Sunrise's 'stolen generation' shame: Authorities rule Sam Armytage's show DID breach broadcasting rules with controversial segment about Aboriginal adoption

Channel 7 simply told the well attested truth. But sometimes truth hurts

Network Seven will appeal the television watchdog's decision on Sunrise's 'stolen generation' segment, after it was found to be in serious breach of broadcasting codes and regulations. 

The Australian Media and Communications Authority (ACMA) released findings on Tuesday stating the segment on the adoption of Indigenous children 'provoked serious contempt on the basis of race'.  

They also referred to inaccuracies in the panel, led by Sunrise host Sam Armytage, who was joined by Prue MacSween and Ben Davis.

In the 'hot topics' segment, Ms Armytage claimed at-risk Aboriginal children who were subjected to rape, assault or neglect were only being placed with family members of other Indigenous families.

The entire segment was deemed to contain 'strong negative generalisations about Indigenous people as a group,' in which MacSween called for a second stolen generation.

'Just like the first Stolen Generation where a lot of children were taken because it was for their well-being, we need to do it again,' she said in the segment. 

The ACMA findings were based on how an everyday citizen would interpret the segment.

Network Seven defended Armytage and the segment as a whole, claiming they were referencing a misleading headline from the Courier Mail. However, the ACMA findings say due diligence to verify the accuracy of the reporting was not performed.

Craig McPherson, Seven's director of news, said the network would challenge the findings.  

'We are extremely disappointed the ACMA has seen fit to cast a label on a segment that covered an important matter of public interest, child abuse, sparked by comments attributed to a government minister and widely circulated in the press on the morning of the broadcast.

'The irony is that the very issue the commentators were critical of, that is political correctness preventing meaningful discussion and action, has come to bear with this finding.

'The finding seeks to rule out issues and topics for discussion segments, as determined by ACMA. Its decision is a form of censorship; a direct assault on the workings of an independent media and the thousands of issue-based segments covered every year by Sunrise, other like programs, newspapers and talkback radio.'

ACMA Chairperson Nerida O'Loughlin said in a statement the topic of conversation was not the issue, rather the way the conversation was handled and framed. 

'Broadcasters can, of course, discuss matters of public interest, including extremely sensitive topics such as child abuse in indigenous communities. However, such matters should be discussed with care, with editorial framing to ensure compliance with the Code.

'The ACMA considers that the high threshold for this breach finding was met, given the strong negative generalisations about indigenous people as a group,' Ms O'Loughlin said.

The threshold has been met on a handful of previous occasions, including when 2GB's Alan Jones made scathing comments after the Cronulla Riots, and when A Current Affair's 'All Asian Mall' segment implied Asian shopkeepers were 'taking over' a shopping centre in Sydney. 

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Income growth well spread: Treasury secretary Philip Gaetjens

Treasury secretary Philip Gaetjens has taken aim at the “populist political response” on the issue of inequality, citing data that shows gains from income growth have been shared evenly over the past 20 years.

In his first public address since taking up the job last month, Mr Gaetjens told a conference in Perth today that Australia’s progressive income tax and targeted welfare system also played a major role in reducing inequality.

Mr Gaetjens, a former chief of staff to Scott Morrison as treasurer, cited a Productivity Commission report released last month that found economic growth had been shared widely across all ­income groups.

The report contradicted claims by Labor of “accelerating inequality” and an economic system that was “entrenching unfairness”.

“Populist political response to rising inequality has been a common theme of recent economic analysis and commentary both here and overseas,” Mr Gaetjens said.

Despite the good news on inequality, Mr Gaetjens said a small group of Australians remained in persistent economic disadvantage, including people with disabilities, single-parent families, the un­employed and many indigenous Australians.

“These Australians face a complex set of challenges that limit their potential to seize economic opportunities or develop skills,” he told the University of Western Australia Public Policy Institute.

“It is important to continue to search for innovative policy ­approaches to ensure all people can share in the wellbeing and growth that has benefited the overwhelming majority.”

Mr Gaetjens said when measured by disposable income, inequality in Australia was close to the OECD average.

“It rose slightly over the 30-year period, but not as fast as ­others in the OECD, and decreased since the global financial crisis,” he said.

“Australia’s progressive income tax and targeted transfer system play a significant role in reducing Australia’s inequality — the Gini measure for disposable income is around 30 per cent lower than private income.”

Mr Gaetjens said uncertainty over global trade policy remained high after the US, China and other countries raised tariffs on a number of products including steel.

“Although there may be more trade actions to come, so far Australia’s exports have not been targeted,” he said. “As a middle-ranking, trade-exposed, capital-importing nation, it is not only the global economy that matters to our domestic economy but also the rules of engagement.

“We will continue strong advocacy for the multilateral trading system and will continue to pursue new trade opportunities, as the weekend’s agreement with Indonesia shows.”

Mr Gaetjens said the outlook for the WA economy was brighter due to a pick-up in the mining ­industry. “WA continues to experience the impact of shifts away from mining investment and towards resource exports, although the drag from falling mining investment appears to be almost complete,” he said.

Business and consumer confidence in WA have both lifted from the very low levels seen in 2015. “Recent feedback from leaders in WA’s mining construction and contracting industries revealed signs of increasing economic ­activity and confidence.

“In the Pilbara. we heard and saw evidence of increasing confidence and mining investment. Participants report skill shortages in some technical mining roles.”

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Labor MP lobbied government for a visa for Islamic hate preacher who wants gays to be executed

Labor frontbencher Tony Burke lobbied for a controversial Islamic hate preacher who advocates the execution of homosexuals to be granted a business visa.

The former immigration minister and member for Watson in Sydney's south-west sent a letter to the Australian embassy in Jordan on behalf of Mohammed Rateb Abdalah Ali al-Nabulsi on July 21 last year.

The Voice of Islam radio station had invited Mr Nabulsi to Australia for a series of public engagements and sought the help of Mr Burke to secure his visa.  Mr Nabulsi was denied entry to Australia despite the opposition frontbencher's efforts, The Australian confirmed.

Mr Burke's office allegedly called Immigration to find out the status of the Syrian's visa prior to writing to the embassy.

Australian intelligence officials have declared Mr Nabulsi a hate preacher, as his views on women would be 'abhorrent' to many Australians.

Despite this, he had been granted visas to enter the country in 2004, 2006, 2012 and 2013, before being red-flagged in 2017.

The Islamic scholar has called for the execution of homosexuals and the subjugation of women, whom he labels the 'devil's temptation'.  

In a television broadcast on MEMRI-TV in 2011, Mr Nabulsi said: 'Homosexuality involves a filthy place, and does not generate offsprings.' 'Homosexuality leads to the destruction of the ­­­homo­sexual. That is why, brothers, homosexuality carries the death penalty,' he said.

'There are thousands of notions around the world, according to which a homosexual is a normal person, with homosexual genes.

'Therefore, the British health secretary says: 'I'm a homosexual.' He said it just like that, in a press conference. It's frightening... We are extremely lucky in our countries.'

The revelations come as Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton weathers a scandal over his ministerial decisions to overturn Border Authority decisions to deny entry to Australia to two European au pairs.

Mr Burke told The Australian that he asked Mr Dutton whether there were any specific issues he should be aware of, but Mr Dutton didn't respond.

'It is outrageous and appalling that there were character concerns about this specific individual and he never bothered to let me know, even though I had specifically asked,' Mr Burke said. 'Mr Dutton needs to answer the question as to why he kept character concerns secret from an MP who was seeking that exact ­information.'

The Senate legal affairs committee will on Wednesday begin its inquiry into whether Mr Dutton misused his ministerial powers by intervening in cases.

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University of Sydney climbs 15 places in latest Shanghai rankings

Any place within the top 100 out of thousands of universities is a distinction.  USyd once awarded me a rather large document

The University of Sydney has ranked 68th in the world and 3rd in Australia in the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), its best result since the ARWU rankings began in 2003.
Jumping 15 places since last year’s rank of 83, Vice-Chancellor and Principal Dr Michael Spence said the result reflected the University’s 160-year history as a home of academic excellence.

“As Australia’s oldest university we have a long history of excellence,” said Dr Spence. “But this does not mean we rest on our laurels.

“We are investing at an unprecedented level in supporting academics to conduct truly outstanding research that will have an impact on many lives around the world. This includes investing in whole-of-university research facilities and collaborating with some of the world’s best academics at institutions such as Harvard.”

Dr Spence also pointed to the University’s 10 multidisciplinary initiatives as thriving hubs for scholarship, conducting research on some of the most pressing issues of our time, from obesity, cancer and antimicrobial resistance to improving policy.

The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) is released annually by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. It considers more than 1500 universities worldwide, providing specific rankings for the top 100 universities.

Among the heavily weighted criteria considered in the ARWU rankings are research output, highly cited researchers and prestigious academic awards, such as Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals.

Harvard University tops the 2018 ARWU rankings for the 16th year, followed by Stanford, Cambridge, MIT and the University of California (Berkeley).

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Australian feral camel population estimated to be at 1.2 million and growing fast

AN INVASIVE species is spreading across Australia at an alarming rate and baffled Aussies are running into them for the first time ever.

MORE than 1.2 million feral camels are raising havoc across Australia and they’re spreading further afield every day.

It may be a while before they’re clocked strolling along Circular Quay, but eyewitness reports from baffled farmers confirm they have been spotted unusually far south — in the southeast coastal district of Western Australia.

It is understood the nomadic desert beasts are migrating away from dry conditions in the Nullarbor and Goldfields in a desperate attempt to find food and water.

According to the latest Australia State of Environment Report (ASER), camels were introduced to Australia around 1840 and by 2008, an estimated 1 million camels were roaming the central arid lands of Western Australia, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland.

Despite culling efforts between 2009 and 2013, which resulted in the deaths of 160,000 camels in Central Australia using ground-based and aerial culling techniques, the population has now swelled to around 1.2 million.

That’s according to the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, which predicts the feral population is growing by 8 per cent each year.

Confused farmers have now spotted groups of camels strolling up on to their Western Australia properties for the first time ever.

One of those, Brett South, who spotted a group of eight on his farm in Beaumont, about 130km northeast of the coastal town of Esperance, said he was "blown away" when they suddenly appeared.

However, he wasn’t pleasantly surprised. "They wreck all your waterholes, they have no respect for your boundary fences and your gates," he told the ABC. "The number of pests we have up here, we don’t need to add camels to the list."

It’s a common sentiment between farmers who have been unfortunate enough to bump into the humped travellers in WA — which is now home to the largest herd of feral camels in the world.

According to the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, the state is now home to 45 per cent of the nation’s camels.

And, they’re not just trashing farms. The non-native mammals are also causing headaches for a number of other reasons. According to the ASER, the "major impacts" of this burgeoning camel population includes damage to native vegetation and wetlands, increased competition with native animals for food, shelter and water resources, and damage to infrastructure and road hazards.

The last federally-funded control program was the $19 million Australian Federal Camel Management Project. It supported the development of a commercial feral camel industry and contributed to a reduction of the feral camel population to around 300,000 by 2013.

A report commissioned by the Northern Territory and South Australian governments in 2016 found the harvest of wild camels could become a major industry which would be "both profitable and viable for a few years".

After this point, the report recommended the way to ensure profitability would be to boost camel farming businesses, as well as diversify meat production to include culled horses and donkeys.

"There must be a transition to farmed camels to maintain the supply of camels to market and stay profitable," the report read. "This is because there will be a vacuum effect created through the repeated removal of wild camels from current hotspot areas."

Camel meat, however, is rarely eaten in Australia, despite pushes from certain restaurants to experiment with its rich flavour. Last year, Max Mason, owner of the Henry Austin restaurant in Adelaide, announced he would be serving up true blue Aussie camel and encouraged foodies to get on-board. He said the meat "is everything you want in a steak".

"We char it on an open fire and serve it off the bone, with heirloom carrots, ice plant and macadamia cream," he said. "And we are also trialling a camel tartare, which is an even better way of getting the true camel flavour."

However, efforts to curb the growing population have been thwarted because the invasive species are able to breed in the massive swathes of unmanaged Crown land and the 800,000-hectare Dundas Nature Reserve in WA, according to the main organisation carrying out control programs on camel populations.

"This problem will just get worse and worse with weeds, camels, dogs and whatever other pests build up in the unmanaged Crown land, until there are control programs funded to deal with the problem where it lies," Goldfields Nullarbor Rangelands Biosecurity Association’s chief executive Ross Wood told ABC.

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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