Indigenous footy star turned ABC presenter says Australians 'can't accept it's a racist country' that was 'built off the back of slavery and rape' of Aborigines

This is grossly offensive to the many white men who were the real builders of modern Australia. My ancestors were among them

An Aboriginal ex-AFL player has labelled Australia racist after weighing in on a new documentary that explores the appalling rates of Indigenous incarceration.

Tony Armstrong, who played 35 games across six seasons for three clubs, argued that Australians needed to accept they were living in a racist country after watching unsettling footage from 'Incarceration Nation'.

The documentary takes a deep dive into the imprisonment rates across the country with Aboriginal men making up 29 per cent of the male prison population and Aboriginal women making up 34 per cent of female inmates.

'This country still can't accept it's a racist country,' Armstrong said on Channel 10's The Project on Thursday.

'You still can't accept it's built off the back of slavery, it's built off the back of dispossession, it's built off the back of rape and pillage of Indigenous people.'

The former sports star turned ABC presenter had been invited onto the talk show panel to speak about the upcoming documentary.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander imprisonment rates have increased over the decade with 12,456 behind bars between July 2019 and June 2020.

The figure is up from 11,989 the previous year and 7,507 in 2010-2011.

The documentary revealed a startling number of young Aboriginal Australians were being thrown behind bars - some for committing petty crimes.

One included a 16-year-old who was thrown into detention for 28 days after he stole a bottle of water. Another was an 18-year-old who was jailed for 90 days for stealing 90 cents from a car.

A visibly emotional Armstrong admitted that it was 'hard to watch' the unsettling footage. 'My heart is going a million miles an hour,' he said. 'There's so many points to pick up on.

'We talk about incarceration rates, you're not seeing white kids getting jailed for stealing a bottle of water.

'You're trying to find a way to rehabilitate them, you're asking what are the reasons why they ended up stealing that bottle of water? You're not just throwing the long arm of the law at them.'

Footage also captured Aboriginal Australians being beaten, tasered and thrown around by police.

A 14-year-old Dylan Voller was shown hooded and bound to a chair while in youth detention in 2015.

ABC's Four Corners first aired the footage during an explosive investigative piece in 2016. The photos sent shockwaves across the country and raised questions about the treatment of young inmates.

'You saw the footage of the young fella, bound up like Guantanamo Bay,' Armstrong said.

'That's not on. But that happens in our country. And we talk about a sense of truth telling, we talk about, you know, needing to accept where we've come from to be able to move forward.'

'Incarceration Nation' will be aired on NITV at 8.30pm on Sunday. The documentary will also be available on SBS On Demand.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9931151/The-Projects-Tony-Armstrong-slams-racist-Australia-saying-country-built-slavery.html

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Brisbane private school rejecting kids over ‘gender balance’

Families are being rejected from a highly-regarded Brisbane school, with entry being blocked to some students in an attempt to achieve a specific gender balance.

Numerous families have received rejection letters from Cannon Hill Anglican College (CHAC) in Brisbane’s east that state key considerations for enrolment include gender balance.

Parents of one male student said their son was not permitted through to the second stage for enrolment.

“We are just disappointed that the reason our child didn’t get into the school was due to their gender,” the parent said.

The letter stated that demand for year 7 places in 2024 exceeded the college’s current enrolment capacity.

It said, “The key considerations within the current College Enrolment Policy include; whether a sibling is currently enrolled at CHAC, gender balance and date of application”.

A CHAC spokesman said due to the school’s strong academic success, holistic pastoral program and coeducational offering, each year it received more enrolment applications than there were places available.

“The College has a transparent enrolment policy, which is shared with parents prior to application and throughout the enrolment process,” the spokesman said.

“Places are primarily offered on two key considerations: whether a sibling is currently enrolled at the College and the date of application.

“As a coeducational College, we then aspire to enrol an appropriate balance of genders. CHAC also supports gender diversity within the College community.” 

Professor Tamara Walsh at the UQ School of Law said it was likely this stance comes under an exemption in both the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/education-queensland/brisbane-private-school-rejecting-kids-over-gender-balance/news-story/d8ad6542852f0338f56201100d0b4d64

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Qld set to totally decriminalise prostitution

The State Government has moved to totally decriminalise prostitution, referring the matter to the Queensland Law Reform Commission.

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman will today announce she has asked for the review to investigate how to set up a new system of laws to improve the health, safety, human rights and legal protections for sex workers across the state.

There are currently just two forms of legalised sex work in Queensland – services provided at a licensed brothel, and when a person is working alone from a premises, providing in-house calls, outcall services, or both.

All other forms are illegal – including escort agencies, unlicensed brothels, massage parlours, street workers who publicly solicit and those who work in small groups – although they by far make up the majority of services being offered.

Women cannot operate in pairs, check in with a colleague before or after calls, work with another person providing them security, or employ another person to screen or book clients.

Ms Fentiman said feedback from the industry was that current laws were actually making things less safe.

“We need to ensure appropriate and modern laws are in place for the industry and its associated safe working arrangements, and that these are also in the best interests of the community,” Ms Fentiman said.

“The review will consider how best to provide appropriate safeguards to protect sex workers.

“Feedback from the sector has been that current laws criminalise safety strategies used by sex workers.

“A key focus of this review is the safety of workers and putting in place proper regulation so the industry doesn’t operate in the shadows. “Sex workers shouldn’t have to choose between working legally and being safe at work.”

She said the QLRC would consult with the industry, and the community would also be able to provide submissions on the issue.

It will also consider laws in other jurisdictions, including the NT and NSW, which has already decriminalised sex work.

“This is an important step forward allowing us to consider what reform will benefit the industry and the agencies that provide support and regulation,” she said. “It is our hope that these recommendations will help reduce the barriers sex workers and businesses face.

“These barriers include appropriate access to health, safety and legal protections – which are rights that should be afforded to every Queenslander.”

The commission will provide its report, including any draft legislation required, by November 27, 2022.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/qld-politics/qld-set-to-totally-decriminalise-prostitution/news-story/e5ccf505b79a7398ffaef2a14f06b21e

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The ABC ignores half of Australia, let’s give it half the funds

If you defamed someone, would your boss pay the legal bill? That’s exactly what’s happened when the ABC paid the legal bills of journalist Louise Milligan, who defamed someone on her social media accounts.

If it had been any other government agency that forked out $79,000 in damages and $50,000 in costs — paid for by the taxpayer — for the same crime, the ABC would go feral.

The ABC, answering questions on notice recently, told the Senate there was a distinction between official ABC social media accounts and ABC staff using their social media.

“In the former case, the ABC accepts editorial responsibility for content provided on official ABC social media accounts and editorial policies apply,” it said.

“In the latter case, the ABC does not accept editorial responsibility and editorial policies do not apply.”

So why did they pay Louise Milligan’s legal bills?

“Particular and exceptional circumstances,” we are told.

A private media company would have to explain to its shareholders if they covered the legal costs from an employee’s personal social media account. But the ABC is not a private media company.

Its shareholders are the Australian taxpayer who can’t attend an annual AGM.

Since 2015, the ABC has had to pay court-ordered damages, costs, or settlements 18 times for defamation cases, and we don’t know the price.

We have a right to know this because we own and pay for this organisation whose operating budget is the price of two rural training hospitals, or $880.56 million a year.

As other businesses struggle and shed staff, the ABC has had the taxpayer-funded benefits of increasing them by 120.

When the ABC was asked on notice during Senate Estimates who was handed an eye-watering bonus of more than $50,000, about the annual wage of a regional reporter that would make a few Cartier watches seem cheap, the ABC made a Public Interest Immunity Claim: “The ABC believes that disclosure of this information could result in an unreasonable invasion of privacy for the individual, resulting in undue public attention and speculation.”

That’s an immunity that was never afforded Australia Post boss Christine Holgate — she of Cartier watch-gate — by the ABC.

And when asked about publishing unsubstantiated rape claims against Christian Porter and Bill Shorten from the ’80s? “ … that does not prevent in certain circumstances allegations of criminal conduct being reported”.

So no undue public speculation there?

When Extinction Rebellion protests against something, the headline generally reads: “Grandparents fighting for the future of their grandchildren.” But when backbencher George Christensen appeared at an anti-lockdown rally in Mackay, according to the ABC he “posed just metres from QAnon supporters”.

When Extinction Rebellion protests, they are carers; when George does, he is a terrorist.

When the ABC wants a dissenting voice from the Liberal Party, they go straight to Malcolm Turnbull.

But they never give Mark Latham the royal treatment, despite him being a former Labor leader.

What triggers the bush is when they don’t use regional reporters in their prestige programs.

A Four Corners hit job on Murray Darling Basin water was orchestrated from inner-city Ultimo instead of by the well-regarded ABC Shepparton correspondent Warwick Long.

Why have a city reporter do a rural story?

Ultimo urbane’s apparent assumption is that their city kids are more discerning, while us rural types are sitting backwards on a horse eating a banana — a generalisation about some 8 million Australians.

If they only talk to half of Australia, they only need half the budget, and we should give the other half to another view.

We could have The Drum with Julia Baird followed by The Drum with Peta Credlin.

We could have Late Night Live with Philip Adams followed by Catherine McGregor Live.

We could have Q&A with Virginia Trioli followed by Q&A with Alan Jones.

Would Ultimo pay for Sky News? Of course not. So why should the bush pay for someone else’s ABC?

The ABC claims to support the bush whenever they are under attack, so what new regional offices have opened?

Sydney ABC commentariat keeps calling for greater lockdowns — if they are the greatest advocate for staying at home, some Ultimo reporters should find a new home in Dubbo.

When Senator Ben Small asked where ABC content-makers lived by postcode, he was told that was “confidential”. That question remains unanswered and is overdue months after they took it on notice.

From Ultimo, they can see Glebe, Chippendale, Annandale, Pyrmont and Surry Hills. Moore Park is the bush. Parramatta is the outback.

As they say in the genuine regional areas, it’s cattle for the country; you buy the appropriate beast for the country you live.

The ABC’s country is the inner city, and this is the type of beast it is.

If the trotted out guilt trip is that funding cuts would hurt the regions, then move your legal budget to the west of the Great Dividing Range, and bring your management too.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/vikki-campion-the-abc-ignores-half-of-australia-lets-give-it-half-the-funds/news-story/2cb1341f30a670aca0de1df54bafd0de

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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)

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Port Kembla power proposal deemed critical for the environment

This is tokenism. The new plant will rely 95% on natual gas -- a "fossil fuel"

A hydrogen-gas turbine power station proposed for the Illawarra region of NSW has been declared "critical state significant infrastructure", meaning the project will be fast tracked.

The plan by businessman Andrew Forrest to build the $1.3 billion project at Port Kembla will still need environmental approval, but will not be subject to third party appeal rights.

The project is in an area marked as a potential hydrogen gas hub.

The proposed power station has committed to using up to five per cent cent green hydrogen.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the plant was a step towards safeguarding the state's energy needs while providing jobs.

"The Port Kembla power station will be a game changer, not just for NSW but Australia," Mr Barilaro said in a statement.

"It will provide the energy capacity our state needs as existing coal-fired power stations reach their end of life, and household power bills will be the big winner as the project maintains downward pressure on prices."

The coal-powered Liddell Power Station near Muswellbrook, in the NSW Hunter region, is due to come offline in 2023.

Planning Minister Rob Stokes said the proposed power station would produce up to 635 megawatts of electricity on demand and create 700 construction jobs.

"The Port Kembla power station will be a critical part of the NSW energy mix as we move to cleaner, greener renewables," Mr Stokes said.

The power station would sit adjacent to the import terminal the Forest-owned Squadron energy group is already building. It has the capacity to handle both LNG and green hydrogen.

The federal government has previously committed $30 million to support initial works for the Port Kembla power station, and has shortlisted it for future funding support.

The final approval will rest with Mr Stokes.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/port-kembla-power-proposal-deemed-critical/ar-AANNkDw?ocid=chromentpnews

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‘Sledgehammer': Plan to force university staff to reveal foreign political history

More China hysteria

A confidential plan to force tens of thousands of university staff to reveal a decade of foreign political and financial interests has met with such fierce backlash that the federal government is now reviewing the proposal.

New draft foreign interference guidelines for universities are proposing to demand academics disclose their membership of overseas political parties and any financial support they have received from foreign entities for their research over the past 10 years.

Multiple university sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there was widespread concern about the requirements, with one university executive describing it as "a sledgehammer, blanket approach" to the issue.

The proposed guidelines, which have been drafted by the University Foreign Interference Taskforce (UFIT), represent a major ramping up of scrutiny of academics' backgrounds in response to concerns within the federal government about research theft by the Chinese Communist Party and other foreign actors.

Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson, who serves on the UFIT steering committee, confirmed on Friday afternoon that "UFIT members have agreed that the relevant section will be reconsidered and redrafted". The decision to review the controversial section was made on Friday after a zoom consultation with NSW universities.

The taskforce, set up to address foreign interference issues in the university sector, includes vice-chancellors, government department officials and representatives from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. It has held zoom sessions with university leaders on the new guidelines over the past fortnight.

University of Sydney professor Duncan Ivison, deputy vice-chancellor for research, said universities had made clear to the government that the requirement for staff to disclose membership of political parties was "very, very problematic".

"We don't think it is reasonable to ask our staff their political affiliation. We've made that really clear, and government have agreed to take on board our concerns and come back to us," he said.

Professor Ivison said the consultation process was working and it was important the guidelines were proportionate to the risk security agencies were attempting to address.

"We also want to make sure they are compatible with the mission of universities. We're not ASIO, we're not a security agency."

Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge said he would not comment on "what is or isn't in the draft guidelines" but stressed that security agencies had made clear that universities were targets for foreign interference and espionage.

The decision to refresh the UFIT guidelines, which were first implemented in 2019, comes as the federal government has grown increasingly concerned about espionage at universities involving the theft of critical research and sensitive data by foreign actors. Under laws enacted last year, the government has the power to cancel research contracts between Australian universities and overseas universities controlled by foreign governments. They were widely viewed as targeting Chinese universities.

Security agencies have also repeatedly flagged their concerns. ASIO boss Mike Burgess warned earlier this year that the scale of foreign interference in universities was higher than at any time since the Cold War.

Under the current draft, which has been seen by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, the guidelines include a template of three "core declaration of interest questions" that universities must ask academic staff, including that they "outline any associations with foreign political, military, policing and/or security organisations". They must also declare whether they are receiving "any financial support (cash or in-kind) for research-related activities from a country outside Australia" and any "obligations that you have to any foreign institutions (including other academic bodies, research entities or private industry) or governments".

The draft stops short of imposing the same disclosure requirements on other university staff, including casuals and higher degree research students, proposing instead that the need for disclosures be "assessed based on risk level of activity."

Universities are also concerned about the potential legal complications of collecting such information from thousands of academics across every university, including whether it would breach anti-discrimination legislation or privacy laws. The guidelines contain no direction on what universities should do with the information once it has been collected.

One university executive described the measure as "McCarthyist", saying the guidelines had adopted "a sledgehammer, blanket approach" by requiring all academics to make disclosures on their overseas political links irrespective of risk.

"There's no sense of proportionality or any kind of risk profiling at all," the academic said.

"How is it possibly appropriate for this to apply across an entire university? You're requiring your lecturer in medieval poetry to declare her political affiliations and other foreign affiliations, in the same way that you would ask a researcher on missile guidance technology to disclose theirs."

The blanket disclosure approach means all foreign political links are captured, rather than those of particular interest to security agencies. For example, links to authoritarian governments, such as the Chinese Community Party must be disclosed, as must membership of British Labour or Conservative parties.

The Australian Research Council, which administers grant funding for research projects, has already adopted similar disclosure requirements. As first reported by The Australian, in its latest funding round the ARC required academics to disclose their affiliation with a "foreign government, foreign political party, foreign state-owned enterprise, foreign military or foreign policy organisation".

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/sledgehammer-plan-to-force-university-staff-to-reveal-foreign-political-history/ar-AANP4zL?ocid=chromentpnews

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Finally, the age of lockdowns is over

Delta has changed everything

The age of the lockdown is over. The only catch is we can’t quite celebrate yet because half the nation is in lockdown.

And there is perhaps no more fitting final act of the coronavirus saga than this tragi-comic theatre of the absurd.

After more than a year and a half of Orwellian doublespeak and Machiavellian powerplays, Australia has finally come to its senses. Unfortunately it has only done so in theory, not practice.

From the very beginning of the pandemic there were those of us who could clearly see that mass lockdowns were never going to be a long-term solution, let alone a humane one.

We pleaded the vital importance of children going to school and adults going to work and thus were naturally condemned as granny-killing capo-fascists.

It would be unbecoming to crow now that we were right but, well, we were right.

Victoria subjected its citizens to four months of lockdown across the bitter winter of 2020 in an effort to beat the bug. But the bug came back and the state went into lockdown again.

And again. And again.

Meanwhile NSW showed that with a well-managed and well-resourced contact tracing system you could beat Covid-19 without city or statewide lockdowns.

The Casula outbreak, the Northern Beaches outbreak, the Croydon outbreak, the Berala outbreak and countless other leaks from hotel quarantine were all contained and crushed.

This all changed with the Delta variant.

NSW officials clearly thought they could beat it as they had the others, first with just contact tracing, then with local lockdowns, then with a citywide “lockdown lite” and lastly with some of the harshest measures ever seen.

None of it has worked. As every health expert and Blind Freddy himself now knows, we will not be getting back to zero ever again.

The predictable Pavlovian response from the hardliners was that this was because we didn’t lock down fast or hard enough.

And sure enough when Delta went down south Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews locked down hard and fast. After a couple of weeks he announced they had reached zero overnight cases.

That very same day Melbourne went into lockdown again. For the sixth time.

On Wednesday it looked like Victoria might have again started to bend the curve, posting just 45 overnight cases. The next day that number almost doubled.

An exasperated Andrews finally admitted there were “not many more levers we can pull”.

In short, he has gone as hard and fast as possible and still the virus is circulating and still Melburnians are living under the yoke.

Maybe it was just bad luck but if so there’s an awful lot of that going around.

In Fortress New Zealand, the global poster girl for ultra-hard lockdowns, they shut down the country at one single case. On Thursday there were more than 60 new cases.

Sure, Delta might possibly be held at bay for a while in some sparser scenarios but unless these jurisdictions are planning on becoming hermit states it is difficult to see what their long-term strategy is.

It is also true that both the Victorian and New Zealand outbreaks were caused by people from NSW — sorry about that! — but NSW could equally argue that its outbreak came from somewhere else too.

Or indeed that Sydney’s big second wave scare came from Victoria. The problem with the finger of blame is that it always ends up pointing in a circular direction.

The important thing is that even the most reluctant and recalcitrant are now finally seeing the light: Hard and fast or soft and slow, lockdowns now belong in the same historical dustbin as eugenics and ether theory.

They were never truly necessary in Australia, as its most populous state proved time and again, and when it comes to the current outbreak they clearly don’t work.

The NZ and Victorian governments are now subtly suggesting what NSW has been shouting from the rooftops — that it is not possible to beat the Delta variant with such medieval measures.

It is also worth noting that as of Thursday NSW and Victoria had reached almost the exact same number of Covid cases – around 21,500.

In Victoria 820 people died, in NSW just 133.

That is the difference vaccination makes and that is why even with record high case numbers NSW is now lifting restrictions instead of tightening them.

Indeed, new Doherty Institute modelling confirms this will not increase the death toll but anyone who can count could see that with their own eyes.

Even one of the Andrews government’s key lockdown advisers, epidemiologist and former staunch eliminationist Tony Blakely, is now advocating a softening of the current lockdown.

Likewise federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese has now endorsed the national pathway out of lockdowns. And NSW Labor’s Chris Minns has delivered from opposition what some of his counterparts have failed to deliver in government: Leadership.

With Labor MPs representing virtually all the Sydney Covid hotspots, Minns last week instructed every local member to ensure their communities were getting vaccinated.

And this week he threw his weight behind a strategy to get kids back to school next term, for which opposition support will be critical.

This is Labor at its best, putting people ahead of pointscoring.

Meanwhile the isolationist premiers of Queensland and WA are looking increasingly like the apocryphal last Japanese soldier on the island, fighting a solitary long lost war.

The final irony in all of this is that those who are locked down now will perhaps be the longest free, as vaccination rates surge in NSW and Victoria and stagnate in the separatist states.

Soon we will be reunited with the world while the wallflowers chew their nails in the corner.

https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/australia/finally-the-age-of-lockdowns-is-over/news-story/52f5063fae73ef21728e8fa021e1041a

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Young face ‘prolonged disruption’ as degrees no longer guarantee careers

The value of higher education in launching young Australians into the career of their choice is being eroded as universities churn out record numbers of graduates who are increasingly forced to take on low-paid, insecure work.

A report by Monash University’s new Centre for Youth Policy and Education Practice argues young people face “the breakdown of a long-held assumption that higher education qualifications will lead to desirable and secure work”.

Instead, the report points to data that shows jobs for young people are increasingly concentrated in fields that are “seasonal, part-time, casual, low-wage and insecure”.

“The link between attainment of higher education qualifications and the movement into certain professions is not happening in a linear way any more,” centre director and report author Lucas Walsh said.

The link between post-school study and a higher income is also eroding, the report shows.

Higher education participation rates have risen by 41 per cent in the past decade, as more and more high school graduates defer full-time work. At the same time, the “earning premium” of a bachelor’s degree has shrunk, from 39 per cent in 2005 to 27 per cent by 2018.

Higher education has long involved an “opportunity bargain” in which high school graduates put off full-time work to gain qualifications that will lead to “a fulfilling career of one’s choice”, Professor Walsh said.

But that bargain has started breaking down in the past 20 years, putting young Australians in a position of “prolonged disruption” that has only got worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Walsh argues in a new report titled Life, disrupted: Young people, education and employment before and after COVID-19.

The pandemic has “exacerbated existing” precariousness, Professor Walsh says.

“If you look at previous downturns, young people are the first to go and the last to come back in. We saw that profoundly during the pandemic.”

In the first six months of 2020, 157,000 teenagers lost work, and 13 per cent of women under 25 left the Australian labour force, the report states.

Even though the world of work is changing, for university students such as Meena Hana, study and qualifications are still the path to the job of their dreams.

A survey of more than 40,000 people has revealed which courses and universities landed graduates in jobs.

Ms Hana has wanted to work in healthcare ever since she did a stint of work experience inside a hospital while in high school, and says pharmacy appeals to her because it offers a stable and satisfying career, even if the pay is modest.

“Studying pharmacy is not just for the income, I’d rather do it and enjoy it than do something else and not have the same feeling about my career,” she said.

She said she was prepared to do further study beyond her bachelor’s degree to advance her career.

The Monash University report argues that schools that focus too heavily on academic performance and students’ tertiary destinations and not enough on careers counselling were doing their students a disservice.

“Schools have long been criticised as demoting careers education, of viewing it as extra-curricular activities taking time away from the curriculum that really matters and is assessable,” the authors say.

Leon Furze, the director of teaching and learning at Monivae College in Hamilton, said some schools were moving away from a focus on the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) for this reason.

He said today’s students faced a jobs market where employers want a broader skill set, not just a graduate with a degree in a particular field.

“We tell students to be open to the idea that you’re going to change courses, change qualifications part-way through and even that when you come out the other end you’re not guaranteed that you are going to cruise into the industry that you had your heart sent on when you were leaving year 12,” Mr Furze said.

https://www.smh.com.au/education/young-face-prolonged-disruption-as-degrees-no-longer-guarantee-careers-20210823-p58l4r.html

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

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

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

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

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

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Why Qantas won't fly non-stop route to London through Perth anymore

Qantas is set to replace Perth as the airline's departure point for its lucrative non-stop flights to London in response to Western Australia's strict Covid border rules.

The airline said it was considering using Darwin as a hub for the route from December when it expects 80 per cent of Australians to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and the international border to re-open.

WA Premier Mark McGowan has declared he intends to keep his state's border shut even when Australia reaches that vaccination coverage level.

'Qantas' ability to fly non-stop between Australia and London is expected to be in even higher demand post-Covid,' a spokesman for the airline said on Thursday.

'The airline is investigating using Darwin as a transit point, which has been Qantas’ main entry for repatriation flights, as an alternative (or in addition) to its existing Perth hub given conservative border policies in Western Australia.

'Discussions on this option are continuing.'

Qantas first started offering the first-of-their-kind non-stop flights to London from the WA capital - a 15,000km journey that takes 17 hours - in March 2018.

The announcement came as Qantas revealed plans to restart international flights from December 2021 - just in time for Australia's Christmas travel rush.

Qantas said it expected the country to reach the 80 per cent vaccination target in December - triggering the re-opening of international borders as part of 'Phase C' of the federal government's path to pandemic normality.

The first available travel routes will be to destinations with high vaccination rates including the United States, Canada, the UK, Singapore, Japan and New Zealand, Qantas told the Australian Securities Exchange.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said Australia's rapid vaccination rollout would make international holiday travel possible again for the first time in almost two years, despite lockdowns in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.

'The prospect of flying overseas might feel a long way off, especially with New South Wales and Victoria in lockdown, but the current pace of the vaccine rollout means we should have a lot more freedom in a few months' time,' he said.

'It's obviously up to government exactly how and when our international borders re-open, but with Australia on track to meet the 80 per cent trigger agreed by National Cabinet by the end of the year, we need to plan ahead for what is a complex restart process.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9927703/Covid-19-Australia-Qantas-wont-flying-non-stop-route-London-Perth-anymore.html

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NSW court makes key climate change ruling

A court has ordered NSW's Environment Protection Authority to develop goals and policies to ensure environment protection from climate change.

The landmark ruling came after a challenge from a community organisation founded in the ashes of a devastating bushfire that swept through Tathra in 2018.

Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action had argued the EPA had a duty to protect the environment from significant threats and climate change was a "grave" and "existential" threat.

The EPA had failed to do this, BSCA contended in the NSW Land and Environment Court, with whatever instruments the agency had developed to ensure environment protection were not enough or even intended to deal with the threat of climate change.

The government said its current measures were adequate, including measures that incidentally regulate greenhouse gas emissions such as methane in landfill. But first and foremost, it said its environmental protection duty was a general duty and wasn't a duty to ward off particular threats, such as climate change.

Chief Judge Brian Preston on Thursday found none of the documents the EPA presented to the court was an instrument that showed it was ensuring the protection of the environment from climate change.

He ordered it develop environmental quality objectives, guidelines and policies to meet their duty on climate change.

But the EPA will maintain discretion on how it fulfils its duty, as the judge knocked back the BSCA's wish for specific objectives including the regulation of sources of greenhouse gas emissions consistent with limiting a global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

"This is a significant win for everyone who has been affected by bushfires," BSCA president Jo Dodds said in a statement.

"Bushfire survivors have been working for years to rebuild their homes, their lives and their communities. This ruling means they can do so with confidence that the EPA must now also work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state"

The Nature Conservation Council said most people would be astonished to learn the EPA had not regulated greenhouse gas but the ruling should "a chill through the state's most polluting industries, including the electricity and commercial transport sectors".

"Allowing politicians to set greenhouse gas emission targets and controls rather than scientific experts has led us to the precipice," NCC chief executive Chris Gambian said.

In a statement, the EPA said it was reviewing the judgment.

It described itself as an active government partner on climate change policy, regulation and innovation and was involved in work that "assists with and also directly contributes to measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change".

"The EPA supports industry to make better choices in response to the impacts of climate change," the agency said.

Last month, a federal judge ruled federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley had a duty of care to protect children from future personal injury caused by climate change.

Ms Ley is appealing the decision, which resulted from her involvement in the approval of the expansion of a northern NSW coal mine.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/nsw-court-makes-key-climate-change-ruling/ar-AANKLiZ?ocid=chromentpnews

*************************************

Electoral laws pass federal parliament

Small political parties will have a tougher test to get registered ahead of the next federal election.

Federal parliament on Thursday agreed to back three changes to electoral laws, but a fourth proposed reform dealing with charities has been put on hold.

Under one bill, small parties will need to provide evidence of 1500 members rather than the current 500.

The same bill tightens rules around the registration of party names which replicate a word in the name of an existing registered party.

The Greens opposed the registration change, saying it will stifle the voice of smaller parties, entrenching the two-party system.

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie said she was "disgusted" by the changed rules, which would undermine democracy.

Labor supported a change to the rules to impose a fixed pre-poll period of up to 12 days before an election.

A further change will provide for a jail term of up to three years for "interference with political liberty", such as violence, property damage, harassment or stalking in relation to an election.

However, the government has put on hold a more controversial bill to reduce the amount of "electoral expenditure" an individual or organisation can spend before they are required to register as a political campaigner.

This amount will decrease from the current $500,000 to $100,000 during the financial year, or for any of the previous three financial years.

The government argues it will bring groups closer in line with the transparency imposed on political parties, candidates and MPs.

But charities say they are not like parties and the move would effectively silence community voices.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/electoral-laws-pass-federal-parliament/ar-AANKu0U?ocid=chromentpnews

*************************************

Banks to be grilled again over coal and gas lending as Nationals turn up the heat on climate target

The major banks will be called to a federal hearing into lending disputes over coal and gas projects in a new push by the Nationals to back the resources industry amid a debate with the Liberals over whether to set more ambitious targets on climate change.

Queensland Nationals MP George Christensen wants the banks and the nation’s competition regulator to appear before a parliamentary inquiry next week, extending the controversial review into the lead-up to a United Nations climate summit in November.

With Prime Minister Scott Morrison yet to decide whether to take stronger climate change targets to the summit, the longer inquiry will give Nationals and some Liberals a forum to criticise climate action and urge banks to lend to projects like the Adani coal mine.

Big lenders including the Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Group have infuriated the Nationals by choosing not to lend to the Carmichael coal project in central Queensland, which is run by Bravus Mining, a subsidiary of Adani Group.

Resources Minister Keith Pitt slammed the “corporate activism” in those decisions and asked Mr Christensen to set up the inquiry, which began in February after overcoming objections from Labor, the Greens and some Liberals.

But the attacks on the banks are at odds with Mr Morrison’s remarks two weeks ago about the way all lenders were taking climate change into account in their decisions, something governments could not control. “I mean, financiers are already making decisions regardless of governments about this,” he said when asked about his climate targets.

“I want to make sure that Australian companies can get loans. I want to make sure that Australians can access finance. I want to make sure that our banks will finance into the future so they can provide the incredible support that they provide to Australians buying homes and all of these things. The world economy is changing. That’s just a fact.”

Mr Christensen held a meeting with other members of the parliamentary committee on Wednesday morning to put plans for further hearings, with the discussion including the idea of hearing from former Nationals Senate leader Ron Boswell, a strong critic of banks that do not lend to coal projects.

The move for another hearing, planned for Friday of next week, surprised some committee members because they questioned executives from the four biggest banks on July 27 and did not believe another hearing was needed.

Mr Christensen said there were unasked questions that should be put to ANZ Group, the Commonwealth Bank, the NAB and Westpac.

“There will be one more hearing of the inquiry next Friday where we hope to have the big four banks before us again as well as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and some other individual submitters,” he said.

“There are questions for the banks that were unasked due to time constraints at the last hearing, plus new questions that have emerged.”

The committee has already heard from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Another committee member, Queensland Liberal Senator Gerard Rennick, said the banks had a social license that obliged them to provide finance on commercial terms rather than pursuing other objectives.

“They should lend to anyone who has a legal product,” he said.

Mr Pitt has been strongly critical of calls on the government to go further than its stated target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent by 2030, a stance adopted by other Nationals ahead of the UN summit in Glasgow in November.

While Mr Morrison has signalled he wants to set a target of net zero emissions by 2050, he is yet to get an agreement from Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who would be expected to take the terms to a full meeting of the Nationals’ party room.

One Liberal on the committee, Katie Allen, declined to comment on the inquiry but has advocated greater action on climate change in the past.

“Climate change is real and affects us all,” she wrote in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in November 2019. “This means the long game of transitioning toward renewables and a carbon-neutral future is not just an environmental imperative for this country– it is also an economic inevitability.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/banks-to-be-grilled-again-over-coal-and-gas-lending-as-nationals-turn-up-the-heat-on-climate-target-20210825-p58lwu.html

************************************

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)

***************************************

Why Qantas won't fly non-stop route to London through Perth anymore

Qantas is set to replace Perth as the airline's departure point for its lucrative non-stop flights to London in response to Western Australia's strict Covid border rules.

The airline said it was considering using Darwin as a hub for the route from December when it expects 80 per cent of Australians to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and the international border to re-open.

WA Premier Mark McGowan has declared he intends to keep his state's border shut even when Australia reaches that vaccination coverage level.

'Qantas' ability to fly non-stop between Australia and London is expected to be in even higher demand post-Covid,' a spokesman for the airline said on Thursday.

'The airline is investigating using Darwin as a transit point, which has been Qantas’ main entry for repatriation flights, as an alternative (or in addition) to its existing Perth hub given conservative border policies in Western Australia.

'Discussions on this option are continuing.'

Qantas first started offering the first-of-their-kind non-stop flights to London from the WA capital - a 15,000km journey that takes 17 hours - in March 2018.

The announcement came as Qantas revealed plans to restart international flights from December 2021 - just in time for Australia's Christmas travel rush.

Qantas said it expected the country to reach the 80 per cent vaccination target in December - triggering the re-opening of international borders as part of 'Phase C' of the federal government's path to pandemic normality.

The first available travel routes will be to destinations with high vaccination rates including the United States, Canada, the UK, Singapore, Japan and New Zealand, Qantas told the Australian Securities Exchange.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said Australia's rapid vaccination rollout would make international holiday travel possible again for the first time in almost two years, despite lockdowns in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.

'The prospect of flying overseas might feel a long way off, especially with New South Wales and Victoria in lockdown, but the current pace of the vaccine rollout means we should have a lot more freedom in a few months' time,' he said.

'It's obviously up to government exactly how and when our international borders re-open, but with Australia on track to meet the 80 per cent trigger agreed by National Cabinet by the end of the year, we need to plan ahead for what is a complex restart process.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9927703/Covid-19-Australia-Qantas-wont-flying-non-stop-route-London-Perth-anymore.html

*************************************

NSW court makes key climate change ruling

A court has ordered NSW's Environment Protection Authority to develop goals and policies to ensure environment protection from climate change.

The landmark ruling came after a challenge from a community organisation founded in the ashes of a devastating bushfire that swept through Tathra in 2018.

Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action had argued the EPA had a duty to protect the environment from significant threats and climate change was a "grave" and "existential" threat.

The EPA had failed to do this, BSCA contended in the NSW Land and Environment Court, with whatever instruments the agency had developed to ensure environment protection were not enough or even intended to deal with the threat of climate change.

The government said its current measures were adequate, including measures that incidentally regulate greenhouse gas emissions such as methane in landfill. But first and foremost, it said its environmental protection duty was a general duty and wasn't a duty to ward off particular threats, such as climate change.

Chief Judge Brian Preston on Thursday found none of the documents the EPA presented to the court was an instrument that showed it was ensuring the protection of the environment from climate change.

He ordered it develop environmental quality objectives, guidelines and policies to meet their duty on climate change.

But the EPA will maintain discretion on how it fulfils its duty, as the judge knocked back the BSCA's wish for specific objectives including the regulation of sources of greenhouse gas emissions consistent with limiting a global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

"This is a significant win for everyone who has been affected by bushfires," BSCA president Jo Dodds said in a statement.

"Bushfire survivors have been working for years to rebuild their homes, their lives and their communities. This ruling means they can do so with confidence that the EPA must now also work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state"

The Nature Conservation Council said most people would be astonished to learn the EPA had not regulated greenhouse gas but the ruling should "a chill through the state's most polluting industries, including the electricity and commercial transport sectors".

"Allowing politicians to set greenhouse gas emission targets and controls rather than scientific experts has led us to the precipice," NCC chief executive Chris Gambian said.

In a statement, the EPA said it was reviewing the judgment.

It described itself as an active government partner on climate change policy, regulation and innovation and was involved in work that "assists with and also directly contributes to measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change".

"The EPA supports industry to make better choices in response to the impacts of climate change," the agency said.

Last month, a federal judge ruled federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley had a duty of care to protect children from future personal injury caused by climate change.

Ms Ley is appealing the decision, which resulted from her involvement in the approval of the expansion of a northern NSW coal mine.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/nsw-court-makes-key-climate-change-ruling/ar-AANKLiZ?ocid=chromentpnews

*************************************

Electoral laws pass federal parliament

Small political parties will have a tougher test to get registered ahead of the next federal election.

Federal parliament on Thursday agreed to back three changes to electoral laws, but a fourth proposed reform dealing with charities has been put on hold.

Under one bill, small parties will need to provide evidence of 1500 members rather than the current 500.

The same bill tightens rules around the registration of party names which replicate a word in the name of an existing registered party.

The Greens opposed the registration change, saying it will stifle the voice of smaller parties, entrenching the two-party system.

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie said she was "disgusted" by the changed rules, which would undermine democracy.

Labor supported a change to the rules to impose a fixed pre-poll period of up to 12 days before an election.

A further change will provide for a jail term of up to three years for "interference with political liberty", such as violence, property damage, harassment or stalking in relation to an election.

However, the government has put on hold a more controversial bill to reduce the amount of "electoral expenditure" an individual or organisation can spend before they are required to register as a political campaigner.

This amount will decrease from the current $500,000 to $100,000 during the financial year, or for any of the previous three financial years.

The government argues it will bring groups closer in line with the transparency imposed on political parties, candidates and MPs.

But charities say they are not like parties and the move would effectively silence community voices.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/electoral-laws-pass-federal-parliament/ar-AANKu0U?ocid=chromentpnews

*************************************

Banks to be grilled again over coal and gas lending as Nationals turn up the heat on climate target

The major banks will be called to a federal hearing into lending disputes over coal and gas projects in a new push by the Nationals to back the resources industry amid a debate with the Liberals over whether to set more ambitious targets on climate change.

Queensland Nationals MP George Christensen wants the banks and the nation’s competition regulator to appear before a parliamentary inquiry next week, extending the controversial review into the lead-up to a United Nations climate summit in November.

With Prime Minister Scott Morrison yet to decide whether to take stronger climate change targets to the summit, the longer inquiry will give Nationals and some Liberals a forum to criticise climate action and urge banks to lend to projects like the Adani coal mine.

Big lenders including the Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Group have infuriated the Nationals by choosing not to lend to the Carmichael coal project in central Queensland, which is run by Bravus Mining, a subsidiary of Adani Group.

Resources Minister Keith Pitt slammed the “corporate activism” in those decisions and asked Mr Christensen to set up the inquiry, which began in February after overcoming objections from Labor, the Greens and some Liberals.

But the attacks on the banks are at odds with Mr Morrison’s remarks two weeks ago about the way all lenders were taking climate change into account in their decisions, something governments could not control. “I mean, financiers are already making decisions regardless of governments about this,” he said when asked about his climate targets.

“I want to make sure that Australian companies can get loans. I want to make sure that Australians can access finance. I want to make sure that our banks will finance into the future so they can provide the incredible support that they provide to Australians buying homes and all of these things. The world economy is changing. That’s just a fact.”

Mr Christensen held a meeting with other members of the parliamentary committee on Wednesday morning to put plans for further hearings, with the discussion including the idea of hearing from former Nationals Senate leader Ron Boswell, a strong critic of banks that do not lend to coal projects.

The move for another hearing, planned for Friday of next week, surprised some committee members because they questioned executives from the four biggest banks on July 27 and did not believe another hearing was needed.

Mr Christensen said there were unasked questions that should be put to ANZ Group, the Commonwealth Bank, the NAB and Westpac.

“There will be one more hearing of the inquiry next Friday where we hope to have the big four banks before us again as well as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and some other individual submitters,” he said.

“There are questions for the banks that were unasked due to time constraints at the last hearing, plus new questions that have emerged.”

The committee has already heard from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Another committee member, Queensland Liberal Senator Gerard Rennick, said the banks had a social license that obliged them to provide finance on commercial terms rather than pursuing other objectives.

“They should lend to anyone who has a legal product,” he said.

Mr Pitt has been strongly critical of calls on the government to go further than its stated target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent by 2030, a stance adopted by other Nationals ahead of the UN summit in Glasgow in November.

While Mr Morrison has signalled he wants to set a target of net zero emissions by 2050, he is yet to get an agreement from Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who would be expected to take the terms to a full meeting of the Nationals’ party room.

One Liberal on the committee, Katie Allen, declined to comment on the inquiry but has advocated greater action on climate change in the past.

“Climate change is real and affects us all,” she wrote in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in November 2019. “This means the long game of transitioning toward renewables and a carbon-neutral future is not just an environmental imperative for this country– it is also an economic inevitability.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/banks-to-be-grilled-again-over-coal-and-gas-lending-as-nationals-turn-up-the-heat-on-climate-target-20210825-p58lwu.html

************************************

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)

***************************************