Australian Politics
Gay conversion banned in NSW after all-night debate
It seems that most talk is unaffected by this bill so that is good but some more active therapy offered by non-psychologists will clearly be banned. That clearly affects the offerings of certain church-based groups.
What is unclear is if qualified pychologists are allowed to offer more than talk. Are active therapies such as behaviour therapy allowed? Such therapies can be very effective. Restrictions on proven active therapy are unfair to the minority who WANT all available help towards normalizing their feelings. Not all homosexuals are happy about the way they are
Gay conversion practices will be banned in NSW after the state’s parliament passed new laws following a marathon debate that stretched into the early hours of Friday morning.
Bleary-eyed members of the upper house supported Labor’s Conversion Practices Ban bill just after 6.30am on Friday after debate kicked off at 11pm on Thursday with a number of attempted amendments from the Coalition, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party and the Greens.
However, the government had stressed it would not be changing its bill and when it returned to the lower house just before 7am, NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley said, “history is made”.
“Our friends in the LBTQ+ community deserve that history,” Daley told parliament, thanking MPs for the “respectful way in which this debate has been conducted”.
The ban, which was the focus of months-long discussions between the government, LGBTQ advocacy groups and religious organisations, will outlaw practices that attempt to change or suppress a person’s sexual identity, following a 12-month introduction period. It will also be illegal to take someone outside of NSW to undergo conversion therapies.
NSW follows Victoria and the ACT, where conversion therapy has already been outlawed.
The bill has some exceptions for religious groups, meaning, for example, it is still legal to give a religious sermon that preaches against homosexuality or pray with someone experiencing same-sex attraction.
Exemptions are also given to registered psychologists and families, with conversations in those settings still legal under the bill.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said he was comfortable with the exemptions. “The exemptions relate to medical professionals and counsellors, those that are governed by a professional association … There [are] also exemptions for families because we recognise parents are primarily responsible for raising their kids and they need to be able to have honest conversations with their children,” he said on 2GB on Friday morning.
Independent MP Alex Greenwich, who withdrew his own version of a bill to ban the practice last year to work with the government on its own legislation, celebrated the news outside Parliament on Friday morning.
“NSW is waking up as a safer place for LGBTQ people today,” he said, adding that the bill sends “a really clear message that LGBTQ people are loved, are beautiful, and now, any futile attempts to change who we are is against the law”.
Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown said the passing of this legislation shows that governments shouldn’t be afraid of pursuing LGBTQ reform.
“This is a historic day and this law will save lives,” she said, saying conversion practices are “alive and well in NSW”, with people aged in their 20s coming forward as victims of these practices in recent years.
Teddy Cook, the director of community health at ACON and a survivor of conversion practices, praised the legislation for being inclusive of transgender Australians.
“We truly wake up today with more pride and more euphoria than the state has perhaps ever experienced,” he said.
“As a proud trans man, I wake up here after a huge night knowing that this state is telling us loud and clear that we are perfect.”
Announcing the news outside Parliament on Friday morning, Penny Sharpe, the leader of the government in the upper house, said the passing of the bill was “a very long time coming”.
“It’s been many years of advocacy for many people,” she said.
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Government Targeting ‘Ghost Colleges’ in International Student Visa Crackdown
Despite an uptick in net migration, the Australian government forecasts a significant drop due to measures introduced to clamp down on illegal visas in the international education sector.
According to data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on March 21, net overseas migration totalled 548,800 until September 2023, resulting in the total population growing by 2.5 percent.
The new population figure is 26.8 million, an annual increase of 659,800 people.
This latest data does not account for measures implemented by the Labor Party to curb migration, which is expected to halve by next year, primarily due to major restrictions in student visa approvals.
“Net overseas migration grew by 60 percent compared with the previous year, driven by an increase in overseas migration arrivals (up 34 percent), predominantly on a temporary visa for work or study,” said Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil.
Last year, as part of a greater move to drive down migration, the Albanese government implemented a migration review.
This was aimed at ending pandemic-era concessions afforded to education providers to prevent rogue operators from running so-called “ghost colleges” that often recruit international students who are not genuinely coming to Australia to study.
“Instead of pretending that some students are here to study when they are actually here to work, we need to look to create proper, capped, safe, tripartite pathways for workers in key sectors, such as care,” said Ms. O’Neil on March 21 at a press club event.
“More than half of the people who receive permanent skills visas under our current system arrived in Australia on a student visa.”
Over the next week, high-risk providers, referred to as “visa factories” by the government, will be sent warning notices that give a six-month compliance period to eliminate dodgy practices. If standards are not met, the provider runs the risk of being suspended from bringing in overseas students.
“Increased powers for the regulator and tougher penalties will deter dodgy providers who currently see fines as a risk worth taking or merely a ‘cost of doing business,’” Skills and Training Minister Brendan O'Connor said.
A new “genuine student” test will ask students to answer questions about their intentions for study, provide evidence of their current and potential financial situation, and sign a declaration that they understand what constitutes a genuine student.
Additionally, English language requirements for student and graduate visas will increase, with the minimum requirement from IELTS rising from 5.5 to 6.0 and for graduate visas from IELTS 6.0 to 6.5.
Results of the increased enforcement are already starting to show says Clare O'Neil.
“Since September, the government’s actions have led to substantial declines in migration levels, with recent international student visa grants down by 35 percent on the previous year,” she said.
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Qld. government urged to dump ‘CFMEU tax’ in $6bn saving, industry heavyweights claim
The Queensland Government could pay the bulk of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games if it dumped its controversial, union-backed BPIC policy, industry heavyweights say.
The Labor government’s Best Practice Industry Conditions policy – dubbed the “CFMEU tax” – has been partly blamed for eye-watering costs across the sector, with claims it was driving up labour bills as much as 30 per cent while slashing productivity.
Queensland Major Contractors Association chief executive Andrew Chapman told The Courier-Mail even with the most conservative of estimates, dumping BPICs would save at least 10-15 per cent on major government projects.
“We’ve got a $64bn Big Build program over the next four years. If BPIC was not applied you could – conservatively – save 10 to 15 per cent of that cost, and that’s well over $6bn,” he said.
“With that, you could easily cover delivering a brand-new Victoria Park stadium, and almost the entire Games.
“You would see a reduction in costs, because BPICs not only drive up labour costs but they drive down productivity – making the projects a lot more expensive
“They also remove the ability of a contractor to bring innovation to the table – things like precast and modular solutions are ruled out – which is exactly the kind of thing we should be doing more of.”
Premier Steven Miles this week rejected an independent review’s advice to build a new $3.4bn Victoria Park stadium despite a panel finding it would be the most cost-effective option, saying he could not justify the price tag.
But a major projects pipeline industry report release late last year found the government’s own
BPIC policy was lifting the already “high floor” of construction costs, and leading to a “substantial reduction in the value for money equation.”
Aerial images of how the proposed and rejected Victoria Park stadium for the Olympics would look. Picture: ARCHIPELAGO
Aerial images of how the proposed and rejected Victoria Park stadium for the Olympics would look. Picture: ARCHIPELAGO
One construction executive said it was “pretty rich for (Mr) Miles to be talking about value-for-money when Labor introduced BPIC”.
A CFMEU spokesman denied the policy was leading to blowouts, saying BPIC projects were ”good for the industry and good for the taxpayer”.
“Blue collar unions including the CFMEU are on a unity ticket about BPIC,” he said.
“BPICs are an important safeguard against contractors who for years have price gouged on government projects and treated Queensland taxpayers like an ATM.”
A government spokeswoman said “good wages and conditions means we can attract more skilled workers to Queensland”.
“At a time when people are experiencing rising household costs, it doesn’t make any sense to suggest cutting workers’ wages,” she said.
Mr Chapman said the government needed to focus more on the value for money of the options on the table as well as the whole-of-life costs for the venue options.
“Just because something is the cheapest option, does not equate to it delivering the best value for money,” he said.
“Contractors will build what they’re told to build, but greenfield construction is more cost-effective than brownfield construction.”
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Revealed: How many landlords sold up in Queensland
Thousands of landlords listed rental properties for sale in Queensland in the first two months of this year in a further blow to already struggling tenants.
Exclusive research by SuburbTrends has also revealed the hotspots where the most investors are selling up, and where renters might soon be facing eviction — if they haven’t already been ordered out.
The data shows 6,248 ex-rental homes hit the market across the state from January to February, accounting for 21.65 per cent of total listings.
SuburbTrends founder Kent Lardner said any area with a two percentage point spike or more was concerning, as landlords buckled under the higher costs of holding their property with rising interest rates and inflation, coupled with a punitive legislative environment.
Brisbane’s northern and southern suburb belts recorded a significant uplift in landlord sales, while in regional Queensland the area covering Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday notched up a three per cent increase.
“I think the alarm bell has started now,” Mr Lardner said. “There’s always a natural number of people selling rentals. But the thing that is not normal is that significant spike.”
The Gold Coast suburbs of Southport and Surfers Paradise had the highest number of landlord sales over the two months, with 65 and 61 transactions respectively, followed by Nundah (56) and Roma (54).
An annual survey of investors by peak industry body, the Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA), found 40 per cent of landlords sold one or more properties in Queensland in 2023.
PIPA chair Nicola McDougall said investors had sold more properties in Queensland than in any other state for a number of years, and pre-dating the recent record run of interest rate hikes.
“So, if it wasn’t for financial reasons back then, why were investors selling? Generally speaking, it was because they had simply had enough of being treated appallingly by policy-makers with policies such as the emergency tenancy laws during the pandemic, as well as the failed Queensland interstate land tax, proving to be a bridge too far for many,” Ms McDougall said.
“Queensland investors want and deserve policy stability when they provide the lion’s share of rental housing over decades of ownership – not continual market intervention, generally for political purposes.”
Ms McDougall said a main reason cited by investors exiting the market this year were changes to tenancy legislation, impacting their control and increasing their compliance and holding costs.
The latest round of rule changes banned rental bidding, attached annual rent price caps to the property rather than the tenancy, and could potentially allow tenants to make modifications to the home without the owner’s consent.
“Private investors are the key to solving the current rental crisis, yet, there doesn’t seem to be any appetite from political leaders to not only encourage them into the market, but to incentivise them to stay over the long-term,” Ms McDougall said.
“If the exodus of investors from Brisbane and across the Sunshine State isn’t halted, then the rental crisis will become even more entrenched, which will push rents higher and result in even more people becoming homeless.”
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Vaccine mandates for NSW health workers to be dropped
NSW health workers will no longer need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 under a plan to phase out vaccine mandates.
Health workers in NSW will no longer be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as the state government moves to ditch mandates for the sector.
Health Minister Ryan Park confirmed the change would be going ahead after consulting with the state's health workforce.
'We know that COVID is still around but we've got to get back on with life,' he told Sydney radio 2GB.
'That means having a look at the measures we put in place during this period and seeing whether they still apply.
'We think this is one that we can engage with the workforce on and have a look to see if it's still applicable now.'
Public health orders mandating vaccines for health professionals were brought in during the pandemic and workers who refused either quit or were sacked.
While the order expired in November 2022, some workplaces have still been able to require mandatory vaccination under their own work, health and safety obligations.
Mr Park said if a decision was made to drop the mandates, workers who lost their jobs would be able to reapply to available positions through the usual recruitment processes.
He said COVID was still a public health threat and encouraged people to keep up with their vaccinations.
'But we've also got to make sure that we get on with running a health system after COVID and we can't continue in the same way that we did in the middle of the pandemic,' he said.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13233833/Vaccine-mandates-NSW-health-workers-dropped.html
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http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
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http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
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Evelyn Rae, a 
Sahara Ray is undoubtedly a good-looking woman. Since she is Australian-born there is even a possibility that we may be distantly related
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