Australian Politics
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Seven teens arrested after spate of armed robberies in Sydney
No ethnicity given. Had they been whites that would almost certainly have been said. As it is, the group retreated to Redfern Station, a notorious Aboriginal hangout. There is a high rate of criminality among young Aborigines
Eight people, including two 13-year-olds and five other teens, have been charged after a spate of armed robberies in Sydney's CBD on Saturday morning.
"We're alleging they followed three people after they left Maccas on George Street and chased one of them down to Town Hall Station and robbed them there," a NSW Police spokeswoman said.
The first of the three robberies occurred at about 4am when a man was approached by a group, one of whom was allegedly armed with a knife. A man from the group demanded his phone before hitting him over the head with a bottle.
The injured man was treated by paramedics at the scene before being transferred to St Vincent's Hospital in a serious condition. The police spokeswoman said the man received stitches and was kept in hospital overnight for observation and was expected to be released on Sunday.
Shortly afterwards, a second man was allegedly threatened by the same group while travelling on a train from Town Hall to Central before his phone was stolen.
Then, a third man had his headphones stolen by the group at Central Station.
The robberies occurred over about 45 minutes.
Police from a high-visibility operation targeting street crime in the CBD found and arrested the group at Redfern Station about 6am. The group consisted of a 13-year-old boy and girl, two 14-year-old boys, a 16-year-old boy and girl, a 17-year-old boy and an 18-year-old woman.
Members of the group were charged with a range of crimes, including armed robbery, assault and theft. They were refused bail and will appear in Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday.
Five Eyes partners mull joint sanctions as allies hit back at China trade coercion
The Five Eyes allies are quietly discussing a plan to fight back against China’s aggressive new trade tariffs by introducing joint retaliatory sanctions on Chinese goods and produce.
News Corp understands officials from some of the Five Eyes nations have been discussing how best to respond to China’s attempts to pressure Australia by harming some of our export markets, notably beef, wine and coal.
One option is that all five nations – Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand – respond with their own sanctions on Chinese goods and services.
A second option would be for Australia to respond with retaliatory tariffs on inbound products from China, and the four allied nations support the move by refusing to buy extra product from China if Beijing looked to make up its losses elsewhere.
Talks are at a preliminary stage, but the idea is gaining traction in Canberra, and is being seriously considered in Washington.
News Corp has been told the problem had been discussed at high levels within the Morrison Government, but that talks so far remained at the level of officials.
The discussions come as the Five Eyes alliance, formed decades ago as an intelligence-sharing agreement, continues to expand into diplomatic and economic policymaking, largely in response to concerns about Chinese aggression.
“Five Eyes co-operation is off the charts at the moment,’’ a source said, pointing out even the Social Services Minister Anne Ruston had a recent Five Eyes link-up with her fellow ministers.
Under options being discussed to respond to China’s trade hostilities, the Five Eyes security agencies would jointly conduct an intelligence assessment of each new sanction announced by Beijing on Australian exports.
If the agencies deemed the sanctions to be a coercive economic move designed to pressure Australia for political purposes, a retaliatory sanction would be imposed, to the same or a higher value than the one imposed on Australia.
The other Five Eyes nations would then ensure China could not turn to them to make up any shortfall in sales.
Alternatively, each Five Eyes nation could respond with sanctions of their own.
“The Chinese Communist Party is trying to cause political pain in Australia to attempt to get the Australian government to change some of their decisions,’’ he told News Corp.
He said retaliatory sanctions would “look to do the same thing in China to make sure the CCP realise it’s a two-way street.’’
The aim was to “push the CCP into normal ways of doing business’’ and resolve trade disputes through recognised channels such as the World Trade Organisation or formal negotiations.
Outrage as Melbourne CBD’s Australia Day parade cancelled for 2021
Days after Whittlesea Council axed Australia Day, the Saturday Herald Sun can reveal our national day will no longer have it’s Melbourne centrepiece event that saw thousands flock to the CBD in January. It is understood a flag-raising ceremony could also be moved from Melbourne Town Hall to Government House.
The moves have sparked outrage and claims of political correctness gone mad.
The Andrews Government has claimed it is cancelling the event because of COVID-19, but the march will be held a full month after 30,000 are set to attend the Boxing Day Test.
Black Lives Matter protests were also allowed to go ahead earlier this year in the midst of Victoria’s coronavirus pandemic.
Sources have said the state government is looking to gauge the reaction to the cancellation and yesterday refused to say if the parade would be back in 2022.
“The Australia Day parade will not be part of the program of events for Australia Day 2021 given the current public health restrictions,” a government spokesman said. “The Victorian Government is planning activities to appropriately mark the day and connect our communities during our COVIDSafe Summer.”
Wurundjeri elder and Indigenous educator Ian Hunter said the move smacked of “political correctness gone mad”. “We’re all Australians. I classify myself as an Australian citizen with Indigenous heritage,” he said.
“There are some people that jump up and down about Australia Day, but traditional people don’t. “Traditional people in regional communities don’t care,” he said.
Polling has found more than 70 per cent of Australians support Australia Day being celebrated on January 26.
But moves to change the date of Australia Day have intensified in recent years with debate raging over the appropriateness of celebrating the date the First Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove.
Both Scott Morrison and Daniel Andrews have dismissed suggestions the date should be moved.
But the Premier has faced internal pressure over the issue.
Several Victorian councils including Moreland, Yarra and Darebin have stopped referring to January 26 as Australia Day prompting federal government intervention to strip councils of their ability to host citizenship ceremonies.
Last year thousands of people lined Melbourne streets for the annual Australia Day parade.
Bella d’Abrera from the Institute of Public Affairs said the move was a “sneaky way of cancelling Australia Day under the cover of COVID”.
A City of Melbourne spokesperson said it would host a citizenship ceremony on the morning of Australia Day.
We cannot ignore the hard facts when it comes to renewable energy
Why are people in authority allowed to get away with obvious untruths about climate change, despite all the factual evidence to the contrary, asks Peta Credlin.
Not only do all the renewable energy advocates claim that wind and solar will produce cheaper power than coal and gas, but they then invariably assert that “all the research” proves it.
Yet everywhere that transitions from fossil fuels to widespread use of wind turbines and solar panels experiences big price hikes and the risk of blackouts.
It’s no coincidence that South Australia, with the highest use of intermittent power sources, has had the highest electricity prices in Australia; and that power prices generally have roughly doubled over the past decade as renewables went from almost none to nearly 30 per cent of total generation.
How it could ever be cheaper to replace 24/7 power with power that’s only on when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing is hard to fathom.
I’m a reluctant conspiracy-detector, but it’s hard not to see one in all the “researchers” eager to “prove” what’s utterly implausible just because that’s what the green-establishment wants people to think.
Now, the lie about renewables being cheaper has yet again been exposed.
Back in 2017, the Northern Territory’s power generator reported to the government that reaching a 50 per cent renewable energy target would push up system costs by up to 30 per cent and that “capital costs will replace fuel costs as the key driver of electricity prices”. When challenged on this leaked report, the NT government said this week that it was “outdated” and didn’t reflect new developments.
Yet when this report was given to the government, the Chief Minister had claimed: “We very much see this as about substitution rather than additional costs … The advice we’re getting … is that an investment in renewables will actually put downward pressure on household prices.”
Despite the Chief Minister’s assurances, the NT’s renewable energy target hasn’t stopped further price rises.
Why are people in authority allowed to get away with obvious untruths on everything to do with climate change? It’s a classic case of wanting the lie to be true so insisting that it is despite all the factual evidence to the contrary.
Expect to hear even louder and more frequent assertions that renewables are cheaper in the run-up to next year’s Glasgow climate conference — but this debate has to include all the facts and science, not just the version that the zealots want to push.
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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
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