Bitter dumped PM Malcolm Turnbull goes rogue in an extraordinary speech slamming right-wing Liberals as 'threatening democracy' and claiming Donald Trump wants to 'destroy' the U.S.

Anger has destroyed his reasoning.  His invention of "authoritarian populists" is interesting but illogical.  The Left of course want an authoritarian elite, with a small group making all the decisions for everybody: a top-down arrangement. 

But how can populists be authoritarian?  They ARE the people the Left want to boss around.  They can only get their ideas implemented by voting for people who share those ideas -- such as Donald Trump and ScoMo.  But that's called democracy, I think.  Turnbull is in fact enraged by the triumph of popular ideas over elite ideas.  But he would be

But I suppose what he means is that populists may want authoritarian government policies, but not the authoritarian policies that the elite favour.  So immigration control would be to him authoritarian


Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused his own side of politics of 'threatening our democracy' in an extraordinary speech that also took aim at Donald Trump and Scott Morrison's 'quiet Australians'.

The ousted Liberal Party leader didn't hold back when addressing a gathering of Liberal moderates at a Sydney eastern suburbs yacht club, warning of the dangers of 'populist authoritarianism' and sensationally accusing Mr Trump of sabotage as the US President faces impeachment over his Ukraine dealings.

'Donald Trump is seeking to tear at every, single institution in the United States,' he said of the world leader he had last year visited at the White House in Washington.

With his autobiography just months away, Mr Turnbull said that President Trump appealed to reactionary elements within the conservative side of politics.

'I mean Donald Trump, who is their hero, is not a conservative. That is not what conservativism is,' he said on Thursday night during a 29-minute speech, obtained in full by Daily Mail Australia.

Awkwardly, Australia's next ambassador to the United States, Arthur Sinodinos, was in the audience and was even a speaker at this function.

More than 200 guests paid $75 for tickets to the Sydney Harbour event last Thursday, which featured a who's who of cabinet ministers and lobbyists linked to the Liberal Party.

A witness told Daily Mail Australia of seeing the multi-millionaire former prime minister arrive in a Sydney Harbour water taxi, from his nearby Point Piper mansion, with his wife Lucy and their daughter Daisy.

In his speech Mr Turnbull slammed conservative politics in general, more than a year after right-wing elements in the Liberal Party ended his leadership.

'What we are faced with at the moment on the right of politics, so called, is essentially a form of populist authoritarianism, which is utterly intolerant of diversity, is utterly intolerant of alternative views,' he said.

'And it really threatens our democracy. It is important to call it out.'

Mr Turnbull also took a subtle dig at his successor Mr Morrison, who in May this year credited the 'quiet Australians' for his election night win, despite Labor winning 55 consecutive Newspolls beforehand.

'The people on the right, the distinctly un-quiet Australians, who are claiming to be conservative are not conservatives at all,' he said to laughter.

'They are authoritarian populists. 'Don't let them get away with claiming that they are conservative.'

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who hails from the right of the Liberal Party, challenged Mr Turnbull's leadership in August last year after he proposed a National Energy Guarantee to deal with rising electricity prices.

Mr Morrison beat Mr Dutton in a second leadership challenge, in three days, which Mr Turnbull declined to contest.

The moderate faction in New South Wales had swung its support behind Mr Morrison to stop Mr Dutton from becoming prime minister.

The former prime minister had previously lost the Liberal leadership in December 2009 to Tony Abbott after proposing to back the then Labor government's proposed emissions trading scheme.

His speech at the Cruising Yacht Club at Darling Point was attended by high-profile Liberal ministers, MPs and powerbroker lobbyists.

These included Trade Minister Simon Birmingham and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher.

Former Liberal senator Mr Sinodinos, who next year replaces former treasurer Joe Hockey as Australia's ambassador to the United States, also attended along with Liberal backbenchers Trent Zimmerman and Dave Sharma, and former federal cabinet minister Christopher Pyne, who is now a lobbyist.

Lobbyist Michael Photios, a powerbroker within the Liberal Party's moderate faction in NSW, was also there.

The invitation-only event was organised by Liberal Forum, the organisation wing of the party's moderate faction.

Mr Turnbull's autobiography A Bigger Picture is due for release in 2020.

SOURCE  






PC madness: Australian students are urged to avoid using words like 'husband' and 'wife' for the sake of 'inclusivity' - and even 'last name' is on the chopping block

Australian university students are being urged to avoid words such as 'husband' and 'wife' to encourage 'inclusivity' on campus.

Gender neutral words like 'partner' are preferred in classes at Western Sydney University, to 'make everyone feel included'.

The Inclusive Practice guide says: 'Swapping gendered words for gender neutral ones (and using terms like "partner" instead of boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife), can make everyone feel included in the conversation.'

The word choice recognises that not every student identifies as heterosexual or as a man or a woman, the guide explains.  

The University of New South Wales, meanwhile, has advised staff to refrain from assuming 'Western name forms'.

'Family' and 'given' name should be referred to instead of 'last' and 'Christian' name, the Designing Inclusive Environments section of their website reads.  

'If in doubt, ask what students find appropriate in terms of modes of address.' 

A 'diversity toolkit' on the UNSW website, urges teaching staff to implement  experiential activities 'to help students (especially "dominant culture" students) to understand that they too are "raced" and have cultural norms.'

'At UNSW we aim to help students find respectful and culturally inclusive ways of dealing with controversial issues,' the page says.

The University of Newcastle refers to 'derogatory labelling' and 'forms of sexist language' in its Inclusive Language Guide.

Terms which discredit minority groups, like the use of 'whingeing poms', should be avoided to ensure language on campus is inclusive.

The University of Newcastle says women are often invisible in language, due to the use of 'masculine pronouns' and words like 'mankind' and 'man made'.

'Where these terms are never varied to include reference to women, the absence/unimportance of women is reinforced,' the guide says.

'Alternatives are needed if language is to challenge the implication that women are either absent or less important. 

To avoid sexist language, the university urges using alternatives like 'humans' and 'human beings' to 'man'.

Further, gendered word order can be varied to challenge the established order.

This reminds 'the reader of the equality of men and women rather than reinforcing – even subliminally – the perception that men are more important than their female counterparts'.

Bella d'Abrera, an Institute of Public Affairs researcher, told The Daily Telegraph the vocabulary was changing how students think - but not necessarily in a good way.  

'They are turning into totalitarian institutions where people will soon be too terrified to use words like 'husband' or 'wife',' she said.

'By changing language, you change thought. Without adequate words, people can't formulate ideas and describe what is going on around them.

'By reducing vocabulary, you are reducing their ability to think. It's exactly the opposite to the core business of the university.'

Western Sydney University and UNSW declined to comment when asked about their inclusive language guides when contacted by The Daily Telegraph. 

A spokeswoman from Newcastle University said their inclusive guidelines encourage students and staff to think about their language use.   

SOURCE  





Medivac transfers leap as repeal bid looms

More than one third of the asylum-seekers and refugees in Papua New Guinea and Nauru have applied for transfer to Australia under controversial medivac laws, with a rush of applications lodged before a parliamentary vote to terminate the scheme.

The fate of the medivac regime rests with Tasmanian Senate crossbencher Jacqui Lambie, who has refused to show her hand after making her support conditional on a secret ultimatum she has delivered to the government.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has provided Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton a personal assurance of her party’s support after last week delivering the Coalition a shock defeat over its union-busting bill.

With the Coalition hoping to repeal the medivac laws as soon as Tuesday, The Australian can reveal there are 171 people being held offshore who have applied for transfer under the Labor and Greens-backed medivac laws.

The 171 are at various stages of the approval process, with 63 having lodged more than one application for a medical transfer. In total, there are 234 applications currently being considered for medical transfers — a figure which is greater than half the total number of people being held on Manus and Nauru.

The Australian can also reveal that, in the lead up to the Senate sitting week of November 11, Mr Dutton was forced to consider nearly 100 applications. Forty-seven were considered during the week of November 4, and 51 the following week.

The spike came amid speculation the government could use the Senate-only sitting week in November to put the medivac repeal to a vote, with the number of applications plummeting to just four in the week of November 18 when the Senate was not sitting.

Since the medivac laws were passed in February, 184 people have been transferred to Australia and 418 valid applications have been lodged.

On Monday, Government Senate Leader Mathias Cormann confirmed the repeal bill would be put to a vote and that it would not accept measures that would weaken the border protection ­regime.

“We are very mindful of making sure that we maintain strong border protection arrangements and we don’t provide an incentive for the people-smugglers to get boats going again,” he said.

“We will not be making any changes to our strong border protection arrangements, and we will not be making any changes to the way we’ve been dealing with Labor’s legacy caseload.”

The government is also concerned people complaining of trivial medical issues are being approved by doctors for transfer under the medivac regime.

In one case, a refugee in PNG was approved for transfer because of receding gums, gingivitis and a urinary tract infection.

Labor home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally on Monday criticised the government’s push to overturn the laws, saying they were working effectively, and accused Mr Dutton of failing to advance third-country resettlement options, including New Zealand.

The Australian revealed on Monday that more than 20 refugees approved for relocation in the US had instead been flown to Australia under the medivac regime, fuelling concern the laws were undermining third-country resettlement arrangements.

More than 50 people rejected for relocation by the US have come to Australia under the laws.

Scott Morrison has ruled out ­allowing New Zealand to take asylum-seekers from Manus Island and Nauru in return for Senator Lambie’s support of the medivac repeal. “Those policies on those matters haven’t changed,” the Prime Minister said.

Senator Keneally accused the government of disclosing the private details and health conditions of asylum-seekers as part of its push to secure support for the ­repeal. “We have seen the names, backgrounds, ages and ethnicities of asylum-seekers and refugees published in papers,” she said. “We have seen their medical conditions misconstrued and exploited for political gain.”

Senator Keneally also ­appeared to take aim at Home ­Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo, and quoted from a directive he ­issued in June 2015 when he was secretary of the then department of immigration and border protection. “Unless there are compelling medical reasons, supported by second opinions, to do with life-and-death situations, or situations involving the risk of lifetime injury or disability, transfers to Australia should be avoided,” he had said.

Senator Keneally said the ­directive “effectively stopped medical transfers to Australia”, leading to a fall of 92 per cent.

SOURCE  





Rare earths industry welcomes new US-Australian deal to ensure critical minerals supply

A newly-signed deal between Australia and the United States focusing on critical minerals could be the push to create a thriving rare earths industry in Australia and more specifically, central Australia, according to some mineral experts and rare earths industry players.

The deal comes months after the world's rare earths supply was thrust into the spotlight after Beijing threatened to restrict the rare earth trade as part of its ongoing trade war with the US.

On the other side of the world in outback Australia, Nolans Bore, a rare earths project north of Alice Springs, has welcomed the new deal.

The facility has been more than 15 years in the making, and the company behind it, Arafura Resources, said pending native title approval and finance, it was planning to start construction late next year.

Full details of the deal have not been made public but Brian Fowler, general manager for the Northern Territory with Arafura, said it was a sign that politicians were realising how geopolitically threatened rare earths are due to China's dominance in the market.

"[China] controls 85 per cent of the world's supply of rare earths," he said.

According to the company, the $1 billion project has a large, globally significant rare earth deposit of roughly 56 million tonnes.

"We have the potential to supply somewhere in the region of 8 to 10 per cent of the world's requirement for neodymium and praseodymium, two of the rare earths minerals," Mr Fowler said.

"Their role is in the production of the highest strength magnets on the planet, they are the absolute essential elements in the electrification of motor vehicles and in the production of clean energy using things like wind turbines."

Mr Fowler said considering the amount of car companies looking to make electric models, the current global supply of neodymium and praseodymium was not adequate to meet the predicted demand going forward.

Chris Vernon, processing research director for CSIRO's mineral resources, agreed that demand was about to soar. He said that although Australia had a significant supply of rare earths and sophisticated technology, investment had been holding the industry back. "[The deal] looks very promising," he said.

"One of the bottlenecks to getting a project off the ground in Australia was the financing and the uncertainty [so] if government is stepping in and providing some surety about getting finance, that can only be a good thing."

He reiterated that the China-US trade war was to thank for throwing rare earths into focus. "The rare earths market is about to explode, simply because we expect to put so many electric vehicles on the road; every one of those requires rare earths for their magnets," he said.

"There's also a burgeoning market in other technology uses.

"A car only takes a few tens of kilograms of rare earths but when you're looking at some high-tech military equipment for example, you could be looking at hundreds of kilograms of rare earths.

"There is a real hunger for more rare earths."

While Nolan's Bore has the required environmental approvals, a local advocacy group said it still had concerns around the mine.

However, they conceded that rare earths were needed for the transition to green energy by increasing the use of electric cars and wind turbines.

Alex Read, policy officer with the Arid Lands Environment Centre [ALEC], said the organisation was cautiously supportive of the project, providing that environmental regulations were followed.

"We understand the importance of having a supply of these metals for electric vehicles and renewable energy but we need to take a cautious approach to this," he said. "And we need to have a broader conversation about the costs and benefits of these projects."

The Northern Territory Government will soon start consultation on draft environment protection regulations after passing the Environment Protection Bill earlier this year.

But ALEC would like to see proposed legislation changes in place before any new mines come online.

"One of the key flaws in the current framework is there is no way for directors to be held personally liable if they don't comply with their environmental requirements," Mr Read said.

"We want to make sure they have a chain of responsibility framework to make sure they're held personally responsible and we want to make sure that the rehabilitation program is completed as they say it would be.

"Rare earth mining comes with a lot of risks.

"Particularly with this project, we're seeing it's associated with elevated levels of radionuclides and we understand that they're going to be significant risks to groundwater, surface water [and] public health."

Mr Read said ALEC would also like to see changes put into place to ensure mining companies had to pay for their water licences.

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