Hottest start to November in 13 years: Intense heatwave blasts Australia's east coast with temperatures to nudge 40 for the next three days

"Intense heatwave", bollocks!  My well-calibrated thermometer reads 33.5 on the afternon of the 5th (Monday), which is a normal summer afternoon temperature in Brisbane.  And summer onset has long been variable in Brisbane.  You get both hot and cool days rather randomly for the whole November/December period

The east coast of Australia is expected to battle high temperatures and humid conditions for two more days before a cold front moves in.

South-east Queensland is anticipated to feel the brunt of the heat, with temperatures nudging towards 40C on Monday and Tuesday.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the temperature in Ipswich, south-east Queensland, will hit 39C on Monday.

The Bureau also upgraded their heatwave forecast to 'extreme' for south-east Queensland over the next three days.

According to the Courier Mail, south-east Queensland has experienced the hottest start to November since 2005.  

Senior Meteorologist at Weatherzone Jacob Cronje said conditions are expected to be 'uncomfortable' in Queensland in the coming days due to unrelenting humid conditions.

'It looks like for Brisbane itself, the CBD, we are looking at temperatures in the low to mid 30s, each day until Wednesday before cooler weather arrives from the south, that'll also impact New South Wales before that,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Adding to the uncomfortable conditions, Mr Cronje said: 'It is an extended spell of heat and with that, evenings are unlikely to cool below 20C.'

The cool change is anticipated to begin on Tuesday night, as cold weather arrives from the south, hitting New South Wales first and arriving in Queensland on Thursday. 

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Australian airline to honour military veterans

But Leftist miseries are whining and may destroy the policy

Virgin Australia to give military veterans special boarding and in-flight privileges has received mixed opinions from passengers.

The move, backed by prime minister Scott Morrison, would see Australian ex-servicemen honoured in a similar way to those who fly in America.

Thousands of Australians have expressed their disapproval and campaigned to boycott the airline completely if the new system is adapted.

While some were happy to comply with the US-style concept, others were convinced it was a politically-driven stunt designed purely to boost Mr Morrison's popularity.

If the plan goes ahead it would see veterans offered priority boarding and thanked during the airline's in-flight announcements, according to news.com.au.

Former military personnel and regular flyers alike have taken issue with the move, saying it failed to offer any meaningful acknowledgement such as discounted fares.

Many also believed it excluded emergency workers and who thought they too should be eligible for hero-status recognition.

'With all due respect to the many veterans out there, the government needs to focus on mental health support, don't put veterans through rigorous assessment to get funding/pensions, more older vets support,' someone shared to Twitter.

'Hey Virgin Australia if I have a choice ...I won't fly you. Some of my friends are returned service people and they know this is not about them but a cheap stunt by you and the prime minister,' another said.

Qantas has received pressure to follow in Virgin's footsteps and offer similar perks, however announced it would not be following suit.

Several people were happy with current orders of business and saw no need for Australian airlines to start behaving like those in America.

'I fly Virgin. This puts me off. I live in Oz not USA. This is a mistake,' one flyer said.

Another agreed, writing: 'Virgin Australia we are Australians... Not Americans, your American tokenism is not wanted or welcomed. #HelloQantas.'

Many fliers argued being publicly acknowledged would actually be highly distressing unwanted attention for veterans, who often preferred to blend in.

'Sorry - no way would I support service men and women boarding first or applaud them. This may even trigger issues for them. Respect and good manners for all passengers,' someone added.

Several argued it was a token move from the airline and attention would be better focused on providing better mental health support for veterans and their families

'I think donating to an org that helped with their mental health on their return would have been better. Getting on quicker just means you wait on board longer. Our soldiers & their families need mental health support first,' a flier wrote.

Mr Morrison said it was about 'nurturing the respect for our veterans' which he claimed was 'brought home for me really heavily during the Invictus Games', Brisbane's Sunday Mail reported.

'We acknowledge the important contribution veterans have made to keeping our country safe and the role they play in our community,' Virgin Australia chief executive officer John Borghetti said.

'Once the veterans have their cards and lapel pins, they will simply need to present them during the boarding process to be given priority boarding and be recognised on board.'     

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Muslims shouldn't wish Christians a Merry Xmas and wives can NEVER refuse sex: How hardline Islamic groups are still spreading hate and division in Australia

One of Australia's leading experts on Islamic extremism has described Sharia law fundamentalists as a 'danger' to society that conservative Muslims needed to challenge.

Professor Greg Barton, a global Islamic politics expert from Melbourne's Deakin University, said hateful rhetoric from hardline Islamist groups had the potential to radicalise a small number of disaffected young people.

Even if they didn't preach violence, Professor Barton feared they would convince a follower they needed to physically punish or even kill non-Muslims.

'"We will follow through and do what these beliefs require", that's the danger,' Professor Barton told Daily Mail Australia from Indonesia.

Fundamentalists in the suburbs have been telling Muslims to avoid wishing Christians a Merry Christmas and demanding that wives should never refuse a husband's demand for sex.

Salafist Muslim groups advocating a fundamentalist, seventh-century version of Islam, operate in parts of Sydney and Melbourne and are funded by Saudi Arabian interests.

The Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah Association, also known as the ASWJ, is an extreme example.

Jamil El-Biza, a fundamentalist sheikh from Wollongong south of Sydney, last year told his followers via Facebook they should avoid wishing Christians a Merry Christmas to please Allah.

'I'd rather be resurrected on the day of judgement, with the fact I made a few hundred million unhappy with me because I refuse to say "Merry Christmas", rather than being brought forward before Allah and having to explain to him why I congratulated a Christian who worships Jesus as lord,' he said on Christmas Day, 2017.

Professor Barton said fundamentalist groups needed to be called out for pushing anti-social messages.

'So when you've got a group that's putting hatred or intolerance or misogyny, you've got to call it out and say, "That's not acceptable",' he said.

Another ASWJ preacher Nassim Abdi last month told a mosque at Auburn, in Sydney's west, that it was sinful for a wife to refuse sex with her husband.

'If the husband calls the wife to be intimate and there's no legitimate reason for the woman to say no, then she must answer the call of her husband,' he said.

'She must answer the call of her husband and if not she has committed a major sin.'

Professor Barton said Australian authorities needed to ask other theologically conservative Muslims to tell extremists they had crossed a socially-acceptable line.

'Perversely, it actually means working with some of the more conservative groups and making it clear where the boundaries are and say, "Look, we fully respect you having your personal beliefs but when it comes to misogyny, child marriage, when it comes to any kind of teaching that incites hatred of others, that's not acceptable",' he said.

'What you want to do is identify where the line is in terms of behaviour.

'You're living in a society where a lot of people celebrate Christmas, you need to educate the next generation to grow up in that multicultural society and not feel threatened.

'When you feel angry, it's not good for you, it's not good for your community.'

Another Sunni hardliner, Um Jamaal ud-Din, a niqab-wearing Muslim convert from Christianity, previously known as Mouna Parkin, earlier this year told Muslims to boycott Valentine's Day because it had originated as a Christian festival.

'Roses are red, violets are blue, celebrating Valentine's Day is from what the immoral people do,' the religious instructor from western Sydney said.

Another Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, a political group pushing for an Islamic caliphate, is so extreme it last year confirmed it supported the death penalty for ex-Muslims.

The Australian government is continuing to resist calls to ban this group, even though it is illegal in a range of Muslim-majority nations including Indonesia, Egypt and Jordan.

Sydney Lindt cafe siege gunman Man Monis was photographed attending Hizb ut-Tahrir events before he killed manager Tori Johnson in December 2014 at the end of a 16-hour siege.

Less than a year later, 15-year-old schoolboy Farhad Jabar gunned down accountant Curtis Cheng outside the New South Wales police headquarters in Parramatta, after reportedly visiting a Muslim bookshop in western Sydney selling Sharia law books that advocated death for homosexuals and stoning for adultery.

Professor Barton said Saudi-funded Islamic Salafist groups had been sprouting up in Australia since the late 1970s and were a challenge to contain.

'In most societies, it's going to be a hopeless battle trying to take on all religious fundamentalists of whatever form including the Salafists,' he said.

Last year, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson wore a burqa into the Senate to make a point about how fundamentalist Islam was incompatible with Australian society.

Professor Barton said stunts like that only helped fundamentalist portray themselves to their followers as being under attack from the West.

'The message of the fundamentalists is that the West hates Islam, that the Australian government, the Australian people are against Muslims so when Pauline Hanson turns up in the Senate in a burqa, it just makes it that much easier for the local preacher who's pushing an intolerant message to turn around and say, "I told you, guys",' he said.

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Australia's alternative to illegal immigrant farm workers

Thousands of backpackers who travel to Australia will have their working visas extended as the Federal Government looks to permanently end worker shortages on farms.   

Annual working holiday visa caps will be lifted, the age limit raised to 35 for select countries, and backpackers will also be able to triple the length of their stay in some instances after formally agreeing to more agricultural work.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has endorsed the sweeping changes, with backpackers also no longer required to leave jobs every six months.

They will now be encouraged to stay with the same employer for up a year.

The Government has been under increasing pressure to help struggling farmers after the Nationals failed to deliver on a promised agriculture visa, and Mr Morrison's ambitious plan to force dole recipients to pick fruit never got off the ground. 

Nationals MP Keith Pitt urged federal government representatives to increase the number of backpackers because farms in his local Bundaberg region were struggling to survive.

As part of the newly introduced farm labourer push, overseas visitors with a Pacific Islander background will now be able to work for nine months rather than the current six month limit. 

Daily Mail Australia understands Mr Morrison has also not ruled out agreeing to another agriculture visa if the changes don't fill the required jobs on farms.

The Prime Minister said the primary aim was to deliver immediate help and willing workers to farmers.

'Australians filling Australian jobs is my number one priority but when this isn't possible we need to ensure our farmers aren't left high and dry with rotting crops, especially in the strawberry industry,' Mr Morrison told the Courier Mail.

'We want more money in the back pockets of our farmers.' 

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 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