EDITORIAL: Stand firm and do not bow to radicals

AT some point in recent times we entered an age where corporations, both big and small, became hypersensitive about their reputations. This metamorphosis is not an inherently bad phenomena as businesses should be responsible for the consequences of their actions beyond what number features in bold print at the bottom of a balance sheet.

Yet too often since the age of "woke" individuals descended upon us, Australian corporations have demonstrated just how thoroughly ill prepared they are when required to respond calmly and deliberately to a mob whipped up on social media.

Their inexperienced public relations hacks hit the panic button at the first sign of trouble, creating a contagion within a business that prompts its board and chief executive to react in a way that is not in the interests of either customers or shareholders.

Another glaring example of this occurred on Tuesday when bus company Greyhound announced it would no longer transport contract workers employed to build miner Adani's railway line.

It was another illustration of how these extremists like to invoke science when it suits but ignore the real world implications of what they're demanding in the process.

Individuals and organisations who do not subscribe completely — and unquestionably — to their dogma are simply denounced as "climate change deniers".

News Corporation, publisher of The Courier-Mail, has been targeted in much the same way because — apparently — hosting debates on our opinion pages that allow commentary from all sides of an argument is unacceptable.

As a news organisation we take our responsibility to our readers seriously. That means delivering news stories that contain the facts as well as the uncensored views of experts. And that, in turn, means hosting debates, as opposed to the conga line of "woke" media outlets who marvel at themselves and their own.moral superiority for only using the term "climate crisis".

Australia - as an energy-intensive export economy — needs to be a leader and play a role transitioning to cleaner energy sources if it wants to have a seat at the table in the vitally important global debates to come.

However, arguing the merits of the case, for an orderly transition - one that does not wreck our economy, cost jobs and cause unprecedented social upheaval (as we have done consistently on this page) should not be reason for anyone to be labelled a denier.

Now, that will not stop the progressive elites, self-appointed climate evangelists and everyday blowhards from screaming into the echo chamber of social media in an effort to amplify their minority —and unyielding -- views to force corporations to yield to their purist approach to what are critical matters.

From the Brisbane "Courier Mail" of 30 January, 2020






ABC’s leading journos out of touch with Australia’s key issues

It is just four months since the ABC’s mission to Bankstown in southwest Sydney. Led by ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose and managing director David Anderson, dozens of the ABC family headed to the outer suburbs for a planning workshop aimed at making content that was more relevant to average Australians than what had previously been on offer. That’s how ABC management described the mission at the time.

Gaven Morris (ABC director news, analysis and investigations) told Nine Entertainment newspapers there were “some parts of the community that we don’t serve as well as we could”. This implied the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster was in search of the “quiet Australians” to whom Scott Morrison had referred to immediately after the May 18 election last year.

The Coalition’s victory had stunned many journalists, but none more so than the ABC’s key political commentators — virtually all of whom got the result wrong. So certain was 7.30 political correspondent Laura Tingle that she told 7.30 presenter Leigh Sales on the eve of the election the Labor Party “will” win and dismissed the possibility of a Coalition victory with a laugh.

It is not clear what, if anything, the ABC learned from the mission to Bankstown of recent memory. Maybe only that it is a long way from its head office in the inner-Sydney suburb of Ultimo. Certainly the ABC is just as much a conservative-free zone as it ever was — perhaps even more so.

In any event, on Wednesday 7.30 used the term quiet Australians, popularised by the Prime Minister, to report on a climate change demonstration in Sydney.

This time ABC reporter Tracy Bowden did not make it to the southwest suburbs. She did not even go north over the Harbour Bridge. Instead the 7.30 crew travelled a few suburbs from Ultimo to Edge­cliff, which abuts Double Bay — one of the most fashionable, and expensive, parts of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

When Morrison praised the quiet Australians on election night last year, he certainly did not have in mind the good, and primarily well-off, people of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

You’ve heard about the doctors’ wives phenomenon, used to portray the wealthy spouses of professional men who do not vote in accordance with their perceived economic interests but flirt with green-left causes. On Wednesday, 7.30 came across the phenomenon of doctors’ husbands.

It turned out that 7.30 was interested in a planned silent vigil for climate action scheduled for 9.30am last Saturday outside the Edgecliff office of Dave Sharma, the Liberal Party member for Wentworth. The organisers were semi-retired lawyer Rod Cunich and his medical doctor wife Margot Cunich.

Early in Bowden’s report, the Cuniches are filmed posting flyers on shop walls stating “Quiet Australians stand-up: Silent vigil for climate change”. The couple blamed climate change, and only climate change, for the bushfires they had experienced when holidaying in December on the NSW south coast.

All up, Bowden interviewed five critics of the Morrison government’s policy on climate change. Namely Margot Cunich, Rod Cunich, Erin Remblance (who was presented as a mother of three), Rob Henderson (no relation) and Kirsten Dreese. David Evans of market research firm Ipsos commented on his company’s research on changing attitudes of Australians to the environment.

As is familiar with many an ABC program, only one dissenting voice was heard — and only briefly. Daniel Wild (from the Melbourne-based Institute of Public Affairs) said Australia had the deepest cuts to emissions on a per capita basis of any nation under the Paris Agreement. Towards the end of the segment, Bowden told viewers “Rod and Margot are planning quiet monthly protests and are urging others across the country to follow their example”. She gave the impression that it would be good for ABC viewers to join in.

Needless to say, no one who was interviewed by 7.30 had any idea how Australia, which is responsible for 1.3 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, could do anything to thwart climate change. And no one spoke about the need to reduce fuel loads in fire-prone areas, especially during drought and excessive heat.

Moreover, no one expressed any concern about the impact of reducing emissions, beyond that to which the Morrison government is committed, on the jobs of the less well-off who live in the outer suburbs, towns and regions far away from Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs. As it came to pass, there was a modest turnout at Edgecliff last Saturday. The occasion would have had no impact — without coverage by the ABC.

On Wednesday’s 7.30, Sales also introduced a segment on the Prime Minister’s address to the National Press Club earlier that day by saying Tingle would explain that “in the short term Prime Minister Morrison has some pressing matters to deal with”. Tingle mentioned the response to the bushfire emergency and climate change, then showed footage of herself cross-examining Morrison on the sports grants controversy.

Certainly the bushfires are pressing matters. But so is the coronavirus outbreak, which has the capacity to adversely affect not only the health of Australians but also Australia’s mineral and service industries. Tingle did not mention this in her report of Morrison’s address, even though he had covered the issue in detail.

It was much the same during question time at the National Press Club. There was only one question on handling the bushfire emergency (ABC’s Sabra Lane) and one on the coronavirus (The Australian’s Greg Brown).

Certainly a couple of questions on the sport grants controversy involving Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie would have been warranted. But watching the occasion on television, it seemed that, once again, so many of Australia’s leading journalists are out of touch with the public’s interest in matters such as how to clean up after a disaster and how to prevent a possible medical emergency.

Perhaps another mission to the outer suburbs, by the ABC and others, is warranted.

SOURCE  





Addicts skip jail in prison proposal

DRUG abusers and fine dodgers could sidestep jail under reforms being considered by the State Government to avoid the cost of building new prisons.

Treasurer Jackie Trad last night confnned  the Government had rejected a Queensland Productivity Commission recommendation to decriminalise drugs but would consider the use of more diversionary methods for small-time users.

The commission's 516-page report into imprisonment and recidivism, due to be released today, warned the prison population was exploding and the 'Government would have to spend $3.6 billion in the next five years to increase the capacity of its corrections facilities.

The report found each prisoner cost taxpayers $111,000 in direct costs and a further $48,000 a year in indirect costs and drug users made up an increasing percentage of the prison population.

It recommended moving away from a criminal approach to drug use and devolving responsibility to indigenous communities to curb incarceration rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

"These reforms, if adopted, could reduce the prison population by up to 30 per cent and save around $270 million per year in prison costs, without compromising community safety," the report states.

Ms Trad said the commission's proposal for the wholesale decriminalisation of illicit drugs was off the table. But the Government would consult experts about ways of expanding sentencing options so few people who committed minor drug and traffic offences were sent to jail:

"People who commit serious crimes should go to jail — no questions asked," she said. "But given the cost of keeping prisoners in prison, we need to examine whether that is the best option for people who repeatedly fail to pay fines, or are repeatedly arrested with small amounts of drugs for personal use. That's especially true if that prison sentence pushes a small-time offender towards a life of more crime, rather than rehabilitation."

The commission report found Queensland's per-head prison population had increased more than 160 per cent since 1992 and credited improved police detedion methods and tougher justice policies for the rapid rise. It said if the growth continued, Queensland would need to house 4200 additional inmates within five years.

While the Government had to weigh the cost of this rise, Ms Trad insisted community safety was the top priority. "But before we spend another $3 billion on prisons, we need to be absolutely certain doing so is the best way to make Queenslanders safer," she said.

From the Brisbane "Courier Mail" of 31 January, 2020




 
Restriction on noisy leaf blowers sought

LEAF blowers would banned all morning during public holidays — and destroyed if they're used — under a push from a group of Brisbane residents who are fed up with the noisy devices. A petition lodged with Bris-bane City Council has called for the use of leaf blowers and other noisy powered yard tools to be restricted to the PM hours on public holidays so residents can "enjoy their days off in peace".....

Any deviation from the regulation would lead to the confiscation and destruction of the instrument, according to the petition, which could be debated in the council chamber.

New figures reveal the council received about 350 noise complaints about "regulated devices" in 2019 — or about one every day — which included gripes with devices like lawnmowers, leaf blowers, mulchers and power tools.

The LNP administration's, Community, Arts and Lifestyle Chair Peter Matic said the council would always listen to community feedback, but "at this stage" had no plans to introduce local laws about leaf blowers.

"The use of leaf blowers is regulated by the State Government and they would need to act on any changes to their laws," he said. So far the petition has managed to attract only 41 signatures.

Labor's Lord mayoral candidate Patrick Condren said it would take significantly more signatures to convince him to introduce such a ban. "I think given the broad scope of it, it runs the risk of destroying the weekend cacophony of suburban Brisbane," he said. "Where does it end — no power tools? It comes down to, at the end of the day, common sense. And if you want to get along with your neighbours, don't antagonise them with loud noises early in the morning."

Greens councillor for the Gabba Ward Jonathan Sri said he personally thought leaf blowers were "pretty stupid" and said that he did not like being woken up by them. "But I also hate how much interference council has in our lives and I'm sick of over regulation from local government," he said. 'What I would like is for residents to use common sense and learn how to be respectful of one another rather than council having to impose more top down rules. "I worry that this issue is a bit of a distraction from the much bigger questions that our city needs to be grappling with."

Regulated devices can be used on public holidays from 8am to 7pm, but no clearly audible noise is allowed outside of those times.

From the Brisbane "Sunday Mail" of 26 January, 2020

 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