'They're back again': Dozens of African youths are targeted by police just days after 100 teenagers wreaked havoc on the same street - as Tony Abbott blames  'pussy footing' around gang crime

Terrified residents have been forced to lock themselves in their own homes as police rounded up a swarm of youths wreaking havoc on their street.

For the second time in as many weeks, police were called to Banjo Paterson Park in Melbourne's south-eastern suburb of Lynbrook on Saturday night to usher dozens of rampaging youths, predominantly African-Australians, onto trains.

As locals hid, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was vocal in his criticism of Victoria Police's leniency, saying youths will continue to treat authorities with contempt unless arrests are made.

Police were called to the park on Saturday evening at around 7:30pm after reports of chanting and public intoxication.

One female resident told the Herald Sun she was expecting a fight to break out at any minute.

The youths were reportedly approached by police with their batons drawn and ushered to Lynbrook Railway Station, about a ten-minute walk away. One man was seen being put in the back of a police van.

Frightened locals watched through their windows as the scene was returned to tranquility about four hours later.

One resident saying they had 'never had this issue here before'.  But fewer than two weeks ago, on October 3, police were called to the exact same park after a report of African youth gang violence.

On that night, at least 25 riot squad officers were seen near the railway station and the reserve where the youths were loitering.

They were called on reports of violence and assault, but later said no arrests were made and no victims had come forward.

'Looks the same group of people that were here a couple of weeks ago are back again,' one local wrote on Facebook Saturday night, leading to concerns for re-offenders.

Mr Abbott has led the criticism of Victoria Police, accusing them of 'pussy footing' around youth and gang crime in Melbourne.

'The problem is that there seems to be a few hundred youngsters in outer metropolitan Melbourne who treat the police with contempt,' Mr Abbott said.

Legislation was introduced earlier in the year, which restricts youths with no prior convictions from associating with known gang members.

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A message to the lost tribes of the left wing

Last week, Joe Hildebrand argued why “hate speech” shouldn’t be banned. After copping a wave of abuse, he has a message.

This time last week I wrote a long, considered piece arguing that free speech, even that considered offensive or “hate speech”, should not be banned — with the obvious and explicit exception of any incitement to violence.

I put forward a number of reasons both principled and practical but chief among them was that allowing freedom of expression is an invaluable way of identifying extremist sentiments in society and hopefully, through reason and open discourse, turning those sentiments around.

The piece was written in response to calls to ban a right-wing UK activist from entering Australia and as it turned out, the reaction to the piece overwhelmingly proved its point.

The only irony is that the extremists it identified were all on the Left.

Indeed, the reactions themselves were also crippled by their own internal irony. It was, as anyone who witnessed the response on social media will know, a volcanic eruption of abuse all exploding in the name of peace and tolerance.

Now before anyone shrieks hypocrisy — even if certain people struggle to tell the difference between free speech and abuse — I’m not going to complain or name and shame individuals. But to illustrate the point, here are just a few examples.

One respondent opened by calling me a “c**t” and then, in the very same tweet, bemoaned the lack of civil discourse in public debate.

Another began their first tweet with the words, “get f***ed Joe” and then in their second, complained that I wouldn’t have a polite discussion with them.

A third quipped: “Nothing good ever comes out of Dandenong” — a reference to my home town, one of the poorest, most multicultural and working-class Labor suburbs in the country. She was also, apparently, a Labor supporter.

There were also the obligatory pictures of dead bodies in Nazi concentration camps — according to the new hard Left narrative, history’s most infamous book-burners were in fact diehard free speech advocates.

And of course the more vicious the abuse, the more voiceless and victimised the abusers claimed to be. They also appeared to be mostly white and university educated, both statistically unusual indicators of oppression.

You honestly could not make this stuff up and it is a sad reflection of where we are.

The reason for this is probably not so much a rise in extreme Left sentiment in the community but the advent of platforms that allow it to be spread so effortlessly and widely. In order to return to Russia to start the October Revolution, Vladimir Lenin had to travel 2000 miles over eight days by train. These days you only have to literally hit return.

To get an idea of just how extreme Lenin was, this was someone who described a fellow socialist as a “detestable centrist”, accepted the patronage of the despicable autocratic German Kaiser (who was using him as a pawn to sabotage the Russian front in World War I), and then returned to Russia to overthrow a revolution that had already taken place because the first revolution wasn’t extreme enough.

Russia was thus turned from a miserable imperialist slaughterhouse to a miserable socialist slaughterhouse. And so imagine my lack of surprise when one of my more vociferous anti-free speech Twitter critics proudly described themselves as “Left of Lenin”. And they are far from alone in doing so.

Of course, I was a student socialist back in the day but at least my influence was limited to whoever I was chanting at on the steps of Parliament House or having a bucket bong with in my lounge room. And at least, unlike Lenin and many of my then-comrades, I had the good grace to actually be poor.

These days, as then, socialism is the domain of the disaffected, upper middle-class so-called intellectual. The only difference is that these days such insufferable twats can bang on about it 24 hours a day, creating the impression that it is a growing movement rather than just a spreading disease.

And of course because it is the domain of the over-privileged, the causes du jour have shifted from elevating the poor — or the “dictatorship of the proletariat” as Lenin so progressively proclaimed — to the niche obsessions of identity politics that have so dominated public debate.

Say what you like about Vlad, at least he wouldn’t have slagged off Dandenong.

But just like Vlad, they see anyone on the right as a fascist and even centrists as fascist enablers.

And while the brutally oppressed and impoverished people of 1917 Russia can be forgiven for embracing such an ideology, no one with even a passing understanding of history or complex thought could hold such a view in the information age. These are people less interested in backstories than backs against the wall.

This brings us to the most profound response to left-wing extremism, which is the number of sensible, compassionate and thoughtful people who once considered themselves progressive but now feel abandoned and isolated, as the movement has been hijacked by hardcore ideologues. And little wonder.

As one former fellow traveller mournfully said: “ALP/Greens/lefty social democrat my entire life … and I am really starting to detest the left. De. Test.”

Another: “My upbringing and instinct too but increasingly embarrassed at the level of self-bullshit, hysteria, hate/division and gesture politics in Left circles.”

Another: “I’m feeling you man. Their hysterical application of ‘fascism’, their antagonism to free speech, their often violent disruption of legitimate political meetings, their inability to see the contradiction between open borders and a welfare state and the hierarchy of victimhood.”

And another: “It’s becoming a mass exodus. But where to go? Not Lib that’s for sure. The politics of group identity and emotions over facts however, leave a lot of us feeling homeless … In a political sense.”

These are the lost tribes of the left. Needless to say, I know how they feel.

And of course not only do hardcore socialists and hand-wringing identity ideologues turn anyone with a brain or a sense of humour away from their cause, they also play into the hands of the right by making the whole Left side of politics look ridiculous. Donald Trump might appear crazy compared to a centrist but he looks sensible compared to a Stalinist.

Little wonder major left-wing parties are fracturing and struggling to win government in liberal democracies all over the world while populist right-wing movements are on the rise.

Likewise in Australia, the ALP lost the unlosable election just a couple of months ago after a cynical attempt to harness what it thought was a neo-Marxist resurgence. For next time, it’s probably a good rule of thumb to remember that when Australia’s only celebrity communist endorses your campaign, you’re probably on the wrong track.

The good news is that the Labor Party has learned from this and is in the process of recovering and recalibrating under the sensible stewardship of Anthony Albanese.

Cynics might point to the post-election dip in the polls, but it is pretty obvious to any seasoned observer that this is almost certainly a result of the party having to quietly jettison all of the toxic policies and rhetoric that cost it victory and start from scratch.

And greater cynics might point to the fact that all the polls got it wrong in the first place.

And so the message to the sensible Left is don’t give up hope. Don’t let dead-eyed socialist extremists or elitist ideological dilettantes trick you into thinking that they are the future of the Left or the champions of working Australians. They are the shackles on their feet, the ones who would rather go down spitting and shrieking than work for meaningful and achievable change.

Society progresses through evolution, not revolution. And it is the extremists who have yet to evolve. The centre will survive. The centre will hold. And the centre will eventually bring us together.

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CPAC 2019: Labor’s Kristina Keneally ‘wins’ conservative award

Senator Kristina Keneally’s attempt to disrupt a conservative conference in Sydney appears to have backfired, with attendees presenting the Labor frontbencher with an award for drawing attention to the event.

Shortly after guest speaker Nigel Farage used his opening address to tip a bucket on “fake” conservative Malcolm Turnbull, former NSW premier Keneally was cheered by a crowd of about 500 at the Conservative Political Action Conference Australia (CPAC) yesterday.

The Labor frontbencher publicly railed against the CPAC event and pushed for the visa of British activist and guest speaker Raheem Kassam be cancelled due to his “extensive history of vilifying people” on racial and religious grounds.

Mr Kassam, a former editor-in-chief of Breitbart News London and former Muslim, has described the Koran as “fundamentally evil”.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly, who addressed the CPAC conference in Sydney on Saturday took to the stage with a trophy the size of a small child. “This is the CPAC Freedom Award, which goes to the individual who has done the most to promote the CPAC conference,” he told about 200 attendees. Chuckles and broad applause met Mr Kelly’s announcement of the Labor senator as “winner”.

“Is Kristina here by any chance?” the Liberal MP joked.

Attendees on Friday reportedly chanted “send her back” after two speakers made a joke at the expense of Senator Keneally.

Mr Kelly, introduced to the conference as one of Australia’s strongest conservative MPs, also slammed the country’s move towards more renewable energy, and accused science agency CSIRO of a “bogus report” on energy costs. The 2018 report found solar and wind generation technologies were the cheapest power stations to build new.

“If an ASX-listed company said that in an annual report, they would likely end up in jail because of how misleading it is,” Mr Kelly said.

About the same time as Mr Kelly’s speech, Senator Keneally was comparing the conservative conference to the Two Minutes Hate in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.

“It’s uncanny how much CPAC is exactly what it claims to oppose,” she tweeted. “They are ... spending all day yelling about their ‘enemies’. This is exactly how people under totalitarian regimes behave.”

Earlier on Saturday, Mr Farage used his CPAC speech to celebrate Australia and Britain’s shift from “trendy, metro” leaders to real conservative leaders.

Mr Farage told the adoring crowd Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s election victory in May seemed impossible, after the recent hijacking of the Liberal party by “the other side”.

“Malcolm Turnbull ... pretended to be a conservative but actually turned out to be a snake,” he said, to applause.

“You’ve now got someone conservative, mainstream media (and) those in the middle of Melbourne and Sydney may not like him,” he said of Mr Morrison. “But out where real people live, they voted for him.”

He said he had thought “the greenies had taken over this country”, especially after heading to Melbourne and having 600 people rally against him. The UK member of the European Parliament for the past two decades was a crucial figure in the 2016 Brexit referendum’s Leave campaign.

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Australian universities highly ranked

The University of Sydney has improved its place in the latest THE World Reputation Rankings, jumping from band 71-80 to 61-70. This moves the University into second place, up from third, for reputation in Australia.

The annual ranking lists the top 100 universities for teaching and research reputation, based on the results of an invitation-only academic opinion survey.

“This outcome is a great tribute to our academic and professional staff who are doing so much to lift the performance of the University in education and research.

“In the past few years, we’ve undertaken some of the biggest reforms in a century to both our curriculum and our research approach; and it’s starting to pay off,” Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Duncan Ivison said.

“More importantly, this result also demonstrates the extraordinary contribution our staff and students are making to society more generally. We are working with more partners than ever before, collaborating to tackle some of the biggest challenges the world faces – whether it’s climate change, chronic disease, inequality or artificial intelligence.”

The questionnaire was completed by more than 10,000 senior academics from 135 countries.  The respondents, who are experienced, published scholars, are asked to identify the top 15 universities for research and the top 15 for teaching.

The survey data will also be used alongside 11 other indicators to determine the THE World University Rankings, which will be released in September this year.

This result follows the University of Sydney’s strong performance in rankings announced last month, placing 42nd in the world and first in the state in the 2020 QS World University Rankings and with 12 subjects ranked in the top 50 in the 2019 ARWU Global Ranking of Academic Subjects.

There are now six Australian universities in the top 100, up from three last year, a significant achievement for the domestic higher-education sector.

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Young Australians are turning their backs on jobs with salaries of up to $17,000 a WEEK 'because they're too lazy' - as bosses claim foreigners have a better work ethic

Young Australians are walking out on jobs that pay up to $17,000 a week because they are too lazy, bosses are claiming.

Sydney man, Ryan Graham, who has has owned a commercial flooring company for around 10 years said he regularly hired Australian workers who would quit soon after starting.

The 42-year-old said the problem is so big he has turned to sponsoring foreigners to work for him - saying British, Irish, Argentinian and Brazilian employees had a great work ethic.

'People complain that foreign workers are taking Australian jobs … but we've had 15 guys over the last two years that haven't lasted more than a week. I interviewed one guy for an hour who was there for 10 minutes before he walked off the job,' he told news.com.au.

He said while it was more paperwork and more money to hire foreign workers it was worth the investment.

'You know they're going to turn up and do the work, because they don't have mum and dad to look after them,' he said.

Mr Graham said that the problem is affecting all trades within the construction industry.

He says if a young person is willing to work hard at a trade they could make $7000 to $8000 a week.

One contractor he knows makes, on good weeks, about $17,000. 

'The problem is young guys see that and want $17,000 straight away, but you've got to work three to five years to be able to make that money,' he said.

A Department of Employment survey revealed that 45 per cent of Australian employers struggled to recruit staff in 2018.

A massive 60 per cent of employers trying to fill lower-skilled positions reported issues with hiring workers. 

Some of these issues were identified as jobseekers not interested in the occupation or working conditions and not having 'personal presentation' skills. 

'We have an economy of opportunity and employers are screaming out for workers who are eager for a job,' employment minister Michaelia Cash said in a statement on Monday.

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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