Anti-Islam party to contest next Federal election

AN anti-Islam party based on the hardline views of Dutch politician Geert Wilders plans to field candidates at the next federal election, raising fears among moderate Muslims of a rise in extremism.

Mr Wilders, an influential far-right figure expected to shape the results of this year's European elections, told followers in a video message that the Australian Liberty Alliance was being formed to "offer civil minded Australians fresh political vision and better policies".

Policies advocated by Wilders' Party for Freedom include deporting immigrants convicted of a crime and stopping all immigration from Islamic countries.

"Many of you are disappointed by current political parties and have had enough of politicians who sell our Western civilisation," Mr Wilders said in his video. "Like you, good people in Europe, America, Canada have had enough of politicians who don't share our values and foolishly declare all cultures are equal, and who lack the courage to speak the truth and say that Islam is the biggest threat to freedom today."

Australian Liberty Alliance was registered as a not-for-profit business last month by Debbie Robinson, the president of the Q Society, an anti-Islam think tank that was responsible for bringing Mr Wilders to Australia last year. The party will be headquartered in Western Australia and is expected to be launched by Mr Wilders early next year. It is yet to be registered as a political party with the Australian Electoral Commission.

Ms Robinson said she intended to stand as a candidate.

Islamic Friendship Association of Australia spokesman Keysar Trad urged Muslims to ignore the fledgling party, warning it would "galvanise hardliners" on both sides of the debate.

"The extremists within our community love to see something like this," Mr Trad said. "All this does is create further division."

Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson said despite Australia's implied constitutional protection of political speech, any party had a responsibility not to "inflame prejudice".

"Australia had Hansonism and saw it for its shallowness and flaws, and I think people will see exactly the same thing with Wilders," Mr Wilson said.

Q Society spokesman Andrew Horwood said the party would have no formal relationship with either the Q Society or Mr Wilders.

He said the party would be secular, conservative and campaign openly against Islam. "Australia is a different country to The Netherlands but we will be absolutely fearless in saying we don't believe Islam is good for this country," Mr Horwood said.

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MUSLIM LOVE TRIANGLE ENDS IN MURDER

Shoppers were thrown into chaos when Kazem Payam, an Iranian asylum seeker sought revenge against a fellow Iranian national at Westfield Parramatta last Tuesday plunging a knife into Nabil Naser’s chest. Apparently there was a long running dispute between both Muslim men who agreed to meet at the shopping centre to resolve their differences however Kazem bought a knife at the centre which was used in the murder of Nabil.

Graphic scenes were met with screams from dismayed onlookers to intervene as Kazem kept plunging the knife into his victim’s chest. After the victim fell to the ground, the accused calmly removed his shirt, lit a cigarette and made a phone call as he waited for the Police to arrive. When the Police arrived, Kazem taunted them saying, “What are you scared of?”

It has been reported in the media that Neda Esmaeili, girlfriend of Kazem Payam and former partner of Nabil Naser were all involved in a bitter love triangle that has ended in murder.

Kazem was an illegal that arrived in Australia by boat in 2009. He was granted a protection visa by the then Labor government in 2010. From 2007 to 2013 over 50,000 illegal boat people breached our shores seeking the keys to Centrelink. These asylum seekers who arrived by boat are a crime and welfare ridden demographic with over 85% of asylum seekers still on welfare after 5 years of residence in Australia.

Kazem joins a long list of Afghan, Iranian, Sudanese and Tamil asylum seekers or refugees charged with a range of offences, including people smuggling, paedophilia, rape and murder in Australia. There are currently 21 Muslim men who are incarcerated for terrorism or related charges posing a huge and growing threat to our national security.

Last year, a failed Sudanese asylum seeker went on a murderous rampage on a bus in Norway killing two Norwegians and one Swede. This random act of hate and murder was seen as retribution for Norway Immigration Department’s decision not to grant the Sudanese asylum seeker refuge.

Western governments including Australia have a moral duty to protect our citizens from third worlders but this is not happening with current humanitarian programs. Again, the Australian public are the ones who have to pick up the pieces of a policy that has only brought misery, division and chaos to our shores. This is just another example stating some of the obvious problems third world asylum seekers bring to Australia.

It is long overdue for our government to round up the existing asylum seekers in ‘Labor-Green’s community detention’ and deport them immediately to safeguard citizens from possible acts of violence, rape, murder and terrorism.

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Survey of city teens highlights 'concerning' Australian urban-rural divide‏

Key findings:

*        77 per cent of city teenagers know little or nothing about farming and food production.
*        17 per cent never been on a farm; overall two-thirds visited a farm less than three times in their life.
*        68 per cent don’t know, or know only a little, about how food gets from farm to plate.
*        More than 90 per cent, however, perceive farming and food production as very important to Australia.
*        Careers in agriculture rate lower than many other occupations.

A new survey of city teenagers has further highlighted Australia’s ‘urban-rural divide’, finding 77 per cent of those surveyed know only ‘a little’ or ‘nothing at all’ about farming and food production.

The research – commissioned by agricultural banking specialist Rabobank – has also revealed 17 per cent of urban teenagers surveyed have never been on a farm, while a further 50 per cent have only been to a farm three or less times in their life.

However, most still perceived farming and food production as extremely or very important to the nation.

Conducted by House of Brand, the Rabobank Farm Experience Urban Youth Research surveyed 600 students aged 15 to 18, from major Australian capital cities –including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth – and currently attending government and non-government schools.

Rabobank Australia and New Zealand head of Sustainable Business Development Marc Oostdijk says the research showed a “concerning knowledge gap” among Australian youth when it comes to agriculture and food production.

Mr Oostdijk says Rabobank had conducted the research as the bank, and its farming clients, had a genuine concern that the next generation of Australians may not understand or appreciate the role of agriculture in the nation’s economy and future.

“It is also important to help bridge this disconnect between city and rural communities in order to attract young people to work in agriculture and become part of securing the sector’s future,” Mr Oostdijk says.

“The very limited exposure many young people in Australian cities have to farming and where their food and agricultural produce comes from was clearly identified in this research, with the survey showing two thirds of city teenagers have had very limited direct farm access, and some none at all.”

 Paddock to plate

Almost 20 per cent of teenagers in the survey says they “don’t really know anything” about “how food gets from the farm to my plate”, while 49 per cent knew only “a little”.

Mr Oostdijk says while there was generally low awareness of the food production process among the teenagers, it was more acute once produce and ingredients had left the farm.

“When it comes to what happens to the ingredients and produce once they leave the farm, 28 per cent of respondents says they know nothing about this and 47 per cent says they only know ‘a little bit’,” he says.

A third of the teenagers did not know how food ingredients and produce were packaged and got to the supermarket, while 45 per cent knew only a little about this.

In terms of farm activity, 20 per cent did not know what farmers needed to do to grow ingredients and produce, while 49 per cent says they only had a little understanding.  However, 27 per cent knew “quite a bit” about this and three per cent a “great deal”.

Mr Oostdijk says there was little difference in the overall knowledge levels among government and non-government students.

However, knowledge and understanding of farming and food production was considerably higher among the students who had spent more time on farms, he says.

“Those who had visited farms five or more times in their lives reported being considerably more knowledgeable about food production,” he says.

Perception of agriculture

Mr Oostdijk says that while the survey showed there were considerable knowledge gaps in relation to agriculture, it was encouraging that most urban teenagers surveyed perceived farming and food production as extremely or very important to Australia.

Sixty per cent believed farming was “extremely important” to Australia and 39 per cent says the impact would be “significant” if there was no farming in Australia.

“Pleasingly 93 per cent had positive associations with farming, primarily around the themes of fresh food and agriculture being good for the local economy,” Mr Oostdijk says.

“Negative associations were around issues like drought, low pay and animal management issues.”

The survey found one in five of the city teenagers was “extremely” or “very” interested in finding out more about agriculture, while a further two in five was “somewhat interested”.

“Encouragingly, those more knowledgeable about farming were still more interested in finding out more about the industry; however those who hadn’t visited a farm were less interested,” Mr Oostdijk says.

Career prospects

Careers in agriculture rated lower than many other professions among the students surveyed.

Medicine and business were rated highest (by 24 per cent and 19 per cent respectively) in terms of career choice.  Seven per cent of respondents expressed interest in a career in agriculture.

Mr Oostdijk says the Rabobank Farm Experience Urban Youth Research was the first in a number of initiatives Rabobank was undertaking to help address bridging the ‘urban-rural divide.  A Farm Experience (FX) program, giving urban teenagers the chance to spend a week on a farm, living with a farming family and learning about life on the land and food production, will be piloted in Australia next month.

“Working with the next generation of Australians, educating and involving them in the agricultural industry is a great place to start,” he says.

The Rabobank Farm Experience is to be piloted in two states, with students from Western Sydney aged between 15 and 18, being hosted in the Western Riverina district in New South Wales, and students from Perth being hosted by farmers in the Geraldton and Narrogin areas in the Western Australian wheatbelt.

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Aussie kids on top of the world at International Olympiad in Informatics

Mostly Han Chinese, I'm guessing, though Ishraq Huda sounds Indian

Our team brings home two Gold and two Silver medals with Australia's 1st perfect score and 1st and 5th place in the world for computer programming.‏

Australia’s four-member secondary school student team achieved our best ever result at the 2014 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) held in Taipei, Chinese Taipei, from 13 to 20 July. The top performer in the Australian team was 16-year-old Ishraq Huda, who was one of only three in the world to attain a perfect score, Australia’s first IOI perfect score and best individual ranking result.

Ishraq shared first place with students from China and the United States. Ishraq won a bronze medal in 2013 on his first attempt.

First-time team member, Oliver Fisher, solved 5 out of 6 questions perfectly and also won Gold. Oliver ranked 5th which made Australia the only country in the world to have two students in the top five.

Competing against more than 311 contestants from over 82 countries, the 2014 Australian team brings home 2 gold and 2 silver medals, compared to 3 Silver and 1 Bronze last year.

Countries represented in the top ten include Australia, China, United States, Russian Federation and Bulgaria. This is Australia’s highest ranking since Australia commenced participating in 1999.

Informatics is the science of computer programming and information processing, requiring mathematics skills and creative solving. Hosted by a different country each year, the IOI is part of the UNESCO-sanctioned International Science and Mathematics Olympiads, which are annual worldwide competitions for exceptionally talented secondary school students and represent the pinnacle of achievement in each discipline.  It is the most recently established and now the second largest of the Olympiads.

 The cut-off scores for a Gold medal was 449 and Silver was 323 marks.

The not-for-profit Australian Mathematics Trust, under the Trusteeship of the University of Canberra, runs the training and selection for Australia’s International Mathematical and Informatics Olympiad teams.

The first stage in selection for the Australian IOI team is the Australian Informatics Olympiad (AIO), a 3-hour annual computer programming competition held in high schools. The next AIO will be on Thursday, 4 September and is open to all high school students who can program. For more information contact the Australian Mathemetics Trust on 6201 5137.

Adjunct Professor Mike Clapper, Executive Director of the Trust, said, ‘We are extremely excited about these excellent results and where they might lead us for future participation. This is the best outcome for Australia to date’.

The Trust’s best-known activity is the annual Australian Mathematics Competition sponsored by the Commonwealth Bank which, together with other competitions, helps to identify students for participation and development in the Olympiad programs.  The Mathematics and Science Olympiads are supported by the Australian Government Department of Education through the Mathematics and Science Participation Program.

 The Trust also offers students the opportunity to explore whether they have an aptitude for programming through the Australian Informatics Competition (AIC), which is a non-programming competition designed to promote logical and algorithmic thinking.  In 2015, the AIC will be available on-line and there will be a new division for Upper Primary students.                                                

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