Australia on dark road to Fascism: Greens

Talk about projection (seeing your own faults in others)!  Projection is characteristic of the Green/Left.  The Duke of Edinburgh once called the Greens "The stop everything brigade" and that is apt.  They want to control and change almost everything that people do. If that's not fascism, what would be?  The founder of Fascism was Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.  And he WAS a Greenie:

Mussolini the environmentalist

As well as being an "anti-globalizer", there were several other ways in which Mussolini would have appealed to modern-day greenies. He made Capri a bird sanctuary and in 1926 he issued a decree reducing the size of newspapers to save wood pulp. And, believe it or not, he even mandated gasohol -- i.e. mixing industrial alcohol with petroleum products to make fuel for cars  Mussolini also disliked the population drift from rural areas into the big cities and in 1930 passed a law to put a stop to it unless official permission was granted. What Green/Left advocate could ask for more?

And to address the Fascist below directly:

It is the consolidation of several control agencies under one head that arouses him.  But that is not Fascist.  Authority in Hitler's Germany, for instance, was in fact polycentric.  There was the Schutz Staffeln, the Sturm Abteilung, the Heer, the Geheimestaatspolizei and the Polizei. And the various government departments all had various degrees of authority and mechanisms for control


Australia has taken the first steps on a dark road to fascism with the creation of the new home affairs super-department, a Greens senator has warned.

Nick McKim says the minor party has serious concerns about the powers handed to minister Peter Dutton in the new department, which includes national security and immigration portfolios.

"This country is walking ever more rapidly down the road to authoritarianism and totalitarianism," Senator McKim told parliament on Wednesday.

"Time after time this government demonstrates its disregard and contempt for the rule of law. That is one of the early warning signs of fascism."

The government had failed to give reasons for the new department which was created in December.

Legislation to finalise the establishment of Home Affairs and boost oversight powers of the attorney-general cleared parliament on Wednesday.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has been brought into the new department, which also looks after federal law enforcement, national security, immigration, emergency management and criminal justice.

Despite raising concerns with the increased powers, Labor voted for the bill.

"Our primary concern is that the government has struggled to explain why the sweeping changes to be brought about by this bill are required at all," opposition senator Jenny McAllister said

Cabinet minister Mitch Fifield said the new department would ensure Australians had confidence in the scrutiny and oversight of intelligence agencies. "Security and integrity go hand in hand," he said.

Senator McKim took aim at Mr Dutton's record on the treatment of refugees in offshore processing, saying he didn't trust him with more power.

It's not the first time Senator McKim has targeted Mr Dutton, having previously labelled him a racist and a fascist.

For his part, Mr Dutton is a strident critic of what he's called the "hotbed of crazies" within the Greens.

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Australia's refugee deal stumbling after US rejects all Iranian and Somali asylum seekers

Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban is influencing Australia’s offshore processing system – with all Iranian and Somali refugees rejected for resettlement in the US.

The third version of Donald Trump’s travel ban bars or limits entry to citizens of five Muslim-majority countries – Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen – as well as North Korea. The ban’s constitutionality is currently being considered by the supreme court but is currently in effect.

About 150 refugees held in offshore processing on the island of Nauru have appointments with US officials this week, where they will discover final assessments of whether they have been accepted by America. So far, every Iranian and Somali applicant has been rejected.

The ABF [Australian Border Force] has escalated its presence on Nauru for this week’s meetings and stepped up the security around the camps and the island settlements.

Iranian refugee Shahriar Hatami said the environment across the island was disruptive and distressed. “Highly security environment again spread everywhere. In our camp a deadly [silence] is dominant.”

On Manus Island, the refugee and journalist Behrouz Boochani said all Iranians and Somalis were fearful they would be rejected.

“There is huge worry in Nauru & Manus about US deal,” he wrote. “Many Iranian & Somali refugees in Nauru given rejection notices from US. It means US considers the countries banned. Its time for that the Home Affairs minister takes responsibility & makes his plan clear.”

The Australian government has promoted the US resettlement deal as its solution to offshore processing but, for more than a year, it has conceded that the US deal cannot clear the camps.

Thus far, 85 refugees have been resettled from Manus and 162 from Nauru. US officials hope to finalise the resettlement deal by October, when its annual resettlement quota restarts.

More than 500 refugees are expected to be left on the island of Nauru even if the US fulfils its entire commitment of 1,250 places.

Only a handful of refugees have been resettled in Papua New Guinea and the Nauru government has consistently refused to permanently resettle any refugees. Both the PNG and Nauru governments have consistently maintained those refugees not accepted for resettlement remain the responsibility of Australia.

“It’s Australia’s responsibility to move them out,” the PNG prime minister, Peter O’Neill, said.

The Nauruan president, Baron Waqa, said: “They can’t stay on Nauru forever, we’ve made that clear right from the start.”

Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition said the US resettlement had been “revealed to be a farce”. “Iranian refugees account for around a third of all refugees on Nauru,” he said. “It is just not possible for all Iranians to be rejected on any legitimate basis.

“While Trump says there is no official ban on Iranians and Somalis, it is now very clear that the US administration is imposing an unofficial ban. It is not a coincidence that all Iranians are being rejected.

“Turnbull’s phone call to Trump is coming back to haunt him. Turnbull told Trump that he didn’t have to accept anyone; now Trump is taking him at his word.”

Over the past five years, Australia has approached dozens of countries – including Kyrgyzstan – offering millions of dollars and other inducements in exchange for resettling some refugees from Australia’s camps. But the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, said this week there were no “third country” resettlement options beyond the US and the Cambodian deal, which has resettled only two refugees at a cost of more than $40m.

New Zealand has a standing offer to resettle 150 refugees from Australia’s offshore islands every year but this has been rejected by the government as a “back door” to Australia.

“We will continue to look at third-country arrangements,” Dutton said. “Believe me, Dfat, our department have been working on this for a number of years. People aren’t jumping out of their skin to provide places and that’s the reality.”

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Sexism in the Army

Medals for women, students over male soldiers

FEMALE recruits are being awarded the Australian Defence­ Force medal in half the time it takes their male counterparts.

And gap year students who join up for a 12-month “adventure” have that service taken into account, also cutting­ the time it takes them to qualify for a medal.

Critics say the rules have made the medal, which honours­ military attendance, “meaningless”, claiming they have taken “discrimination against men” to “farcical” levels.

Female members of the Al Muthanna Task Group in Iraq.
Last year The Daily Telegraph revealed ADF recruiters were told to actively target females­, including for combat roles, but were given no targets­ to hire men for 35 of 50 army positions.

To encourage women to join up, Defence cut the minimum four-year period of service that applies to men to just two years for females. The gap year program also targets women.

The Australian Defence Medal is given to members of the military after four years, or at the completion of their enlistment period — meaning female­ recruits get the medal in half the time of males.

Those who spend a gap year experiencing “what a career in the navy, army or air force could be like” have that 12 months included in their service time if they then enlist full-time.

Ex-soldier and military commentator Bernard Gaynor said he had been contacted by defence personnel­ who said morale was suffering over this latest example­ of political correctness­. “The defence force’s discrimination­ against men has become farcical,” Mr Gaynor­ said.

“Males who sign up for frontline combat roles now need to serve double the time as females­ to get the same medal. This is blatant discrimination­ and it is having a serious impact on morale.

“If females­ want to serve alongside the men, they should do so with exactly the same entitlements­ and requirements. Anything else is just politically correct social engineering.”

Australian Conservatives Senator Cory Bernardi said Defence was “creating an unequal workplace for men”.

“The morale of troops has been squandered on this diversity­ agenda and it is about time they got back to what they are supposed to do which is defending Australia,” he said.

A Defence spokesman said there was “no intent” to change the policy regarding ­required service periods for the Australian Defence Medal.

“The length of service is determined­ by the required training needed to ensure­ the member is proficient in their role,” the spokesman said.

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Citizenship debacle: Bill Shorten to face leadership test

Bill Shorten’s leadership will be put on trial in a “Super Saturday” of five simultaneous by-elections, four of them triggered by the resignations yesterday of three Labor MPs and one independent in ­response to a ruling by the High Court on the parliament’s ongoing dual citizenship crisis.

The besieged Labor leader yesterday declared the string of by-elections — four of them in Labor-held seats and expected to be held on the same Saturday in either late June or early July — would double as an early referendum on the Turnbull government’s budget.

After more than seven months denying any Labor MP was under a citizenship cloud, the Opposition Leader yesterday was forced to face an extraordinary day in parliament that began with former ACT senator Katy Gallagher being ruled ineligible to sit in parliament, followed by the resignations of three lower house Labor MPs — Susan Lamb, Justine Keay and Josh Wilson. Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie also fell on her sword after acknowledging the ruling meant that she could not ­remain in ­parliament.

The political crisis engulfed Mr Shorten, whose leadership could hinge on the outcomes of the ­by-elections, ahead of his budget-in-reply speech tonight, which is expected to outline Labor’s alternative to Scott Morrison’s $140 billion seven-year personal income tax plan.

Senior party officials on both sides of politics conceded that the by-elections, which will also include the seat of Perth after the unrelated resignation of Labor MP Tim Hammond last week, could decide the fate of either leader.

If Mr Shorten were to lose one or two of the Labor-held seats, his leadership would come under intense pressure. But a senior Liberal MP warned: “Equally, if the ­Coalition vote went backwards in any of those contests, it would spark a major panic in the partyroom.”

Asked whether the by-­elections would double as a referendum on company tax cuts, Mr Shorten said that, even if he lost seats, he thought the cuts were a “bad idea”.

He said Labor would explain to voters that “this hoax of a budget … which is all about giving large corporations billions of dollars in taxpayer money” would mean less money was available for schools, hospitals, debt “and indeed ­income tax relief for lower-paid Australians”.

The High Court yesterday returned after almost six months to rule that Ms Gallagher had been ineligible under section 44 of the Constitution to stand in the 2016 election because she was also a British citizen at the time of nomination. The three lower house Labor MPs and Ms Sharkie had the same British citizenship questions hanging over their heads.

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Georgina Downer’s destiny: Mayo bid set for launch


A scion of a remarkable political dynasty

Georgina Downer — daughter of former foreign minister and member for Mayo, Alexander Downer — will return early from an ­election-observation delegation in East Timor today to launch a bid to reclaim the Adelaide Hills electorate for the Liberal Party.

After the resignation yesterday of MP Rebekha Sharkie over the dual-citizenship fiasco, a by-election is expected as early as next month.

In a telephone conference overnight, Liberal Party officials were expected to decide to hold an open and quick preselection for Mayo. Ms Downer will nominate and it is unknown whether there will be any other candidate.

The Australian revealed yesterday that Ms Downer was a certain starter for the preselection. She would be the fourth generation in her family to engage in federal politics. Born and raised in the electorate, Ms Downer now lives in ­Melbourne with her husband, Will Heath, and two children. However, she is well known and connected in the area as a frequent visitor with strong support among the branch membership.

It is understood Ms Downer held British citizenship by descent from her mother, Nicky, but ­officially renounced it last year.

Ms Sharkie is a former Liberal Party staffer who signed up with the now-defunct Nick Xenophon Team and unseated junior Liberal minister Jamie Briggs at the 2016 election after he had been forced to resign over a sexual harassment controversy.

A lawyer and former diplomat, Ms Downer is a research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, ­office holder in the Victorian Liberal Party and is often seen as a political commentator on Sky News and the ABC. She has been in East Timor as part of an International Republican Institute delegation but decided to return to Australia upon news of Ms Sharkie’s resignation.

As foreign minister, her father was instrumental in the liberation of East Timor and its establishment as an independent nation.

Ms Downer’s great-grandfather, Sir John, was a South Australian premier, senator and key figure in Federation. His son, Sir Alexander, was a former Japanese prisoner of war who represented the Adelaide Hills area in the federal parliament, in an electorate then named Angas, for 15 years. “Alick” was immigration minister in the Menzies government and went on to serve as high commissioner in London.

His son, Alexander, held the seat of Mayo (covering a similar region to Angas) from 1984 till 2008 and was Australia’s longest-serving foreign minister. Coincidentally, Mr Downer returned to Adelaide from his posting as high commissioner to London just last week.

Mr Downer has been actively discussing his daughter’s candidature for Mayo with party operatives including state president and former premier John Olsen. The Mayo federal electorate committee recently intervened to thwart attempts by Ms Sharkie, a former Liberal staffer, to rejoin the party and seek its endorsement to stay on in the seat.

Now Ms Downer is likely to be given the task to reclaim the seat for the Liberal Party. Her name recognition in the electorate will be strong and she will have active support from a wide network of party supporters.

Mr Downer would not comment on his daughter’s candidacy, saying only that “historically, the seat of Mayo has played a key role in an Australian Liberal government and I hope it can again in the near future”.

SOURCE 

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