Criticizing Australia

Under the heading "What the fear of 'getting Yassmin-ed' says about free speech and racism in Australia", there is a long article by Pakistani writer Sami Shah which says that recent immigrants to Australia risk a lot of abuse if they criticize Australia.  To him that is proof of racism.

It is nothing of the sort.  For at least the whole of the 20th century and beyond, Australians have been angered by criticism of their country.  And that criticism mostly came from English immigrants -- birthing the epithet "Whingeing Pom". 

Since both those terms are little known outside Australia I guess I should explain:  A "Pom" is an English person and whingeing is the sort of complaining vocalization you get from an overtired baby.  The expression is in other words a very derogatory term for an English person who criticizes Australia.  And the English are THE SAME RACE as old Australians.  So it is hardly racist.

The sensitivity to criticism arose from the unceasing flow of English-born immigrants to Australia.  When things are done differently in Australia, Poms tend to assume and say that the Australian way is inferior. After hearing such claims many times Australians lose patience with that and tend to ask the "Pom" why he doesn't go back to England.  Which normally leads to a backtrack.

So the hostility to criticism that Mr Shah describes is due to the criticisms, not the speaker. It is not unique to any ethnic group. Mr Shah simply does not know his ethnography.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied was particularly insulting.  She insulted Australia's war-dead, the sort of thing which many people worldwide would find unforgiveable.






Labor’s franking credit fallout worse than feared

Likely to hit superannuation

The economic and political catches in tax and superannuation changes usually come from the unintended consequences. And so it is with Labor’s franking credit refund changes.

Disclosure of the broader than expected ramifications of this policy mean it affects a much larger share of the population and could be politically damaging late in the election campaign.

The latest revelations came to me from an informed and diligent superannuation fund member and were reported by James Kirby today. They demonstrate that millions more Australians are likely to suffer financial disadvantage from Labor’s changes than previously understood.

The major industry superannuation funds, often unofficially aligned to the ALP because of strong union links, have been happily reassuring their members that they will not be affected because the funds derive their benefit from franking credits used against the tax they pay, reducing their tax liability rather than qualifying them for refunds.

But the catch is that these same funds have paid the equivalent of the refunds to fund members in the pension phase because, of course, if they were treated as a separate group or individually they would quality for the refund (the taxes paid by the fund are incurred primarily on the accumulation side of the operation).

So until now everyone has been happy.

But if Labor win the election and the franking credit refunds are scrapped there will be no reason for the funds to pay the equivalent benefit to their pension phase members. This would lead to a reduction in earnings credited to about 500,000 retirees.

Alternatively, as is believed to be more likely, the funds could decide to continue to pay the franking credit benefit, in which case the burden will be carried by many millions of workers in the accumulation phase who will cross-subsidise the retirees by sacrificing some of their earnings to look after them.

As Kirby highlighted, superannuation rules dictate that all members are treated equally, so the answer here is not clear cut. And he quotes industry insiders who say they are waiting not just to see whether Labor wins but to peruse the exact details of the legislation before they can work out what their internal fund management responses will be.

But this much is clear, until now industry fund members have been told that they will be unaffected by Labor’s franking credit refund changes — whether they are one of more than ten million workers in the accumulation phase of their super or one of hundreds of thousands in the retirement pension phase.

Yet now we know one of those groups, or possibly both, will have their earnings reduced as a consequence of Labor’s changes.

SOURCE  


 



Teaching girls to cry rape

Bettina Arndt

Why are we teaching young women to cry rape? In many countries, including Australia, feminists are pushing for sexual consent courses to be introduced into schools which teach girls that ‘regret sex’ is rape, that they have a right to withdraw consent after the event, and that if they have anything to drink before sexual activity they are incapable of giving consent and their partners are committing sexual assault. This dangerous rubbish is playing with the heads of young women and setting young men up for real trouble.

This is all part of the campaign to promote enthusiastic consent, or ‘yes means yes’ laws, which require men to seek consent for every stage in sexual activity. I made a video last year, talking to Murdoch University law lecturer Lorraine Finlay, about the absurdity of promoting laws which would make most normal sexual activity illegal, given that most of us have no desire to constantly verbalize enthusiastic consent throughout lovemaking. Yet in NSW, the Law Reform Commission is currently investigating this possibility and is being bombarded with submissions from women’s groups arguing that not only should enthusiastic consent become law but the same principles should be taught in sex education courses in schools.  

This week I spoke to sex educator Tracy Sedman who is one of the people responsible for educating NSW teachers and health workers about the new sexual consent courses. Tracy is very concerned about the push in this direction, and keen to encourage people to speak out about the risks for young men from teaching girls to reframe their sexual experiences in this way. I’m sure you will be intrigued by a video we are showing you, which is an extraordinary example of how easily young women can be encouraged to redefine an unsatisfactory sexual interaction as ‘rape’, urged on by their friends. What’s really scary is this video, The Morning After, has already been seen by over 6 million people. That’s an awful lot of young women now primed to judge their male partners as sexually aggressive. It will make you very worried for upcoming generations of young men facing an increasingly hostile dating world.

Here's the video. I hope you will promote it so that more people are aware of this worrying development.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj8qHXvg-jk



Via email from Bettina: bettina@bettinaarndt.com.au







Trolls who harass people online will be jailed for five years under new legislation

Threats can be very disturbing to people -- so I think that they should be treated as if they had been carried out and prosecuted accordingly

Trolls who harass people online will be jailed for five years under proposed new legislation.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed to toughen the current laws after a spike in complaints of abuse online if he is reelected in May's federal election.

The changes come after an increased number of sporting and television stars spoke out about vile comments trolls often leave on their social media platforms.

Channel Nine star Erin Molan recently spoke candidly about her experience with trolls while 33 weeks pregnant, including comments hoping she gave birth to a still born.

'I am used to copping nasty comments, I am not a snowflake,' Molan told the Sunday Telegraph. 'But when it gets to the stage when I felt unsafe and I was heavily pregnant, and someone is threatening my life and the life of my child, it's too much.'

Molan's troll was arrested, slapped with an $1,000 fine and given an eight-month suspended sentence, while his Facebook accounts were shut down.

AFL star Tayla Harris was also left fearing for her safety after abusive comments were posted online in relation to a photo of her kicking a ball during a match.

The photo of the Carlton star was initially posted to the 7AFL site but soon attracted sexual comments which prompted the site to take the picture down. 

'I genuinely consider that they might show up at the footy. If they're thinking this way and able to write it down, what are they going to do when I'm on sideline meeting some kids - that's what I'm going to have to think about now.

'These people need to be called out by the AFL, but something needs to go further. It's something maybe Victoria Police should have to look at.'

Mr Morrison's latest amendment to the law will see trolls facing five years imprisonment instead of a maximum of three, which is the current legislation.

The Coalition also hopes to introduce new standards for video games to keep youth safe, in which the default privacy settings when signing up to play are the most restrictive.

More than 200,000 youths experience bullying or intimidation on multiplayer games each year, The Sunday Telegraph reported. But Mr Morrison hopes to slash those figures by implementing tighter security settings.

He also hopes to hold social media platforms to account regarding the amount of complaints that are made each year, and what action they take to put an end to bullying.

'As a dad I know first-hand how anxious parents feel about what their kids see and do online and the dangers the ­internet can bring,' he said. 'Online trolls have no place in Australia and I promise to bring in new laws to protect our kids and keep our community safe.' 

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