Primary school teacher sparks outrage after telling students the "Stolen Generations" were taken from their families because of poor parenting

Once again, the truth is "racist" and enough to lose you your job.  In this case a confection by Leftist historians is preferred to the facts.

There is absolutely no mention below of any actual events with Aboriginal children, just mention of some past laws. There is no mention of what lay behind the laws nor is there any mention of how they were carried out. There is no mention that, as today, Aboriginal parenting is often both abusive and neglectful towards children and that children were removed from their orginal homes by probably Leftist social workers to give them safer homes with white families.

There was no stolen "generation", just occasional rescues of mistreated children on a case by case basis -- under normal social work procedures


A primary school ethics teacher has sparked outrage after telling students the Stolen Generations were taken from their families due to bad parenting.

The volunteer teacher was discussing homelessness with a year-six class at Dulwich Hill Public School, in New South Wales, when the conversation turned to the mistreatment of Australia's indigenous people.

Stolen Generations refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were forcibly removed by the government as children from their families between the early 1900s up until the 1970s.

The volunteer, believed to be in his 70s, allegedly told the young students what they had been told was false, and the real reason the children were removed was lazy parenting.

The volunteer teacher was stood down from his position after four pupils complained. A spokeswoman for the organisation that runs the program said complaints involved stereotyping and the ethics teacher is alleged to have voiced racist opinions.

Kathryn Albany, the mother of one of the students, said she was proud of the students for arguing back.

'I'd always seen ethics as quite a good alternative to scripture,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald. 'But it's almost part of the problem because it's the same issue - these people are unregulated. Imagine if a teacher had responded like that? I would expect them to have pretty serious disciplinary action.'

Special Education in Ethics is offered as a secular alternative to special religious education.

A spokeswoman for the New South Wales Department of Education said the comments were unacceptable and the volunteer teacher has been replaced. An investigation into the incidents is ongoing.

What are the Stolen Generations:

The Stolen Generations refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were forcibly removed by the government as children from their families between the early 1900s up until the 1970s.

The first Aboriginal Act was passed in Western Australia in 1905, and the Chief Protector became the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and 'half-caste' child under the age of 16.

Similar laws were soon passed in other states and territories, including the New South Wales Aborigines Protection Act in 1909, and in 1911 the South Australia Aborigines Act and the Northern Territory Aboriginals Ordinance.

From the time the first act was passed until 1970, between one in ten and one in three Indigenous children were removed from their families or communities.

In 1937 a Commonwealth/State 'native welfare' conference made assimilation the national policy.

'The destiny of the natives of aboriginal origin, but not of the full blood, lies in ultimate absorption ... with a view to their taking their place in the white community on an equal footing with the whites,' the policy stated.

By 1967 a referendum was held to amend the Australian constitution, establishing laws for Aboriginal people who were also included in the census for the first time.

Two years later, all states had repealed legislation allowing for the removal of Aboriginal children for 'protection'.

In 1975 parliament introduced the Racial Discrimination Act, making discrimination based on race unlawful regardless of state or territory legislation.

Eight years later the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle is established, ensuring indigenous children are placed with indigenous families when adoption is necessary.

On February 13, 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered a public apology to the Stolen Generations.

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Immigration IS causing soaring house prices says Australia's top banker - and he also blames poor investment in transport for the property bubble

The banker in charge of setting interest rates has conceded high immigration is a significant factor in pushing up house prices in Australia. Homes in Sydney and Melbourne continue to be particularly unaffordable, despite two years of plunging prices.

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe said there was a link between expensive property prices and high immigration levels.

'If you ask any first-year economics student, what's going to happen to housing prices - we all want to live in fantastic locations by the coast, each person have a large block of land, and under-invest in transport, and allow fast population growth, please explain? I think you're going to get high housing prices,' he told the Good Weekend magazine.

A record 848,570 people moved to Australia in the year to May, marking a 5.7 per cent annual increase.

After departures were factored in, Australia's net annual immigration rate stood at 294,430 - or a level more than four times the 20th century average of 70,000.

This figure included permanent arrivals, skilled migrants and international students who study in Australia for several years.

Sydney's median house price of $877,220 is more than 10 times an average full-time salary of $85,000.

To afford a typical suburban house in the city's west, a borrower needs to earn $156,000 a year to avoid falling into mortgage stress, or be paying more than 27 per cent of their take-home pay on repayments.

In Melbourne, the median house price stands at $716,542, which would require a borrower to be earning $127,385 to service a loan.

Dr Lowe made the link too between high house prices and a lack of investment in big transport infrastructure projects. 'Infrastructure investment is actually the best housing policy,' he said.  There's very little we can do to increase the supply of well-located land but there's one thing you can do - build great public transport.'

Dr Lowe, who lives at Randwick in Sydney's south-east, argued building better transport links would make  suburban and regional areas attractive to buyers, spreading demand more evenly across cities and the country, and thereby moderating prices.

The Reserve Bank boss argued record-low interest rates weren't enough to boost the economy, after the cash rate was cut in June and July to a record-low of one per cent.

Dr Lowe and several economists have called on the federal government to boost spending on transport infrastructure in a bid to turbocharge economic activity.

Australia's gross domestic product grew by 1.4 per cent in the year to June, marking the weakest pace in a decade, and was further declining on a per capita basis.

After the global financial crisis of 2009, it was the weakest economic growth since 2000.

State governments are already doing their bit, with New South Wales spending more than $12billion on the second stage of the Sydney Metro, which from 2024 will connect Chatswood on the city's lower north shore with Bankstown in the south-west.

It will also include a second tunnel under Sydney Harbour.

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Haters target Australia's favourite horse race

Must not speak well of the Melbourne cup

A former Miss Universe Australia has been heavily criticised for her new role as ambassador for the Melbourne Cup Carnival, with cruel trolls calling her involvement in the horse racing industry 'disgusting'.

Tegan Martin shared her exciting news on Sunday, posting a photo of herself dressed in a designer outfit by Australian brand Torannce.

'The Carnival has always been a favourite time of year for me and with only 55 days to go it's going to be an amazing season! Big thanks to Flemington for this incredible opportunity,' she wrote on Instagram.

The 27-year-old Sydneysider, who was 'thrilled' by the appointment, couldn't have foreseen the hate comments her single post would generate.

'Such an awful industry that use horses as business commodities,' one person commented.

'Educate yourself about the "sport" you're being an ambassador for. This race and all horse racing is disgusting. So many horses are murdered and abused and here you are all proud thinking this is oh so glamorous - it isn't,' said another.

'This horror show is my least favourite day of the year! I can't help but think if these "celebrities" just stopped being ambassadors and throwing their support behind it - it may just lose its appeal entirely,' a third added.

Many of the comments took aim at Tegan for not 'understanding' what the horse racing industry does to its champions

The Melbourne Cup Carnival begins on November 2 and runs until November 9 with Derby Day, the Melbourne Cup and Oaks Day included.

In her role Tegan will be expected to attend all of the major day events dressed in designer wear.

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GREENIE ROUNDUP

Four current articles below

Power pricing overhaul ‘should reward coal’

Coal-fired power plants face being pushed out of Australia's power grid earlier than forecast by negative daytime spot prices, sparking a call fora redesign of the national electricity market to prevent blackouts and ensure security of supply.

The Australian Energy Market Operator said dramatic spot price falls into negative territory this week, driven by cheap solar and wind, underlined the need to reset the market. It wants to introduce a new price mechanism reflecting the important reliability role provided by power stations, which are currently struggling to receive any value for their generation when they are undercut by renewables that can produce at close to zero cost

"We really do need to start thinking about putting in markets for firming," AEMO chief executive Audrey Zibelman said on the sidelines of a CEDA event. 'What we've been seeing in the last week is the fact that energy itself, because of renewables, can be at zero or even less than zero. "Unless we get the markets right — and we continue to see the emergence of rooftop solar as well as variable renewable energy — we'll see even earlier coal retirements than anticipated because the economics of plants won't be viable.

"What I would hate to see happen is that the plants actually re-tire earlier than we anticipate and suddenly we're not ready."

Zero and negative pricing in electricity spot markets is becoming more common and reflects a profound shift in the grid with growing solar and wind supply. The spot price of wholesale electricity traded at zero in every eastern Australian state at the  same time in July. Since then prolonged periods of negative prices at minus $1000 per megawatt hour have now spread from being relatively common in renewables-reliant South Australia to emerging as a new feature in Queensland's market this week, due to a solar surge and transmission constraints.

That has highlighted a conundrum for dispatchable generators. "These power plants, as we've been seeing the last few days when you've had negative pricing, that wasn't because the cost of en-ergy was negative or zero, it was because we weren't paying for reliability, the firming capacity, the way we should," Ms Zibelman said.

"We need to start recognising that resources that provide that important dispatchability need to be paid for differently than resources that are just providing energy."

Coal stations like EnergyAustralia's Yallourn unit in Victoria's Latrobe Valley are already operating under a cloud, with the state's high renewable targets and cuts to emissions threatening to force the plant to close earlier than its 2032 target.

The threat of losing baseload or dispatchable power earlier than forecast could lead to load shedding or even blackouts, given the tight market at periods of peak demand. Separate markets for firming generation and a similar system to Germany's reserve power market could help with the clan energy transition. If the market design works, power prices should ultimately fall to reflect the new zero cost trend for solar and wind.

"I think you would need multiple markets to really get the value for the type of resources we want," Ms Zibelman said. "The idea now is not one generator is able to provide everything, which is what we had with traditional fossil fuels. But it's understanding the portfolio so traditional units are paid for the value they supply

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State refusing to let coal mine expand

State government delays in approval for expansion of the New Acland Coal Mine will likely see'it close within 18 months, costing 300 jobs, writes Michael Madliati

The decision (or, more to the point, the absence of a decision) by the State Government on the mining licence required for the expansion of the New Acland Coal Mine this week has left Andy and 300 other co-workers in limbo.

A lot of these people working in this "thin seam" coalmine operating for more than a century, and featuring thin ribbons of coal threaded through the earth as little as one metre high, don't have too many options. Many are specialised in this area of work, and there are not a lot of coal mines in the south-east to migrate to.

They can't just go off to another mine, as workers might in Queensland's Bowen Basin where massive thick seam operations which can tower over 60m are common, and hundreds of workers required.

Mine manager Dave O'Dwyer had the unenviable role of telling a large portion of them who started at the 6am shift Monday that 300 out of  the mine's 300 jobs had to be cut by October.

 O'Dwyer, who in recent months believed he had good reason to think the planned mine expansion was on track for approval, was clearly shaken. "I was really looking forward to getting up in front of them and talking about how our future was bright and prosperous and we would just move forward," he said.

Instead, he was greeted with a sea of blank faces as he told of the cuts, and workers began going through the mental arithmetic of how to celebrate Christmas minus a pay cheque. "As you look around the room there is just deadly silence," O'Dwyer said.

The expansion was expected to be given the green light by midnight Saturday and was the fulfilment of a process which began before the first ever iPhone came out. New Hope began jumping through the hoops to expand the mine in 2007 and has altered the application several times

Objectors have taken them to the Land Cnort, won, then to a New Hope (owners of the mine) appeal, when a Judicial Review ruled against the objectors's case and found the mining lease should be granted

Meanwhile objectors went back and appealed New Hope's successful appeal of the first decision, and the government won't the mining lease and associated water licence until that decision is finalised.

The State Govemment can, quite legally, green light the mining company's expansion and let it sort out its legal problems down the track while also bearing 'associated costs. But it won't, and that reluctance to get behind the expansion of a proven mining project utterly baffles O'Dwyer.

If Federal Labor had won the May federal election, New Hope might at least have been able to tailor their expectations and ambitions to a new 'anti coal' electoral mood. But Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk moved swiftly to change the mood in the State after the election which, in Queensland, was dearly fought over the Adani Mine proposal in Central Queensland.

The Premier jetted off to Mackay just days after the election and announced she would direct the Co-ordinator-' General to sit down with the Environment Department and Adani to get thing moving. Labor then put the resources industry front and centre at its State Conference last month

The Courier-Mail: 2019-09-07

Tonnes of reusable garbage sit in huge warehouse destined for landfill

Recycling finally revealed as a hoax.  Glass, steel and aluminium are recyclable but the rest is a nonsense

Thousands of tonnes of reusable waste could be soon dumped in landfill despite having been recycled correctly by residents more than two years ago.

Almost 10,000 tonnes of reusable garbage has been sitting in a Victorian warehouse since 2016 - and the company tasked with helping to process it, SKM Recycling, has gone under.

And that figure is only from one of five huge warehouses in Laverton, Victoria, piled  with unprocessed plastics, papers and cardboard.

Carly Whitington, a landlord at one of the warehouses, told A Current Affair if the issue wasn't addressed soon, the waste would end up in landfill.

As it stands Australia only reuses 12 per cent of its recycled rubbish, which puts it on par with South East Asian countries but far behind European nations.

Tasman Logistics Services director Craig Morris said China making moves to reduce the level of Australia's waste it takes was a huge factor in the crisis.

'Once China started making noises about reducing the amount of waste they were going to take, I think alarm bells should have been going off at high levels at that point,' he said.

The owners of the warehouses said they were in limbo on how to tackle the problem until they received guidance from the council or the state government.

Victorian Minister for the Environment, Lily D'Ambrosio, released a statement regarding the possibility of the recycled waste going to landfill. 'Sending recyclable material to landfill is always a last resort, but in some instances it may be a safer option than allowing materials to be stockpiled,' she said. 'Community safety must come first.'

SKM Recycling was tasked with processing the waste, but the company went out of business in August. However the Victorian State Government loaned $10 million to SKM's receivers KordaMentha to 'help clean up the stockpiles on SKM sites'.

'Clearing these waste stockpiles is the first step in making these sites safe and getting them up and running again,' Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio told The Age. 

'Sending material to landfill is always a last resort and that’s why we want to see processing begin when it is safe to do so.'

SKM group manager Bryan Webster said the $10million loan had to be used to clear as much of the plastics as they could - and it would all be going to landfill. 

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Australia's green energy target won't be increased - but the country is set to hit goal of nearly a quarter of electricity coming from renewable sources

Australia's renewable energy target of less than one-quarter of all electricity generation won't be increased, the minister responsible has declared.

Australia is on track to achieve next year's target due to four large wind and solar power projects recently given the green light.

Under the target, 33,000 gigawatt-hours - or 23.5 per cent - of Australia's electricity will come from renewable sources by 2020.

The target was slashed in 2015 under the Abbott government from 41,000 gigawatt hours, with the support of Energy Minister Angus Taylor, who says it was too high.

'Those targets won't be increased, and the reason is very simple, it's because the economics of this is working fine now,' he told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

Mr Taylor says the boost in renewable energy has created a new challenge for the electricity system, fearing summer blackouts if there's not enough baseload power.

He says expanding the Snowy Hydro scheme, developing a second interconnector between Tasmania and the mainland, and the Apple Isle's 'Battery of the Nation' vision are all high priorities.

'These are crucial investments to get the balance in the system, that is the key now.'

Mr Taylor admits there is 'no question' the cost of energy from wind and solar are low, arguing this proves there's no longer a need for a renewable energy target.

The Morrison government is yet to announce what projects will receive taxpayer support through its underwriting of investments in power generation.

A shortlist of 12 projects was announced ahead of the federal election in May, which the coalition was expected to lose.

Mr Taylor says some projects will cost billions of dollars, and a final announcement has not been made, as he wants to ensure taxpayer money is well spent.

Labor went to the federal election with a 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030, which is now being reviewed.

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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