thungela Resources, there were green-tinged market analysts who estimated the value of the new company at zero and firmly told shareholders to sell. The price of Thungela Resources has risen by close to 600 per cent since listing and its dividend yield is 25 per cent!
Then there’s the story of BHP exiting thermal coal – that company is particularly in thrall to the ESG crowd – only to be outwitted by the cunning executives at Glencore. By taking the price risk during the period during which the transaction was being completed, Glencore as the buyer was able to fully pay for the purchase!
One of the most alarming aspects of these recent developments is the failure of the news to reach so many of our politicians, including those who are actually in power. The state energy ministers (they are right down the political food chain) have decided that coal can have no role in ensuring the stability of the electricity grid in the future. Federal Climate Change Minister, Chris Bowen, simply doles out favours to green rent-seekers without understanding the full implications. But here’s the thing: there is breathless hypocrisy surrounding the behaviour of these politicians. The fact is that coal is propping up both the federal budget and the budgets of Queensland and New South Wales, in particular. In just the few months between this year’s budget and the end of the financial year, the bottom line of the federal budget was better by $25 billion because of higher commodity prices. The Queensland budgetary position would be dire were it not for coal royalties.
Evidently, it’s fine to bite the hand that feeds you if you are an environmentally concerned politician. No one in the mainstream media will pick you up, particularly those journalists who think that coal and candlesticks are the same.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/coal-is-bad
2 September 2022
Inner city residents vote for changing date of Australia Day - but the PM slaps down the move
Some moronic political correctness from Albanese below. How is the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of traditional Aborigines "the oldest continuous civilisation on earth". Civilization is when people ABANDON the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. That's its definition. Civilization features CITIES. The Aborigines had none. They did not even have writing
The City of Melbourne is set to push the Federal Government to move the date of Australia Day after a clear majority of locals voted for the date to be changed in a recent survey.
Almost 60 per cent of 1,609 Melbourne residents and businesses said they support celebrating Australia Day on a date other than January 26, That was twice the number of people who don't want a change.
Of those polled, 59.8 per cent supported changing the date of Australia Day, compared with 31.6 per cent who did not.
Even more, 59.9 per cent, said they believe Australia Day would be moved from 26 January within the next 10 years.
The five traditional owner organisations that make up the Eastern Kulin nation also unanimously supported changing the date.
If the council endorses the vote, it would commit to still issuing permits for Australia Day activities by the state government and other organisations.
It would also support activities that acknowledged the First Nations perspectives of January 26, and citizenship ceremonies would continue to be held.
But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected calls to change Australia Day on Sunrise, saying his focus was on recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution.
'Let's focus on recognising the fact that our nation's birth certificate should proudly recognise that we did not begin in 1788, which is what the 26th of January commemorates, it began at least 60,000 years ago with the oldest continuous civilisation on earth. 'That should be a source of pride.'
Other polls, especially national ones, have been far less enthusiastic about changing the date. A poll by IPSOS in 2021 found only 28 per cent supported the change.
About 90 per cent of the respondents to the Melbourne council's phone survey, done by Redbridge from August 4 to 7, were residents aged over the age of 18. The poll had an even gender split.
The City of Melbourne has just under 170,000 residents and politically is strongly left-leaning.
In the 2022 Federal Election Greens leader won Melbourne in a cakewalk, with 49.6 per cent of the vote.
Changing the date has been a Greens policy for many years but dropped off the party's election policy platform with its First Nations focus instead on the creation of a Treaty.
In 2017 the City of Yarra voted to stop referring to January 26 as Australia Day. It was stripped of the right to hold citizenship ceremonies by the then-Federal government.
Melbourne isn't a Greens-dominated council, with only two if its 11 councillors Greens - Rohan Leppert and Olivia Ball. Its mayor is independent Sally Capp, a former Liberal, who formally asked the council to review its approach to Australia Day in July. She acknowledged January 26 was a 'divisive' date.
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Turnbull slams ‘fascism’ after protesters shout him out of university speech
Turnbull gets that one right
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has decried “fascism” and challenged Sydney’s oldest university to protect free speech on campus after he was yelled and sworn at by student protesters during a function and escorted out by police.
Turnbull left the Sydney University Law Society event on Thursday without speaking, following the boycott by members of the Student Representative Council and student body, who called him “ruling class scum” who “wouldn’t listen to anyone below” him.
He said it was a “dreadful state of affairs” and “a very sad day” for his alma mater and argued free speech no longer existed on campus if it was in the hands of protesters with loudspeakers.
“It’s just complete fascism. Just extraordinary,” Turnbull told the Herald. “One of the things they accused me of being was anti-queer, which didn’t seem to match the fact that I legalised same-sex marriage. It was literally a litany of objections.”
In video clips posted online, students can be seen yelling into microphones and loudspeakers as Turnbull stands at the front of the room.
“Can I just ask, how many of you would like me to speak today, or how many of you would like me to leave?” Turnbull asked the room of students.
“How many of you would like to pay $100,000 for university?” retorted a young man who was part of the protest. “F--- back off to Mosman, F--- back off to Wentworth.”
A young woman with a megaphone accused Turnbull and successive federal governments of destroying young people’s ability to access welfare payments, and said the Law Society had invited the former prime minister to speak under the guise of free speech.
“The Law Society, which is a student group, is inviting someone on campus under the guise of free speech, when this man and his party have literally been one of the single most damaging forces to higher education, to climate change, to refugee policy,” one protester said.
Sydney University student newspaper Honi Soit identified some of the protesters as SRC officers.
Turnbull said it was for the university to explain whether it would be run by protesters, whom he described as “a very noisy, aggressive minority of people with loudhailers”.
“There’s no free speech at Sydney University unless the people with the loudhailers allow it to happen,” he said. “I don’t know what they’re paying the Senate and officials at the university for if they’re not in charge of their own campus.”
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Major Aussie city makes an embarrassing backflip on cycling lanes after motorists erupt in fury: 'This is a victory for common sense'
Brisbane mayor Jim Soorley tried this in Fortitude Valley a few years ago. It was abandoned after causing big traffic jams
An Aussie city has scrapped a controversial bike lane program after huge protests from local motorist who were furious about their commute times blowing out.
The City of Port Philip in Victoria introduced a pop-up bike lane trial, alongside speed humps, bollards, concrete blocks and yellow markings on local streets.
However, residents of suburbs including Port Melbourne and St Kilda blasted the plans as a 'desecration' of roads.
Now, the state government has agreed to change the plans, with one critic branding the change a 'victory for common sense'.
The plans were the latest example of Australia's cities seemingly waging a war on drivers, after Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth all introduced 30km/h speed limits to discourage cars from the inner city.
In Port Phillip, Department of Transport executive director inner, Alan Fedda, said the council had listened to community feedback over the cycle lane.
'The changes we are proposing will help to strike a balance between community needs, and improving bike rider safety in the City of Port Phillip,' he said.
Port Phillip councillor Andrew Bond praised the decision to scale back the cycling lanes.
'This is a victory for common sense,' he said. 'But there are many other areas in our municipality, aside from these ones, that are also of concern to our residents. 'I look forward to these being addressed in the near future.'
A council meeting in July was hit with complaints from residents who said the bike lanes were ill-considered, unsafe and a blight on bayside suburbs.
The program is part of a wider scheme by the government to roll out lanes in inner municipalities.
Now, the changes will see the trial ending in Port Melbourne, with concrete blocks and bollards also set to be removed.
The department has held regular meetings with the council throughout the project, and is working in partnership on the pop-up bike routes.
Last week, a controversial push to reduce speed limits to 30km/h throughout residential areas in Brisbane was met with outrage from workers in outer suburbs, fearing it will see their daily commute to work blow out.
Greens councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan put forward the motion to discourage motorists claiming it will promote 'vibrant public spaces and hubs of social activity'.
Identical schemes have also been trialled across other Australian cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
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The debt horror that will cripple Australian Federal government spending
A big chunk of tax money will go to pay banks and bond-holders
Although in office for a little more than 100 days, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has already been criticised in some quarters for laying blame for Australia’s economic troubles at the feet of the former Coalition government. He is not entirely wrong to do so.
The period the Coalition was in office, even allowing for pandemic-related spending, could hardly be characterised as the golden years of fiscal restraint. Nor too, could the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years in which Chalmers was Wayne Swan’s chief of staff.
Examples are growing daily of where rising inflation and interest rates are already causing serious stress for mortgage holders throughout the country. Worse still, the pain for households will only be multiplied when energy bills rising rapidly thanks to net zero are also factored in.
But the federal government, which has run up close to $1 trillion debt since the Howard years, is perhaps most exposed. It naturally follows, as rates go up, so too will the borrowing cost on debt, both for new debt accrued and existing debt being rolled over.
Recently, Chalmers correctly identified, ‘when interest rates are rising, it actually costs more and more to service that debt…the fastest-growing area of government spending in the budget is actually servicing the debt that we’ve inherited because as interest rates rise, it becomes more expensive to pay that back.’
With Treasury revising its inflation rate estimate to 7.75 per cent, the RBA cash rate has nowhere to go but up, and fast. As the cash rate has typically followed the inflation rate, Australia faces dramatic rises in our government debt servicing costs.
Recent research released by the Institute of Public Affairs identified the scale of the challenge. Should the cash rate rise to 7 per cent by 2030, a fair assumption given current inflation trajectory, it is estimated that the annual cost of the nation’s interest bill would more than quadruple from $20 billion today to $89 billion by 2030.
This will make the annual cost of debt servicing the third largest spending item in the federal budget behind only welfare and social services, and health.
By way of context, this would see our nation’s debt servicing cost exceed double that of current annual federal government spending on defence and is the equivalent to the cost of purchasing a fleet of six new nuclear submarines. It is also three times more than the current NDIS budget.
Moreover, approximately half of all federal government debt is held overseas, including by the Chinese government, providing potential adversaries with not insignificant financial and economic leverage.
Aside from the Abbott government’s first budget in 2014, which made a strong start on the politically difficult task of budget repair, the former Coalition government oversaw a substantial deterioration to the federal government’s balance sheet.
Under the Coalition, gross federal debt more than doubled from $420 billion in 2015 to $980 billion today, taking debt from 25 per cent of GDP to approximately 45 per cent. This is more than the peak of government debt piled up by Whitlam, which reached just over 20 per cent of GDP in 1975.
Yes, it is true that much of this debt was run up as a result of the pandemic. And it is also true that the Morrison government did not choose for the pandemic to happen. But it did choose how to respond to it.
It was forgivable, and perhaps inevitable, that there be a wage subsidy program like JobKeeper. What was not forgivable is how it was administered. The program was based on giving eligible businesses a wage subsidy of $750 per week per employee, regardless of if that employee was working full time or part time. A more fiscally disciplined approach would have been to at least provide a smaller payment for those working part-time, as occurred in New Zealand.
It was also unclear why the Morrison government chose to direct billions of dollars in taxpayers’ money to states that kept locking its citizens down, especially Victoria, other than they thought it would be popular or, at the very least, politically expedient.
At no time did the Morrison government think it was wise to administer the tough love needed to ween states off soul-destroying lockdowns by refusing to subsidise them.
Yet, at no point did any senior federal Coalition figure even attempt to provide leadership through using the considerable resources of government to communicate the significant economic and social costs of lockdowns.
It is an open question as to whether Labor would have done any better, recent history suggests they more than likely would not have.
When John Howard left office in 2007 gross debt was just $55 billion, which was less than five per cent of GDP. By the time Labor left office in 2013, debt had increased six-fold to approximately $300 billion.
Worse still, both the Gillard and Rudd governments left several budget time-bombs by committing to extra spending outside of the budget forward estimates, which meant the true state of the financial situation was hidden from voters until it was too late.
There is no way around it – any government wanting to pay down debt must cut spending.
This great political challenge is exacerbated by the fact that there is never any shortage of sectional interests demanding more government money from Canberra.
And it is always easier for ministers, who these days seem to be there for a good time, not a long time, to appease those interests by giving into their demands. Whether Chalmers will be a Treasurer more like Keating/Costello than Crean/Morrison remains to be seen.
Still, credit where it is due. So far Chalmers is making the right noises on fiscal discipline and has shown he is perhaps willing to take unpopular decisions in the name of strengthening the budget bottom line, which he did by recently ruling out an extension to the petrol excise cut.
Let’s hope his ambition does not run out of fuel.
https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/running-on-empty-4/
1 September, 2022
A professor lectures to an empty room as all students work from home
I agree that this is not good. I always took questions from students during and after a lecture and that was a helpful part of the process
A university professor has cried out for help after he gave a lecture to a completely empty hall - as students watch remotely from home rather than come to campus.
Jan Slapeta, a Professor of Veterinary and Molecular Parasitology at Sydney University, posted an image of his deserted lecture theatre on Monday as all students were dialling in.
The work-from-home habits adopted during Covid lockdowns have lingered long after most isolation measures for the virus had been abandoned.
Prof. Slapeta said students as a result are missing out not only on collaborative learning but the social life that had always been a major part of the student experience.
'Should I be shocked again? 1 pm lecture - no one! I lectured empty chairs,' he posted to social media.
Professor Slapeta tagged Sydney University in the post, asking for answers after the only student he encountered was one who turned up early for the next class.
'10 min in a student that was early for 2 pm lecture showed up (completely unrelated subject, different degree).
'We had a great discussion, and I had one keen student learning,' he wrote, before asking the uni: 'Where from now? Help @Sydney Uni'
The veterinary professor told Daily Mail Australia it was an issue that 'required deep thought', as lecture attendance had been 'declining for several years' - even before the pandemic - as the university allowed students to log in remotely.
Peter Black, a senior law lecturer at Queensland University of Technology, revealed he often hosts digital lectures to students with cameras turned off.
'This was almost just as depressing, teaching to unresponsive blank screens on Zoom,' he replied to Professor Slapeta's post.
The response to the image was mixed, with some suggesting universities and lecturers will have to adapt to the results of modern technology, while others lamented the isolating effect.
'As someone who taught for over 25 years (high school and undergrad) I can honestly say I find this really upsetting. Teaching is social, and there is nothing like building knowledge together with students in a room,' another professor at QUT replied.
'We are in a global pandemic. Why is it surprising to anyone that people don't want to risk serious illness to do something that can be done remotely?' astrophysicist Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith said.
Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson, a Senior Lecturer in Australian History at Sydney University, thought the picture showed the problems with modern learning.
'This shows that the current way of approaching hybrid teaching isn't working. We need a rethink,' she said.
'Lectures are a vital part of university life and can provide transformative moments in students' education. We need to value them. The current model does not.'
A PhD student claimed the lecture dynamic was wrong and the lack of discussion and debate was also a factor causing lack of attendance.
'Lecture theatre design is outdated! Look how the space is arranged. It implies that only you have something worthwhile to say.
'In my opinion, the design of learning spaces impacts on how we view them. Students will show up not to be talked AT but to be in conversation WITH,' she replied.
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Eccentric landlord posted a video to his TikTok channel last week claiming a group of women who rented out one of his homes had been racking up electricity bills charging their electric vehicle
'One of them turned up in a new Tesla Model 3. She told me she was saving the planet,' he said.
Tesla say its Model 3 costs between $25 and $30 to fully charge - but Ward maintains it was using more power than a 'small shopping centre'
The notorious money lender however believes the idea electric vehicles are helping the environment is 'bullsh*t'.
'They bullsh*t you telling you you're saving the planet but you're not. You're charging this car at night on fossil fuels,' he shouted on TikTok.
'Now it's okay if you don't work and you can charge it during the day with the solar panels, I have 83 solar panels on my roof, but during the day they were out driving, so the solar panels were absolutely useless.
Ward said Tesla's home battery alternative was no better, costing more than $15,000 to purchase in Australia, and it only holds 13kW of electricity.
'The whole thing is f*cking bullsh*t. They're scamming us. All these politicians have shares in renewables and batteries and lithium,' he lamented.
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Australians, Americans ‘most divided over climate change’
Australians and Americans are more divided over the push to fight climate change than voters in any other developed nation, according to a new Pew Research survey which finds fear of climate change nevertheless tops a list of voter concerns around the world.
The gap between the share of “right” and “left” leaning voters, respectively, who said climate change was a “major threat” was highest in the US, followed by Australia, whose “left-leaning” voters were also more concerned about climate change than those anywhere else.
“In Australia, 91 per cent of those who place themselves on the left side of the political spectrum say climate change is a major threat, compared with only 47 per cent among those on the right,” Pew said, a 44 per centage point gap that turned out to be double that of the UK, and quadruple the gap in France.
In the US, 22 per cent of right leaning voters thought climate change was a major threat, compared to 85 per cent for those inclined to vote Democrat.
Israelis cared the least, overall, given only 52 per cent of those who voted left thought climate change was a major threat, and 37 per cent of those on the right.
“Despite the dire concerns about climate change in Europe, concerns are relatively muted in the US, as they have been for years,” the survey, published on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) in Washington, found.
Women and younger voters were consistently more likely to express concern about climate change across countries, the survey of over 24,500 adults in 19 nations, also revealed.
“In Australia, 85 per cent of those ages 18 to 29 say that climate change is a major threat, compared to 63 per cent of those 50 and older,” the survey, conducted from February to June this year, as a soaring summer heatwave and record energy prices engulfed Europe, concluded.
Pew asked respondents to compare five potential threats: climate change, cyber-attacks, the spread of online false information, the prospect of a recession, and the spread of infectious diseases.
A median of 75 per cent of respondents across the 19 nations said climate change was the biggest threat, followed by the spread of mis and disinformation.
A little over 60 per cent said the threat of disease was a major threat, the lowest among the five, and substantially lower than in 2020, when Covid-19 emerged as a global pandemic.
“Concerns about cyber-attacks, possibly heightened by the tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and prominent instances of hacking across the world, are at all-time highs,” the authors said.
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Business hails five-day Covid isolation ‘a game changer’
Business has hailed national cabinet’s decision to reduce mandatory Covid isolation requirements from seven days to five for people with no symptoms, declaring it a “game changer” that will help alleviate labour shortages.
Anthony Albanese, who labelling the move a “proportionate response at this point in the pandemic”, also said masks would no longer be mandatory on domestic flights from September 9 – the same day the isolation changes take effect.
However, all workers in high-risk settings, including aged care and disability care, must still self-isolate for seven days.
Government sources confirmed if a person not in those settings has symptoms on day six and onwards, they should follow their state’s health advice.
“There aren’t mandated requirements for the flu or for a range of other illnesses that people suffer from,” the Prime Minister said. “What we want to do is to make sure that government responds to the changed circumstances. Covid is likely going to be around for a considerable period of time. And we need to respond appropriately to it based upon the weight of evidence.
“We had a discussion about people looking after each other, people looking after their own health,” he added.
Mr Albanese did not rule out extending pandemic leave payments worth up to $750, which are now jointly funded by the commonwealth and states. National cabinet is due to make a decision on the payments when it next meets in a fortnight.
The payments will reflect the five-day isolation rule from September 9, meaning they should be worth about $536.
Restaurant and Catering chief executive Belinda Clarke said that with the current staffing crisis, a reduction in isolation days would be a “game changer”.
“As we’ve continued to learn to live with Covid-19, we have to start becoming more flexible,” she told The Australian. “Other countries have had a five-day isolation period for months now, and this goes a long way to helping staff who are asymptomatic return to work and resume their lives.”
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said the decision was “overdue and welcome”, stressing it was important for people to get back to work in a more timely manner as the pandemic passes its peak.
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http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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