'They don't nationalise, they colonise': Sam Newman's attack on Australian Muslims following footy stars' 'divisive' embrace

"Incorrect" politically but is it incorrect in reality?

Footy Show co-host Sam Newman has delivered a shocking rant about Muslims, saying they share 'no common interest' with other Australians.

Newman's controversial comments followed Muslim AFL players Essendon's Adam Saad and Richmond's Bachar Houli embrace during the coin toss at a game on Friday night.

In the Sam, Mike & Thommo podcast, Newman slammed the public show of solidarity, motivated by Senator Fraser Anning's 'final solution' speech last week, calling it 'divisive'.

'They share no common interest with what we're on about, they don't, they have no common values, they preach to a different deity,' Newman said. 'They don't generally nationalise, they colonise, and this has been the problem in Europe... and it is becoming a huge problem in America.'

He said he thought about 70 per cent of Australians held similar beliefs to himself and Senator Anning, who called for an end to Muslim immigration and a program that favoured 'European Christian' values.

'Diversity should be managed to remain compatible with the social cohesion and national identity,' Mr Anning said in his maiden speech to parliament.

Newman said he didn't 'necessarily agree with what Fraser Anning said' but agreed 'a significant number of people in this country would absolutely agree with what he said'.

He blasted the AFL for its move to have two of its highest profile practicing Muslim players shake hands and embrace.

'Why would the AFL think they're being virtuous by getting those boys to shake hands? They're being divisive,' Newman said.

The pre-match protest was widely applauded - Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said it was 'a good opportunity to stand up', while US-born Magpies player Mason Cox said it said 'so much about the unity of this country and standing up for what is right.'

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'You can’t blame him for massacres of Aboriginal people': Sam Neill insists criticism of Captain James Cook 'is not fair' after retracing the Pacific voyage and interviewing 'cultures the explorer left in his wake'

Sam Neill spent several months retracing Captain James Cook's Pacific voyage, returning with nothing but the highest praise for the controversial explorer.

On his travels, the former actor spoke to the 'cultures left in Cook's wake' resulting in his new documentary for the History channel, Sam Neill: The Pacific in the Wake of Captain Cook.

Speaking to The Herald Sun about the project on Tuesday, Sam insisted the criticism levelled against Cook's sometimes violent impact on the region 'is not fair'.

Sam decided to retrace Cook's journey on the 250th anniversary of the British explorer's first voyage, interviewing native people to gauge their opinion on the controversial figure.

The New Zealand native acknowledged the fact it's no longer 'cool' to be a Captain Cook supporter, but insisted he's not bothered by popular opinion.

'Cook did, rightly or wrongly, change everything. And he has become a symbol for something that he probably didn’t deserve,' Sam said.

'I personally don’t think it’s fair for Cook to take the blame for everything. You can’t blame Cook for massacres of Aboriginal people, and these things happened. Sam did not elaborate further on his comments.

He came away from the trip with both a renewed fondness for Cook, and a newfound respect and understanding of the cultures he impacted, for better or worse.

Sam travelled to six places in total: Tahiti, Tonga, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, The Arctic and Alaska.

'I think he was actually an extraordinary man, and often had extraordinary insights into the cultures and the people he was encountering,' he said.

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Massive solar farm plan has residents up in arms over project that would be bigger than their town

Residents in the Camperdown district in south-west Victoria are concerned about the scale of a solar farm proposed to be built on farmland near the town.

Camperdown, population 3,300, covers about four square kilometres.

The planned Bookaar Solar Farm, to be located 10km north-west of the town, would occupy about six square kilometres.

"It's unbelievable," local dairy farmer Andrew Duynhoven said of the size of the solar farm.

"The sheer scale of this … it's actually bigger than Camperdown itself."

Mr Duynhoven is part of a growing group of residents concerned about renewable energy company Infinergy Pacific's ambitions in the region.

Power of the sun

The Bookaar Solar Farm would feature 700,000 panels, each measuring about two metres by one metre and standing four metres high.

It would be capable of generating roughly 200 megawatts of electricity, or enough to "supply clean energy to power the equivalent of 80,000 average Victorian homes each year", according to Infinergy Pacific's planning application.

The developer's website states the solar farm would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 400,000 tonnes and save about 700,000 megalitres of water compared to a coal-fired power station.

The plans for the project have been put out for public comment by Corangamite Shire Council, with councillors expected to consider their next step regarding the proposal at their September meeting.

Corangamite Shire mayor Jo Beard said she and her fellow councillors would take on board any concerns raised by residents.  "With any project when involved with agricultural land, it's always going to be questioned," Cr Beard said.

"That's no different to whether it's been a tourism project we've looked at, or even people wanting to subdivide — it always comes back to what are the implications [for] farming land. "From what I can gather so far, that has certainly been the big question."

Conflicts of interest

One councillor who won't be involved in the decision-making process is Bev McArthur. The proposed solar farm is on land owned by her family.

Cr Beard said Cr McArthur declared a conflict of interest and had not been part of any council discussions or briefings on the project.

Cr McArthur may not be part of the council for long though — she was preselected by the Victorian Liberal party last weekend for the Upper House seat of Western District, potentially taking the seat that was occupied by outgoing MP Simon Ramsay.

Cr McArthur refused to answer questions about the planned solar farm.

Mr Duynhoven and the newly formed group opposing the project have a shopping list of concerns and queries.

These include visual amenity, road use during construction, glint and glare, fire risk and firefighting access concerns, the effect of night lighting, the impact on wildlife, drainage issues, noise, nearby property devaluations, and the possibility of micro-climate changes.

But one of the main concerns the group has is the loss of prime agricultural land. "[Most of Australia is] in drought — we're not in drought so we're the food bowl," he said. "We're the most secure food producing [area in Australia].

"[If they approve] this large-scale solar farm, what precedent does it set in the protection of prime agricultural land?"

The planning permit application seeks to address many of the groups claims, saying that noise and glint would be minimal, drainage would not be impacted, and visual amenity would be somewhat mitigated by a vegetation screen.

Bookaar Solar Farm project manager Richard Seymour said proponents of the project were working with the CFA to write up a fire plan.

Mr Seymour confirmed the site was previously earmarked for a wind farm, but when the proponents dropped out, "Infinergy Pacific assessed the feasibility of site and concluded that a solar farm would be the most appropriate form of development".

He said the property had "characteristics that make it a good place for a solar farm" such as flat topography, nearby transmission lines, good sunlight, and no significant environmental constraints.

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Childcare sector defends ratios against Senate report

Of course they do.  It's more jobs for them.  Onerous government requirements price it out of reach for many mothers

Onerous staff-to-child ratios could be scrapped and childcare worker qualifications relaxed, after a Senate report questioned the evidence for stringent regulation of the childcare industry.

In a move that is set to attract the ire of early childhood educators, the Senate select committee on red tape has called for a review into the National Quality Framework, which governs both staffing ratios and qualifications, to ensure “they appropriately ­reflect the evidence base”.

In its interim report, published last week, the committee noted that the evidence around both ­requirements was dated and questionable, stressing that the alternative to formal childcare was children remaining at home “with their parents who usually have no formal qualifications in early childhood education”.

Committee chairman David Leyonhjelm called for the principles of the NQF to be “amended to reflect the fact that childcare is in effect competing with home-based parents who are not qualified early childhood educators”.

Senator Leyonhjelm said: “The committee acknowledges there is a rationale for imposing staff ratios and qualifications, but is not convinced the current policy settings are correct. There is evidence that quality childcare is of genuine benefit in the case of children in dysfunctional households … but we seem to have lost sight of the fact that quality costs money. Raising standards beyond those needed to ensure the safety, comfort and happiness of the children costs money.”

The committee’s report sparked a dissenting report from Labor senator Murray Watt and infuriated the early childhood union, United Voice, which ­described the inquiry as “an unnecessary … ­attack” on the quality provisions overseeing the industry. “That a bunch of extreme right-wing ideologues didn’t understand early childhood education is no surprise,” said United Voice assistant national secretary Helen Gibbons.

Mitchell Institute director Megan O’Connell said the report had ignored “mountains of evidence showing quality educators can change the course of young children’s lives”. “If there was any question that (early childhood education and care) is still thought of as daycare for parents instead of important education for children by some in the Senate, those concerns have been confirmed,” she said.

The report referenced the Productivity Commission’s 2014 inquiry into the sector, which found a lack of evidence made it “impossible to tell whether they (staff-to-child ratios) have been set at appropriate levels”.

Ratios for centre-based services range from one educator for every four infants under 24 months, one to five for children aged 24 to 36 months, and about one to 10 for older preschoolers. Education Minister Simon Birmingham said states and territories were responsible for regulating childcare services but the government would consider the report and its recommendations.

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