Decarbonising Australia’s Heavy Industries: A 30-year Project To Cost $625 Billion

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has launched a report (pdf) that outlines the roadmap to reduce the Australia’s industry emissions by 92 percent as the country seeks to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The report is a three-year project conducted under the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative, with the engagement of some of the nation’s largest companies.

Details of the Plan

The report stated that the federal government and local businesses had to invest $20.8 billion per year on average to decarbonise the industry sector by 2050.

Roughly two-thirds of this amount must be invested in Australia’s energy system, while the remaining need to go toward the electrification of the most heavily polluting operations.

Notably, for the plan to succeed, there must be a massive lift in Australia’s electricity generation capacity.

The report said around 600 terawatt-hours would be needed each year, which is equivalent to a two-fold increase in the country’s total current electricity generation.

And if Australia wants to establish new export markets for “green” iron and hydrogen, the demand for additional electricity would go up to 1,450 terawatt-hours per year.

In addition, the plan also requires 260 gigawatts of renewable capacity to be added to the current power grid by 2050, among which 80 gigawatts will come from wind, 90 gigawatts from large-scale solar PV and 80 gigawatts from rooftop PV.

Regarding implementation, the plan will focus on five industries–iron and steel, aluminium, other metals, chemicals, and liquefied natural gas–which account for 25 percent of Australia’s total emissions.

The report said over 1.3 million jobs could be generated between 2025 and 2050 through government and sector investments.

Response from the Government and Relevant Parties

While acknowledging the challenging nature of the plan, the energy minister said it still needed to be carried out.

“If it was easy, it would have been done by now,” Bowen said.

“We’re talking about hard-to-abate sectors, hard-to-abate technologies. But it’s absolutely vital, and it can be done, as this report indicates.”

Bowen also said the project would require an “all-in effort” while highlighting the job opportunities it could bring to the community.

“This is not a whole-of-government effort. This, the fastest transition since the industrial revolution is and must be a whole-of-society effort,” he said.

“And I believe we can do it–and reports like this are important in helping us to.”

Monash University Chancellor Simon McKeon, who is also the chair of the Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative, also emphasised the necessity of the project.

“Action is needed now to lay the foundations, capitalise on the opportunities and avoid more costly emissions reduction measures in the future,” he said in comments obtained by AAP.

Meanwhile, Lord Adair Turner, who has been an advisor to the project, talked about the changes Australia would undergo by achieving net zero emissions.

“Australia’s economic future in a net-zero world is hugely positive and prosperous,” he said.

“Blessed with abundant natural wind and solar resources, it can both decarbonise its own economy rapidly and become a major exporter of green hydrogen to countries across the world.”

Concerns about Renewable Energy Production

The report’s launch comes as energy experts have raised concerns about energy production in Australia.

In the past few years, many energy companies have announced plans to shut down coal and gas-fired power stations under political or economic pressures to transition to renewable energy.

However, Mark Collette, the managing director of EnergyAustralia–a major electricity generator and energy retailer in the country– pointed out that the development of new renewable energy sources failed to catch up with the shutdown of traditional power plants across Australia.

He warned that the national power grid could be at risk and called for some form of agreement between governments and energy companies that dictated the timing of the closure of fossil fuel generators to prevent shortfalls in generation capacity.

Meanwhile, National MP and former minister David Gillespie said the country would be in a permanent state of adding more and more renewables to the grid if it continued to pursue its emissions targets.

He noted it would cost Australia $1.27 trillion to achieve its 2050 net-zero emissions plan.

This is a significant figure, given that Australia’s total GDP for 2021 was around US$1.55 trillion ($2.25 trillion).

https://www.theepochtimes.com/decarbonising-australias-heavy-industries-a-30-year-project-that-costs-625-billion_5071920.html

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Tanya Plibersek gives Santos gas expansion project green light

The Greens say Labor’s environmental credentials are “in tatters” after Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek gave the green light for a new gas expansion project in Queensland, amid deteriorating negotiations over Labor’s key climate policy.

The criticism comes after The Australian revealed Ms Plibersek approved an application from energy giant Santos to construct and operate an expansion of 116 gas wells at an existing facility in the Surat Basin out until 2077.

The project’s approval has threatened to derail Labor’s negotiations with the Greens as it seeks to win support for its key climate change policy, with Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen locked in negotiations with the minor party in a bid to get Labor’s safeguard mechanism through the upper house.

Anthony Albanese on Tuesday slapped down threats from the Greens to block the carbon credits scheme without a blanket ban on fossil fuel projects, saying they would “not be entertained” by the government.

The Prime Minister said the Greens were trying to “exert their influence” in negotiations after the Coalition formally opposed their climate policy.

But Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi said Labor’s climate credibility was “in tatters” after the new gas approval and called on Ms Plibersek to explain her decision to approve “new gas fracking until 2077”.

“Labor has just approved 116 new gas wells and its climate credibility is in tatters,” Senator Faruqi said. “Gas is as dirty as coal. We’re in the middle of a climate crisis and Tanya Plibersek needs to explain why Labor is approving new gas fracking until 2077.”

Labor’s safeguard mechanism – in which Australia’s 215 biggest-polluting facilities would slash emissions by almost 5 per cent each year out to 2030 – is essential to the government’s target to cut emissions by 43 per cent by the end of the decade.

With the Coalition opposing the safeguard mechanism, the federal government needs the votes of the Greens’ 11 senators and two crossbenchers to get its carbon credits regime through the Senate.

A spokeswoman for Ms Plibersek said the gas expansion was assessed on its merit and was subject to strict environmental approvals.

The spokeswoman said the federal government was putting Australia “on a clear path to net zero” through its $15bn National Reconstruction Fund, safeguard mechanism and support for electric cars.

The Australian understands the expansion is a small addition to an existing project which has been operational for more than eight years. “This proposal, as with all proposals, was assessed on its merits. It was subject to robust scientific assessments, and strict environmental approval conditions have been applied,” the spokeswoman said.

It comes after a new report from the Australian Energy Market Operator highlighted an “urgent” need to invest in back-up capacity – including batteries, long-life storage and more generation – to avoid the risk of blackouts later this decade.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/tanya-plibersek-gives-santos-gas-expansion-project-green-light/news-story/4a1b015eff04f63df15ab47c145a8548

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Queensland is to relax its drug laws, even for ice and heroin

If you are among the one-in-six Australians who have used illicit drugs in the last 12 months, yesterday's proposed law announced by Queensland's police minister may have piqued your interest.

What does the government want to change?

Queensland's Police Minister Mark Ryan wants to expand the state's Police Drug Diversion Program (PDDP).

At the moment, it stops minor drug offenders found with less than 50 grams of cannabis, or utensils for personal use, from being prosecuted by ushering them towards professional help.

But the government wants that program expanded to include all drugs — so personal quantities of anything from cocaine to heroin to meth. It also applies to unlawful prescription medication.

Mark Ryan speaks at a media conference in Brisbane

Queensland Police Minister Mark Ryan says the changes will keep people out of prison.(ABC News: Lucas Hill)
Under the proposal, those found in possession would be given a warning in the first instance, then offered to participate and complete the diversionary program on their second offence.

But the clincher is that you must not be facing other criminal charges, and you can't have been to jail for drug offences before.

Why has this change been made?

Two reasons

1.To save police time
2.To prevent further harm to small-time users

Here's a couple of things Mr Ryan said in Parliament yesterday:

"Research shows that if you divert people early to health and education services, they are less likely to reoffend.

"Police will continue their tough enforcement action in taking dangerous drugs off the streets of Queensland, but this will save police time by expanding drug diversion for minor offences which would enable officers to target drug manufacturers and traffickers domestically and internationally.

"The expanded police drug diversion programme proposed by the Queensland Police Service and established by this bill will help to prevent people developing a substance abuse disorder."

What is a diversion program?

It is a personalised program delivered by Queensland Health to help minor offenders quit using.

First of all, offenders have to meet the criteria set out by Queensland Police here, and admit to the use in an interview.

You're then referred for a one-on-one assessment, where you work with someone on a plan to get off drugs.

But you can only be offered diversion once, and if you turn it down — that's it.

What do police think about this?

According to the minister, the idea came from within the force, led by Commissioner Katarina Carroll.

He said it was also supported by every post-Fitzgerald-era Queensland Police commissioner, former Corrective Services and federal police commissioners too.

How have medical groups responded? Very well.

In a joint release, the Australian Medical Association Queensland (AMAQ) and the addiction groups Alcohol and Drug Foundation and Network of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies, applauded the move.

"A health-based approach to drug use benefits the whole of community by helping to reduce drug-related deaths and disease, reduce stigma and problematic drug use, and see more people reaching out for help and support," said AMAQ president Dr Maria Boulton.

Is Queensland the only place to do this?

No, and the government says this proposal will bring the state in line with jurisdictions such as Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia.

How likely are they to come into effect? Pretty likely.

The draft laws have been referred to a parliamentary committee for scrutiny and community consultation.

In the coming months, the bill will come back to parliament for debate and it will become law if it receives majority support from state politicians.

Does this mean drugs are legal in Queensland now? In short, no.

While the government says it will prevent about 17,000 Queenslanders from facing prosecution for minor drug offences, it says it is important to note that this move "does not equate to the legalisation of dangerous drugs".

In fact, as part of the reform, the maximum penalty for the offence of trafficking dangerous drugs increases from 25 years to life imprisonment.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-22/queensland-illicit-drug-law-changes-three-strikes/102005684

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Work visa extension to attract international students to Australia

International students who complete a degree in a skill shortage area will be given an extra two years to stay in Australia after graduation.

The move, intended to help business beat skill shortages as well as speed the return of international students to Australia, was announced on Tuesday by federal Education Minister Jason Clare and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil.

For international students it means that the period of their post study work visa is increased from two to four years if they complete a bachelors degree, and increased from three to five years if they complete a masters degree.

But they get the benefit only if they study in a skill shortage area and the government has released a list of likely complying degrees including many in the health, teaching, engineering and agricultural fields.

All international students doing PhDs will benefit from the new policy regardless of their field of study. The period of their post study work visa will lengthen from four to six years.

The new work rights will come into effect on July 1 this year. International students are warned that they should check a more precise list of courses eligible for the extended work rights which will be released nearer to the July 1 commencement date.

Mr Clare said the changes would “make Australia more attractive as a study destination” for international students and help business fill skill shortages.

“Businesses are screaming out for skilled workers, particularly in the regions. We have got the second highest skills shortage in the developed world, according to the OECD,” he said.

The government will continue to give international students a further extension on their post study work rights period if they study at a regional or remote university. Regional universities will continue to attract an extra year and remote universities an extra two years on top of the two year extension announced on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s announcement also brings back the cap on the number of hours which international students are permitted to work in Australia while they attend their education institution.

The previous 40 hour per fortnight cap was temporarily removed by the Morrison government in early 2022 to help deal with labour shortages as the Australian economy emerged from Covid.

The new working hours cap will be 48 hours a fortnight and the higher figure will ease the impact of the change on international students who currently have no limit on their working hours. As before, the cap will not apply in holiday periods.

International Education Association of Australia CEO Phil Honeywood said he believed Mr Clare and Ms O’Neil had struck the right balance between the need to give students an incentive to choose Australia over other study destinations, the need to meet Australia’s skill needs and the obligation to find a sensible working hours solution.

But he said that international students will needed a clearer path to permanent residency. “If we are to encourage students to spend a decade of their life in studying and working in our economy, we need to have clearer migration pathways,” Mr Honeywood said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/work-visa-extension-to-attract-international-students-to-australia/news-story/1bf983e2ca3101510a057e3a51ed4cab

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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A real gentleman and a foolish woman

The MAFS report below reveals what a great gentleman "Josh" was: A man of exceptionally good character. And the woman had him. She was "married" to him but dumped him. She dissed him because he was not enough of a sexpot.

But how shallow can you get? Sex can be great in the early stages of a relationship but it usually becomes rather mundane after a while. A good sex life in the beginning is not enough to enable a good relationship in the long haul. Finding a partner who is kind and forgiving is the real treasure in a lasting relationship.

I have had a really good sex life with a number of women over the years but the relationships concerned did not last. And I do have good and pleasing relationships with women with whom I am not sexually active.

"Josh" is to me the "pearl without price" for almost any woman. That Melissa dumped him over a few uninspiring sexual encounters is doubly dumb. She lost a good man and probably also lost the good sex life she was seeking. Good sex does not always come immediately. It can be greatly improved by both parties working on it. Her impatience made her a loser in every respect

Men tend to have an impression of hairdressers as air-headed. Melissa cetainly reinforced that image

It all tends to call to mind a raucous old song popular in the 1950s :

"You can throw a silver dollar down upon the ground,
And it will roll, because it's round.
A woman never knows what a good man she's got,
Until she turns him down"


Married At First Sight's Josh White has broken his silence after his ex-'wife' Melissa Sheppard was slammed for her appalling behaviour towards him.

Taking to Instagram on Monday, the advertising client director, 40, pleaded with viewers to be 'kind' to Melissa - even after she made shocking and insensitive remarks about the couple's sex life at Sunday's commitment ceremony.

'Hi, everyone. The events of Married at First Sight happened a few months ago and Mel and I have had a chance to heal from our experiences,' he said in a video.

'What you saw in the experiment is no different to real life where two strangers come together from different backgrounds to try to learn more about each other, and themselves in the process.

'I think that we had some really beautiful moments, but we also had some moments of reflection, and I think that both of those will be pretty long-lasting.

'I've always maintained the pressure of the experiment affects people in different ways. But let me be very clear about one thing: what happened in the experiment happened between Mel and I.'

Josh explained that targeting Melissa doesn't make him feel any better about what happened on the show. 'Please do not attack Mel. It doesn't make me happy. It doesn't give me any satisfaction. It doesn't raise me up at all,' he said.

'We are real people. We have real feelings. And we all came into the experiment looking for something.'

Josh added in the video's caption: 'I ask you as an audience to please be respectful and kind to Melissa.

'There isn't a need to attack her at all. I understand people will want to but that doesn't make me feel any better and it just perpetuates a cycle that we should all reflect on.'

He also told fans he'd been 'doing well' since leaving the experiment.

Earlier on Monday, Melissa doubled down on her criticism of Josh during an interview on The Kyle and Jackie O Show, accusing him of being a 'different person' in one-on-one interviews with producers and revealing unflattering details about their sex life.

Listeners were left stunned as Melissa - who is in damage control after being portrayed on the show as callous and sex-obsessed - alleged Josh was 'not the same person in front of the cameras' as he was behind closed doors.

She also told radio hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson the pair never actually kissed - despite having 'sloppy' sex several times in the experiment - and also claimed they didn't engage in oral sex.

'It was really sloppy and messy… I wouldn't say that was hot and heavy and intimate. It wasn't how I imagined to have an amazing sex life with someone,' she said.

'There was no kissing. It was very transactional. It was just physical - that was quite awful.'

The single mum also said her portrayal as an overly demanding lover was unfair and all she wanted was sex 'two to three times' per week.

Melissa explained that while things started off great with Josh on their honeymoon, their relationship went downhill once they moved in together.

'Josh is a very different person in front of me and he would go to [film] these vox-pops. I felt like I was sleeping with a secret assassin,' added the hairdresser.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11773197/MAFS-Josh-Whites-incredible-act-kindness-ex-wife-Melissa-Sheppard.html

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7% of youths on bail committed offence leading to death or serious injury

Just last week, a community crime forum was called in Toowoomba following the death of a 75-year-old man who was allegedly attacked by a number of youths.

At the forum, a remarkably candid Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll described the current crisis as: “We have seen in the last 12 months an escalation of offending that we haven’t see before.”

Examination of police crime data shows the overall crime rate in Queensland has risen seven per cent in 2021-22, the rate of break and enters has risen 18 per cent, stolen vehicles 13 per cent, assaults went up 60 per cent.

The number of robberies is up 29 per cent.

In Queensland, police are hamstrung by a restrictive pursuit policy.

The perception is that stealing a car in Queensland is a low-risk criminal enterprise. Only a week ago, we saw youth offenders flee an alleged home invasion and brazenly drive a stolen vehicle from Brisbane until they crossed the border into NSW, where the police promptly intercepted and arrested them.

We now know that serious repeat youth offenders account for 17 per cent of youth offenders, up from 10 per cent in 2020, and commit 48 per cent of youth crime.

Despite only accounting for 16 per cent of all offenders, youth make up 54 per cent of robbery offenders, 53 per cent of stolen vehicle and 50 per cent of break-and-enter offenders.

So how did we get here? In 2016, the Labor government removed the offence of breach of bail for youth offenders.

It also outlined that for youth offenders, a detention order should be imposed only as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed on Monday she would backflip and reintroduce breach of bail as an offence in the “spirit of bipartisanship”.

In 2019, the current government further weakened youth justice laws by passing legislation that was designed to facilitate more grants of bail to youth offenders.

The new laws formed part of the government’s $550m investment in youth justice reforms, including new programs and services to keep young people out of custody and from reoffending.

It sounded admirable at the time.

It only took a year for the government to realise its mistake and enact more amendments to try to fix the problem in 2020.

Yet still the bar was set too low in terms of allowing the hard-core offender back out on to the streets to continually reoffend.

There have now been two sets of additional youth justice reforms since to try to combat the crisis; both are best described as inept and ineffective.

Despite the shrill calls of panic from the progressive elements in our society, few youth offenders get sent to jail.

The Children’s Court annual report released last month showed that in 2021-22 a detention penalty was only imposed in 6.6 per cent of convicted youth appearances.

Raising maximum sentences for stealing a vehicle, as the government has in its latest youth justice reforms, is simply smoke and mirrors if no-one gets the maximum.

Data from the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council showed that the average period of detention for youth offenders convicted of stealing a vehicle was 3.6 months, and only 6 per cent of youth offenders who stole a vehicle went to detention.

The Atkinson review of the government’s youth justice reforms released in 2022 showed that offending by young people on bail had increased.

A total of 53 per cent of young people on bail reoffended while on bail, 19 per cent committed serious offending and seven per cent committed an offence leading to death or serious injury while on bail.

These figures are simply unacceptable.

It is right that the offence of breach of bail for youth offenders needs to be introduced immediately to give an effective and efficient option for police to take action for youth committing offences on bail.

Backgrounding this are moves to decriminalise youth offenders aged 10-12.

The Queensland government has supported this proposal as part of a broader push to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years.

As the Police Union noted, it will create a generation of invisible offenders.

An example of the failures of the youth justice reforms put in place by the government is the electronic tracking devices. At the forum in Toowoomba, the Police Minister claimed that the trial of the trackers “was very successful”.

The Atkinson review showed that instead of the 100 expected to be issued, only three had been, at a cost of about $11.5m. If that is a success, I would hate to see a failure.

The short-term offending cycle of serious repeat offenders needs to be stopped.

If you commit a serious offence on bail, there should be no show cause situation, it should be the case that you remain in custody until your matter is finalised.

The government can easily pass legislation to this effect.

Therapeutic interventions to address the multifactorial causes of serious youth offending can come later to stop the long-term offending cycle.

The community is right to be angry. The government must listen to the people and take appropriate action to address this crisis.

Community safety must come first.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-7-of-youths-committed-offence-leading-to-death-or-serious-injury-while-on-bail/news-story/660ce244ae7c55cea424e60b13cfb0d9

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The internet has changed everything

Mark Latham

One doesn’t normally associate David Bowie, the androgenous rock star of the Seventies and Eighties, with piercingly accurate political analysis. But recently I saw an old interview with the Thin White Duke (recorded at a time when the internet was becoming prominent) that seemed incredibly insightful.

Bowie argued that up until the invention of the internet, the human knowledge-set was reasonably well settled. While historians sometimes differed, this was only at the margins, giving us a definitive interpretation of past events. So too, most aspects of science had been resolved.

Social values and norms were framed around mainstream notions of decency and commonsense. The parameters of political debate, while keenly contested at election time, pivoted on the orthodoxy of a handful of major parties.

It was as if the 18th-century Enlightenment had struck an ideal balance: creating new freedoms of speech to debate concepts and ideas, thereby further advancing the knowledge-set, but within accepted boundaries as to what was factual and what was nonsense.

Very few people subscribed to conspiracy theories or wacky notions of information being ‘socially constructed’ and ‘fluid’. Observable truths were respected as the foundation-stone of intellectual enlightenment.

Bowie’s thesis was that the internet would blow this settlement apart. As a mostly unregulated, open-access regime it would give a wide range of political activists the forum and space they needed to create their own self-serving narratives, unchallenged by the disciplines of evidence and facts.

This in turn would fragment society, as people would find their own group with which to associate and support online. Public life would be transformed, becoming more divisive and censorious as political tribes tried to close down their rivals and embed their beliefs in popular culture.

The orthodoxies of history, science, education and major party politics would come under permanent siege. And as this process played out, the internet tribes would dig in deeper, fortifying their positions with fewer facts and even less evidence, talking mainly to themselves (in what we now call the political ‘bubble’).

Bowie said we had to turn and face this change. As ever in his lyrics, strange fascinations fascinated him.

One would have to say, 30 years later, his dismal prophecy has been realised. He has given us a handy framework within which to understand the new politics of ‘fake news’ and ‘cancel culture’.

In the madness of today’s politics, why shouldn’t we take the unexpected wisdom of Ziggy Stardust as a reference point?

It helps to explain why the political centre has hollowed out and the major party vote has declined. They have been cannibalised by movements to the left and right of them.

Five new tribes have emerged in politics, as confirmation of Bowie’s thesis:

The Lunar Right

Some voters are dazed and confused by the extent of change in our public institutions. Old certainties have been lost, replaced by the alien authoritarianism of political correctness, identity politics, gender fluidity, decarbonisation and cancel culture. In seeking out a single, simple explanation, the Lunar Right has latched onto the theory of international conspiracy, through the UN, WEF, Agenda 21, WHO, COP and any other globalist forum that carries an acronym.

I hear from these people often and I can assure them: most of the political madness we have in Australia is homegrown. Adam Bandt, Lidia Thorpe, Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese have been refining their leftist agenda for decades. They don’t receive, or in fact need, memos from the UN every other day to do their worst.

Policy Traditionalists

This is where I have tried to position NSW One Nation, around a belief that Australian public policy reached a high-water mark of effectiveness during the Hawke-Keating-Howard-Costello era. There was never any need for change.

For Traditionalists, our watchword is evidence: to reject the Left’s agenda based on its observable adverse impacts. Why, for instance, would Australia destroy its resource and manufacturing industries and millions of jobs when the elimination of our carbon emissions cannot have any measurable impact on global surface temperatures?

Surreal Teal

This is the new politics of wealthy indulgence: well-heeled women so comfortable in life they have deluded themselves into thinking they can repair any part of society and ultimately, save the planet. They only visit places like the Hunter Valley and Western Sydney by accident, so the loss of blue-collar jobs in these regions is inconsequential to their virtue-signalling.

Woke Identitarians

Labor used to believe in helping people on the basis of their socio-economic status. Now, bizarrely, it sees politics through the prism of things people were born with, the identity politics of race, gender and sexuality. Martin Luther King’s ethos of judging people by their character has been replaced by the primitive habit of judging them by how they look. Thus a privileged, powerful person like Penny Wong can plead disadvantage from being an Asian lesbian, even though no aspect of her life is actually disadvantaged.

The Green Extreme

Authoritarianism is back in fashion, with the Greens seeking to control the language, values, behaviour, family life and employment of other people. If you’ve ever met a Green MP you will know they can barely run their own lives, but this is not a barrier to trying to engineer everyone else’s life in their own image.

Bowie was right: Time can’t change me and I can’t change time. But the internet has changed everything.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/02/political-oddity/

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The major mistake Australia made during the Covid-19 lockdowns: Top professor describes hated rule as 'absolutely atrocious'

Peter Collignon - one of Australia's most trusted voices through the Covid crisis - has said restrictions on outdoor activities during the Covid-lockdown was 'absolutely atrocious' and a major mistake.

The infectious diseases doctor tweeted on Monday that 'restrictions on outdoor activities (during Covid lockdowns) was a major mistake'.

He said his warnings from the start of the pandemic that preventing people from going out to exercise had been proven right - 'We should never in the future stop people from being outdoors.'

Professor Collignon told Daily Mail Australia that 'No matter how hard you look, you can not find (much Covid) transmission outdoors.

'There was some - there was a report in the US of someone talking to somebody for 15 minutes outside and getting Covid, and there were some building workers in Singapore who probably got it outdoors.

'But basically, outdoors, there's very little transmission of Covid. The effective R (the rate of passing Covid on to another person) was much less than one.

'In other words, you didn't transmit it much,' he said.

The doctor, who lectures at the Australian National University's medical school in Canberra, said restrictions on outdoor exercise 'was a real mistake'.

'There was a lot of hysteria about people going to beaches and to parks, and you could only be out for an hour a day and closing parks for children.'

He said while it could not have been guaranteed that no transmission would have occurred outdoors, 'it would have been minimal and should have easily been handled by contract tracing and testing'.

Prof Collignon said this is not a conclusion he has come to with the benefit of looking back, that he had been 'saying that three years ago too'.

Photos on social media showing crowded beaches during lockdowns - implying that people were breaking the law - were misleading, he said.

'They did it with telephoto lenses which made it look like people were really close together.

'But when you looked at aerial views from drones, people were more than two metres apart.'

Prof Collignon said at the time that lockdowns such as closing national parks so people couldn't go walking were 'not sensible'.

'And in retrospect, it looks an absolutely atrocious mistake to have made those rules,' he said.

The issue of travelling in a crowded space to get to a beach or park during lockdowns complicated matters, though.

'If you had to travel by train or bus or a crowded car to get there, that's a risk. But it's being indoors that's the big risk.

'If you can go in your own transport to an outdoor venue, you had no more risk of acquiring Covid from anybody not in your household.'

Prof Collignon also addressed the issue of the increased number of drownings this summer being blamed in part on children not having been able to learn to swim in pools due to lockdowns.

'I am under the impression, and it's based on hearsay, but there have been less children learning to swim over the last few years than in the years beforehand,' he said.

'It all depends on the data ... on how many children aged two to six have drowned and how different that is (from pre-pandemic numbers).

'Because that is the age group that would have been affected by not being able to learn to swim (due to lockdowns).'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11770629/Peter-Collignon-Biggest-mistake-Australia-Covid-pandemic-absolutely-atrocious.html

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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Albo to close down independent truck drivers

Federal Labor is set to bolster the businesses of trucking billionaires and corporations. Unsurprisingly, the billionaires are more than happy to have this happen.

Naturally, Labor’s billionaire business boost is not being promoted in this light by Labor. Labor says that its plan is about making trucking rates ‘safe’. But no matter how this is looked at, the intention is to eliminate independent truck drivers as competitors to the big trucking corporations and billionaire trucking empires.

We know this because Labor set up a ‘safe rates’ scheme in 2012, but it wasn’t until 2016 that the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal (RSRT) started dictating trucking rates. It was a disaster for the 35,000 affected self-employed, long-haul truck drivers. Large numbers of these truckies were in the process of being bankrupted. Several suicides resulted before the Turnbull government passed legislation to close down the RSRT in 2016.

This saved the livelihoods and businesses of thousands of hard-working, self-employed Australians. What we know from the 2016 experience is that the ‘trucking safe rates’ argument has a theoretical claim about safety, but is in fact about putting small business people out of business to the benefit of big business. That’s the truth.

The argument about safety is heavily promoted by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and goes something like this… The TWU says independent truck drivers work too hard. They drive long hours and the rates they charge are too low. These low rates mean that independent truck drivers have crashes. So, according to the TWU, the independent truckies need to be forced by legislation to charge more. Then the roads will be safe.

But look at the argument from a different angle – that is, from the viewpoint of competition.

Self-employed independent truck drivers are big competitors to the big trucking conglomerates (and they tend not to be union members!). By the nature of their businesses, independent truckies are able to be highly flexible. If, for example, an independent truckie is long-hauling between Perth and Brisbane and different jobs pop up along the way, they can respond in ways that the management bureaucracies of big companies cannot. This gives the independents big competitive advantages.

It’s this flexibility and fast responsiveness to customer needs that is key for the independents. But this does not suit the big transport bosses. And it does not suit the TWU which effectively enforces membership through the big transport bosses.

Now that Labor is in government and seems to have the support of the Greens in the Senate on labour issues, Albanese’s Labor is looking to target independent truck drivers again. Labor has announced that it intends to re-introduce a scheme of ‘safe’ rates for ‘employee-like’ independent truck drivers. They will do this in the second half of 2023.

Again, they are going to control the rates that independent truck drivers must charge. This will be a repeat of 2016. Independent truck drivers will be pushed into hardship, bankruptcy, and suicide. Big trucking billionaires will get richer. This is Labor’s direct attack against Australian small business people

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/02/trucking-billionaires/

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False Australian history

There’s no end to the Woke, cultural-left pushing ‘Yes’ to the Indigenous Voice in the nation’s classrooms. The left-leaning Australian Education Union fully supports the ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’ and argues Truth-Telling should be taught ‘in schools through and in the curriculum and in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers’.

Schools across Australia are teaching Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu to students; a book criticised by Peter O’Brien as well as Peter Sutton and Keryn Walshe as misleading and inaccurate in its depiction of Aboriginal history and culture as sophisticated.

In Victoria, the Minister for Education Natalie Hutchins, who subsequently tried to walk back on the comment, states that ‘the Voice referendum will be a defining moment in our nation’s history’ and it should be dealt with in schools as students need to understand ‘Victoria’s journey to the Treaty’.

Not surprisingly, a poetry anthology set for Victoria’s Year 12 English titled False Claims Of Colonial Thieves by Charmaine Papertalk-Green and John Kinsella is yet another disturbing example of the school curriculum being used to indoctrinate vulnerable students regarding Aboriginal exploitation and oppression.

According to the reviewer at the Sydney Arts Guide the poetry anthology is ‘a pin prickling polemic’ where the poems are ‘flinty and unflinching’ and act like ‘depth charges of various C-bombs – Colonisation, Capitalism, Culture, and Country’. The reviewer lauds the two authors for exposing the ‘genocide, rape, and apartheid’ inflicted as a result of European settlement.

Bruce Pascoe, made famous by his assertion Aborigines were highly civilised at the time of the First Fleet, also recommends the anthology. Pascoe writes the poets ‘take no prisoners’ and that it is not for the light-hearted as it depicts the ‘darkness’ at the heart of Australia.

The historian Geoffrey Blainey uses the expression the ‘black armband’ view to describe those guilty of painting the nation’s history as violent, oppressive, racist, and Eurocentric. Often ignored is that Blainey also condemns the ‘three cheers’ view.

The Year 12 anthology provides multiple examples of the black armband view. One poem talks about ‘past injustices, cultural cruelty, cultural genocide’ while another begins with the lines ‘the State is killing our souls, the State has murdered the people’.

A third poem titled Always Thieves argues those who arrived as a result of 1788, including ‘colonial officers, convicts, settlers, free man’ are all thieves and that the injustice and theft continues to this day involving ‘mining companies, politicians, governments’ with ‘dirty hands coated with traces of blood’.

A fourth poem called Don’t mine me leaves students in no doubt as to who deserves to be condemned when the poets write: ‘Don’t mind me Australia… While you are busy… Sticking explosives everywhere… Getting a hard-on blowing up land… Pumping chemicals deep into mother… Drip feeding our waters with poison.’

Drawing on post-colonial theory and the Black Lives Matter movement where the assumption is societies like Australia are structurally racist, the anthology tells students Indigenous voices are always silenced when they write, ‘You don’t want me to talk about… The concept and construct of whiteness.’

It’s ironic, at the same time the two poets in the prologue argue mining companies are guilty of inflicting propaganda on schools about the value and importance of mining they appear unaware that students being made to study their poetry is guilty of the same sin.

One of the exercises related to the False Claims of Colonial Thieves anthology, after adopting the persona of an exploited Aboriginal community, asks students to write to mining companies like BHP telling them to stop exploiting Aboriginal land and destroying the environment.

Even worse, as argued by Mark Lopez in School Sucks and who tutors Year 12 students in Victoria, the reality is the poetry anthology is just one of many chosen texts that ‘are overwhelmingly politically correct and left-wing’.

While students across Australia are presented with a jaundiced and one-sided view of Indigenous affairs and the impact of European settlement ignored are the facts, compared to the Uyghurs in China and the Kurds in the Middle East, Aborigines have achieved equality and the sins of the past long since been addressed.

Aborigines are Australian citizens, have equal rights, and at just over 3 per cent of the population receive approximately $30 billion a year in federal government support and benefits. As a result of the High Court Mabo decision, they also have extensive land rights to over 54 per cent of Australia’s land mass.

Instead of schools presenting students with an objective and impartial account of controversial issues like the Voice to Parliament the sad fact is the cultural-left has long succeeded in using the school curriculum to advance its ideology. Worse still, this has happened under both left-leaning and conservative governments, state and commonwealth.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/02/colonial-thieves/

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The future of Australia's electricity supply is blowing in the wind

The events of the past few weeks have brought Australia’s energy future into sharp focus – we won’t have one. Green enthusiasts who dominate the public debate have insisted that much of the east coast’s reliable power supply must cease operating by about the middle of next decade, but there may not be anything to put in its place.

Those same activists insist that a vast network of renewable energy projects can take over the role of coal plants, ignoring considerable evidence that they cannot. However, state governments are relying on private investors to create this dense network, despite investment in the area having tanked.

Unless policymakers come to their senses, consumers who want to use electrical appliances, or even turn on the hall light in perhaps twelve years or so, may have to make their own arrangements. They might still be able to turn on gas stoves but not gas heaters (these still require power for fans), although policymakers are also doing their best to reduce gas supplies.

This heroic attempt at ruining Australia’s power supply is all the more remarkable for occurring during an international energy crisis and with the policymakers apparently oblivious to the notable failure of renewable energy to make much of a contribution to the overall energy supply, despite decades of investment.

As previously noted in The Spectator Australia (‘Engineering disaster’, 29 October 2022) a combination of billionaire activist Mike Cannon-Brookes and the state governments of Queensland and Victoria have organised the closure of the bulk of the reliable coal-fired power supply of the eastern half of the continent. At the same time the Victorian and Queensland state governments in particular, have been encouraging investment in renewable energy as well as pumped-hydro storage projects.

To date the response has been disappointing. Figures on renewable energy projects compiled by the Clean Energy Council show that just seventeen were completed and commissioned in 2022, representing 1,248 Megawatts (MW) of installed capacity, as opposed to forty-eight completed in Covid-stricken 2021 adding up to 4,589 MW, and 3,205 MW worth of projects in 2020. These figures are even less impressive when it is remembered that wind projects typically have an average output of about one-third of stated capacity. The average output for photovoltaics is somewhat less, but it is better for projects using the likes of solar concentrators.

There is no indication investment is improving. Wind farms under construction listed by the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning amount to just 864 MW in installed capacity – an effective average output of perhaps a paltry 300 MW or so.

One reason for investment in this area falling off a cliff, despite all the talk, is that markets did not do well generally in 2022. A count of initial public offerings on the securities exchange by professional services firm HLB Mann Judd shows that the number of new IPOs fell by 48 per cent in 2022, and total funds raised collapsed 91 per cent.

Another perspective is provided by lobby group WindEurope, which in January declared that orders for new wind turbines in Europe fell by 47 per cent, or nearly half, in 2022 compared with the previous year.

WindEurope complained about government interference in the European markets, but also noted that ‘inflation in commodity prices and other input costs has raised the price of wind turbines, by up to 40 per cent over the last two years’. Revenue had not kept pace with costs.

Despite the different conditions in Europe, the result was much the same as the investment market in general and renewable energy projects in Australia in particular, in that investment collapsed notably in the second half of 2022.

But then decades of talk about renewable energy and investment in all sorts of wild and wonderful projects has barely shifted the dial on renewable energy’s contribution. A control panel for the National Energy Market (the eastern Australian grid) compiled by the Australian Energy Market Operator shows that in the past 12 months just short of 70 per cent of electricity came from black and brown coal plants, and just short of 20 per cent from solar and wind. Another 7 per cent came from hydro (which counts as a renewable) and a few per cent from gas.

This does not seem very different from the energy mix of preceding years, but the really bad news for activists is the total energy mix figures for Australia compiled by the International Energy Agency. This analysis adds in the use of fuel in domestic and freight transport, gas for cooking and industrial use plus the power required for electrical generation. In 2021, despite all the talk about net-zero emissions, wind, solar and biomass collectively amounted to just a few per cent of the total energy task.

As for gas, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released a gas inquiry interim report in January which forecasts a 12 per cent shortfall in supply for the east coast this year, although the problems may really start about 2027 or so. The commission then makes the far from surprising suggestion that governments could reduce the barriers faced by producers seeking to bring new gas supply to market.

But governments and environmentalists have reacted to the obvious problems by doubling down on discouraging the industry. The federal government reacted to price increases for gas by instituting a mixture of price controls and reserving gas for domestic consumers. As a result, producers including Senex Energy, Beach Energy, Cooper Energy and ExxonMobil have stalled or put under review proposed investment in new gas supplies.

In addition, environmental activism and the late-2022 court decision which required Santos to consult more extensively with indigenous groups over the $4.7 billion Barossa project it plans north of the Tiwi Islands (north of Darwin), have imposed delays of up to two years on a range of gas projects. To top off all of this, a project to build an LNG gas import terminal at Newcastle in NSW, which could have supplied 80 per cent of the state’s needs, was axed in early February, with the South Korean developers citing volatility in gas markets. Another proposed LNG import plant in Victoria is facing endless delays in approvals.

Investment in green energy projects may revive of course, but there is a long way to go and there are still the major problems of whether intermittent power can replace coal plants, and of dismantling all the barriers blocking gas development. Australia’s much-vaunted energy transition may simply mean switching to no power at all.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/02/dark-ages-coming/

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Winning life’s lottery: Australians are richer than many feel today

It’s hard to imagine many Australians today feeling richer than they did this time last year.

The share market and superannuation funds went backwards in 2022, property values are still going backwards, grocery expenses and other household bills are spiralling higher much faster than wages growth, and mortgage costs are multiplying thanks to Reserve Bank interest rate rises.

We are collectively feeling poorer right now and pulling back on our spending, or at least planning to. That’s what the Reserve Bank wants Australians as a whole to do, so inflation will drop back to normal levels without smashing the nation into a recession.

But the reality is that Australians are far from poor, when our wealth – financial and otherwise – is put into perspective.

Whenever I’m feeling a little financially inferior, which usually happens when reading newspaper articles about executive salaries or Sydney property sales, there’s a website I visit to make it all better.

Simply type “how rich am I” into your search engine and you’ll find a site that compares your income with the rest of the world.

For example, a couple both earning the average Australian wage of $92,000 a year can punch in their post-tax income ($69,800 according to tax calculators) and discover they are among the richest 1.1 per cent of households on the planet.

If they earn the median Aussie annual wage of $65,000, a more accurate income measure because it’s not skewed higher by high-earning CEOs, they still sit among the top 2.3 per cent of wealthy households globally.

We are also punching well above our weight when it comes to holding wealth. The Global Wealth Report 2022 by financial giant Credit Suisse ranked Australians as the world’s wealthiest – with median wealth per person sitting at $US273,900 ($400,000), three times as much as US median wealth despite the large number of US billionaires.

Per person, we are twice as rich as people in Britain, Japan, France, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Qatar. New Zealanders are the world number three, behind Belgium.

Median wealth per person in China is $US28,258 ($41,000), in India it’s $US3457 ($5200), and in Africa it’s $US1111 ($1600).

These global wealth and income comparisons are striking, but also seem unfair to the many Aussie battlers struggling on lower wages or equally-low welfare payments, and have been watching their groceries, utilities and other living costs climb just as much as higher-income earners.

We live in an expensive society that has become much more expensive. Fortunately there are welfare safety nets that rise in line with inflation, although there are always people who argue that welfare payments are way too low.

It’s not just money that makes us wealthy. There are no automatic weapons carried by citizens on our streets, and crime rates are relatively low.

Australia’s capital cities regularly rank highly in The Economist Intelligence Unit’s global liveability index, although Covid lockdowns knocked us down a few places recently.

We often complain about Australia’s struggling health system, but our skills, facilities, cleanliness, medicines and costs rank us among the 20 best healthcare systems globally. And there are plenty of financial safety nets available.

Australians are certainly winners in the lottery of life – it just doesn’t feel that way for many people at the moment.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/winning-lifes-lottery-australians-are-richer-than-many-feel-today/news-story/5fde213d2220931f71f4529b7b52bb1f

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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Doctor scrutiny on gender clinic reveals legal and safety fears

Doctors treating children at a major public hospital gender clinic have questioned the basis of the “gender-affirming” approach in medicine, highlighting sparse evidence justifying the use of puberty blockers, instances of serious side-effects from the drugs, ongoing mental distress following transition and the significant potential for later regret among patients.

Senior physicians at the NSW Children’s Hospital Westmead’s gender clinic have studied the physical and mental health of 79 patients in a rare academic study of the outcomes of children who presented with gender distress and gender dysphoria. The findings cast doubt on the scientific basis of the gender-affirming approach followed by the nation’s other children’s hospitals.

In an open access academic paper, CHW psychiatrists, endocrinologists and other physicians, and a senior medical ethics expert, called for a “much more nuanced and complex approach” as analysis revealed 88 per cent of children presenting at Westmead’s gender clinic had at least one co-morbid mental health condition, with more than 50 per cent diagnosed with behavioural disorders or autism. One in five children who consulted the clinic with gender-related distress later had these feelings resolved, and almost one in 10 with a formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria, some who had taken puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, later discontinued transitioning.

Given this, the adoption of a “neutral therapeutic stance” and provision of “a much more diverse range of treatment options and pathways as an alternative to medical gender transition was necessary”, the doctors concluded.

One of the central justifications for gender-affirming medicine – that it alleviated psychological distress – was not borne out in the experience of the young people studied, with 44 out of 50 patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria reporting ongoing mental health concerns four to nine years after presentation at the gender clinic, many after transitioning.

Parents of children with gender distress are often told their child is at high risk of suicide if the gender-affirming path is not followed. “An unanswered question in the paediatric literature is whether gender-affirming medical treatment improves or does not improve mental health outcomes and quality of life,” said CHW doctors, including paediatric psychiatrist Kasia Kozlowska, paediatric endocrinologists Geoffrey Ambler and Ann Maguire and physician Joseph Elkadi.

Former Yale Law School medical ethics expert Stephen Scher was also a co-author. “In the era of evidence-based medicine, the evidence base pertaining to the gender-affirming medical pathway is sparse and, for the young people who may regret their choice of pathway at a future point in time, the risks for potential harm are significant,” the authors said.

The study comes as the approach of doctors practising gender-affirming medicine comes under scrutiny in court, as parents seeking to block prescription of puberty blockers to their children call expert witnesses to challenge the evidence. One recent Family Court case initiated by a parent seeking to halt their child being prescribed puberty blockers was settled midway through evidence as doctors from a major children’s hospital gender clinic called as witnesses came under scrutiny.

Solicitor Bill Kordos, who acted for the parent, said: “What became apparent to me running the case is that the science and the evidence didn’t seem to support the recommendations of the gender clinic. The unravelling of the science and the medicine was so telling that I in fact became alarmed that, if this is one case, and there are hundreds of children being put on what seems to be a conveyor belt, and young children are being told they have gender dysphoria without the whole picture being addressed, at the end of this court case I felt it was a form of child abuse.

“I also formed the view that they appeared to have politicised healthcare, which directly threatens the welfare of children. An inquiry should be held as to how these clinics are operating. I think they’re exposing themselves to a massive class action.”

The Australian litigation comes as senior doctors from the UK’s Tavistock Clinic spoke out in a new book by British journalist Hannah Barnes at their growing concerns the gender-affirming ­approach they were following ”wasn’t actually safe” and may amount to a medical scandal. The Cass Review in the UK, which led to the shutdown of Tavistock, has said it was now examining gender-affirming medicine guidelines set by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

The gender-affirming approach has been championed in Australia by paediatrician Michelle Telfer and colleagues at the Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital. Dr Telfer helped author the Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines for trans and gender-diverse children and adolescents, following The Netherlands model and based heavily on World Professional Association for Transgender Health guidelines.

Australian Professional Association for Trans Health standards are followed by most doctors treating patients with gender dysphoria in Australia, from major children’s hospital clinics to general practitioners. Gender-affirming care is designed to support and affirm an individual’s perceived gender identity, including the prescription of puberty blockers and hormone treatments to medically affirm the patient’s perceived gender. The guidelines stipulate decision-making, including relating to medical intervention and social transitioning, “should be driven by the child or adolescent wherever possible”.

The ABC’s failure to cover the closure of Britain’s Tavistock serves as another example of the national broadcaster… not wanting to tell Australians an “inconvenient truth,” Sky News Digital Editor Jack Houghton says. Media Watch host Paul Barry pointed out the ABC had no trace of the story and, More
CHW doctors disputed that these standards amount to national guidelines. “The title is actually misleading,” the authors write. “In Australia there are no official or authorised government-commissioned standards for assessing or treating gender dysphoria.”

The Royal Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor Telfer, director of the RCH Gender Service, declined to respond to questions surrounding the standards of care, the evidence base underpinning the gender-affirmative model, risk of regret among patients and potential harms of drug treatments.

AusPATH president Clara Tuck Meng Soo did not respond to a request for comment.

The CHW doctors have raised concerns that “many unknowns remain” regarding the long-term effects of puberty blockers, which are described by the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne as “reversible in their effects”. International evidence is in fact casting greater doubt on whether the effects of these medications are reversible. Endocrine reviews of the CHW patient cohort documented side-effects in 23 of the 49 young people prescribed puberty blockers, including low bone density, hot flushes, weight gain and anxiety. The CHW doctors raised concerns about long-term effects on patients’ sexual function in adulthood.

Within the 9 per cent cohort of patients with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria who had desisted – that is, discontinued the transgender pathway 4-9 years after consulting the gender clinic – three had undergone puberty suppression beginning at the average age of 12. Three had taken cross-sex hormones, one from as young as 15, but not prescribed by CHW. The effects of cross-sex hormones, including infertility, are irreversible.

Transgender activists claim rates of transition are in the order of less than 1 per cent. But the CHW doctors say the “emerging voices of detransitioners are identifying important issues”, and remain concerned that – even when exploratory psychotherapy is emphasised, as per the more conservative Finnish, Swedish and new British guidelines – “a serious problem remains” in identifying those young people who may regret their transition.

The hospital said it appeared many young people were accessing cross-sex hormones from unregulated sources or providers, as 51 of the cohort they studied had commenced treatment outside the institution, 20 of whom were under 16. Six young people studied had undergone gender-affirming surgery such as mastectomy.

The CHW doctors also identified concerns around the increasing prevalence of predominantly female patients with “late-onset, rapid-onset or adolescent-onset gender dysphoria” with no prior history of gender distress presenting at gender clinics. “The absence of prior history raised questions that this particular group of adolescents were being drawn to the construct of gender dysphoria because of some evolving social process,” the doctors said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/science/doctor-scrutiny-on-gender-clinic-reveals-legal-and-safety-fears/news-story/8af81768fde27884caf18fff345ab78a

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A bleak future for Australia's energy supply

The energy crisis that became real for many Australians in 2022 is at severe risk of becoming the norm.

Last month, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released their latest gas inquiry report which gave a stark warning to Australia’s leaders about the perilous state of the east coast’s energy security.

The report stated that investment in gas production is urgently required to avoid shortages and blackouts along Australia’s east coast:

‘Without additional gas supply, transportation, and storage infrastructure, there remain significant risks to domestic energy security over the medium to longer term. It is important therefore that governments continue to support the efficient, competitive, and timely development of new sources of supply and infrastructure.’

Despite this, the federal government has continued to pursue policies that deter investment in the gas sector, causing higher prices through lower supply.

The Albanese government’s announcement of reforms to the ‘safeguard mechanism’ to, effectively, re-introduce the carbon tax first pursued by the Rudd and Gillard governments, which was subsequently and overwhelmingly rejected by Australians a decade ago, is a prime example.

The reformed ‘safeguard mechanism’ will mandate that certain businesses purchase carbon credits from other businesses that emit below their regulated levels. If they cannot trade, they must pay a levy to the federal government.

Recent analysis by the Institute of Public Affairs has identified that 88 per cent of the facilities that this policy targets are in our critical resources and manufacturing sectors, and over eight in ten facilities are located in regional Australia.

BHP has indicated that Australia’s current and proposed energy policy settings will bring forward, by four years, the closure of its Mt Arthur coal mine in the Hunter Valley, which will only further increase power prices.

The Albanese government has pointed to a 205 million tonne reduction of CO2 emissions by the end of the decade, which will be equivalent to just 0.08 per cent of global carbon emissions in that period. All this economic pain, for little to no environmental gain.

Fortunately for mainstream Australians, the Federal Opposition have come out and publicly opposed this policy, which means the federal government will now have to deal with the Greens and the crossbench.

However, the Greens have publicly and repeatedly stated that their support for the reforms hinges on the federal government banning of all future coal and gas projects in Australia.

IPA research has identified such demands would see the cancellation of 86 coal and gas projects currently in the construction pipeline, 473,000 new jobs located in regional Australia foregone and up to $268.5 billion in direct and indirect economic activity squandered.

This latest energy policy proposal from the federal government follows hot on the heels of the Prime Minister’s emergency sitting of parliament to rush through a price cap on the domestic coal and gas supply.

The Prime Minister claimed without these measures, household energy bills would rise $230 per year over and above the already record increases we all face.

Unsurprisingly, the move to cap the price of gas saw a number of energy retailers cease taking on new customers, along with increasing their prices, as they struggled to secure supply from producers.

Of course, this was entirely predictable. When you artificially limit a company’s ability to get a return on investment, through a carbon tax or restricted revenue, it naturally makes them less likely to invest in the production of gas.

The policy settings being pursued by the Albanese government are diametrically opposed to the advice of Australia’s energy market experts and participants. The bottom line is, a further limited gas supply leaves everyday Australians with higher household energy bills.

These policies will also impact Australia’s trade revenue, domestic manufacturing capabilities, domestic energy generation capabilities, employment opportunities, and the development of regional Australia. Again, all for minimal future environmental gain.

Australia’s current energy crisis is entirely of our own making. It has been caused by deliberate policy decisions by our leaders and it is mainstream Australians who are paying the price daily.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/02/energy-crisis-households-pay-for-safety-mechanism/

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Controversial shark control

Dan Webber

It’s not easy being pro-human in the shark debate. Eco-warriors think we not only hate sharks, but nature in general. Apart from being wrong, such religious zealotry probably indicates that they hate humans, and society in general. So, it is not surprising that people avoid the conversation, no doubt fearing retribution. But, the government ought not be swayed by this vocal minority.

I recently attended a public lecture by shark scientist Victor Peddemors, who works for the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI). He confessed that, while the purpose of their research is to find a solution to shark attacks, it is very difficult to identify risk factors when there are so few attacks. For example, in research co-authored by Peddemors, El Niño was found to be a likely risk factor. However, two years later, a spate of attacks occurred during a mild La Niña.

It is foolish to expect that a solution will be found that does not involve reducing the population of sharks. That is why I have suggested targeting the most aggressive sharks with an electrified drumline that deters less aggressive sharks. It seems like a reasonable compromise. But, the government is afraid of the inevitable backlash from eco-warriors, who will continue to impose their values on society, disregarding the human cost, or outright celebrating it.

The problem with the debate is that it hinges on a false dichotomy pitting humans against nature. The anti-human sentiment has become so ingrained in progressive thought that the occasional shark attack is likely viewed as a necessary sacrifice. It is futile arguing with people who subscribe to this worldview. But, there is hope, if we reframe the debate, so that it focuses on protecting all mammals in the wild, not just humans.

I have argued, for instance, that the added benefit of significantly reducing the rate of shark attacks is that it would set the stage for the removal of shark nets, which regrettably catch a lot of non-target species, including dolphins and whales. But, any reduction in shark attacks would apply to all potential prey, including dolphins and whales. So, the removal of aggressive sharks could have a profound effect on their welfare, too.

The only response I have received from the government has been a stock standard reply, outlining the current suite of shark mitigation measures, designed to balance the protection of sharks with the protection of people. Their letter made no reference to my proposal. So, I requested a meeting, hoping to discuss the matter, but they didn’t reply. The reason I persist is that I don’t believe anyone in the know actually believes that lives will be saved.

For example, in research estimating the future rate of shark attacks, our most qualified shark scientists completely overlook the effect of the government’s shark mitigation programs. Of course, the numbers are buried under a mountain of obfuscation, fancifully modelled as the widespread adoption of shark shields. But, it is clear that the base rate of shark attacks, i.e. without anyone using a Shark Shield, is projected to continue rising at the present rate, despite massive investment in other shark mitigation measures.

The government needs to ask the scientists at DPI if they actually believe the current suite of shark mitigation measures is saving lives. While it is certainly true that shark attacks are rare, the resulting trauma ripples much further through society than other tragedies. Dubbed The Jaws Effect, the horrific spectacle of shark attacks haunts ocean users, despite the risk of injury or death being less than it is for cycling. Even Dr Peddemors is reluctant to swim out too far.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/02/the-jaws-effect/

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Why Anthony Albanese will be a oncer

Des Houghton

Today I’ll go out on a limb and say that Albo is starting to look like a oncer. Nice guy that he may be, I suspect the Prime Minister will crash and burn and lead Labor to a humiliating loss at the next election.

His election manifesto suddenly has more holes than a Swiss cheese.

A damaging recession may be looming that would sink his re-election hopes. And discontent is growing about his inability to stop the soaring cost of living or make good his pledge to deliver real wage rises. Albanese is now fighting bushfires on several fronts. His key election pledges are in tatters.

I thought he looked clumsy and unconvincing as he dodged questions in the House of Representatives this week where Opposition leader Peter Dutton clearly got the better of him.

Albo simply hasn’t got Kevin Rudd’s intellect, Bob Hawke’s charisma or Paul Keating’s rat cunning. He is starting to look like a political aberration.

He might have a heart, but he also has big trouble wrestling with his party’s hysterical commitment to untested renewables over fossil fuels. Meanwhile, Labor’s obsession with the Indigenous Voice vote has divided the nation.

And this week we saw a widening of the cultural wars with attacks on people of faith. Albanese, like Gough Whitlam, may be moving too fast in attempting to seduce Australians into embracing a socialist state they do not want and cannot pay for.

I thought so when I read with disbelief that spiritual leaders fear government meddling would undermine religious freedoms by preventing faith-based schools employing teachers who share the same faith. Labor has picked a fight with Christians, Jews and members of Islamic faiths by proposing to change anti-discrimination laws to impose state controls. Are we witnessing the sovietisation of Australia?

Church leaders were rightly shocked by Australian Law Reform Commission proposals that principals be barred from preferencing the employment of teachers with the same beliefs and spiritual outlook as their institutions.

And now Albo’s signature ­climate policy that underpins Labor’s election promise to achieve 43 per cent emissions reductions by 2030 is on the brink of collapse. The Greens want to kill it unless coal and gas is banned. It’s a ridiculous threat that would cost thousands of jobs and cut billions in royalty revenue and taxes.

And while the Greens snap at his heels, the Albanese government is under pressure from unions, the business community and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to unlock new gas fields or face an energy meltdown by 2027.

Albanese only has himself to blame for legislating the 43 per cent cut in carbon dioxide emissions without first having consensus on how to achieve it. If Albanese’s plans are blocked, it will punch a huge hole in his credibility as well as his agenda. Some commentators suggest it ranks with Rudd’s humiliating climate change defeat in 2009 at the hands of the Coalition and the Greens.

The fate of the government’s so-called safeguard mechanism is still unclear. It is another overcomplicated intrusion into the free market that will require big companies to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by about 5 per cent each year or buy tradeable permits to cover them. Dutton rightly dismisses it as a stealthy and unreasonable carbon tax the Coalition wont support. Before the election Albanese and Chalmers said Labor would cut power prices and put the brakes on interest rate rises that have begun to force people out of their homes.

In the public mind this will be Albo’s biggest failure.

Government spending is fuelling inflation as battlers face savage hikes in food and petrol prices while juggling home loan repayments.

Albo’s woes come as bastard banks continue to press the boot on mortgage man’s throat. Financial guru Noel Whittaker summed up the dilemma in his last Sunday Mail column: “Most banks have a policy of moving your home loan to a ‘default interest rate’ once you are in arrears.

“This means they raise the interest rate on the home loan purely because you are having trouble making the payments now. But if you can’t make the payments at the normal interest rates, how could you possibly make them when the rate has been raised?

“It’s not rocket science – this is kicking you when you are down.”

And while Australians are being forced out of their homes, many uninvited non-citizens are about to get free housing. Labor’s election pledge to end the use of Temporary Protection Visas will ­pave the way for about 19,000 refugees who arrived by sea to stay permanently in Australia. These uninvited non-citizens will get housing, social security rights, higher education support and access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, along with Medicare cover and mental health support.

The Australian reports our defence forces expect a possible surge in asylum-seeker boats as the visa rules are relaxed. The nation faces a new round of people smuggling.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/des-houghton-why-anthony-albanese-will-be-a-oncer/news-story/9679cbdc95a4bab7b164c038fe88417d

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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Brisbane 2032: Heritage-listed East Brisbane State School to be closed to make way for Gabba revamp

It is always a challenge to get rationlity out of a government but these plans are borderline insane. Woolloongabba is already heavily congested with traffic and so should be the last place for new development. And demolishing a perfectly good large stadium makes no sense. It would be a much better use of funds to build a new stadium from scratch in a more outlying area. And the gain in number of seats is marginal. The existing stadium already has 42,000 seats

A brand new 50,000-seat Gabba stadium will include an active travel corridor linking to South Bank and the city, with the state government confirming the entire stadium will be demolished and rebuilt.

As part of the $2.7bn project, a walkable connection will be created to link the CBD with the new Brisbane City Council green bridge.

East Brisbane State School will close from December 2025, with the heritage buildings refurbished and integrated into the operations of the Gabba, with a new school to be built two kilometres away.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said hosting the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to accelerate the infrastructure and housing we need to support a growing Queensland”.

“The Gabba has hosted sport for more than a century and is home to cricket and AFL most weeks of the year,” she said. “But it’s no secret that Queensland is losing out on major sporting events already – and the tourism, jobs and investment that come with them because The Gabba is not up to scratch.

“It must be upgraded to maintain our competitiveness for international sport and events. “When it’s done, this stadium will shine for Queensland, and so will the area surrounding it.

“Woolloongabba has the potential to be the next bustling precinct, but that can’t happen without a co-ordinated approach.

“It’s important we further capitalise on major transport projects already under way like Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro.”

Ms Palaszczuk said a new school would be built within 2km of the existing campus.

“Minister Grace Grace (Education Minister) is speaking with the East Brisbane State School principal at the moment. Years 4, 5 and 6 will complete their year levels and the school will relocate in 2026,” she said. “We are going to build them a brand new school.”

https://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/brisbane-olympics-and-paralympics-2032/brisbane-2032-heritagelisted-east-brisbane-state-school-to-be-demolished-to-make-way-for-gabba-revamp/news-story/4004b45ddf82f58e683bbbe318100232

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Madeleine King, a canary in the coal mine?

‘We won’t get to net-zero emissions in this country, or indeed the world, without the resources sector, without gas, and even without coal. You cannot build a wind turbine without coal.’ Angus Taylor, perhaps? Ted O’Brien? Tony Abbott? Nope.

The words were uttered this week by Labor’s Minister for Resources Madeleine King, clearly one of the sharper tools in Labor’s climate shed. Speaking on Sky News, she went on to elaborate that gas will be needed ‘in the short-term, medium-term and long-term’ to ensure ‘energy security’.Former Labor MP Jennie George concurred, warning that ‘winter will be a testing time’ as she lambasted the poor planning of successive energy ministers, the virtue-signalling of governments and asked, where are the ‘safeguards’ for our energy future?

Er… there aren’t any. Not that such revelations or insights are news to readers of this magazine. For the best part of the last fifteen years, The Spectator Australia has been virtually alone among the mainstream media in refusing to be captivated by the climate change cult. More importantly, thanks to the great work of so many of our writers, including Ian Plimer, Mark Lawson, Alan Moran and many, many others, we have consistently pointed out the folly of the climate mantra and the extraordinary danger of jeopardising our God-given supplies of cheap and reliable energy sources.

Indeed, in this week’s issue Mark Lawson warns of the ‘dark ages’ that lie ahead as we rush towards Labor’s (and the Coalition’s) ludicrous net-zero goals. As Mark writes, ‘The events of the past few weeks have brought Australia’s energy future into sharp focus – we won’t have one.’

Sadly, the one resource Australia does seem to have an over-abundance of is stupidity, fuelled by Marxist propaganda and abetted by a political class that is either deeply cynical or unbelievably gullible. Take your pick. This stupidity has manifested itself in perfectly good coal-fired power stations literally being blown to smithereens to the applause of fools and shysters. The last decade has seen our energy infrastructure dismantled at breath-taking speed accompanied by a blizzard of false promises about new technologies and to the tune of ever-soaring household bills.

For a time, the Coalition held out against the madness, with the two most pertinent, honest and accurate words ever uttered about climate change doomsday alarmism having been uttered by former prime minister Tony Abbott: ‘It’s crap.’

Indeed, although she won’t thank us for pointing this out, Ms King’s position is now arguably closer to Mr Abbott’s than to Mr Albanese’s. Go to the bottom line – something our political class seem rarely capable of doing – and you have to answer the following question: will Australia abandoning its fossil-fuel energy sources prevent the planet from a climate apocalypse by the end of this century? Yes or no? Clearly, the fanatical climate zealots believe this to be the case, and many on the Left, including the Greens, either also believe this nonsense or more likely cynically pander to it. Hence the urgency of the alarmist position – close all coal and gas now! Swap to electric vehicles now! Stop eating meat! Eat bugs! Shut down all industry and farming!

These ideas are the logical end point of the Bowen/Wong/Albanese/Bandt/Thunberg/Ardern/Biden/UK/EU position, hence the hysterical reductions targets being touted on everything from carbon to nitrogen to methane to meat to household gas heaters; the pointless and ludicrously expensive advocacy of electric vehicles; the hyperventilating around hydrogen; and so on. But a more rational mindset recognises that there are two parts to that bottom-line question: firstly, is there actually a doomsday armageddon on the horizon? (Answer, no). And secondly, could anything Australia does in reducing carbon emissions in isolation ever have any measurable impact on the world’s climate? (Answer again, no.) Remove the urgency demanded of the doomsday scenario and/or recognise the limited role Australia can ever play and you must arrive at what we shall (cheekily) call the Abbott/King position, which can be summarised as, ‘Transition if you must, but there is no need to panic – and whatever you do, don’t dispense of the energy resources we are blessed with’.

This was of course, broadly, the Coalition’s position (approved overwhelming by the electorate in 2019) until it was disgracefully jettisoned by former prime minister Scott Morrison and his accomplice Barnaby Joyce, backed, laughably, by what was once the mainstream conservative press in Australia. The great pity is that the majority of the Australian electorate is, whether recognising it or not, of this same opinion.

Alas, because Australians are by nature fairly trusting (although this was sorely tested during Covid), it is likely that we will undergo a period of energy poverty and a dramatic downturn in our prosperity and all that that entails – both here and abroad – before the public wakes up to the disaster that the political class are deliberately inflicting upon us.

Could Resource Minister Madeleine King, ironically, be Labor’s canary in the climate change coal mine?

Or will she swiftly be brought into line and forced to start whistling to Labor’s alarmist, socialist and fanatical climate change tune?

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/02/king-a-canary-in-the-coal-mine/

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Outrage after six-year-olds told they must wear 'pride shirts' to play soccer

Parents of primary school age children have been told their kids are required to wear pride t-shirts if they want to play in an A-League half-time game.

The game is taking place during the A-League's inaugural Pride Celebration round held between February 24-26, with a follow-up round on March 4 in New Zealand.

The marquee game of the round is between Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory at Melbourne's AAMI Park on February 26 - when the children will take the field during the break.

'Please note that Melbourne Victory will be celebrating Pride Cup at this fixture. As such, participants playing half time small sided games will be wearing a specially designed pride T-shirt during the game,' the registration form given to one junior coach read.

'By continuing with this registration form you agree to your child wearing the MVFC pride T-shirt,' the form seen by The Herald Sun advises.

A furious parent told the newspaper it was not appropriate and kids should be 'kept out of social and cultural matters'. 'It's deeply disturbing that the Melbourne Victory is forcing 6 year old children to be moving billboards,' he said.

'While I personally agree with the concept of pride and the safety of all LGBTQI+ persons to participate in sport, primary aged schoolchildren are not the correct avenue to express these sentiments.'

One fan wrote to Twitter that they didn't believe 'inclusion was forcing kids to wear pride shirts'.

A spokesperson for Melbourne Victory said the children were not being forced to wear the jerseys and could play another day if they didn't want to.

'The Club has not forced any of its players, staff, fans or junior participants to wear or participate in anything they are not comfortable with,' a spokesman said.

'This game is a celebration of LGBTI+ participation in sport and we have put processes in place to ensure those who are not comfortable to participate in the day as a whole, will have the option to participate in another match day they feel comfortable participating in.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11757377/A-League-pride-round-Six-year-olds-told-wear-pride-shirts.html

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Bipartisan support pledged in New South Wales to ban gay conversion practices

Conversion treatments can be perfectly legitimate therapeutic options, with no element of coercion, so the blanket ban is oppressive

Both the New South Wales government and opposition have pledged to support legislation banning gay conversion practices in the state.

Independent MP Alex Greenwich has drafted a bill to ban conversion practices and welcomed the bipartisanship on the issue.

"Today is a good day for New South Wales," Mr Greenwich said. "We have the leaders of both major parties saying if you are LGBT there is nothing wrong with you, you are supported and you are celebrated."

Premier Dominic Perrottet today pledged "in principle" support for the legislation. "There is no room for any harmful practices in NSW, particularly if they affect our young and vulnerable," Mr Perrottet said.

Kim Kemmis studied to become a Christian minister. Now the Sydney man struggles to step into a church. In the 1990s, he tried to turn straight by attending religious "support groups".

But he said any bill that comes before the next parliament will have to be carefully assessed. "This is a complex matter and in working through it with parliamentary colleagues we will carefully consider the legal expression and effect of such laws."

The premier's pledge follows a commitment from Labor to ban gay conversion practices if it wins the state election on March 25.

"Conversion therapy is a dangerous and damaging practice and there's no room for it in New South Wales" Opposition Leader Chris Minns said on Saturday. "We should not have a situation where children are being told something is wrong with them and that they need to be fixed."

Mr Greenwich is among a group of Independent MPs whose support is likely to be crucial in the event of a minority government.

And he has made it clear that his support for either party will be contingent on them backing his Conversion Practices Prohibition Bill.

Gay conversion practices can range from ongoing or sustained pressure from a church or religious figure to suppress one's sexuality, to religious rituals like exorcisms and psychiatric or psychological "treatments" and aversion tactics.

The bill will include "extraterritorial" powers to prosecute people if they send children or adults overseas for "treatment".

And Mr Greenwich said it will still allow for freedom of religious expression. "We are not in any way trying to impede what is said in prayer or in a church," he said.

"This legislation is about stamping out a really cruel form of torture that targets the LGBT community."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-17/nsw-bipartisan-support-in-for-gay-conversion-ban/101988632

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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