Tuesday, August 31, 2021



Competitive political fundraising comes to Australia

This has been big and accepted in America for a long time

In announcing his move to the United Australia Party last week, Craig Kelly – presumably unintentionally – made a persuasive case for campaign expenditure reform. In a surprisingly frank explanation of his reasons for joining Clive Palmer’s UAP, the former Coalition MP boasted: “We have a huge war chest, we can run television commercials, ads, we can finance a proper campaign that no other minor party or independent can.”

Did Kelly, in extolling the capacity of the UAP to lavish enormous largesse on campaigning – a capacity unrivalled by other minor parties and independents – spare a passing thought for our democracy, and what the consequences are of inequality of opportunity to compete for election? For the reality that the less level the playing field, the more unrepresentative our constitutionally enshrined system of representative government becomes?

It is unarguable that our current system of uncapped electoral expenditure has produced a field that is not only not level, but substantially tipped in favour of those with resources. As the situation stands, what are minor parties and independents wishing to compete with the UAP’s ability to dump enormous sums into its campaigns to do? Desperately raise funds to plough into their own campaigns?

For as long as electoral expenditure remains uncapped, there will exist a temptation for parties and candidates to chase donations to fund their campaigns – donations that, in some cases, might come with no strings attached; in others, might openly be to buying access (though the High Court has reminded us that the line between ingratiation and access, and corruption, “may not be so bright”); and in yet others, may be for something that poses an even greater threat to our democracy.

Research by the Centre for Public Integrity has concluded that electoral expenditure caps should apply to political parties, associated entities and third parties, and be coupled with specific restrictions on political advertising.

The current arms race, where parties and candidates vie for donations to fund their campaigns, could be replaced by public funding and distribution of advertising space (based on existing models in Britain and New Zealand). This would avoid scenarios such as that in 2019, when the UAP’s digital spend was claimed to have driven up the price of purchasing and boosting digital ads, with the consequence that the ability of less well-resourced parties to access space was impeded.

By making the political advertising landscape more equitable, reforms such as these effectively democratise elections.

Kelly’s announcement also puts the issue of truth in political advertising squarely on the agenda, in light of the UAP’s claims during last year’s Queensland election that Labor planned to introduce a death tax – a claim Labor vehemently denied and sought to have removed from Facebook and Twitter.

Since the High Court decided in 1983 that a provision of the Commonwealth’s electoral law prohibiting false statements likely to mislead a voter “in or in relation to the casting of his vote” did not extend to statements influencing the voter’s formation of a judgment about the candidate they wished to vote for, there has been a clear case to adopt an appropriate truth in political advertising provision at federal level (and indeed, in the states and territories – currently, only South Australia and the ACT require truth in political advertising).

In offering his view that it would be unconstitutional to block his advertisements (presumably in reliance on the implied freedom of political communication), Kelly complained: “Now we are in a society where if you have an alternate [sic] opinion then shut up.” Opinion is one thing; material presented as fact, of course, is entirely another.

As former High Court Justice Mary Gaudron saw it, insofar as the freedom of political communication concerns information and ideas, false or misleading material does not enjoy the same protection. It is not constitutionally impermissible for a law to infringe upon the implied freedom of political communication, as long as – among other things – the law serves a legitimate end. In a representative democracy, can a law prohibiting citizens from being misled in exercising their democratic right to vote be anything other than a legitimate end? And how many of us would disagree with the proposition, put by Professor Dean Jaensch AO, that electors should have an equivalent “consumer protection” as that bestowed upon parties to commercial transactions?

While many additional reforms are needed to protect the right of citizens to engage with their information environment in a meaningful way, electoral expenditure caps and truth in political advertising are undoubtedly the most pressing.

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University students will be trained to spot foreign interference

Paranoia about China

University students will be trained to spot foreign interference threats on campus and report them to authorities under proposed new rules aimed at significantly beefing up universities’ responsibilities for countering Chinese government influence on campuses.

Academics and students involved in research collaborations with overseas institutions will also get specific training on how to “recognise, mitigate and handle concerns of foreign interference”, following security agencies’ concerns about critical research being stolen.

The measures are contained in new draft foreign interference guidelines for universities, which are being furiously debated among university leaders and government officials. The federal government has already been forced to review a key element of the guidelines, which would have required all academics to disclose their membership of foreign political parties over the past decade, following a fierce backlash from university chiefs.

Following growing concerns from Australia’s security agencies about the risk of research theft by China and other foreign actors, the guidelines state that students and staff are to “receive training on, and have access to information about how foreign interference can manifest on campus and how to raise concerns in the university or with appropriate authorities”.

The measures are also aimed at addressing reports of students and academics being harassed by pro-Beijing groups on campuses. They propose that orientation programs should be used to “promote to all staff and students ways to report within their university concerns of foreign interference, intimidation and harassment that can lead to self-censorship”. Universities will also be required to have policies that set out how reported “concerns are tracked, resolved and recorded and shared” internally and when they should be reported to outside authorities.

To oversee these measures, the guidelines state that universities must have an “accountable authority” – either a senior executive or executive body – that will have responsibility for research collaborations with overseas institutions, and reviewing security risks and communicating them with the government.

The guidelines have been drafted by the Universities Foreign Interference Taskforce (UFIT), a collaborative body that includes university vice-chancellors and government officials. The final version will replace existing guidelines, which are far less prescriptive. The proposal has prompted considerable concern among academic leaders about the mandatory language underpinning the new requirements, and what consequences, if any, universities will face from government if they fail to implement them.

Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge has declined to comment on “what is and isn’t in the draft guidelines”, but said earlier this year he was deeply concerned by a Human Rights Watch report that revealed accounts of Chinese international students being surveilled and harassed by their pro-Beijing classmates.

The report found that students were self-censoring in class out of fear comments critical of the Chinese Communist Party would be reported to authorities, with several students saying their parents in China had been hauled into police stations over their campus activities. Academics interviewed by Human Rights Watch also reported self-censorship practices, saying sensitive topics such as Taiwan had become too difficult to teach without a backlash from pro-Beijing students.

The report’s author, Sophie McNeill, said the draft guidelines indicated the government had taken the report’s findings into account.

“This focus had been missing from the previous guidelines, so it is very welcome these issues are now being recognised and addressed. It is critical the final guidelines include practical measures to safeguard academic freedom and address issues of harassment, surveillance and self-censorship faced by international students and staff,” Ms McNeill said.

Some universities have already taken steps to respond to the issues highlighted by Human Rights Watch. The University of Technology Sydney, for example, updated its orientation program for international students this semester to include guidance on acceptable behaviour and how students could report intimidation or surveillance by other students.

“We have certainly made it clear to students that what is discussed in classrooms is not something that should be reported on to the embassy,” Mr Watt, UTS deputy vice-chancellor, said.

“We’re not encouraging students to spy on each other. But rather, it’s saying: if you get doxxed or bullied or feel unable to express your views in a lecture here is the support available to you and here’s what you should do.”

The university’s misconduct rules allow for a range of penalties in response to unacceptable behaviour, including potential expulsion in serious cases.

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Dandenong councillor proposes separate seating for men and women

A Dandenong councillor's call for separate seating for men and women at a park so Muslim men and women can sit apart is "a disgrace," according to the IPA's Bella D'Abrera.

Councillor Jim Memeti has raised the idea of separate seating at Norine Cox Reserve in Dandenong South in order to accommodate Muslim men and women.

Dr D'Abrera told Sky News host Rita Panahi, the idea is "completely at odds" with the values of a liberal democracy.

"We've been struggling for decades to have equality between men and women.

"And in one fell swoop, this is a massively retrograde step, putting women on one side and men on the other is basically gender apartheid."

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‘Barrage of abuse’: Molan denies Asian accent jokes were racist

Broadcaster Erin Molan has defended using Asian accents in a series of jokes with her radio co-hosts, denying the gags aired in 2019 – including one in which Molan imitates a Chinese sex worker – were racist or inappropriate.

Instead, the team’s “mimicking” of accents was funny because it was “self-deprecating”, she told the Federal Court on Tuesday.

Molan, 39, is suing the Daily Mail for defamation over an article and two tweets published in June 2020 which she says falsely implied she is racist, callous and arrogant.

The article and tweets in question refer to a May 30, 2020 broadcast of The Continuous Call Team show on Sydney radio station 2GB in which Molan used the phrase “hooka looka mooka hooka fooka” in reference to the names of Pacific Islander NRL players. But in its defence, the Daily Mail dug up more than 20 other examples of the show’s hosts, including Molan, using accents in a way it claims was racist.

Molan, who is employed by Nine – the owner of this masthead – is seeking aggravated damages from the Daily Mail. Fighting back tears on Tuesday, she told the court that after the stories were published she was in a “very bad place” and had received multiple death threats targeting herself and her young daughter.

She said she was “inconsolable” and “struggling to cope” after the articles were published and she received a “barrage of abuse” including from “a lot of people I respect and admire and a lot of prominent people”.

Under cross-examination from barrister Bruce McClintock, Molan was then played a series of clips of the show from 2019 in which she engaged in jokes, imitating Asian accents, with co-hosts including Ray Hadley and Darryl Brohman.

In the first of these clips, from April 1, 2019, Molan imitates an Asian accent saying “I wuv you wery long time, wery handsome man”.

After playing the clip, Mr McClintock challenged Ms Molan to repeat her words “in the way you said it on the program”. She said the words, but did so without the accent.

“That’s not what you said, is it? You changed the ‘r’ to a ‘w’,” Mr McClintock said. Molan agreed.

“I wuv you wery long time, wery handsome man”, he proffered. “You’re putting on, again, what I would say is a Chinese accent?”

Again, Molan agreed. But to his suggestion she was “imitating a Chinese prostitute”, she said no. Rather, she said she was quoting a movie – but “I coudn’t tell you” which one.

Asked why it was funny, she said: “I guess because my accent was so bad”. She told the court she wasn’t sure what was funny about some of the jokes, and “it’s just part of banter on our show”.

She denied multiple times that the accents constituted mocking.

Molan said her role on the show was sometimes to question whether they were “going too far”, which is why on a number of occasions during the clips played to the court she said: “sorry, was that racist?” or “how is that, in this day and age, allowed?”

However, she said she never concluded that the jokes were inappropriate.

Molan said she trusted the audience to let the show know if anyone found their jokes were offensive. “Not one person ever expressed offence, and as you know in this day and age there are plenty of platforms to express offence,” she said.

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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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Monday, August 30, 2021



The key piece of evidence jurors NEVER heard before finding 'child-killer' Kathleen Folbigg guilty for the deaths of her four children

A clear and dreadful miscarriage of justice

Kathleen Folbigg may not have spent the last 18 years behinds bars had the jury been told at least eight families around the world had suffered multiple sudden infant deaths, as world-leading scientists continue their quest to prove her innocence.

The woman considered to be Australia's worst female serial killer and 'most hated woman' was jailed in 2003 for the murders of her children Patrick, Sarah and Laura - aged from eight months to 19 months - between 1991 and 1999.

She was also found guilty of the manslaughter of her first-born child, Caleb, who was just 19 days old when he died in Newcastle in 1989.

Folbigg, 53, has always maintained her innocence and has the support of dozens of scientists and medical experts who have called for her to be pardoned from her 30-year jail term.

Following her most recent unsuccessful appeal for freedom, she has written a four page letter to NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman urging him to 'soften his heart' as she pleaded again to walk free.

At Folbigg's trial in 2003, expert witnesses for the prosecution told the court that they didn't know of a single family in the world where three or more babies died suddenly of natural causes.

What the jury didn't hear is the same tragedy had happened to at least eight other families overseas.

Australian National University Professor of Immunology Carola Vinuesa was among the scientists tasked with analysing Folbigg's DNA and that of her four deceased children.

'At the time of Kathleen's trial, even though it has just been discredited, it still permeated the idea that four deaths in a family is just too rare,' she told 60 Minutes.

'Well, we know it isn't. These things happen.'

A genetic mutation called CALM2 G114R was found in Sarah and Laura's DNA, inherited from their mother, which can cause sudden cardiac arrest in infants.

Scientists in multiple countries ran biochemical and electrophysiological tests to prove the deadliness of the mutation.

The peer-reviewed findings were published in a world leading paper by Oxford University stating the mutation had 90 to 95 per cent chance of causing potentially fatal disease.

Professor Vinuesa believes 'it's very likely' that the Folbigg daughters died of a cardiac arrhythmia which led to sudden death.

'If that is not reasonable doubt, I don't know what is,' she said.

'The paper itself was co-authored by 27 scientists from seven different countries with experiments performed in at least four countries'

'The science was very strong. To date, there hasn't been a single criticism of the science.'

She is backed by Professor Peter Schwartz who's regarded as a world leader in cardiovascular genetics.

'The third and fourth deaths in that family were caused by calmodulin mutation,' he said.

'To find that is a smoking gun. It's hard to imagine it would be something else.

Scientists said the boys also had mutated genes which caused fatal epilepsy.

Former NSW District Court chief judge Reginald Blanch QC in 2019 found significant investigations had failed to find a reasonable natural explanation for any of the deaths of Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura. He ruled that it was beyond reasonable doubt that Folbigg was guilty.

Folbigg's own explanations and behaviour in respect of her diaries, which weren't available in any of the mother's criminal appeals, made 'her guilt of these offences even more certain', Mr Blanch concluded.

Folbigg's legal team has since sent her diaries to US research psychologist Dr James Pennebaker, who believes they show no premeditation for murder.

'There was no evidence for some kind of somebody who is devious, who is certainly planning to kill anyone,' he said.

He was shocked to learn that a judge couldn't find any reasonable doubt regarding her guilt by taking her diaries into account.

'I find that remarkable and I would urge them to look at the diaries in a different light,' he added.

Professor Vinuesa was among 90 scientists who signed a petition lodged with NSW Governor Margaret Beazley AC QC earlier this year which called for Folbigg's pardon and immediate release.

'I think it's distressing, it's shocking really. I think it should bring an embarrassment to Australians like myself,' she said.

'But I still have the hope that, you know, like Australia of high integrity, this evidence, since the inquiry, and say that it's time to have the science prevail, and listen to the science.'

Following her latest unsuccessful bid for freedom, Folbigg has written to Mr Speakman about the overwhelming support she's had from the public and how her day-to-day existence has changed her following the petition for a pardon.

She paid tribute to the scientists in the four page handwritten letter obtained by The Australian.

'To them, this isn't only about helping Kathleen Folbigg but rather about a need for scientific proof to be listened to, respected and heeded,' she wrote.

'They have removed the stigma of being perceived as an evil monster, removed the anxiety and fear that I have suffered every day for over 30-odd years.'

Folbigg maintains her innocence and spent the last three decades mourning the loss of her four babies.

She also expresses her regret at not give evidence in person at her trial, a decision she continues to pay a heavy price for.

'(My supporters) have known me my whole life, not just a decade of it, and have witnessed the love and care for my children. Also my devastating grief,' Folbigg wrote.

'Please soften your heart.'

Until now, US mum Meredith Schoenherr has never spoken publicly about the tragic death of two-and-a-half-year-old son Jack from a rare genetic mutation in 2013. It was the same type of abnormality found in the Folbigg girls.

'I was so excited that he was sleeping late for once in his life, but I went into the bedroom and when I went to roll him over, it was very obvious that he was gone,' she told 60 Minutes.

She recalled how close the authorities were to taking Jack's baby sister away from her and her husband Todd, who were interviewed separately at the hospital shortly after their son's death. 'She separated us and had us each tell our story of what happened,' Ms Schoenherr recalled.

'I was so in shock, it didn't really occur to me at that point that they were investigating us.' 'In the early days, nobody had any answers, which was very frustrating.'

She felt sick to her stomach after hearing Folbigg's story and shudders to think she too could have been jailed over Jack's death.

To be jailed for so many years for it, on top of losing her children, it's really hard for me to even try to comprehend how much that must hurt,' Ms Schoenherr said.

Lifelong friend Tracy Chapman said being jailed for the deaths of her children have had a devastating impact on Folbigg.

'She's cried a river over it because, she didn't kill her children, even though she knows she didn't have a hand in killing her children, she carried a genetic mutation that has done just that, anyway, she said.

She remains hopeful her friend will see eventually see justice. Otherwise everything I ever believed in the Australian legal system goes out the window,' Ms Chapman said.

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Catholic schools look at value of jewellery, cars before waiving fees for those in lockdown hot spots

Catholic schools are demanding details of parents’ furniture and jewellery before waiving fees for families struggling financially in lockdown hot spots.

Parents applying for fee relief must reveal how much they spend on food, groceries, internet, mobile phones and pay-TV each month.

Some schools expect families to fill in forms resembling bank loan applications, listing all assets including cars, jewellery, furniture, boats, motorbikes, trailers, and “personal effects’’.

Parents have to provide their latest tax return and financial statements, pay slips, credit card and bank statements and rental statements.

In some cases, families are forced to give schools permission to probe their social security details by contacting Centrelink.

A spokeswoman for National Catholic Education (NCE) said it would be “highly unusual to expect families to sell jewellery (or) furniture to pay for school fees if they are expecting financial hardship.’’

The Catholic Archdiocese of Parramatta - one of the dioceses demanding the personal details - said it was reviewing the form it currently sends to parents, after being contacted by News Corp Australia.

He said more than 3000 parents had been given fee relief in 2020.

“The form we are currently using for applications for assistance is under review with a focus on making sure the process is simpler,’’ a spokesman said.

“We acknowledge that some of the details ... are not needed, nor used to determine fee support and so these details are being removed from the form.

“Our dedicated team responds to requests for fee support with care and sensitivity, taking into account the personal circumstances of each family.’’

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Education Queensland: Why our school information has become a state secret

Crucial school performance material has become a fiercely guarded state secret, with parents the big losers in the State Government’s move to quash the release of essential information.

Two major reports previously published by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority outlining every school’s NAPLAN and Year 12 results have been dumped entirely this year.

Until now, the QCAA released a detailed report outlining the OPs every student and school received, giving parents a comprehensive picture of each school’s performance.

It allowed parents to see both which schools had achieved the top academic results as well as how schools performed comparatively.

But under the new Queensland Certificate of Education system, where students are awarded an ATAR, only set of state-level data is publicly released.

Despite a vague promise from Education Minister Grace Grace that the release of each school’s median Year 12 ATAR score would be considered, parents are still in the dark months later.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk refused to comment on the information suppression, and yesterday handballed questions to Ms Grace.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli slammed the move, and called for the information to be made public without delay.

“This information belongs to our parents, teachers and students and should be released in real-time,” he said. “Honesty, accountability and transparency matters to Queenslanders, particularly for parents when it comes to their children’s education.”

But Ms Grace claimed the new reporting system “has worked well”, and said no changes would be made. She said it was “inappropriate to use the information not in the matter it was produced”.

“The ATAR is the primary mechanism used nationally for tertiary admissions and as agreed by all education ministers should not be used to rank schools,” she said.

“Parents who wish to compare different schools have a wealth of information available to them, including the My School website and school annual reports.”

Teachers’ Professional Association of Queensland secretary Jack McGuire said parents deserved to know why such key reports were now being kept secret, calling it a “kick in the pants”.

He also hit back at QCCA boss Chris Rider’s assertion that schools would still get their own individual information.

“This isn’t new, its standard practice and it’s been happening for decades but a statement like that proves the transition to the new QCE system of ATAR rather than an OP in 2020 has led to the decision to dump the report,” he said.

“Common sense goes out the window in favour of political grandstanding and for all the wrong reasons.”

NAPLAN results were also now under lock and key, with the QCAA previously releasing every school’s result at the same time as the national data was available, which occurred this week.

School information will be uploaded in March next year to My School – almost nearly a year after the tests were held.

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NSW Health switches to recording deaths 'with' instead of 'from' Covid

Long overdue

NSW Health has switched to recording patients as dying 'with' instead of 'from' Covid as it acknowledges not all of the country's 933 deaths were directly linked to the deadly virus.

Dr Jeremy McAnulty made the admission during Sunday's Covid briefing as the state recorded 1,218 new cases of coronavirus.

Six people died with Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday bringing the total death toll of this outbreak to 89 death since June 16.

Dr McAnulty said the change in language was because it was 'very difficult to know' whether someone with Covid died from the virus, or another health complication.

'We know when elderly people die, they can have a range of comorbidities, and also, being old increases your risk of death,' he said.

'Covid may often play a role in the death, but it may not. Sometimes, some of our cases who have sadly died appear to have recovered from Covid, and then they have died of something [else].

'We report people who have died "with" Covid, unless there is a very clear alternative.'

He added that it was difficult for doctors who were looking after patients to know exactly how much the virus contributed to their death.

The symbolic change in language comes as NSW Health begins to acknowledge the country's 933 Covid deaths were not all direct results of the deadly virus.

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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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Sunday, August 29, 2021


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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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)

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

Saturday, August 28, 2021



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.

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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".

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

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.

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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.

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

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)

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

Friday, August 27, 2021



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.'

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.”

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

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.'

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

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.

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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.

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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.”

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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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Thursday, August 26, 2021



Lockdowns don’t just save lives, they cost lives too

Robert Bezimienny

As a practising doctor, it has become clear to me over the past 18 months that lockdowns not only inflict a financial cost – they also cost lives. The decision to impose a lockdown is not as simple as society making sacrifices to save lives. The decision is between losing lives to COVID-19 and losing lives to lockdowns.

The lives lost to COVID-19 are highly visible. In contrast, the lives lost to lockdowns have been and remain largely invisible.

Every life has equal moral value and our aim should be to reduce as many unnecessary deaths as possible, not just reduce deaths attributed to COVID-19.When I see a patient presenting with a disease that could have been diagnosed months, or even a year, earlier, I feel sad, angry and frustrated. The patient is not going to do as well. The difference can be as stark as that between a cure and the prospect of death.

During lockdown last year, patients avoided seeing GPs and specialists. Lockdowns made them fear stepping outside. They missed screening tests for breast cancer, for bowel cancer, for heart disease. Consequently, there will be an increased number of deaths from these conditions in the years to come.

While this avoidance will cost thousands of Australian lives, that toll feels less immediate than an unwell patient today. But lockdowns and the fear they provoke have done more than cost lives in future years – they are costing lives right now.

In the first lockdown, a patient with a lump was too scared to come in and see us at our practice. He will not do as well. The constant news stories had already made him fearful, but the lockdown had made him absolutely terrified. Once lockdown eased, he presented for a consultation, was examined and diagnosed with cancer – but the delay has affected his prognosis.

Another patient was referred to a specialist but deferred his appointment as he did not want to approach a hospital during lockdown. Once lockdown ended, he continued to defer his appointment as he waited for the world to return to normal. By the time he saw a specialist, a rare cancer had spread. This year he underwent palliative treatment. Sadly, he is now dead.

During lockdowns, patients have used the telephone and internet for consultations. This is much better than no consultation but it is not as good as seeing a patient in person. When a very old woman with multiple health problems called our practice with a cough, she was convinced that it was her bronchitis and she received two courses of antibiotics over the telephone. The cough persisted and despite great resistance she was persuaded to come in and allow a doctor to examine her. She did not have bronchitis, she had a much more serious condition: multiple blood clots throughout her lung – pulmonary emboli. She was hospitalised and pulled through.

A friend of mine is an emergency department specialist. During lockdowns he has seen people die from late presentations. He has seen more people die than he has ever seen before. Patients think it is dangerous to leave their own house, so those with chest pain stay at home and when they finally call an ambulance, a treatable heart attack has become fatal. Patients with strokes are too scared to go hospital and miss out on acute treatment that would have limited the damage to their brain. Patients with bacterial infections that would be simple to treat with prompt intravenous antibiotics wait at home and become septic and die.

The incidence of anxiety and depression has not just increased during lockdowns – it has exploded. In Australia, it has more than doubled. Depression can lead to suicide and every year 3000 Australians take their own lives. Many of them are young and their deaths are not visible.

If lockdowns are justified on the basis of potential lives saved, the actual lives lost to lockdowns must also be acknowledged.

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Covid-19 Qld: Hotels at capacity as state flooded by interstate exodus

Queensland’s hotel quarantine system is at capacity as authorities grapple with an influx of people from locked-down states wanting to relocate, along with Queenslanders returning home.

It’s understood the State Government has been trying to find additional space to alleviate the “extraordinary pressure” being placed on the system for days which is currently housing more than 5000 people.

And The Courier-Mail understands authorities may consider assessing the risk of particular domestic travellers and letting them quarantine at home for their second week.

More quarantine hotels have also been brought online.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk spruiked the Sunshine State’s current situation at yesterday’s press conference – which was that Queensland was not in lockdown and on track to further lift restrictions this Friday if no community outbreaks were recorded.

“You can go to work, you can go to school, you can go watch sport, you can play community sport, you can go to a restaurant, you can go out,” she said.

Six new cases of Covid-19 were recorded on Tuesday, including two truck drivers who travelled from NSW, but authorities are not concerned.

NSW on Tuesday reported 753 new cases, while Victoria recorded 50.

A Queensland Health spokesperson on Tuesday night said there had been a “steady rise” in the number of people from other states in extended lockdown moving to Queensland throughout the pandemic.

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Fury as health bosses erase the word 'women' from official Covid vaccine guide - using the 'inclusive' phrase 'pregnant people' instead

Federal health chiefs have rewritten a Covid-19 vaccination pregnancy guide that bizarrely erases all mention of 'women' and replaces it with 'pregnant people'.

The guide was originally published in February as 'COVID-19 vaccination – Shared decision making guide for women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning pregnancy'.

But it was republished last week under its new subtly-tweaked title: 'COVID-19 vaccination decision guide for people who are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning pregnancy'.

Some campaigning groups say using 'women' excludes non-binary or transgender people who may not identify as a woman but can still be pregnant or a mother.

The word 'women' has been replaced by 'pregnant people' in the new version of the official health guide. Federal health chiefs have rewritten a Covid-19 vaccination pregnancy guide that bizarrely erases all mention of 'women' and replaces it with 'pregnant people'.

The document does not mention woman or women anywhere except in links to other websites or in the title of footnote references to other publications.

The word 'mother' is used just twice in the entire eight page booklet.

In all, more than 50 different mentions of women have been deleted from the original version and replaced by 'people' or 'those who are pregnant', sparking fury among some women.

Included in the changes are non-specific sentences like: 'Pregnant people are a priority group for Covid-19 vaccination' and 'Those who are pregnant have a higher risk of severe illness from Covid-19'.

Sky News commentator Rita Panahi blasted the rewrite as nonsense and added: ‘We cannot allow this craziness to be normalised. 'Women get pregnant - that shouldn't be a controversial statement.'

She accused the federal health department of 'buying into radical gender theory' with the rewrite. 'It's seeping in everywhere,' she added. 'It started in academia but now it's the Department of Health.'

Commercial litigator Caroline di Russo added: 'If you asked the everyday person in the street they would be pretty sure that only women could get pregnant.

'This here frankly is silliness, except that there's an undercurrent to it. It's dressed up like inclusivity and caring and whatever. 'But actually, it just has the effect of cancelling women.'

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Murdoch’s Fox News issues ABC with legal threat over ‘Four Corners’ Trump episode

Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News has threatened the ABC with legal action over a Four Corners episode that examined the American cable TV network’s coverage of former US president Donald Trump and its role in the aftermath of last year’s general election.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have confirmed that Fox News’ general counsel Bernard Gugar sent a letter to ABC chair Ita Buttrose and managing director David Anderson on August 22, the day before the episode aired on Monday night. The letter, prompted by promotional clips the ABC shared publicly before the episode aired, warned that Fox would consider all options if the episode went to air.

Multiple people familiar with the letter’s contents who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Fox News also disputed any assertions it was responsible for riots that took place at the US Capitol on January 6. It also claimed Four Corners ignored Mr Trump’s criticism of Fox News’ coverage of the election. Fox News’ election desk was the first to call the key battleground state of Arizona for Joe Biden, who won the election. The call was aggressively disputed by members of the Trump administration with Fox’s senior management.

The letter marks the latest escalation in long-running tensions between Australia’s public broadcaster and media outlets controlled by the Murdoch family, which also include local newspapers The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and The Herald Sun. Fox News is now expected to formalise a complaint with the ABC and the Australian Communications and Media Authority over what it claims is a breach of impartiality rules by the public broadcaster in the episode.

One senior media lawyer said it was not clear what legal options Fox could pursue over the episode in Australia, unless Four Corners defamed an individual or disclosed highly confidential information about the company. An alternative legal avenue is to seek an injunction on the second episode, the lawyer said, but that would be likely to attract more attention to the program. “The legal options are limited,” the lawyer said.

However, Fox News signalled it will also pursue its complaints about the episode with Australian regulators. Under current ABC guidelines, the national broadcaster is required to seek balance, fair treatment, open-mindedness and opportunities for relevant perspectives on matters of contention.

The Four Corners’ episode, which said Fox News had become a propaganda outlet for Mr Trump, has been heavily criticised by News Corp’s local publications and columnists such as Chris Kenny and Mark Day since going to air on Monday. Fox News is owned by Fox Corp, a separate company to News Corp, which owns its Australian assets, and is run by Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert’s eldest son.

“The episode clearly violates the basic tenets of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s published standards by exhibiting bias and a failure to maintain any level of impartiality in the presentation of news and information,” a Fox News spokesperson said when contacted for comment. “The use of five former deeply disgruntled employees, only one of whom was part of the company during our coverage of the 2020 US presidential election and its aftermath, single-handedly discredits all credibility of the program.

“As for the events of January 6th, implicating Fox News in any way is false and malicious. Congressional hearings this past February and the Biden Justice Department not only did not implicate Fox but other media companies were cited as platforms for inciting and coordinating the Capitol riots.“

The ABC rejected Fox’s claims, saying there are “no errors” or “falsehoods” in the program. “We are satisfied there are none,” a spokesperson said. “The program rigorously complied with the ABC’s editorial policies. Fox Corp and Fox News were repeatedly asked for interviews and declined to take part. Their responses and information they provided are incorporated in the programs.

“News Corp not enjoying scrutiny does not mean the scrutiny is unwarranted. The events around the critical 2020 US Presidential Election and the coverage of it are clearly in the public interest to investigate. The huge role played by Fox News is legitimate to examine.”

The ABC spokesperson said Fox was provided with a detailed outline of the proposed program and that the television network was helpful in providing footage and background material. “The program tried every avenue to get Fox News to provide its point of view,” the spokesperson said. “The program tried for two months to secure an interview with Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch and made a series of requests for various other senior Fox Corp representatives, as well as for Rupert Murdoch. It also submitted written questions. The responses and information that were provided are incorporated in the program.”

“The story was rigorously tested against the ABC’s Editorial Policies and the ABC stands by it.” The ABC also said it stood by claims Fox had amplified the election fraud storyline and denied that it blamed Fox News for the January 6 riots (Fox News says it called the election accurately for President Joe Biden and ran several programs that scrutinised “stolen election” claims).

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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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