Facebook has serious concerns about the competition watchdog's proposed news and advertising regulator, fearing it could disrupt Australians' newsfeeds

Facebook are afraid that instead of being the censor, they may become censored.  But they are going off half-cocked.  All that is proposed so far is information gathering.  They must be afraid of what people will find.  As we learn from John 3: 19-20, the children of the light love the light and the children of the darkness love the darkness.

Libertarians regularly propose information as an alternative to regulation so this step may well be on the right track towards bringing some accountability to what is undoubtedly a bigoted  organization.  With the Australian government watching, Australian conservatives may be less likely to be obliterated by this rogue organization


The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in December released a preliminary report into the impact digital platforms are having on competition in local media and advertising.

The ACCC recommended a regulatory authority be given the power to "monitor, investigate and report" on how news and advertising is ranked on digital platforms.

Facebook executives insist they want to work with the federal government on policy but took issue with a number of the watchdog's recommendations during a Sydney briefing with reporters.

Facebook argues a number of the recommendations - such as the government-regulated ranking system - could cause "significant harm".

"The proposed level of regulatory intervention for the news regulator and ad regulator is unprecedented as far as I've seen," Facebook competition spokeswoman Samantha Knox said on Wednesday.

"Our view is that people, and not regulators, should decide what you see on (your) newsfeed. "The point of Facebook is to connect you with friends and family and content that you care about. It is not to be primarily a channel of news distribution."

The social media giant's Australia and New Zealand public policy director, Mia Garlick, said the regulations would favour certain publishers.

She argued users should control what they see on Facebook. "We genuinely have concerns about the impact on consumer benefit here," Ms Garlick told reporters.

"If suddenly it's decided by this regulator 'Oh actually people should see more of this type of content' that's a very new space to get into where the regulator is suddenly deciding what Australians should be seeing on their newsfeed."

Facebook could be more transparent and better educate consumers regarding tools to tailor their newsfeeds, such as advertising preferences, Ms Garlick admitted.

Facebook competition spokesman Matt Perault says any additional regulation should aim to solve a specific problem.

Rules that restrict hate speech could also impact free expression, he said, noting: "Those are considerations that need to be balanced."

Facebook insisted it wasn't solely responsible for the decline in mainstream media. "The proposed 'news ranking regulator' will not solve the problem of how to support sustainable journalism in Australia," Facebook's formal response to the ACCC report states.  "The monetisation challenges facing some publishers began long before Facebook."

The ACCC's preliminary report said while digital platforms had revolutionised communication and offered many benefits, they were also "gateways" to information.

"Organisations like Google and Facebook are more than mere distributors or pure intermediaries in the supply of news in Australia; they increasingly perform similar functions as media businesses like selecting, curating and ranking content," watchdog chairman Rod Sims said in late 2018. "Yet, digital platforms face less regulation than many media businesses."

The ACCC is due to provide its final report to the government in early June.

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PM's Christmas Island visit before any medevac applications lodged

Asylum seekers accused of murder, inappropriate behaviour and alleged terrorism offences will be sent to Christmas Island if they apply to come to Australia for medical treatment, Prime Minister Scott Morrison will announce on Wednesday.

The PM will fly to Christmas Island - the first ever Australian PM to officially visit the Australian territory in the Indian Ocean - on Wednesday to inspect immigration facilities, despite no asylum seekers or refugees applying for transfer yet. 

Since the Medevac bill, which gives doctors more say in transferring refugees and asylum seekers for medical treatment, was made law on Friday no applications have been submitted.

Doctors are holding off until they triage patients to ensure those in the most need of medical treatment are transferred first and only a handful of applications are expected to be submitted in the next two weeks.

Mr Morrison announced plans to reopen the detention centre on the island last month, citing fears of an influx of asylum seekers sparked by the Labor-backed medevac legislation.

He's expected to use his visit to Christmas Island to detail plans to send any detainees on Manus Island and Nauru who are deemed "a risk" and apply to come to mainland Australia for medical treatment, to the high-security North West Point detention centre.

Fifty-seven male detainees have been identified as a "risk" including several accused of murder, inappropriate behaviour and alleged terrorism offences.

There are about another 850 men left in offshore processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island and it's unclear if those people will be allowed to come to hospitals on mainland Australia under the medevac legislation.

Last month, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said it was the government's "default position" to send all transferees to Christmas Island for medical treatment.

Mr Morrison will tour the North West Point detention centre and the medical and accommodation facilities while on the island, depending on weather.

He will also be briefed by the Australian Border Force, as well as contractor Serco and medical experts.

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Should Women Be Expected To Know How To Change A Tyre?

A failure of feminism?

What happens when a Millennial breaks down on the side of the road? New research reveals very few will get out their tyre-changing kit — or even know what that is.

Drivers under 25 are more likely to post about their situation on social media, as Gold Coast friends Leah Heritage and Molly McMahon did when they chronicled their recent flat tyre experience.

Leah was in that situation when her dad texted her back saying he warned her to check her tyres a week earlier. The girls had been trying to get to a picnic with friends and had no idea what to do.

The data from Driver Safety Australia shows three in four drivers under 25 are driving a car more than a decade old, but most of them don’t undertake regular checks on it, either leaving it to someone else or naively believing a warning light will alert them to any safety issue.

Young drivers are two times more likely to blow $50 on a meal out with friends than fix a broken headlight or worn windscreen wiper.   They’re even more likely to spend money cleaning their car than they are fixing a critical safety issue. Alarmingly, the research also shows two in five drivers under 25 have knowingly driven a car with a safety issue.

Driver Safety Australia boss Russell White said the frightening research was not only endangering the lives of young drivers but road users more generally.

“Car crashes happen in an instant, and in that moment having a car in safe condition can be the difference between life and death,” Mr White said. “Every driver has a responsibility to ensure they’re taking precautions to keep themselves and those around them safe.

“Whether that’s tyre tread and being able to brake in time or having adequate vision in different weather conditions with working wipers or headlights.

“On top of these safety concerns, there’s also the added risk of being stranded when broken down on the side of the road. We continue to see serious injuries and fatalities as a result of being struck in high-traffic areas, which can often be avoided.”

The research shows attitude isn’t the problem but a lack of skills and knowledge.

While a third of young drivers said they didn’t know anything about basic car checks, almost the same amount believed being able to maintain their vehicle was an important skill that every driver should know.

Most were willing to learn, which is why Driver Safety Australia has teamed up with Supercheap Auto in a new campaign to educate young drivers.

“Check It” is an Australia-wide initiative that will raise awareness around the importance of undertaking regular vehicle safety checks.

On March 30, free training will be provided across Supercheap Auto’s 278 Australian stores, and tutorials are also available online.

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Aboriginal youths 'involved in a string of car thefts and robberies' were sent to an $600-a-night hotel in Melbourne to meet footy stars and watch an NRL game - all paid for by YOU

Four Sydney youths allegedly involved in a string of brazen car thefts and robberies were taken on a free trip to a football game in Melbourne as part of a police program to try and stop them from re-offending.

The boys were put up in a four-star hotel after being driven from Sydney to Melbourne for the Indigenous All Stars rugby league match in February, according to 7News. 

The four teenage criminals stayed in the Skyhigh Apartments - which are rented out for up to $600 a night - during their three-day trip - even training with the indigenous All Stars team before watching the game.

The group had allegedly been involved in a series of luxury car thefts, which they allegedly used to ram raid shops in Mt Druitt, Sydney, Seven reported. 

NSW Police have defended the taxpayer-funded program, saying it is one of a number that provide valuable opportunities for at risk youth. 

'Community engagement programs create alternate pathways and goals for Aboriginal youth, diverting them away from criminal activity,' a NSW Police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia. The young people were selected in recognition of their commitment, conduct, teamwork, attendance and attitude. The diversion program is voluntarily attended.'

NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham slammed the police diversion program on Monday, calling it a misallocation of resources.

'Is the State Government's policy for stealing a car, ram raiding a shop, and stealing the contents to win a free trip to the footy in Melbourne?' Mr Latham said.

But Blacktown City councilor Brad Bunting disagreed, saying programs that encourage troubled youths to get out and about and contributed to the community were better than just throwing them in jail, and should be encouraged.

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

Prime Minster warns of recession under Labor government

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has delivered a stinging sledge against Bill Shorten — and warned that everyday Australians would be $200 billion worse off under a Labor government.

Speaking at the Australian Financial Review’s business summit this morning, Mr Morrison said the economic policies of both major parties were more dramatically different than they had been in 40 years.

As he made the case for re-election at the looming federal election, he argued that it was the “truth” that the country’s economy would be weakened if Labor won power, hinting at a return to 90s-era recession.

“Between 1960 and 1991 the Australian economy had six recessions — since 1991 it has had 27 years of uninterrupted economic growth. That’s an extraordinary national achievement and it’s arguably our most significant national achievement,” he told the audience.

“I’m saying the economy will be weaker under Labor — that’s exactly what I’m saying.

“They’re going to put $200 billion worth of taxes and take Australia’s industrial relations system back to the times when we had recessions in this country.”

But he stopped short of actually predicting a recession under a Shorten government, saying instead that “history would show” whether that would come to pass.

When asked if he was being “alarmist”, Mr Morrison simply replied: “I think it’s the truth.”

Mr Morrison said Australians would be facing a “very stark choice” at the election and urged voters to consider what an alternative government would mean for the economy for the next decade.

He said the 2019 election would have a “profound impact” on the economy. “Labor can do a lot of damage in only one term,” he argued.

He boasted of the Coalition’s economic track record — including maintaining Australia’s triple-A credit rating, record low unemployment and high female participation, the creation of more than 1.2 million jobs since 2013 and the lowest rate of welfare dependency in three decades.

“We are faced with the most important election in decades — there’s a big choice to make that will have an impact for the next 10 years,” he said.

“I haven’t seen so much hubris from an Opposition — they think they’re already there and they can’t wait to get their hands on the power so they can wield it against their list of enemies — and on that list are retirees, small and family businesses, those with investment properties … they’re the real targets.

“A Shorten Labor government would not be a slightly more progressive version of the Coalition government. It would be an economic leap in the dark.”

The prime minister also warned of the ALP’s penchant for raising taxes — and delivered a brutal sledge at the Opposition leader’s expense.

“The answer to every question for Labor is higher taxes — anything they want to do, they hit you up for more. You end up paying every time you see Bill Shorten’s lips move,” he said.

However, according to Fairfax, that $200 billion figure touted by Mr Morrison is a government estimate of revenue raised over 10 years via Labor’s plans, including both new policies — such as proposed changed to negative gearing and capital gains tax — as well as Labor’s plan to scrap Coalition tax cuts that haven’t come into effect yet.

Mr Shorten will have his chance to refute Mr Morrison’s claims when he fronts the summit tomorrow morning.

According to the latest Newspoll, the Coalition is trailing behind Labor 47 to 53 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

It was the third survey in a row which saw Labor come out on top, with the election tipped to be held in May.

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Treasurer’s super war on activists

The Morrison government is weighing up new powers to ­prevent industry super fund managers, responsible for $630 billion in retirement savings, from using their financial leverage over ­publicly listed companies to advance the political ­objectives of militant ­unions.

Josh Frydenberg yesterday wrote to the prudential regulator urging it to consider whether it had the “appropriate powers” to ensure union-appointed super trustees did not pursue political objectives at the expense of members’ best interests.

The Treasurer’s move comes after the ACTU backed the Maritime Union of Australia’s high-profile campaign for industry funds to pressure BHP and BlueScope Steel into reversing a contentious decision not to renew a legacy contract for two Australian-crewed vessels — the last servicing the iron-ore industry.

Mr Frydenberg yesterday sounded the alarm on financial activism, warning that unions were “openly pressuring superannuation funds to use their leverage over listed companies and their management”.

“This is a dangerous development and could potentially undermine the integrity of our $2.7 trillion superannuation system,” he told The Australian. “Superannuation is not a plaything for union bosses nor a platform for pushing their industrial relations agenda.”

Industry funds operate an equal-representation board model, meaning they appoint ­directors from unions and ­employer groups. Together, they have $631bn of assets under management — more financial power than the bank-run retail fund sector ($622bn), or public sector funds ($462bn).

With the industry fund sector set to manage more than $1 trillion by 2024, the government is concerned at activist investors using the savings of disengaged workers to dictate how companies operate.

In a letter sent yesterday to Australian Prudential Regulation Authority chairman Wayne Byres, Mr Frydenberg said it was “important that the public have confidence that (superannuation) trustees are discharging their duties in accordance with their legal obligations”.

He said it was important to have “satisfactory arrangements” in place for trustees to “manage any associated conflicts of interests such that members’ interests are preferred”.

Mr Frydenberg said that, given the scale of Australia’s super ­industry, which is bigger than the entire market capitalisation of the local sharemarket, these issues “take on even more significance and present wider risks to the economy”.

“I seek your urgent advice as to APRA’s views regarding these matters, including whether APRA has the appropriate powers to ensure that trustees are meeting their obligations in regards to these legal duties,” he said.

The nation’s biggest superannuation fund, the $140bn AustralianSuper — which draws board directors from the ACTU — recently joined forces with a group of large investors known as Climate Action 100+ to force global commodities powerhouse Glencore to limit coal production.

The activist investor group has 12 other Australian companies in its sights, including BHP, BlueScope, Rio Tinto, Qantas, Woodside and Woolworths.

Meanwhile, BlueScope and BHP are already facing pressure from industry funds over plans to import iron ore from Brazil rather than Western Australia. Bill Shorten, who has been under pressure from the MUA to establish a “strategic fleet” of ships that could be requisitioned by the government in a crisis, faces a looming battle with the industry funds over proposals to dismantle the sector’s stranglehold over the nation’s retirement savings pool.

The proposal from Kenneth Hayne’s banking royal commission to ensure workers are given only one super account for life threatens to dismantle the present system in which industrial awards nominate default super accounts for workers. These overwhelmingly favour industry funds to the tune of $30bn in contributions each year.

Attaching civil penalties to breaches of super laws that require directors to act in the best interests of members — a royal commission recommendation passed by the Senate — will also allow the Australian Securities & Investments Commission to intervene in more cases.

Mr Hayne, a former High Court judge, said all funds “must also recognise and deal with conflicts between the interests of members and the interests of shareholders or nominating ­organisations”.

Mr Frydenberg told The Australian that superannuation was the product of the “hard work of all members and represents their nest egg in retirement”.

“It must be protected,” he said. “It’s time Bill Shorten distanced himself from his union masters and condemned this aggressive union behaviour.

“His continued silence on these issues confirms what we already know — that Labor is on the side of the unions, not the superannuation members.”

The concern over union influence comes as the industry-fund sector braces for significant structural change after the Morrison government secured passage of legislation through the Senate last month consolidating $6bn worth of low-balance inactive super accounts through the Australian Taxation Office.

The rules will force a wide array of smaller funds to seek mergers with larger funds when they are cut off from the fee revenue siphoned from inactive ­accounts. These include the CFMEU-backed $3bn First Super, where 44 per cent of members are inactive, and the $3bn Club Super, which is backed by United Voice and the Australian Workers Union and had 42 per cent of its members considered inactive.

The $1bn Meat Industry Employees Superannuation Fund has 36 per cent of its membership inactive, the same rate as the $3bn United Voice backed Intrust Super Fund.

Several funds in the system, including First Super, are reluctant to leave the industry or merge, even under pressure from APRA. According to KPMG national superannuation leader Paul Howes, the former national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, the options available to sub-scale superannuation funds in terms of mergers with other funds of an equal size are quickly shrinking.

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Child care boss’s mammoth payday, while you fork out more

WHILE parents scrape together the cash to send their children to child care, the boss of one of the industry’s biggest providers has just accepted a $100,000 pay rise.

From January 1, Gold Coast-based G8 Education’s CEO Gary Carroll salary reached $840,000, including superannuation, after a review of his pay saw it significantly boosted, the organisation’s annual report revealed.

On top of that he will be receiving a healthy bonus.

It follows The Courier-Mail revealing the average cost of childcare had risen $302 a year, or up to $480 a year for parents with children in care 48 weeks a year.

The huge pay packet and pay rise has been slammed as being out of touch with community expectations, particularly given the industry is taxpayer subsidised, while Labor’s early education spokeswoman Amanda Rishworth said “parents have a right to be angry”.

In the 2018 financial year Mr Carroll took home $760,290 and a $145,000 bonus payment taking his total salary to $905,290.

It is well in-excess of the Prime Minister’s salary of about $540,000, while the pay rise is higher than the average full-time yearly wage of $82,000.

As his pay soared, the company’s profits dropped in the 2018 calendar year from $80 million to $71 million.

By comparison, not-for-profit Goodstart Early Learning’s nine executives still took home an average of $355,222 in the 2018 financial year, which was a 2 per cent increase.

Smaller child care provider C&K pays its nine executives an average of $167,000, while KU Children’s Services’s seven executives are paid an average of $252,000 a year, both based on the most recent annual report from 2017.

A G8 Education spokeswoman said: “The Board sets the remuneration package for the Chief Executive Officer and other executive leaders using independent expert advice and utilising market benchmarks in line with businesses of comparable size and complexity.”

Ms Rishworth said the pay rise and salary were not within community expectations.

“Whilst it is up to these companies to justify to parents and educators the pay rises they are giving to their CEOs, parents and educators have a right to be angry,” Ms Rishworth said.

“Families are paying more than ever for child care, and educators are among the lowest paid workers in the community.”

Ms Rishworth said it was “unacceptable” for providers to give executives massive pay rises while the Commonwealth spent $8 billion a year on the sector.

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Pauline Hanson slams Scott Morrison's government as 'gutless and weak' for not granting Milo Yiannopoulos an Australian visa over protest fears

Senator Pauline Hanson has slammed the Scott Morrison government for not immediately approving a visa for right-wing firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos.

The One Nation leader said she has contacted Minister for Immigration David Coleman through letters, texts and phone calls - urging the government to grant Yiannopoulos a visiting visa ahead of his second Australian tour. 

'You may not agree with everything that they say as long as they don't go out there and advocate violence,' Ms Hanson told on Sky News Australia on Tuesday. 'If you actually want to stop someone. Stop the protesters with their violence.'

The conservative provocateur and anti-feminist had initially planned a speaking tour to Australia with far-right commentator Ann Coulter in December but was cancelled 'due to unforeseen circumstances'.

Outraged ticket-holders who demanded a refund, were instead offered to attend the 'Deplorables' speaking tour with Yiannopoulos, convicted criminal Tommy Robinson and self-described 'western chauvinist' Gavin McInnes.

The Deplorables tour was rescheduled to February 2019 but has been cancelled for the second time because the visa applications were still being considered by government authorities.

Ms Hanson claims Mr Coleman had told her he would have an answer regarding Yiannopoulos' visa by Monday when she contacted him on Friday. 'I rang him on the Monday. Still haven't heard anything,' she said. 'They're trying to keep me at bay and they still wouldn't make an answer.'

'I think that is weak. I think it's gutless. He has no reason for keeping Milo not coming into the country or Tommy Robinson.'

Robinson was jailed for endangering the trial of a group of sex attackers last year, then freed when his conviction was quashed on appeal. 

Mr McInnes' visa was refused, with the denial being appealed.

Yiannopoulos' is known for his commentaries mocking left-wing political correctness and feminists.

His Sydney speaking tour in 2017 attracted about 100 protestors who chanted 'f*** off Nazi', which led to seven arrests.

His Melbourne leg of the tour was even more violent, with police forced to use sticks to keep the demonstrators at bay.

Ms Hanson has blamed protesters for being the ones who instigate violence.

A statement from the Immigration Department to Yiannopoulos warned it is likely to deny him entry because there was a 'risk' he would 'incite discord in the Australian community or in a segment of that community'.

The letter outlined the protests at his Sydney and Melbourne events as one reason for his likely ban, the Herald Sun reported.

'You were issued a bill of $50,00 by Victoria Police for the cost of your policing event,' the letter read. 

'They're the ones that should be stopped but they're reluctant to do it because the police are told not to do anything about them,' she said.

'I blame state governments and I blame local authorities.'

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

Public Trustee animals again

All they want to do is hang on to other people's money and charge huge fees for doing so.  Don't put yourself or anyone else into their "care"

The NSW Trustee and Guardian has apologised to the family of a man who died in squalor in his North Coast home following claims the government authority ignored repeated requests to salvage the property from disrepair.

The body of Steven Colley, 57, was found in an advanced state of decay at his Kingscliff home on June 7, 2018, just two days after his death.

The mentally ill man's inheritance was being held in trust by the NSW Trustee and Guardian, who Mr Colley's cousin Michael Beehag said had been repeatedly asked to release funds to fix worsening structural issues, in particular a leak in the verandah roof contributing to a mould infestation.

Following Mr Colley's death the authority sought a $25,000 administration fee to release the property so that its title could be transferred to Mr Beehag, which his lawyer Debbie Sage described as "unconscionable".

“Due to their consistent and continued failure to act, NSW Trustee and Guardian is directly responsible for the substandard conditions in which the deceased lived at the time of his death," Ms Sage previously claimed.

Trustee and Guardian chief executive Adam Dent has now apologised to Mr Colley's family and waived its administration fees, saying in a letter to Attwood Marshall law firm the authority acknowledged it should've been more proactive and communicative with Mr Colley and his family.

"We recognise and acknowledge in relation to this trust we have not delivered services to an acceptable standard. This includes how we have responded to requests and the regularity of our communication. We apologise to Steven's family for this," Mr Dent wrote.

Mr Dent said the issue with the verandah roof dated back to its construction, and that the building firm had closed down and an insurance claim against the defect had been denied.

He said that over the course of the administration of the trust funds were advanced for plumbing, pest control, gutters and electrical works.

"Notwithstanding the above actions NSW Trustee accepts that it did not progress the repairs to fix the leak in the verandah roof. NSW Trustee apologises for not adequately responding to communications regarding the problem and acknowledges the frustration this caused," Mr Dent said.

A coroner's report, which places Mr Colley's date of death as being on June 5 last year, states that when his body was found in his bed two days later it "was severely altered by the decomposition process to the extent that it was not possible to identify a cause of death".

A November 2018 builder's inspection report seen by the Herald showed the house had an extensive list of major and minor defects.

In a letter to Mr Colley's disability advocate in April 2018, the NSW Ombudsman said the Trustee and Guardian acknowledged that, in relation to roof repairs, it was "clear that the service level experienced by Mr Colley was not to NSWTG's normal and expected standards" with the government body recompensing the trust almost $6000.

In a January 2019 legal letter to the Trustee and Guardian, Attwood Marshall senior associate Lucy McPherson said Mr Colley was charged almost $9000 in commission and fees "shortly after providing the compensation".

In his February 15 letter, Mr Dent said the Trustee and Guardian was waiving almost $32,000 in fees, which included figures previously charged.

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Liberal Party study claims household energy bills could soar by HUNDREDS of dollars under Labor's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Households would be forced to fork out hundreds of dollars more on their energy bills under Labor's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to recent modelling.

A comparison of the two major parties revealed Labor's plan to cut down on emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 would cost households in NSW an additional $600 on average on their power bill.

By the time the policy is fully implemented, power bills could cost an extra $480 per household on average in Victoria.

The analysis was brought to light by Coalition-associated Menzies and Page Research Centres who claim power bills would soar between six and 30 per cent by 2030 under a Labor government, News Corp reported.

By comparison, the Coalition policy would see a 40 per cent decline in the average household power bill by the same year.

The Coalition is planning to reduce emissions by 26 per cent, almost half of Labor's commitment, by 2030.

An average annual power bill in Victoria in 2017-18 is about $1208 a year but is expected to drop to $796 by 2030 amid the Coalition's proposed plans to reduce emissions.

Under the Coalition in NSW, the average annual bill would drop from about $1368 to $804.

By comparison, the annual household power bill in Victoria under Labor is forecast to jump six per cent to $1276.

Labor has committed to cutting down on emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. The Coalition is planning to reduce emissions by 26 per cent by 2030.

Power bills would soar between six and 30 per cent by 2030 under a Labor government - while the Coalition would see a 40 per cent decline, according to the findings.

According to the economic modelling, it would rise three per cent in NSW to $1404 a year by 2030.

Small and medium businesses with annual consumption of 16,000 kWh should expect the same electricity prices under Labor, the report found.

An Australia-wide drop of an average of $1,500 in electricity prices for small and medium businesses is anticipated under the Coalition.

Under the more conservative emissions policy employed by the government small and medium sized businesses would be $2164 better off a year in NSW and $1892 in Victoria.

With polling day three months around the corner, the cost of household power bills is expected to be draw-card for voters who could be willing to swing.

Labor's energy spokesman Mark Butler would not guarantee whether energy bills under his party would drop when asked last week. 

Nick Cater the Executive director of the Menzies Research Centre said the research proved that Labor's commitment to renewable energy would not necessarily bring down the costs. 'The inconvenient truth is that there are huge costs to reducing emissions from energy production, and these are paid for by all of us, either as consumers or taxpayers,' he said.

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Tony Abbott stands by Cardinal Pell

The testimony on which his Eminence was convicted was most implausible and was clearly unsafe.  Many Australian conservatives are therefore disturbed that a prominent conservative churchman was sent down on such evidence. They do not believe in his guilt at all and think he will be exonerated on appeal.  Miscarriages of justice often come to light

A common claim is that the jury must have seen Pell as guilty of SOMETHING in order to convict but an alternative hypothesis is that Pell was penalized not for anything he did personally but rather as a scapegoat for the foul deeds of many others in the church


Former prime minister Tony Abbott has defended his decision to stand by George Pell after the Cardinal's conviction for child sex offences, but says he does not recall whether he was asked to provide a character reference.

Mr Abbott, who phoned Pell last Tuesday when the guilty verdict became public, told Sydney shock jock Ray Hadley on Monday morning that the Cardinal "has been a friend of mine for a long time, and at a time like this you've got to feel for people".

"You've got to feel for the victims, who have been dreadfully betrayed by an institution they should have been able to trust, you've got to feel for the people who are dismayed at this verdict against someone they put up on a pedestal," he said.

Hadley last week excoriated former prime minister John Howard for the glowing character reference he gave Pell following the conviction, saying it showed a "a complete lack of understanding" of the victims of paedophiles, and on Monday demanded to know whether Mr Abbott had also provided a reference.

"Look, Ray, I honestly don't know if I was asked to provide a reference or not," Mr Abbott said. "I have no recall of providing a reference but, just, when it comes to the phone call, look, I'm not a fair-weather friend. This was someone who was obviously going through a very, very bad experience.

"I'm not saying he's the only one who is going through bad experiences, but he has been a friend of mine for a long time, and at a time like this you've got to feel for people ... These are tough times for a lot of people."

The interview comes after Hadley issued a fiery diatribe on air last week, in a rare moment of criticism against Mr Abbott, who is a regular guest on his show.

Hadley said that he found himself "at odds" with Mr Howard's decision to give a reference in which no mention was made of the victims of Pell's crimes, saying it was highly unusual for a convicted paedophile to receive such unwavering support.

"I consider it to be a gushing reference, considering it's for a convicted paedophile," he said, noting that the jury must have found the evidence from the unidentified victim "compelling".

"Everyone has a right to seek an appeal, but usually that doesn't dominate a discussion after a conviction."

Hadley said Mr Howard had made "a very poor error of judgment".  'You don't get references provided by a former prime minister portraying someone as a saint given he's just had a conviction for paedophilia."

Mr Abbott declined to comment on Mr Howard's decision, saying he could not speak for the man who had been "my colleague and mentor for many years".

He suggested the reason the conviction had been so thoroughly dissected was that it was "very unusual for someone of Cardinal Pell's seniority and substance to be on trial like this and, as we all know there's a sense that the church as been on trial in all this".

Hadley said the church, along with other institutions where paedophiles had access to children, had "rightly" been exposed after the problem was "for too long ... swept under the carpet and ignored".

The shock jock, who has long used his radio program to draw attention to the crimes of paedophiles, last week implied Mr Abbott's actions could cost him his seat in Federal Parliament at the election.

He asked this morning if Mr Abbott felt "compromised" by having someone close to him convicted of being a paedophile, after having supported the Gillard government's royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse as opposition leader.

"Well I don't believe so, Ray, I supported the royal commission because I thought it was the right thing to do," he replied.  "There's a verdict that's been delivered, a damning verdict against a friend of mine. It is subject to appeal, but I absolutely accept that the courts and their judgment are the best means we have of coming to the truth."

Mr Abbott said he took Hadley's point about victims having been "disbelieved for far too long", prompting the 2GB morning host to interject: "And it appears one is being disbelieved by some here as well, Mr Abbott!"

"I mean without knowing what the victim's said, there are people who have not given one sense of thought to this person," he said.

SOURCE  






Housing will be a hot topic as we go to the next federal election

It is one area where the policies of the Coalition and Labor are markedly different.

Labor is proposing a massive change to existing arrangements, first by restricting negative gearing to new properties only, and second, effectively increasing capital gains tax by reducing the present 50 per cent discount to 25 per cent.

It has announced these policies will be grandfathered, so they will only apply to assets acquired after a certain date (yet to be announced).

Labor’s reasons for the changes are that investors enjoying tax concessions are competing with first-home buyers and thus driving up prices, making it more difficult for young people to acquire their first home.

Reducing the tax concessions available to investors should cause demand to drop and property prices to stabilise, or even fall.

However, given the increasing disparity between the average home price and average weekly earnings, a fall in property prices might not do much for aspiring young homebuyers.

If a $500,000 property dropped 10 per cent to $450,000, the buyer would still need a deposit of at least $45,000, plus the income to service a debt of about $420,000, when mortgage insurance is taken into account.

Making homes more affordable for first-home buyers is extremely difficult and many of the initiatives taken in the past have been self-defeating, as they have pushed up the price of housing by creating more buyers.

According to Labor's website: “This policy will see a boost in new housing and will provide young families with the chance to find a home, and will take pressure off inner-city housing markets that are predominantly made up of existing dwellings.”

Buyer behaviour

Whether or not this is true will depend on buyer behaviour.

It may well be that millennials prefer to rent in the inner city, rather than take on a large mortgage for a new home that is a long way from the action.

It’s wrong to compare Labor’s proposed changes to negative gearing with what Paul Keating introduced in July, 1985 — and later repealed in September, 1987.

Keating increased the depreciation allowance to 4 per cent for new construction and stipulated that losses on investment properties could not be written off against current taxable income, but would be quarantined to be offset against future income from the property when it became positively geared.

Under the current Labor proposals, as I understand them, any losses cannot be offset against future taxable income, but will be added to the base cost to reduce capital gains tax on the property when it is eventually sold.

Labor’s proposals also apply only to new properties — Keating’s applied to all properties.

Labour is using a 2016 report from the Grattan Institute to support its case. It concluded: “Ultimately, people who invest in property take into account a host of factors, including rental returns, risk perception, familiarity with the asset class, and ability to obtain bank finance. Modest changes in tax treatment will not affect their decisions much.”

In contrast, a report commissioned by Master Builders Australia, prepared by Cadence Economics, has forecast a decline in new home building of between 10,000 and 40,000 dwellings and a loss of 7500 to 32,000 full-time construction jobs.

Reduced demand

Master Builders tell me it is not the abolition of negative gearing per se that will cause a slump, but the combination of the new negative gearing and capital gains tax rules.

Keep in mind that restricting negative gearing to new properties makes established properties less attractive to some investors because the moment a new house is occupied it becomes an established house.

Just this week, the Property Council released the results of a survey of 1000 current and potential investors that showed Labor’s initiatives would reduce demand for new housing.

Which forecast turns out to be correct will depend on buyer behaviour.

In 1985, when the Keating changes were all the news, I did several roadshows with a leading chartered accountant — we had conflicting views.

My modelling demonstrated that the Keating proposals were not really too tough and should not put anybody off acquiring an investment property.

The accountant’s view was that perception, rather than facts, would resonate with the public and they would desert investment property in droves. His view proved to be correct.

The distinction between new and established properties could have some serious consequences.

Think about an investor couple who decide to buy a $500,000 new investment property. They sign the contract and apply for finance.

Fundamental truths

The bank’s valuer will do the valuation based on a forced sale of what would then become an established property.

Valuers tell me this could reduce the valuation to $450,000 and the application for finance may be rejected. If the buyer cannot get finance, the contract will be cancelled, and there may be one less property available to be rented.

If the negative gearing rules are to be changed it would make more sense to include all properties, as Keating did. After all, the majority of tax deductions that relate to investment property come from new properties.

If the government wants to increase revenue, it seems self-defeating to encourage investors towards new properties, where tax deductions are maximised.

Double win for Australia

Political parties of all persuasion should understand some fundamental truths about the property market.

There are many investors who are terrified of shares and wary of superannuation because of the continual rule changes. They use borrowing for residential property as their means of saving for retirement. This is a double win for Australia — it provides an ongoing supply of rental properties, reducing pressure on rents, while enabling hundreds of thousands of people to become self-funded retirees, with no expectation of help from the government.

Given these facts about the housing market, what does the future hold?

It’s anybody’s guess but we do know the election will be in May and the result may be a narrow win for Labor. If this happens, expect months of negotiating with the minority parties to get these changes passed. This will create uncertainty, which may well mean that potential homebuyers sit on their hands, waiting to see what laws will be changed and how.

Labor has promised that their capital gains tax increases will affect only assets acquired after a specific date in the future. Once that date is announced, expect a flurry of buying in both property and shares, as everybody who can jumps in before the tax rules change.

If this happens, it is highly likely to be followed by a significant slump in buying activity after the change date because everybody who could buy would have already bought.

But it’s a paradox. An asset bought before the change will be worth more than one bought after the change, for tax purposes.

However, if you buy or own a house — new or established — before the change it may well be worth less than it would be after the change because there will be less people who want to buy it.

The big question now is whether such radical property changes should be contemplated at a time when the market is in a slump, with strong indications that it may get worse.

The CoreLogic monthly property report, released last Friday, showed that Australian housing values continued to trend lower in February, with their national index down .07%.

Head of research Tim Lawless said “the housing market downturn is now more widespread geographically and we aren’t seeing any indicators pointing to the market bottoming out just yet”

Furthermore, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the construction sector has moved sharply into reverse.

Private surveys run by groups, such as the Australian Industry Group and the Housing Industry Association, have reported home-building activity to be at its lowest ebb in six years.

The construction industry is one of the biggest employers in the country, accounting for 989,400 full-time jobs during the three months to November, 2018. If it continues to slump, the job losses could be catastrophic.

It’s a great discussion for the Sunday BBQ.

The certainties are that Australia’s population will keep growing, property will stay out of reach for many renters and builders won’t build to sell at a loss.

SOURCE 

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

BoM is still deceiving

The BoM are always saying that somewhere in some period Australian weather is "hottest".  They no longer are brazen enough to say that the heat is the work of global warming but they clearly aim to create the impression that global warming is ongoing. As with all Green/Left talk, however, they always tell just the bit that suits them.  We read:


Australia just sweltered through its hottest summer on record

Australia suffered its hottest summer on record from December through February and forecasts show the southern autumn will continue to be drier and warmer than average, the government said Thursday.

"After a record hot December and January, it won't come as a surprise that this summer will be our warmest on record," said Andrew Watkins, manager of long-range forecasting at the Bureau of Meteorology.

Although the final figures won't be available until Friday, the bureau said it was already clear the average maximum and mean temperature for the three months of summer would for the first time be more than two degrees Celsius higher than long-term averages.

SOURCE  


Now read just one thing elsewhere that they "overlook:


January–February 2019 North American cold wave

In late January 2019, a severe cold wave caused by a weakened jet stream around the Arctic polar vortex[3] hit the Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada, killing at least 22 people. It came after a winter storm brought up to 13 inches (33 cm) of snow in some regions from January 27–29. On February 2, the polar vortex moved west, and later affected Western Canada and the Western United States.

SOURCE  

So which is it?  Is the earth cooling or warming?  The clear answer is neither. There are just different random fluctuations in different locations that tend to cancel one another out







Schools face being shut down for a YEAR to weed out Muslim extremist teachers

Schools face being shut down for up to a year in a bid to tackle Muslim extremism in the classroom if a leading election candidate gets his way.

Teachers and students would also face disciplinary action for failing to shake hands with the opposite sex.

One Nation's New South Wales leader Mark Latham, who previously led the Labor Party, has revealed to Daily Mail Australia his five-point plan to eradicate Islamic radicalisation and Sharia law preaching at school.

He is campaigning for government schools to be shut down for six to 12 months, with new principals and teachers hired, if there was evidence of radical Islam being preached to impressionable students without any attempt to stop it.

'Any radicalised student runs the potential of acts of public violence,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'Young people are being radicalised and the consequences in terms of acts of terrorism are horrendous.

'We're allowing a problem to fester because of political correctness. 'You're talking about something that's a supreme, public danger.'

It comes two years after Muslim students at Punchbowl Boys High School in Sydney's south-west allegedly threatened to behead non-Muslim staff and declared themselves ISIS sympathisers.

The former principal Chris Griffiths and his deputy Joumana Dennaoiu were stood down after they failed to co-operate with departmental deradicalisation programs.

One Nation's plan to tackle Islamic extremism in schools:

1. Zero tolerance: closing radicalised schools and placing radicalised students in youth detention

2.  A regular, transparent system of public reporting on incidents involving radicalised Islamic behaviour, and the action taken by schools in response. These reports should be tabled in NSW Parliament

3.  A strict Code of Conduct for the way in which teachers explain to students acts of radical Islamic terrorism. The emphasis must be on evidence and reality rather than Leftist apologies and rationalising away violence of this kind

4.  Insisting on Western standards of respect and courtesy at all school events, overriding Islamic practice

5. Ensuring outside organisations with a history of radicalised views (campaigning against our culture and our civilisation) are not given access to NSW schools. The Bankstown Poetry Slam should be banned immediately

'The school had become an Islamic school and the leadership was believing in Sharia law,' Mr Latham said. 'That's a radical move in itself that we can't tolerate in government schooling.

'If there's a school that's being transformed from an open government school into an Islamic institution, which seems to have happened at Punchbowl Boys High, then the public deserves an open account how it happened, what the school leadership was doing about it, how the education department responded.'

A former teacher at nearby Punchbowl Public School also claimed radicalised students as young as 10 had menacingly recited the Koran in Arabic at her and on one occasion even made throat-slitting gestures.

Mr Latham is demanding that radicalised students be placed in youth detention.

The former federal Labor leader stands a strong chance of being elected to the NSW upper house at the March state elections, and could share the balance of power with Fred Nile's Christian Democrats and the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party.

He also wants teachers and students to face disciplinary action for failing to shake hands with the opposite sex, which fundamentalist Muslims regard as sinful. 'They must. It's a courtesy of our culture that must be practised in our schools,' he said. 'It would be a disciplinary matter that should be taken seriously.'

In 2017, Muslim students at the Hurstville Boys Campus of Georges River College, in Sydney's south, were given permission in 2017 to put hands of their hearts as an alternative to shaking hands with female teachers.

Mr Latham accused the major political parties and the education bureaucracy of failing to properly tackle Muslim extremism in the classroom.

'If there wasn't a religious dimension to this, if there wasn't a minority dimension to this, the education system one assumes would come down on the students like a tonne of bricks,' he said.

'The prevailing attitude would be "we can't pick on minorities", "we can't tell the full truth of what's happened here". 'The main problem is it's swept under the carpet.'

One Nation wants the Department of Education to compile a report twice a year outlining radicalised behaviour and the school's response to it, which would have to be tabled in Parliament.

'The real problem is we haven't got transparency,' Mr Latham said.

'My feeling is these problems are common enough in the education system to be very worried about.'

Under Mr Latham, events like the Bankstown Poetry Slam in south-west Sydney would also be banned, where arts workshops and school visits are held.

The event, funded by the federal government and Canterbury-Bankstown council, featured a poem called 'F*** Pauline Hanson'. 

The anger wasn't just directed at One Nation's federal leader, with videos denouncing the police and mocking the laying of wreaths on Anzac Day.

'It had nothing to do with poetry, it's just ranting against Western civilisation and against our society,' Mr Latham said. 'I was horrified to find out they were allowed to go into eight western Sydney schools as mentors.

'I find that a very, very disturbing trend. The people who are clearly anti-Western political agitators with a radical message.

'They shouldn't get any government funding and they shouldn't be allowed within coee of any school.'

Despite his misgivings about radicalised Muslim teachers at public schools, Mr Latham acknowledged Islamic schools often produced good academic results and made a contribution to Australian society. 'If they're peaceful and constructive and they fit in with Australian values, they get good education outcomes, of course we've got to support them,' he said. 'Some Islamic colleges have been a wonderful success.'

SOURCE  





The 'Pac-Man' video that could clear George Pell: Shamed cardinal's lawyers will claim evidence that was barred from his trial proves he couldn't possibly have committed sexual assaults

A 19-minute video prosecutors likened to 'Pac-Man in a cathedral' will play a crucial part of disgraced Cardinal George Pell's appeal against his child sex conviction.

The video shows the layout of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne and where people were when Pell is said to have sexually assaulted two 13-year-old choirboys in December 1996.

Pell's lawyer, Robert Richter QC, wanted to use the video in his closing argument to give the jury a visual interpretation of the defence's version of events, The Age reported.

However, County Court chief judge Peter Kidd refused to allow the video to be shown after prosecutors successfully argued the jury would assume it was an factual portrayal of events, rather than just one version of what may have happened.

Pell's defence will further argue the disgraced Cardinal was not arraigned properly in front of the jury, meaning he was not able to enter his 'not guilty' plea in front of those who would go on to judge him. 

The video was created by professional producers, and showed Pell, choir members,  the organist and others involved in the Sunday Mass as separate coloured dots moving around the cathedral.

Two young boys had 'nicked off' after a Sunday solemn mass at St Patrick's Cathedral (pictured) in 1996 when Pell found them in the priest's sacristy and raped one and molested another    +10
Two young boys had 'nicked off' after a Sunday solemn mass at St Patrick's Cathedral (pictured) in 1996 when Pell found them in the priest's sacristy and raped one and molested another

Pell's defence had claimed the then-Archbishop of Melbourne had never been left alone, and had been speaking with parishioners on the front steps of the church when the assault was said to have taken place.

His legal team argued the sacristy, where Pell, now 77, exposed himself to the pair before pulling one boy's head towards his penis, was busy at the time and therefore could not have been the scene of a sexual assault.

The defence also claimed the two young choirboys, only one of whom is still alive, could not have 'nicked off' from the procession without being noticed by others.

 Pell's lawyers will also look to prove there were issues with the way the jury of eight men and four women were selected, according to The Age.

Details of the appeal show Pell's legal team will argue the jury, made of eight men and four women, should have heard him enter his 'not guilty' plea, and should not have been allowed to be convinced beyond reasonable doubt Pell was guilty based on the choirboy's word alone.

'There was a fundamental irregularity in the trial process, because the accused was not arraigned in the presence of the jury panel as required,' the appeal, filed by Pell's barrister Robert Richter QC, reads.

'The verdicts are unreasonable and cannot be supported, having regard to the evidence, because on the whole of the evidence, including unchallenged exculpatory evidence from more than 20 crown witnesses, it was not open to the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt on the word of the complainant alone,' his first appeal ground says.

Richter also argues County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd erred in preventing the defence from using a 'moving visual representation' of its argument, claiming the events were impossible.

Pell was found guilty by a jury in December, and on Wednesday, after the suppression order on the verdict was lifted, he was taken into custody.

The former Vatican treasurer has maintained his innocence and will appeal the verdict on grounds including that the verdict was 'unreasonable' or 'unsafe', his lawyer has reportedly said.

During the trial, Pell's lone surviving victim, who is now in his 30s, told the court via video-link how he and his friend were assaulted by Pell when they were 13.   

SOURCE  






Collins Class sub fleet may need upgrades

Upgrades?  The things have never worked yet.  Is this a final attempt to get new engines into them?  The original ones were crap. An inadequate pressure hose in one of them burst and went within seconds of sinking the boat with all aboard

Australia's full fleet of Collins Class submarines may need to be upgraded before their French-built replacements are ready.

Chief of Navy Michael Noonan is assessing how many of the six ageing vessels will need major work to keep them in service.

"We are yet to fully determine how many of the boats we will upgrade," Vice Admiral Noonan told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Wednesday.

"We're expecting that we will upgrade at least five, and the work around determining the scope of the upgrade has begun but has not yet been fully decided."

Defence had planned to retire the Collins Class submarines from 2026, but has since decided to prolong their lives until the new fleet arrives.

The first of the French-built vessels is expected to be delivered in 2032 and enter service about three years later.

Australia has signed a $50 billion contract with the French state-owned company Naval Group to deliver 12 submarines.

The shipbuilder originally promised 90 per cent of the build would be carried out locally.

Defence Minister Christopher Pyne later downgraded this estimate to 60 per cent.

However, the committee was told a percentage figure for a minimum amount of Australian work was not part of the government's negotiating process with Naval Group.

"There will is no minimum Australian content for our submarines project, no minimum number of Australian jobs," Labor senator Penny Wong told reporters.

"So not only did they not achieve it, this Morrison government didn't even try to achieve a minimum local content."

Mr Pyne said he would not be lectured to by the Labor Party, "who didn't commit to build a single naval vessel in Australia in six years".

He said it was coalition policy to maximise Australian content for the French-built submarines.

"It's the height of hypocrisy for Labor to criticise the coalition, given their inaction led to shipbuilding job losses," Mr Pyne told AAP.

SOURCE

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

Sydney University Truth Blitz

Bettina Arndt 

Wow, what a day! I am writing this on Wednesday night (Feb 27), just back from what I am calling our ‘Truth Blitz’ at Sydney University. We pulled off an amazing raid this morning, using student from other universities to put under student doors at most colleges a very detailed flyer warning male students about the dangerous consequences of the rape crisis scare campaign- namely the establishment of an alternative ‘believe-the-victim’ justice system based on a lower standard of proof. We also circulated a similar document aimed at male students in general, which we placed in many STEM lecture theatres. You can read the flyer here

It was a highly-orchestrated, clandestine raid conducted during the day when most students were at lectures. My students did a great job getting through most of the colleges before being discovered by security guards who warned the police would be called if they persisted.

I then spent a few hours this afternoon, with a group of volunteers, wandering around campus chatting to students and handing out the flyer. That was really revealing because we ran into absolutely no problems at all. Many students reported they knew nothing about the feminists’ rape scare campaign, they certainly didn’t believe there was a rape problem on campus and were shocked to hear the university had introduced regulations to get involved in adjudicating rape cases. I talked to many young women as well as male students and some staff, most of whom appreciated being told what is happening. 

That was actually very reassuring but also clearly revealed the utter corruption of the university administration acting against the interests and without the knowledge of the majority of students, knowingly ignoring the real facts and promoting lies about the rape crisis. These administrators must be aware of the disastrous cost of the American university tribunal system which has so damaged the reputations of colleges over their failure to offer fair treatment to male students. It is just extraordinary that our institutes of higher learning are so under the sway of a tiny feminist group that they will betray their institutions’ interests and sell out young men.

Anyway, the Sydney Uni Truth Blitz was a great success and we have plans to follow up in due course.

Pushback at UWA

Next I am getting ready for my campus talk next Thursday evening, March 7, at the University of Western Australia. This one has proved a huge battle because the student groups were all too intimidated by the activists to host the event. I had to organise to stage the event on my own and UWA hasn’t allowed me to do any advertising – no posters, no flyers circulated on campus, nor any publicity in their events social media pages.

I’m really struggling to get people to come along. I assume many people are nervous about possible protesters – which is most disappointing. Come on, people. There’s going to be heaps of security. I had to pay $352 for two security guards for the event, who will be adding to the normal campus security guards. (By the way, I am working quickly through the generous donations I received last year through the crowd-funder  for my campus tour. I’m using the funds to pay for printing for the Sydney University and UWA flyers, the security guards, airfares, paying some student helpers and so on. It would be wonderful if some of you could contribute a little more.)

I need all you Perth people to show a little more fortitude and show up to support my efforts. We’re not charging students to attend now – here’s the Eventbrite link to book your tickets. It will be so disappointing if I have to cancel the event because I am not able to pull together a decent audience. Wouldn’t the feminists love that?  They have already put together a petition to try to get UWA to close down the event. And look at the student magazine seething that the university has allowed me to speak on campus.

The UWA event is particularly interesting because Chancellor of UWA is former High Court Chief Justice Robert French who is conducting the government enquiry into free speech on campus (which was prompted by my Sydney protest.) The Vice-Chancellor Dawn Freshwater has been saying all the right things about free speech recently. She’s trying to redeem the reputation of the university following the fuss last year when UWA  cancelled the talk by Quentin Van Meter, the American doctor who was speaking about medical intervention with children dealing with gender fluidity. 

All of this makes it even more important that the event is a success. Perth people, please book in now so we know the event can go ahead. And let me know if you can help promote it.  

Email from Bettina -- bettina@bettinaarndt.com.au






Government bans conspiracy theorist David Icke ahead of planned Australian tour

I was not going to say anything about this but it is a free speech issue so I suppose I should.  Let me say from the outset that I do NOT in any way support the ban.  There are plenty of mentally ill people in Australia already so one more or less would make no difference. 

He is clearly a paranoid schizophrenic and is an excellent example showing that paranoids can sound sane and be persuasive.  Cardinal Pell probably owes his incarceration to the plausibility of one such. If you doubt that Icke is mentally ill, just read any account of what he preaches.  If you find it plausible that we are all ruled by lizards you have bigger problems than I can help you with

Note his claim that his crusade began when a psychic told him he had been placed on earth for a purpose and would begin to receive messages from the spirit world.  So that alone would encourage a  diagnosis of schizophrenia


The Australian government has banned notorious English conspiracy theorist David Icke from entering the country next month for a planned speaking tour.

Among the bizarre claims made by Icke, a former footballer and BBC sports presenter, are that the world is controlled by a cabal of giant shape-shifting reptiles, many of them Jewish, and that a group of elite Jews bankrolled Adolf Hitler and started several wars.

He also tells audiences the September 11 attacks were an inside job organised by "a network that works through government agencies, through organisations like the CIA".

Icke, 66, was due to tour Australia in March, but the government has now cancelled his visa, banning him from entry. It is understood the decision was made within the past 24 hours.

Immigration Minister David Coleman declined to comment.

In a statement, Icke said he was "shocked and appalled to have received the news earlier today that my visa had been revoked just hours before boarding a flight to Australia".

"I have been a victim of a smear campaign from politicians who have been listening to special interest groups attempting to discredit my beliefs, my views and my character by spreading lies," Icke said.

"This knee-jerk reaction to accommodate the people behind this smear campaign has left a sinister mark on Australians, compromising freedom of speech and ideas. This goes further than just me today, but sets a dangerous precedent for citizens who have differing views and are willing to openly express these."

The government has banned a number of controversial people from entering the country in recent years, including WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning and Gavin McInnes, the leader of the far right Proud Boys group.

Jewish groups such as the Anti-Defamation Commission had lobbied Mr Coleman to cancel Icke's visa. The organisation's chairman, Dvir Abramovich, congratulated the minister "for heeding our call and declaring in a loud voice that anti-semites and Holocaust deniers will never find a home in Australia". He called it a "defining moment for who we are as a nation".

Icke was due to speak to audiences in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart and Sydney next month in a presentation billed as "four hours that will change your life".

In his statement, Icke said Mr Coleman had cited his views on vaccinations and climate change among the reasons his visa had been revoked. He also accused Mr Coleman of caving to pressure from a "libellous" article in The Australian newspaper published on Wednesday.

"This is the creation of a blatantly Orwellian totalitarian state," Icke said.

Josh Burns, Labor's candidate for the federal seat of Macnamara, also lobbied Mr Coleman and said the minister had finally "made the right call and succumbed to pressure".

SOURCE  






Priest, 86, claims disgraced cardinal George Pell could not even go to the toilet in his layers of heavy robing - let alone expose himself to the choirboys he was convicted of sexually abusing

George Pell's heavy robes would have made it impossible for him to expose himself to the choirboys he was found to have molested, according to a retired Catholic priest.

The disgraced cardinal's vestments were so layered and cumbersome a Melbourne jury's finding that he forced a 13-year-old boy to perform oral sex upon him was 'ridiculous'.

An 86-year-old priest told 2GB's Alan Jones any Catholic cleric celebrating mass wore so many vestments it was difficult to even go to the toilet.

'The cardinal archbishop has so many clothes on at the exact time of the offence that it would be physically impossible to do what he's charged with,' the priest said.

Even a 'lowly priest' was required to wear several layers of liturgical clothing when celebrating mass. 'And all this is tied around my waist tightly with a cincture,' he said.

'Standing still just waiting to be told to enter the sanctuary every morning I am praying that I might not have a quick call of nature and have to rush to the toilet.

'Simply because it is almost impossible to get to my belt and zipper under the weight of all these clothes. That is the basic reason the charge is so ridiculous.'

Pell, the most senior Catholic in Australia and the third most senior in the world, is the highest ranking cleric in his church to be found guilty of sexual offences against children.

The 77-year-old was found guilty by a Victorian County Court jury in December of one count of sexual penetration of a child and four counts of committing indecent acts with two choirboys in 1996.

The assaults were found to have taken place in the sacristy of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, where Pell was archbishop and happened after he had celebrated Sunday mass.

Among the arguments in the cardinal's defence case was that he could not have assaulted the boys in the robes he was wearing.

Pell's vestments that day would have included an alb - a white tunic which reached the feet and had two slits to allow access to trouser pockets but no zips or buttons.

The alb was secured tightly around the waist with a knotted rope cincture, which also secured a stole hanging around his neck, and over the alb was a decorative heavy chasuble which had no splits or openings.

Only one of Pell's victims gave evidence against the man who rose to become the Vatican's treasurer. The other victim had died of a heroin overdose.

The living complainant's evidence was not given in public but some of it was revealed from the bar table during the course of the trial.

Pell's barrister Robert Richter QC described the complainant's version of events as a 'far-fetched fantasty' and said his client's cumbersome multi-layered robes would have prevented access to his genitals.

Pell's former Master of Ceremonies Monsignor Charles Portelli also disagreed with the suggestion Pell could have exposed himself through the secured alb. 'The whole point of the cincture is to keep the alb in place.'

The vestments were so heavy that Pell required help robing and disrobing and Monsignor Portelli could recall only two occasions Pell had nor required his assistance in five years.

Jesuit priest, lawyer and academic Father Frank Brennan addressed the vestments issue in a piece he wrote for Catholic publication Eureka Street this week.

Fr Brennan attended some of Pell's court case and wrote that he was 'very surprised' and 'devastated' by the verdicts.

'Witnesses familiar with liturgical vestments had been called who gave compelling evidence that it was impossible to produce an erect penis through a seamless alb,' Fr Brennan wrote.

'An alb is a long robe, worn under a heavier chasuble. It is secured and set in place by a cincture which is like a tightly drawn belt.

'An alb cannot be unbuttoned or unzipped, the only openings being small slits on the side to allow access to trouser pockets underneath.

'The complainant's initial claim to police was that Pell had parted his vestments, but an alb cannot be parted; it is like a seamless dress.

'Later the complainant said that Pell moved the vestments to the side. An alb secured with a cincture cannot be moved to the side.

'The police never inspected the vestments during their investigations, nor did the prosecution show that the vestments could be parted or moved to the side as the complainant had alleged.'

Psychologist and former priest Terry Laidler sat through almost all the trial and told ABC's Law Report a set of robes was produced and sent to the jury room during the trial.

The guilty verdicts against Pell were revealed only this week after a suppression order was lifted. He has since been taken into custody.

Pell has maintained his innocence and will appeal the convictions on grounds including that the verdicts were unreasonable or unsafe.

He will return to court to be sentenced on March 13. 

SOURCE  







Black hot air balloon known as 'Golly' is banned from flying in festival after organisers took issue with its 'racist and offensive' name



A black hot air balloon has been banned from flying in a Canberra festival after event organisers deemed it racist.

The balloon, dubbed 'Black Magic' but also known as 'Golly', will no longer be featured in Canberra's Balloon Spectacular as part of the city's eight-day Enlighten festival next month.

The ACT Government made the decision to reject the balloon application after a staff member raised concerns about the name.

'The use of words and/or visual depictions that may be considered racist and offensive by many in our community including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberran is not supported,' Events ACT director Jo Verden said. 

The name Golly appears to be in reference to a golliwog doll - a black fictional children's book character that was popular in the UK and Australia in the 1970s. The doll is now perceived as a symbol of racism. 

Owner Kay Turnbull, who has flown the balloon in the festival since 1996, insisted the design is not intended to be offensive and said she only refers to it by its official name, Black Magic.

'Magic is part of the names of our balloons. We used to have a yellow and green one called Aussie Magic,' Turnbull told Yahoo 7News. 

SOURCE 

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

Why the complainant in Cardinal Pell’s trial was so compelling

ABC journalist Louise Milligan does not know what she is talking about.  She says the accuser is highly believable ("compelling").  But there are two reasons why he might be  believable but not truthful

1). He could be a paranoid schizophrenic. Many paranoids seem perfectly normal except for the focus of their delusion. And they can sound very reasonable about their delusion. Psychiatric nurses sometimes remark that some of their patients make more sense than a lot of people "outside". And religion is often the focus of schizophrenia. Older Brisbane people might remember soapbox orator Ted Wixted (1927-2001) and his arguments against the Virgin Birth. Ted had a good day job as a museum curator but did admit that angels appeared to him.


Ted Wixted

2). He could be a fantasist.  Fantasists too can be very believable. One of the world's most cynical bodies of men would have to be the London Metropolitan Police.  And yet they believed the child sex allegations of "Nick" for months -- until nothing in his story worked out.  And some innocent men were ruined in the process.


"Nick" (Carl Beech)

Fantasists often continue to believe in the reality of their fantasy even when shown it cannot be true.  Nick is at the moment being prosecuted for his lies but he still entered a firm "Not Guilty" at the beginning of his trial

An ABC journalist would be very easy to fool by either type of liar.  If they can swallow global warming and the "patriarchy" they could swallow anything.


Many people can’t believe Cardinal George Pell is guilty of child sex offences but it was this key piece of evidence that sealed his fate.

Cardinal George Pell, a man who rose to become, not just Australia’s most senior Catholic, but one of the most powerful men in the Vatican, had been found to be a paedophile.

When the news broke yesterday that Pell was found guilty in December of child sex offences, many expressed disbelief but others just couldn’t accept the verdict.

In an opinion piece, Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt said he believed Pell had been “falsely convicted”. The Daily Telegraphcolumnist Miranda Devine also said: “I don’t believe that Pell, who I know slightly and admire greatly, could be guilty of assaulting two choirboys in a busy cathedral.”

Yesterday, the 77-year-old disgraced cardinal was taken into custody and spent his first night behind bars before being sentenced on March 13. However, his legal team is pushing for a retrial and intend to appeal his child sex convictions with the Court of Appeal.

Speaking on his Sky News show on Tuesday night, Bolt said he had “serious misgivings” about Pell’s guilty verdict. “I just can’t accept it, based on what I consider is the overwhelming evidence of this trial,” he said. “And I base that opinion also on how many times Pell has been accused of crimes and sins he clearly did not do.

“Pell could well be an innocent man who is being made to pay for the sins of his church and made to pay after an astonishing campaign of media vilification.”

ABC investigative journalist Louise Milligan is one of the few people in Australia who knows the identity of Pell’s complainant. She tracked him down while researching her book Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell, for which she won a Walkley Book Award.

She acknowledged on 7.30 on Tuesday night there had been a “lot of doubters” about the case but something she’s always said to people through the years was: “I defy anyone to meet this man and not think that he is telling the truth.

“He has absolutely nothing to gain from this and everything to lose.”

In her book Milligan calls Pell’s complainant The Kid and described him as an ideal witness from a police point of view.

“The Kid has not led a chequered life,” Milligan notes in her book. “He’s university-educated, he hasn’t had trouble with the law. He has a lovely young girlfriend, lots of friends, he’s a pillar of his community in a sort of understated, slightly ironic way, and in that part of his life, he is, he told me, very happy.

“He’s managed, just, to keep it together. He’s been able to compartmentalise. He’s the sort of complainant you’d want as a Victoria Police detective alleging historic crime.”

Both Bolt and Devine have pointed to the improbability of the scenario put forward in court.

The two boys were abused by Pell after he found them in the sacristy, a room used by priests to get dressed, where they were swigging sacramental wine after a Sunday Mass.

Both Bolt and Devine point out the attack is meant to have happened after Mass, when Pell would usually have spent time speaking to worshippers and that it happened in the sacristy, which is a busy room that someone could have walked into.

They also note Pell was normally accompanied everywhere he went by the master of ceremonies, Monsignor Charles Portelli. Their views echo an article written by Father Frank Brennan who also pointed out his concerns with some of the evidence presented.

“Anyone familiar with the conduct of a solemn Cathedral Mass with full choir would find it most unlikely that a bishop would, without grave reason, leave a recessional procession and retreat to the sacristy unaccompanied,” he wrote in Eureka Street.

He also noted that the priest’s garments could not have been pushed aside in the way described and it was “impossible to produce an erect penis through a seamless alb”.

“The police never inspected the vestments during their investigations, nor did the prosecution show that the vestments could be parted or moved to the side as the complainant had alleged.”

Father Brenann said the idea that the offences were committed right after Mass by a fully robbed archbishop in the sacristy with an open door and in full view of the corridor “seemed incredible to my mind”.

The public have not been allowed to see the complainant’s testimony but it was the key piece of evidence that decided the case.

The complainant did not appear in person at the trial but footage of his testimony and cross-examination from an earlier trial, which resulted in a hung jury, was shown instead.

“Although the complainant got all sorts of facts wrong, the jury must have believed that Pell did something dreadful to him,” Father Brennan acknowledged in his article.

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Tanya Plibersek dismisses 'confected' claims of university free speech crisis

Leftist denial at work.  Freud identified denial of reality as a maladaptive response associated with neuroticism.  Leftists make great use of such defence mechanisms

Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek has rejected concerns about a free speech crisis at Australian universities, arguing the claims are a deliberate attempt to bring on a culture war.

In an address to a key higher education conference in Canberra this week, Ms Plibersek is expected to play down the threats to academic freedoms on campuses and question the necessity of the Morrison government's inquiry into the issue.

Education Minister Dan Tehan, free speech advocates and right-wing think tank the Institute of Public Affairs have expressed fears that left-wing protesters, censorship and political correctness are increasingly stifling robust debate in academia.

At the Universities Australia conference this week, Ms Plibersek, Labor's education spokeswoman, will celebrate the role of universities in a liberal democracy and their tradition of academic freedom.

"And I don’t accept this confected argument that there’s some crisis of freedom at our universities. It’s nothing more than a sad attempt at culture war," she will tell the conference on Thursday.

"The Liberals and their allies in the hard right think tanks want it both ways. They’ll allege there’s some vast cultural Marxist conspiracy when some minor right wing academic claims their freedom of speech has been impinged and then personally veto Australian Research Council grants that don’t reflect the worldview of whoever happens to be education minister at the time."

It was revealed in December that former education minister Simon Birmingham vetoed funding grants for 11 research projects, a move that has fuelled frustration with the Coalition government among the university sector.

Ms Plibersek will contrast the penchant for "culture wars" with Labor's taskforce on "the very real problem" of sexual assault on university campuses.

People concerned about threats to free speech have focused on examples of protestors confronting controversial speakers, especially the treatment of author Bettina Arndt at the University of Sydney in late 2018.

Ms Arndt told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that the presence of student groups across the country trying to stop her speaking on campus was evidence of the problem.

"The people who are supposed to be the smartest people in the land — our vice-chancellors — are cowering in the face of these lunatics," she said. "It's a broader problem in that small, noisy minority groups can control our campuses."

She said it was an example of people believing they were entitled to shut down views they don't like. Ms Arndt has been targeted because she opposes the view that there is a "rape crisis" on campuses.

The government's inquiry — led by former High Court chief justice Robert French — is exploring a new framework to protect free expression, akin to a code of conduct that has been adopted at many US universities.

Ms Plibersek's intervention on campus free speech comes as Universities Australia hits out at the government's higher education policy, releasing polling that finds strong opposition to funding cuts.

In a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Universities Australia chair Margaret Gardner will criticise research cuts of $328 million revealed in December and a freeze on student places announced in 2017.

"Australians correctly fear that cuts to university research funding will mean fewer university researchers able to pursue life-saving and environment-saving breakthroughs," Professor Gardner is expected to say.

"And they are right. This is a direct assault on our country’s clever capabilities."

The poll of 1500 people, conducted by JWS Research, found 66 per cent of people oppose cuts to university research and 62 per cent oppose cuts to university places.

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Labor calls for national fuel reserve

The coalition should have done somenthing like this ages ago

Australia should have a government-owned national fuel reserve, in the interests of the country's economy and national security, says Labor.

Australian Associated PressFEBRUARY 28, 20193:53PM
A national fuel reserve should be set up to ensure Australia has enough in case of emergency, Labor leader Bill Shorten says.

Mr Shorten has pledged a Labor government would initiate talks with industry on a government-owned national fuel reserve, to ensure it does not drop below the international standard of 90 days' supply.

"According to the Department of Environment and Energy, Australia has just 19 days of automotive gasoline supply, 23 days of jet fuel supply, and 22 days of diesel supply," Mr Shorten said.

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Law Council calls for ALRC review of suppression orders, uniformity across jurisdictions

This is in the news since Cardinal Pell's matter
         
The Law Council of Australia is calling for national uniformity of suppression orders and an examination of whether such laws need to be reviewed in the digital era.

Law Council President, Arthur Moses SC, said he will be asking Attorney-General Christian Porter to refer the matter to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) for an inquiry.

“At its core, this issue involves striking the right balance between open justice including the public interest in court reporting, and the right of the individual to a fair trial,” Mr Moses said.

“In an age of digital communication and globalisation, uniformity of suppression orders across Australia should be considered and we need to recalibrate the balance.

“This is important in order to ensure that suppression laws are fit for purpose and promote open justice.

“Suppression orders should operate in a consistent manner across Australian jurisdictions – which does not currently happen – to ensure that the right balance is achieved between open justice and the need for suppression.

“Media reporting of cases that come before our courts is central to open justice – it means that not only is justice done, it is also seen to be done.

“Open justice is one of the fundamental attributes of a fair trial and this means wherever possible, media should be able to report on matters that come before our courts.

“While suppression orders and closed hearings are appropriate in particular cases, such as family court hearings and when hearing evidence from child witnesses, or where an accused may otherwise be unable to obtain a fair hearing, their need should always be balanced with the broader public interest in open justice.

“The internet has no borders, so something that is suppressed in Australia can be reported in other countries by journalists who have not been present in the court room.

“Our journalists are amongst the best trained and respected in the world and informed reporting of our legal system maintains public confidence in the judiciary and the courts.

“This is a matter that needs review – it was first put on the table 10 years ago and needs resolution. The time is now.

“This is why I will be writing to Attorney-General Christian Porter to request a referral of a review to the ALRC into suppression orders in the digital era and the standardisation of suppression orders in Australia,” Mr Moses said.

Media release: Patrick Pantano.  Patrick.Pantano@lawcouncil.asn.au

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