Activists push for COFFEE CUPS to be plastered with grotesque cigarette-packaging warnings to highlight environmental damage

There's a lot of nonsense in this.  It is mainly takeaway cups that are disposable-- usually for people who want good coffee in their workplace.  So it's an important convenience that would be pesky to replace. And it's hard to imagine any cups in Western countries not going to the tip.  Waste in the oceans comes from backward people using their rivers as a dump.  It's not our fault

Activists are calling for cigarette packet-style labels on disposable coffee cups to remind people they are harming the environment when they buy them.

Anna Warren, a communications officer for North Sydney Council, has started a petition to make coffee cups 'uncool.' She wants drinkers to keep a plastic cup on them at all times and re-use it to save the environment.

The paper cups are not recyclable due to their waterproof plastic lining and are the second biggest filler of landfill space after plastic bags with 2.6billion thrown away every year.

Ms Warren is encouraging the big coffee brands to introduce labels reminding drinkers that the cups go to landfill, similar to the 'smoking kills' reminders on cigarettes. She also wants more cafes to have a bin where the cups can be sent to a specialist recycling centre. Convenience store 7/11 already does this.

Ms Warren's petition to the environment minister, which has more than 23,000 signatures, reads: 'Coffee cups are the second largest source of landfill in Australia and most of the cups that don’t make it into landfill, end up in our environment.

'Landfill’s greenhouse gases are one of the major factors for climate change and global warming.

'Coffee cups which don’t make it to landfill end up in our oceans, killing fragile marine life like turtles, dolphins and even whales - washing up on shore dead with stomachs full of plastic waste.

'Our waste situation is in crisis and if we don’t do anything about it, it’s only going to get worse.

'The trouble is that most coffee cups are not recyclable due to a plastic waterproof lining and no one knows what to do with them.

'The first option is to avoid this altogether by bringing our own keep cups. Many cafes have signed up to responsiblecafes.org offering a discount if you bring your own cup but takeaway coffee cups still persist everywhere.

'We need clear warnings on these disposable cups. Warning of the danger to the environment, like you see on cigarette packets about cigarettes endangering our health.

'Warnings on cigarette packaging have worked very well in reducing the rate of smoking which is not considered cool any more. We need the same for takeaway coffee cups.

'Please, let's have appropriate labelling on takeaway coffee cups now, to inform our behaviour before it’s too late!'

SOURCE 






The first in a series of planned free speech rallies draws dozens of activists in support of TV host Sonia Kruger and jailed UK activist Tommy Robinson

Dozens of protesters have rallied in support of Australian television host Sonia Kruger and incarcerated far-right British activist Tommy Robinson.

The Melbourne 'free speech' rally was the first of four to be held nationwide over the weekend by the Australian Liberty Alliance, with Kruger currently under fire after calling for an Australian Muslim ban.

Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson was arrested a week ago for using social media to broadcast details of a trial which is subject to blanket reporting restrictions.

Robinson, who was listed by his real name Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon on court documents, was sentenced to 13 months in jail on the same day as his arrest.

'Tommy resonates with a lot of people. He's a working class man, he's like a typical Aussie. They (Australian supporters) feel like what he says is our future here too,' organiser Avi Yemini told AAP on Saturday.

He told the crowd that 'I, you, we all are Tommy Robinson'.

'If that can happen to a man who stands up to defend our rights, it can happen to anyone.' 

The crowd sang the Australian anthem followed by chants for Robinson, with hecklers yelling at the crowd nearby.

'By God we are going to stand up and fight to ensure that freedom continues,' Mr Yemini told the crowd.

'Freedom of speech is the fundamental right of every Australian and it is supposed to be the right of every single British citizen too.

'We have our very own Sonia Kruger who dared, who dared to have an opinion on our immigration policy, who dared to stand up for Donald Trump's Muslim ban... now she's being dragged through the courts.'

Australian Liberty Alliance's Debbie Robinson said 'most people in Australia would agree with Sonia Kruger'.

Dozens activists braved the dreary weather to rally outside the British Consulate-General in Sydney on Saturday afternoon.

'Thank you Avi and ALA for organizing a peaceful protest for free speech and #freetommy ! A shout out too, to the police who surrounded us and did a great job of protecting our right to free speech, one woman commentedon Facebook afterwards.'

Another added: 'Go Melbourne we need to keep pushing for free speech.'

Similar rallies will be held in Brisbane and Perth on Sunday.

Earlier in the week, federal Senator Pauline Hanson announced she was hoping to meet Robinson while she's on a five-day parliamentary trip to the UK and Europe.

'I support you and I hope I can get to see you and bring the messages from the Australian people to you, because I can tell you, you're not alone,' Senator Hanson said in a video posted to social media.

SOURCE  Good on Pauline!





Comedian under fire as ABC management slams his show for being 'too white' and recommends he 'make fun of how racist Australians are'

The executive producer of Tom Ballard's ABC comedy show Tonightly suggested it make fun of how 'racist' Australians are to win over Chinese viewers.

Dan Ilic, a former host of axed ABC comedy show Hungry Beast, sent around internal leaked documents outlining what he believed to be weaknesses of the weeknight program.

Tonightly's 36-year-old executive producer compiled a memo describing how its 'white writers' and 'white performers' were weaknesses of the taxpayer-funded show, documents obtained by The Australian revealed.

Ilic, a former stand-up comedian who grew up in Sydney's affluent northern suburbs, suggested the show could have a 'Chinese play' about how 'we're hugely racist'.

SOURCE 



   

Lewis McLeod’s legal battle over Duke University sexual assault accusations is finally over

The terms of the settlement between the former student Lewis McLeod and the university are confidential, according to both parties

AN AUSTRALIAN student’s long battle to clear his name in a sexual assault case is finally over. But it came at a heavy toll.

Lewis Meyer McLeod has reached a settlement with an American university after a sexual misconduct claim against him spanning almost five years was dropped in February.

But the 27-year-old has revealed just how intense the lengthy struggle affected his emotional wellbeing and job prospects.

“I’ve received many job offers, and they’ve either been taken away from me upon hearing about (the case), or I’ve told them about it, and it was taken away from me,” he told The Australian. “I had built my life around building a reputation, I worked hard to build this reputation and overnight it gets completely destroyed. People who you once thought were friends are no longer friends.”

Four years ago, everything was going well for Mr McLeod. The then-23-year-old had gone from Sydney Grammar School to the elite Duke University in North Carolina, where he completed a $250,000 psychology degree.

The student was offered a lucrative position as an analyst in the New York financial district. Then — with one allegation — it all came crashing down.

Duke University banned Mr McLeod from graduating after he was accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old female student.

At the time, police didn’t press charges against him, but Duke conducted an internal investigation and decided it was “more likely than not” that sex between the pair had been non-consensual due to the girl’s alcohol intake.

The girl told campus investigators she didn’t want to have sex with him.

Days before his graduation, Duke was told he was “not entitled to that honour”.

Mr McLeod sued Duke in 2014, arguing the university had breached its contract with him by failing to follow rules of impartial treatment.

He claimed the pair had consensual sex after meeting at a popular university bar, Shooters, and heading back to his Sigma Nu fraternity house.

His lawyers said he didn’t buy her drinks and saw “no signs” that she was drunk.

What followed was over four years of legal bills, lost employment opportunities and smears.

He said every aspect of the legal battle was a long drawn-out, tough experience, noting that the reputation he’d spent a lifetime building had been shattered in the course of one night.

“I think having studied law, the whole notion of innocent until proven guilty is still one of the most important principles in society,” he told The Australian. “I think in this day and age, people are too quick to rush to judgment. As soon as they see a headline, they jump on it. They don’t read into the facts.”

He said he fully supports the #MeToo movement, but added that both the accuser and accused should be given equal opportunity to present their accounts — something he felt was lacking in the Duke case.

“Duke was no easy litigant, they made everything difficult. Every document, every motion, every legal battle was a long drawn-out, tough experience. And very expensive,” he said.

Mr McLeod is now back in Sydney and is ready to move on, with plans to pursue a career in either law or financial services.

SOURCE 





Victorian Parliament votes on law to negotiate Australia's first Aboriginal treaty

Surely this is a Federal issue only.  But anything it achieves would be ephemeral anyway

Thirty years since former prime minister Bob Hawke promised a treaty, Aboriginal leaders have urged the Federal Government to reignite the idea.

The Lower House of Victoria's Parliament voted in favour of negotiating Australia's first Aboriginal treaty on Thursday, after the state's Labor Government won crucial support from the Greens.

The treaty bill is opposed by the Victorian Opposition, which favours a national approach.

The bill will now proceed to the Upper House, where Labor will need the support of the Greens and a crossbencher.

While the three Lower House Greens MPs voted for the bill on Thursday, Greens MP Lydia Thorpe, Victoria's only Indigenous parliamentarian, wants the word sovereignty included in the legislation to acknowledge that Aboriginal people still own the land of Victoria.

"It is disappointing we're still fighting for this Government to acknowledge Aboriginal sovereignty … a treaty is between two sovereigns," she said.

The legislation will facilitate the establishment of an Elders Council, and a statewide meeting involving traditional owner groups, clans and organisations will be held to progress negotiations on a treaty.

Victoria's Aboriginal Affairs Minister Natalie Hutchins said her state, and others, were going it alone because Canberra had turned its back on the issue.

"We know the Federal Government are not doing anything in this space," she said.

"Other states are in the very preliminary stages of these sort of talks as well, and I know this will encourage them, because we are leading a new path on how to do this."

Janine Coombs, a Wotjobaluk woman and chair of the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations, said a treaty would be "for future generations".

"Elders never thought they would see this happen."

Treaty dominates discussion

At the Barunga Festival near Katherine in the Northern Territory this weekend, treaty will dominate discussions at one of Australia's most important cultural festivals.

What will Indigenous treaties mean?

Australia is the only Commonwealth country that does not have a treaty with its Indigenous peoples, but states are leading the charge for change.

The Northern Territory's Aboriginal land councils have asked the Chief Minister to sign a memorandum of understanding on a treaty.

Kimberley leader Peter Yu, chief executive of Nyamba Buru Yawuru, said treaties could help establish "a dignified relationship in relation to our coexistence in this country".

Australia is the only Commonwealth nation that has not negotiated a treaty with its Indigenous population.

Mr Yu said an agreement with the Commonwealth was still the key priority for First Nations people.

"It has to happen at a national level," he said.

"It's the political leadership is missing in this country for many, many years — it is what continues to feed and bring the flies to the festering sores we grapple with on a daily basis."

This month, a joint parliamentary committee will begin a fresh round of consultations with Indigenous communities over potential changes to the constitution.

Hundreds of delegates at Uluru last May called for a permanent Indigenous advisory body to be enshrined in the constitution.

The summit, which followed six months of consultations, also recommended a commission be established to oversee new treaties with First Nations groups.

SOURCE 

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here