Australian Politics
Australian Reconciliation Barometer finds 43 per cent think country is racist
This proves nothing. It show only what people have been propagandized into believing
At least 18 people have been arrested at protests in Brisbane over the death of an Aboriginal woman in police custody.
The number of Australians who believe the country is racist has increased to its highest level in more than five years.
The 2020 Australian Reconciliation Barometer, released on Monday, found 43 per cent of people thought the country had a race issue.
This was compared with the 38 per cent of people who agreed with the statement in 2018 and just 35 per cent in 2014.
When asked if they agreed or disagreed with the same statement, “Australia is a racist country”, 60 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people said yes.
It was an increase of 9 per cent on the results of the 2018 survey.
Reconciliation Australia chief executive Karen Mundine said the Black Lives Matter movement both in Australia and overseas had increased awareness about racial prejudice.
“Through the 2020 barometer we hear many more people speaking up, speaking the truth, asking the hard questions, seeing the hard facts, and moving from a space of safe to brave on issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” she said.
The survey found more than half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had experienced at least one form of racial prejudice in the past six months, up 9 per cent compared with 2018.
It also found 81 per cent of the general population believed it was important for Indigenous people to be included in the Constitution.
But Ms Mundine said change wouldn’t happen until everyone played their part.
“Our barometer shows that community attitudes are well ahead of the political response to issues around self-determination, representation, treaty, and in understanding and learning about history,” she said.
“This provides a basis for demanding more of our political leaders.”
The 2020 Australian Reconciliation Barometer surveyed 1988 people from the general population and 495 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Queensland property prices defy COVID-19 downturn as interstate buyers head north in droves
The latest monthly data released by CoreLogic showed prices grew in every capital city rising by 0.8 per cent nationally.
CoreLogic's Head of Research Tim Lawless said price growth in regional Australia was stronger than in the capital cities, with values in regional Queensland leading the way — rising by 3.2 per cent over the past three months.
"That was the fastest growth rate across any of the regional markets around the country and it really demonstrates the trend we're seeing towards housing demands really rising, particularly in those markets adjacent to Brisbane on the back of relatively low supply levels," he said.
Mr Lawless said if the current growth persisted, Australian home values were likely to surpass pre-COVID-19 levels early next year.
"Of course extremely low interest rates are one of the primary factors that's driving housing markets, but on top of that there's a lot of other different types of incentives … first homebuyers, building grants."
He said there seemed to be "some increasing urgency in the market".
"This does seem to be very much a seller's market, we are seeing relatively slim levels of advertised stock available for sale, homes are selling very quickly, vendors are offering up very little in the way of discount as well.
"So these are all factors that are pushing prices higher."
Interstate arrivals help fuel price growth
Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) chief executive officer Antonia Mercorella said the REIQ estimated interstate demand for property had increased by about 20 per cent on last year.
"The interest from interstate is very significant at the moment, even before COVID-19 Queensland was the number one destination for interstate migration," she said.
"Of course since this pandemic has hit, that demand from interstate buyers — particularly New South Wales and Victoria — has grown even stronger."
She said the lack of supply was also playing a major role.
"Interstate demand is absolutely having an impact, but it's really demand overall that's having the impact," she said.
"We have quite limited stock and of course when there is strong demand with limited stock, what that means is that properties are being snapped up and it's a very competitive landscape and that does drive up prices."
Ms Mercorella said homeowners were reluctant to sell.
"Once upon a time, we used to talk about people owing their properties on average seven years and here in Queensland we're getting close to 12 years now, so we are holding onto our properties much tighter and longer than we ever have before," she said.
Southern states clamour for Gold Coast property
Gold Coast real estate agent Tolemy Stevens said there was an "insatiable" appetite for property from interstate buyers.
"At least 80 per cent of our enquiries at this stage — particularly for luxury beachfront real estate on the Gold Coast — is coming from interstate clients," he said.
"Eighty to 90 per cent of my transactions over the last three to six months alone have all been from buyers either in Melbourne or in Sydney, which is just a phenomenal statistic."
Mr Stevens said local prices represented "outstanding" value for money.
"What a million dollars here can buy you — opposed to what it would buy you in Sydney and Melbourne — is almost two for one," he said.
"We are at all-time lows, record lows, in the volume of stock that we have to sell … we do not have enough to sell and meet the demand that is currently coming from Sydney and Melbourne.
"That's not only on the sales division, it's also being seen across in the rentals division as well, which as I've said is exploding at the same time."
He said demand was strong for all types of properties.
"Whether it's low, mid or high, it seems to be the same story all round — we simply just do not have enough to sell," Mr Stevens said.
"Our vendors that we are trying to get onto the market are simply saying 'well why would I sell, what am I going to do with the money, you know it's not really earning anything for me in the bank'."
Grain harvest tipped to be second biggest on record, as trade tensions with China escalate
Australian farmers are on track to produce the second biggest grain crop ever, following years of drought and as trade relations with China grow frostier.
Commodity forecaster the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) has tipped a 51.5-million-tonne national winter crop — 7.4 per cent higher than the most recent prediction in September.
ABARES said New South Wales, after unprecedented drought, was "on the verge" of a record crop, with a forecast production of more than 17.6 million tonnes.
The high yields are due to decent rainfall and growing conditions there, as well as in Victoria and South Australia, meaning winter crops such as wheat, barley and chickpeas had been given a boost.
"New South Wales has had good rain at the start of the season and all the way through the season really," ABARES senior economist Peter Collins said.
"And this year's national crop is second only to the really big crop we had in 2016–17."
For the major winter crops, wheat production is forecast to increase by 106 per cent from last year to 31.2 million tonnes — the second highest on record.
Barley production should grow by 33 per cent to 12 million tonnes — also the second highest — while canola production is forecast to rise by 59 per cent to 3.7 million tonnes.
Michelle Penrose, site manager for Riordan Grain Services at Edenhope in Victoria’s grain growing heartland of the Wimmera, said she expects grain handling facilities to fill up completely this season.
"We have had probably a text book season really, we have had rain exactly when we needed it," she said.
"The [grain storage sites] in this area either filled up or got to 90 per cent capacity last season, but this year the yields are up on that again by quite a bit, so its fantastic for farmers in the area."
Ms Penrose said that meant farmers might have to truck their grain further for storage, or opt to keep it on farm for longer until space was available.
For rural communities recovering from drought and the economic woes associated with the coronavirus pandemic, the high yields come as a big relief.
"Your farmers are your base. If they are doing well, the rest of your community will do really well, so a good season in a small community has a massive effect," Ms Penrose said.
A child's hand touches wheat. blurred in the background is the wheat crop ready for harvest and other blurred people.
NSW is expected to get its biggest crop ever this year, a welcome relief after years of drought.(ABC News: Jess Davis)
Growing conditions in late winter and early spring had been drier in southern Queensland and in Western Australia, meaning production forecasts have been revised down slightly for those states.
Mr Collins, however, said crop yields would still be strong.
"Even with the downward revision for Western Australia it is still going to be around its long-term average, so it's not a disaster by any stretch of the imagination," he said.
"And in Queensland, significant parts of their cropping area have been drier than average for large parts of the year."
Bumper harvest as trade tensions high
Victorian grain grower David Jochinke is well into his harvest near Horsham in the state's west, and said the results were "absolutely fantastic" for the south-eastern states.
It has been a tense year for the grains industry, after China kicked off a trade war with Australia by announcing hefty trade tariffs on Australian barley.
Mr Jochinke said he hoped this season's high yields would help offset the financial damage caused by the spat.
"If we can't make it up in price, we'd prefer to make it up in yields," he said.
But he said it would be a challenge to find markets for barley, given China had been a premium purchaser for several years.
"For the average consumer, you won't necessarily see this price in the supermarket, but for the farmers, they'll feel it on the profitability of their businesses, especially those farms coming out of drought."
He said growers might have already sold barley domestically while other countries, such as Saudi Arabia, were likely to buy at a discounted price.
Next week ABARES will release a report addressing the impact of China trade tensions on various commodities.
Mr Collins acknowledged growers would have to find new markets and likely sell into them at lower prices, but it would be "pre-emptive" to say more at this stage.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-01/australian-grain-harvest-to-set-new-records/12935994
Zoloft enters list of 10 most commonly prescribed drugs in AustraliaLockdowns causing depression
An increase in women being diagnosed with depression is partly behind a significant rise in prescriptions of the antidepressant sertraline – sold under the brand name Zoloft – which is in the list of Australia’s most commonly prescribed drugs for the first time.
On Tuesday Australian Prescriber published its annual list of the 10 most commonly taken drugs – based on standard daily doses for every 1,000 people in the population each day – along with a list of the 10 most costly drugs to government, and the 10 most common drugs by prescription counts.
The data was collected between July 2019 and June 2020. The top drugs by daily dose per thousand in the population is the most useful measure of drug usage rather than prescription counts, because the supply of medication in each prescription changes over time.
The first eight drugs are all used to treat and prevent heart disease and stroke. The top two most commonly taken drugs by Australians are both statins, which are cholesterol-lowering drugs taken by people at risk of cardiovascular disease. A range of drugs used to treat hypertension, a risk for stroke and heart attack, made up the rest of the top eight. Heart disease is the leading underlying cause of death in Australians.
Metformin, used to control blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes, came in at number 10. Diabetes contributes to more than 10% of deaths in Australia each year.
Sertraline entered the top 10 for the first time, coming in at number nine. Almost 26 doses of the drug are taken each day per 1,000 Australians, the data shows.
The director of the Monash Alfred psychiatry research centre, Prof Jayashri Kulkarni, said she was not surprised to see sertraline enter the list.
“Zoloft is one of the starter drugs for depression, so it means it is often prescribed to people presenting with depression for the first time, and it has also been shown to be clinically useful for anxiety,” she said.
“We are seeing more people experiencing a major depressive disorder for the first time, and anxiety requiring medical treatment, and Covid has accelerated some people from a subclinical depression into a clinical condition that needs stronger treatment.”
Women in particular were being affected, Kulkarni said.
But Kulkarni said she was concerned people were being prescribed sertraline too readily, without also attending psychology sessions. Medication alone was often not enough to reliably treat depression in the long term, she said.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE TIED)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)
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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
1 comment:
Perhaps we HAVE become more "racist" given the nature of the BLM riots which tend to have exposed the content of their character more than anything else. The colour of their skin is just coding for easy reference and early warning.
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