Australian Politics
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
The next Uluru? Fears iconic mountain could be shut to climbers after local Aboriginal tribes said it was a sacred place
Why all this catering to Aboriginal superstition? Why is Aboriginal religion privileged?
Australia does not have an explicit separation of church and state but there is no doubt that such a separation is widely agreed as proper. There should be no favoritism shown to any particular religion.
Many churches have aims that they would like government support for. So why are Aboriginal aims given such respect? It is quite simply racist and wrong
An iconic mountain could be the next Australian landmark banned to hikers for good after it was named as an Aboriginal sacred place.
Mt Warning, on the Tweed Valley coast in northern New South Wales, was closed to tourists in March this year as a precaution against crowds spreading Covid-19.
The popular scenic destination, traditionally known as Wollumbin, was scheduled to allow to sightseers back in May 2021, however, the re-opening will now be reviewed, according to The Courier Mail.
Since the last tourists ascended Uluru in 2019, debate has arisen around whether climbers should be allowed on other natural landmarks such as Wollumbin and the nearby Mt Beerwah on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service said the delay to re-opening Wollumbin was to assess safety issues around landslides and the chain section of the hike, but also said they would be holding discussions with Indigenous groups.
'NPWS will now consider the future of the summit track, in consultation with key community and tourism stakeholders, including local Aboriginal Elders and knowledge holders,' a spokesperson said.
Qld political leaders furtive in praise of resources like natural gas
Our natural gas industry has delivered positive results beyond the supply of energy, so why does the Labor Party continue to demonise it, asks Des Houghton.
In a drought-scarred landscape in western Queensland, near Roma where I grew up, Trevor Kehl gazes over an inland lake twice the size of Lang Park.
It is not really a lake, but a storage pond holding 300 million litres of water. Kehl gets the water for free, as part of a deal with Senex, a Brisbane-based natural gas explorer and producer helping to provide reliable power as the nation transitions away from coal.
Kehl said a 10-year partnership with Senex had droughtproofed his cattle property.
Senex also installed an irrigation system at no charge, so Kehl can water 100ha of crops like Rhodes grass and barley to feed his 300 Braford breeders. The Braford is a cross between a Hereford bull and a Brahman cow, 55-year-old Kehl explained.
The water was drawn to the surface to release the gas. It was a godsend to rural producers, said Kehl.
Like many farmers and graziers who benefit from the gas water, Kehl no longer has to buy feed. His cattle put on more weight and therefore sell at a higher price. Now Kehl and his wife Jasmine will build sheds to store the hay they will make from the excess Rhodes grass, and offer it to the market.
The couple also receive annual compensation payments for the 11 Senex wells and 15 Santos wells on their properties.
Senex is a rising star in Gasland, and this year completed a $400m development in the Surat Basin, 500km west of Brisbane.
In the past two years Senex drilled 80 wells, built processing facilities and pipelines in and around its Roma North and Atlas developments. Roma North supplies the Santos-operated GLNG venture while Atlas is Australia’s first dedicated domestic-only acreage.
“Senex continues to work with potential customers to supply natural gas that will support Australia’s gas-led recovery and creation of sustainable jobs for Queenslanders,” said managing director Ian Davies.
He said Senex now provided gas for domestic and commercial customers including CSR, Orora, Visy Glass, Alinta Energy, CleanCo Queensland and Southern Oil Refining. Davies recently gave the go-ahead for an expansion at Roma North and Atlas that would increase production by 50 per cent.
All the big players in gas are involved directly or indirectly in the beef and farming industry. Since 2014, Origin and Australia Pacific LNG have been supplying high-quality, treated coal-seam gas water to local landholders via its Fairymeadow Rd irrigation pipeline near Miles. The water is used for irrigation and drinking water for livestock.
Locals have been able to use the water to develop new or expanded irrigated cropping and watering for stock, boosting agricultural production.
The water is purified by reverse osmosis at the Condabri and Talinga water treatment plants.
Coal-seam gas has provided a windfall for many in the regions. Gas companies have built roads, airports and dams and given cash grants to sports clubs and schools.
The companies took billions of dollars of risk in establishing the industry that now benefits all Queenslanders. And they pay billions in royalties. They have done their bit.
So it truly beggars belief that sections of the Labor Party attempt to demonise gas.
The internecine war in the federal Labor Party over emission targets has caused deep divisions and threatens Anthony Albanese’s leadership.
Gas is a huge industry that flies under the radar, perhaps because the big players are afraid to hail its benefits for fear of antagonising the hysterical green movement.
Queensland alone produced 1503 petajoules of gas last year, enough to power 28 million homes for a year.
In the same year the contribution of the Queensland resources sector to the state economy was $82.6bn, according to the Queensland Resources Council. Yet Queensland political leaders of all colours are furtive in their praise of resources like gas, probably because they fear being wedged like Albo.
The Biden promise to roll back campus due process reforms
Implications for Australia
Naturally, one of the people celebrating the American election result here in Australia was End Rape on Campus activist Sharna Bremner who was one of the authors of recent advice from TEQSA, our university regulator, on managing the kangaroo courts. I've written before about how astonishing it is that our official tertiary education authority would include this activist as one of the authors of advice to the unversities about these matters.
Bremner is delighted that a Biden victory will lead to his promised roll-back in the due process reforms introduced by Trump’s Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos. See her tweet when it dawned on her that DeVos would be leaving:
Here she is acknowledging that in the document she helped craft for TEQSA she’d introduced some minor changes to Australian policies after the DeVos reforms to Title IX, the anti-discrimination regulations responsible for America’s college tribunal system. Clearly now she’s hoping we will follow suit and give up any pretense of protecting the rights of the accused.
It is really shameful that this feminist activist would have no hesitation in publicly revealing the key role she is having in shaping university policy. What a clear demonstration of how the entire higher education system has been captured.
Why billionaire Kerry Stokes is backing SAS soldiers accused of war crimes in Afghanistan
Media mogul Kerry Stokes has been publicly and privately supporting members of Australia's Special Air Service Regiment and their families for decades.
Accusations members of the regiment committed war crimes in Afghanistan - including the murder of prisoners - have only strengthened that commitment.
The Western Australian billionaire's association with the Perth-based special forces unit goes back at least as far as his days playing social rugby with SAS soldiers in the 1970s.
This week it was confirmed he is funding a defamation case brought by retired SAS corporal Ben Roberts-Smith against Nine Entertainment newspapers over reports on his wartime service.
Mr Roberts-Smith is general manager of Channel Seven in Queensland, which is part of Seven West Media, owned by Mr Stokes.
Mr Stokes' private investment company Australian Capital Equity has reportedly extended a $1.9million line of credit to Mr Roberts-Smith.
The former soldier has provided his Victoria Cross and other battlefield decorations including a Medal for Gallantry as security for the loan.
In the event Mr Roberts-Smith cannot repay the money Mr Stokes will donate the medal set to the Australian War Memorial, of which he is chairman.
'The funding of his legal action is a private matter, however he has put his medals up as collateral on a loan and will relinquish them if required,' Mr Stokes has said.
'If this eventuates, I will donate his medals with Ben's approval to the Australian War Memorial, as I have done so with other VCs and medals in the past.'
A report by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence released on Thursday found evidence of 39 unlawful killings by special forces soldiers in Afghanistan, mostly by the SAS.
Key findings on special forces in Afghanistan:
Special forces were responsible for 39 unlawful killings, most were prisoners, and were deliberately covered up.
Thirty-nine Afghans were unlawfully killed in 23 incidents, either by special forces or at the instruction of special forces.
None of the killings took place in the heat of battle.
All the killings occurred in circumstances which, if accepted by a jury, would constitute the war crime of murder.
There have been 25 alleged perpetrators identified either as principals or accessories. Some are still serving in the ADF.
Justice Paul Brereton recommended 36 matters involving 23 incidents and 19 individuals be referred to the Australian Federal Police for criminal investigation.
Mr Stokes was a co-founder of the SAS Resources Fund, set up after the 1996 Black Hawk helicopter collision near Townsville in which 15 SASR members were killed.
The fund provides assistance to serving and former members of the regiment and their dependants in times of financial hardship.
A spokesman for Mr Stokes told the Australian Financial the fund might be used to support those SAS soldiers facing potential prosecution for their actions in Afghanistan.
That assistance could include help with legal costs and other ongoing expenses such as for mental health treatment.
'He supports all SAS soldiers, not just Ben,' spokesman Tim Allerton told the AFR. 'It's the whole SAS community.'
It has previously been revealed Mr Stokes provided instant $50,000 payments to the families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, where 27,000 Australian personnel served between 2001 and 2014.
Mr Stokes has also bought and donated to the War Memorial at least seven VCs awarded to Australians, beginning with that of Vietnam hero Kevin 'Dasher' Wheatley.
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Evelyn Rae, a conservative Australian political commentator
Margo Robbie -- a beautiful australian
My son Joe at ANU
One of the happiest pictures ever -- Cleo Smith, aged 4
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