Three out of four Australians hold a racial bias against indigenous people: New survey reveals shocking invisible barrier faced by Aboriginal community

This is discredited science.  The IAT was presumably the instrument used.  All it does is detect response time.   Why the response time is fast or slow can only be conjectural.

In the case of racial stimuli, the most probable reason for a slow response is caution when faced with something potentially controversial.  There is NO evidence that a slow response to a particular stimulus indicates ill-will towards that stimulus.

In fact there is evidence that the test does NOT detect racial bias.  Very anti-racist people often score high on it.  See here for background

No matter their age, gender, job, religion, education level or income - the majority of people on average held an unconscious negative view.

The findings from an Australian National University study released on Tuesday revealed an invisible barrier, author Siddharth Shirodkar says. 'It was certainly shocking ... but it also wasn't necessarily surprising,' he told AAP. 'It says something, not so much about indigenous people, it says something more about the rest of us.'

Men were more biased than women against First Australians.

Western Australians and Queenslanders showed higher levels of unconscious prejudice, while people in the Northern Territory and ACT showed less.

People who identified themselves as 'strongly left wing' still showed signs of negative views against Aboriginal people, while those who put themselves on the right-wing side displayed higher levels of bias.

Australians showed the same level of bias against Aboriginals as people held against African Americans in the United States.

The study tested 11,000 Australians over a decade since 2009.

It looked at the response time of online volunteers to an association test, which flashed images of white people and Aboriginal Australians as well positive or negative words.

It found the majority of Australians showed a preference for white faces.

Mr Shirodkar said while Australians might hold an unconscious bias, they still could choose whether or not to act on it.

'(If) we don't challenge that, then that can seep into our everyday decision making,' he said.

He said some demographics were over-represented in the survey, including capturing more women, left-leaning voters and university educated people.

This meant the level of implicit racial bias may be under-reported.

The report came as thousands of Australians protested against Aboriginal deaths in custody over the weekend.

Mr Shirodkar said the report's release was a coincidence, but the Black Lives Matter protests worldwide had given people a reason to pause and reflect.

'The study can maybe help us think more about internally how we treat one another but also how we think about one another,' he said.

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'Comrade Anna' claims lockdown HASN'T hurt the economy as she fights to keep restrictions in place - despite ZERO community infections Australia-wide and fury from business owners

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says her state's border closures have not caused hardship for businesses and is determined to keep them shut - despite the entire nation recording no new COVID-19 community cases overnight.

A handful of business owners and individuals are challenging the state's hard border closure in the High Court, arguing the measure is 'irrational' and causing them 'financial harm'.

But the state government on Tuesday refuted the claims in documents filed to the court, saying it 'does not admit' financial hardships are directly related to border closures.

Gold Coast Central Chamber of Commerce president Martin Hall said he was astonished by the state government's defence.

'That is possibly the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard,' he told The Gold Coast Bulletin.

The stunning development comes after Premier Palaszczuk on May 19 publicly acknowledged the impact border closures would have on the state's $12billion tourism industry.

'It has been heartbreaking to make tough but unavoidable decisions; for example, the decision to close our borders and place hard restrictions on the industry knowing they would hurt, while at the same time understanding they were absolutely critical to save lives,' she said when announcing the policy.

Ms Palaszczuk's refusal to open the border, against the advice of federal health experts and despite the pleas of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, has earned her comparisons to fellow Labor Premier Daniel Andrews, who is accused of holding back the economy by relaxing rules too slowly in Victoria.

While Victoria's Liberal Opposition has dubbed him 'Chairman Dan' - after former Chinese Communist Party leader Chairman Mao - while Ms Palaszczuk has been mocked as 'comrade Anna' by some of her critics frustrated by her uncompromising stand on border closure.

Australia recorded zero new locally acquired cases of coronavirus on Tuesday for the first time since the peak of the pandemic, with two new cases in New South Wales identified as returned travellers who remain holed up in quarantine hotels.

While the milestone is great news for the nation, it is little comfort for businesses if it doesn't result in restrictions being eased. 

Nuccia Fusco, co-owner of Italian restaurant Costa D'Oro in Surfers Paradise, told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday night the lack of interstate traffic and gathering restrictions had crippled her business since they closed their doors on March 23.

'Restaurants should be working together and demanding change... I think that will happen very soon,' Ms Fusco said.

Ms Fusco hopes strength in numbers will encourage state governments to reassess current measures. 'I'm meeting with a group of restaurateurs and bar owners tomorrow to start a Facebook group to give us a voice,' she said.

Ms Palaszczuk has faced increased calls to completely reopen her state by the July school holidays to inject much needed funds into the economy.

'It's not good for the economy, particularly as we go into this next school holiday season. Those tourism businesses need that support,' Prime Minister Scott Morrison previously said.

'So those individual states, they'll have to justify those decisions themselves because it wasn't something that came out of national cabinet.'

Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham also previously said the state was more reliant on tourism than most others in Australia, and would haemorrhage money.

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Five Australian universities crack the top 50 on list of the world's best places to get a tertiary education

Five Australian campuses have made a list of the top 50 universities in the world. The QS World University Rankings has published its annual list of the top tertiary institutions across the globe for 2020.

The top place to get a higher education in Australia, according to the list, is the Australian National University in Canberra.

The university tied at number 29 with the Universirty of Toronto in Canada - with the two finishing just behind the University of California, Berkeley at number 28.

The number one place internationally to earn a degree is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, popularly known as MIT.

Stanford University and Harvard University rounded out a clean sweep of the top three places by the United States.

Oxford University was the highest ranking English institution, with the famous college town at number four.

The California Institute of Technology, or Caltech, was number five.

Researchers said the majority of American universities had been slipping in the individual ranking indicator scores, while Australian scores had been improving.

They said this was largely because Australia was earning a reputation as a quality destination for international students.

Other local universities to make the top 50 included the University of Melbourne jumping several places from the previous year to number 38.

The University of Sydney reached number 42 while the University of New South Wales followed at number 43.

The University of Queensland was Australia's only other top 50 entry at number 47.

The list, which ranks 1,000 universities in total, uses six performance indicators.

Academic reputation, is the major indicator, which was scored using the survey  responses of 94,000 individuals in the higher education space about the quality of work done at each institution.

Employer reputation was also scored by questioning nearly 45,000 employers.

Citations per faculty was also included - measuring how many times other academics referenced a university's work in research papers.

International student ratio was measured as an indicator of global awareness and brand reputation, which is a strong point of Australian institutions.

And lastly, faculty staff to student ratio  numbers were included as a measure of teaching quality, with Australian universities slipping in this category since the 2019 rankings.

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After years of drought, good rainfall will boost Australia's grain production by 50 per cent this year

Well-timed late summer and autumn rainfall, combined with a promising winter and spring outlook, will see grain production jump over by 50 per cent this season.

ABARES is pegging the winter crop; wheat, barley, canola, chickpeas and oats; at 44.5 million tonnes, 5 per cent above ABARES 10-year average to 2019.

The area planted to winter crops is tipped to expand by over 20 per cent from last year.

In Dumosa, 250 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, grain grower Brent Sheahan is enjoying the rare prospect of two good seasons in a row in the Victorian Mallee.

"We've had a near-perfect start," he said.

Like many growers in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales, Mr Sheahan said between 20 and 30 millimetres of rain in the spring would be enough to ensure a good harvest.

Despite 90 per cent of NSW remaining in drought, the good early rains have forecasters tipping a huge boost to production.

"Last year, NSW produced 3.3 million tonnes, and this year it's forecast to be 12.1 million tonnes. That's a big jump," said ABARES senior economist Peter Collins.

Until recently the Bureau of Meteorology had been forecasting a high likelihood of above-average rain for large parts of inland Australia this winter.

But the latest outlook has revised down the chances of above-average rain for the coming three months.

The change has been attributed to cooling in the Indian Ocean and forecast onset of a positive phase of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM), resulting in high pressure dominating southern Australia.

Trouble in the west

Many Western Australian growers are still waiting for a decent shower, between 10 and 20 millimetres, to get this year's crop ticking along.

It is especially pronounced in the state's usually reliable southern regions.

In Ravensthorpe, nearly 500 kilometres south-east of Perth, Andrew Constance said the crops would suffer without good rainfall.

"We've had patchy rain over the farm —some parts are wetter than others, so we're just waiting for a big one."

ABARES is still predicting a bigger harvest in the export-focussed west than last year.

Mr Collins said the sudden announcement of steep Chinese tariffs on Australian barley came too late for grain growers to alter their sowing plans.

The tariffs send the price of barley tumbling, at a time when production, according to the ABARES Crop Report is tipped to grow by 17 per cent to 10.6 million tonnes this year, compared to the 2019/20 season.

"They may not get the same price they'd get in the Chinese market, but there's still overseas markets that will buy Australian barley," Mr Collins said.

Last year, large volumes of grain from WA, South Australia and Victoria were sold into drought-stricken NSW and Queensland to feed livestock, with local prices higher than export prices.

According to a recent Rabobank report, with a more favourable exchange rate, lower domestic prices and the boost in production, Australia will have more grain to sell overseas.

But, according to Rabobank's Dr Cheryl Kalisch Gordon, "finding a home for those exports will be challenging."

"Stagnant global demand, low shipping costs and depreciation of Black Sea region currencies will continue to challenge Australia's competitiveness in traditional markets," Dr Kalish Gordon said.

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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