Restoring the presumption of innocence -- particularly for men

Bettina Arndt

For a nation that used to pride itself on hosting festivals of ‘dangerous ideas’, there has certainly been a ridiculous amount of protest and outrage regarding the innocuous-sounding Restoring the Presumption of Innocence conference.

It seems no one is allowed to talk publicly about how a vital legal principle – the presumption of innocence – has been undermined by the sisterhood’s long and successful ideological effort to tilt the justice system in favour of alleged victims.

Bruce Lehrmann and his ‘trial by media’ was originally intended as the headline act, but this promoted a petition calling on the local council to prevent the discussion going forward ‘before it causes any further harm or damage to the victim survivor community’. A recent judgment against Lehrmann meant he had to withdraw from the event to continue his legal battle.

The conference lives on, having been moved to August 31.

If you believe in the presumption of innocence and would like to hear law professors, criminal lawyers, political commentators, and other experts speak to the issue, you can book your tickets here.

It will be held in Rushcutters Bay, but it says a great deal about the childish nature of progressive culture that the exact details of the location and the identities of some of the well-known speakers are being kept secret until closer to the event.

Welcome to Australia, where silence is guaranteed by the incessant harassment of cancel culture.

Considering Restoring the Presumption of Innocence will present evidence from eminently qualified academics, experts, statisticians, criminal lawyers, and doctors – it is absurd that activists would attempt to close it down.

Mind you, it’s easy to see why activists are nervous.

The truth about our justice system is a can of worms and there is plenty of evidence that something is going very wrong.

In the last year, six NSW District Court judges have spoken out about rape cases being pushed through to trial supported by insufficient evidence – leading to the Crown Prosecution office conducting an audit of all current sexual assault cases. In addition, there are plenty of outrageous stories that have made it to the press in recent years that do not pass ‘the pub test’ when it comes to public expectations of innocence, guilt, and evidence.

With the presumption of innocence under siege, it is the right time for a proper public discussion about what is going on here. Luckily there are many in the community concerned about the silencing of debate about these pivotal issues.

Restoring the Presumption of Innocence is being hosted by Australians for Science and Freedom, an organisation founded by concerned doctors, lawyers, and academics who objected to the government’s response to the pandemic. Readers may have been to other events hosted by them that centre around liberty and medical freedom. Now, they focus on broader goals, including encouraging ‘better institutions that embed respect for freedom and scientific approaches for society’s problems’.

The event is sponsored by Mothers of Sons, which is an organisation I helped to establish some years ago in which I brought together mothers wishing to expose the injustice suffered by their sons within the criminal and family courts. A number of the Mothers of Sons family members will be speaking at the conference, revealing the devastating impact that false allegations of sexual assault can have on the entire family – including a lasting financial and emotional cost.

There will also be some exciting mystery speakers – including a celebrity who has had his life destroyed by a #MeToo accusation.

False allegations are a key theme of this forum. A recent YouGov survey found that Australia has one of the highest rates of false allegations in the world, mostly related to family law disputes. Across the country, our police and our courts are drowning in unproven domestic violence accusations which, in NSW alone, take up 50-70 per cent of police time and 60 per cent of local court time.

Lawyers are now bracing for a tsunami of fresh allegations with the introduction of ‘coercive control’ into law for NSW (and Queensland to follow). Many lawyers believe this will open the floodgate for women to allege a partner has been emotionally controlling. Such an accusation may be enough to see him put in prison. Coercive control, as a criminal offence, is difficult to define, impossible to prove, and many believe it was designed as a weapon to be used against men.

The NSW government has launched a massive campaign on the topic, including publishing a list of those ‘most at risk’ from coercive control:

Funny that. This list cautions almost everyone, except ordinary, heterosexual blokes – ‘cisgender’ men, as the government literature calls them. Instead, these men are typecast as being overwhelmingly likely to be the perpetrators. Which is odd, considering the Australian Bureau of Statistics has acknowledged that men are just as likely as women to be victims of emotional abuse – defined using many of the same behaviours now listed as coercive control.

The government has released a flood of video material explaining coercive control where men are invariably featured as perpetrators. Yet the Restoring the Presumption of Innocence conference will hear from Australian men who have already fallen victim to coercive control within domestic relationships. These men were selected from nearly 1,000 local men who took part in the large international survey on male victims of coercive control run by the University of Central Lancashire. Their experiences represent the truth that our governments are so determined to bury.

There’ll be other truth-tellers at the conference, presenting evidence about all sorts of politically incorrect subjects – like research that shows false rape allegations are far more common than often claimed. And the international literature clearly demonstrating that most family violence involves both male and female perpetrators. And the data showing children are more at risk when dad is removed from the home.

Plenty to inform anyone with an interest in how social engineering is now unfairly targeting men and denying them fair treatment under the law. Yet conference organisers are keen to also attract parents of young men who are particularly vulnerable to false allegations. Many parents assume that they can keep their sons out of trouble by raising a good young man who treats women with respect and follows the rules on consent. It never occurs to them that he is still vulnerable if he is unlucky enough to get involved with a woman who becomes angry if he doesn’t want to become her boyfriend or has sex she later regrets.

This vital one-day conference will tell it as it is. Forewarned is forearmed.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/07/restoring-the-presumption-of-innocence/

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A pilot plant for Net Zero: Let’s use Canberra as the test case for green insanity

Viv Forbes

Both solar and wind energy have fatal flaws – solar stops when the sun goes down or if a cloud blocks the sun; wind fails if the wind is too strong or too weak. But every day we hear of some fantastic and expensive plan to keep the lights on when these unreliable energy twins stop working.

The latest thought bubble from Mr Bowen (the Australian Minister for Generating Blackouts) is for him to be able to drain the energy from electric car batteries to back up a failing grid. He suggests that batteries could also power the house or sell energy into the grid. (No doubt the government is already scheming on how to use smart technology to prevent homeowners from charging their own batteries when flicker power is fading.)

Bowen’s sole sensible comment was ‘electric cars are batteries on wheels’.

Batteries do not generate power. And when they are flat, they do not store power. Fancy trying to keep the lights on while recharging all those batteries with flicker-power; and imagine discovering your Tesla battery is flat when you need your car some frosty morning. You have just performed a public service – the power in your batteries was drained to cook suburban breakfasts and keep the early trains running!

People who bought an electric car for quiet mobility will suddenly find they were financing a cog in Bowen’s Blackout Insurance Plan.

Australia is an energy island – there are no handy extension cords to French nuclear power, Scandinavian hydro, Icelandic geothermal, or American natural gas. Maybe if we ever get that long extension cord from Darwin to Singapore we can organise a sub-station in Indonesia and import reliable coal-powered electricity from them?

Australia has abundant coal, gas, and uranium resources but exploiting these natural assets is demonised and blocked by red/green tape and law-fare. Most of our petroleum products are imported and we have a tiny stockpile of refined fuels. To undertake extensive oil and gas exploration in Australia we would need infinite patience, many lawyers, and very deep pockets.

So, like drunken teenagers in a stolen car on the wrong side of the road, we accelerate towards the green energy mirage – Net Zero by 2030.

We need to see a Net Zero pilot plant operating before we follow Pied Piper Bowen down this risky road. And we need to know the full cost.

Mr Bowen should declare Canberra the site of a Net Zero Pilot Plant. This city-state is ideally suited to host such a demonstration plant – it has well-defined boundaries with significant rural, urban, and industrial areas; its population and local politicians strongly support the green energy agenda; and every federal politician and Cabinet Minister visits regularly and can monitor progress of this important experiment.

Mr Bowen should be in charge and he should start by declaring a deadline of 2027 to stop all usage of coal, gas, and diesel electricity or heating within the Australian Capital Territory. To demonstrate the bona fides of this pilot plant it should be legislated now that all power lines bringing coal and gas power into the ACT should be cut no later than December 2026.

Most Canberra residents are well paid so he should mandate that the roof of every residence or factory must be covered with solar panels, with battery-powered cars in the garage and backup batteries on every veranda.

Canberra also has plenty of hills to host wind turbines – they could also replace that massive flagpole on Parliament House with a large wind turbine. (They should also insist that the wind companies fund a permanent veterinary station nearby to treat injured birds and bats.)

There is also a lot of green space and parkland in ACT – these can host their quota of solar panels, all angled correctly to maximise collections from the far northern sun. Moving the massive and controversial Wallaroo Solar Factory planned for the Yass Valley into nearby ACT will kick-start Canberra’s green revolution. Pet goats must be encouraged to keep the grass tidy under all those panels.

Burning gas or wood within ACT should be banned – Mr Bowen could get Twiggy to build a floating green hydrogen generator on Lake Burley Griffin. This will provide locally-generated green fuel to use in their cars, taxis, barbecues, and lawnmowers.

Greens blame cattle for global warming – so there should be no beef products on sale in ACT – loyal Canberrans will surely welcome the chance to test a diet of mealworms, grass-fed goat meat, sun-dried sourdough, and almond milk. This will bring a personal green focus to the Net Zero crusade.

Canberra will need to streamline their approvals processes for all this green land use change. With Net Zero at stake we cannot allow eternal objections such as those which caused a 13-year delay for extensions to the Acland Coal Mine in Queensland. Just a brief notice in the classified ads in the Canberra Times should suffice in this race to save the planet.

Any Canberra residents who are sceptical that this green energy pilot plant will operate successfully should be free to import a small modular nuclear reactor for their suburb. Or move to Queensland.

The whole Anglosphere has been led into a green energy swamp – our enemies cannot believe their luck.

Hopefully, the trio of Trump, Farage, and Dutton will lead us back to safe ground before the Bowen blackouts arrive.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/07/a-pilot-plant-for-net-zero/

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The VERY surprising name - once touted as a future Prime Minister - rumoured to be among exodus from Team Albo

Linda Burney and Brendan O'Connor to quit politics But Jason Clare has also been suspiciously quiet...

Anthony Albanese reshuffling his frontbench may be akin to shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

While HMAS Labor isn't guaranteed to sink, plenty of its senior ministers are contemplating grabbing life rafts and bailing on their political careers.

Longtime Labor hands, Indigenous Affairs minister Linda Burney and skills minister Brendan O'Connor, both announced their retirement on Thursday morning.

But there is also speculation that education minister Jason Clare could make it a triumvirate of cabinet ministers who pull the pin.

Such pre-election announcements would force major changes to Albo's ministry, giving him the chance to also reshuffle the likes of Clare O'Neil and Andrew Giles out of the home affairs and immigration portfolios, where they have presided over bungles and failures.

Meanwhile those looking to fight on and contest the next election are already hitting the campaign hustings, in sharp contrast to some who are not - a lead indicator of who is staying and who is going.

Western Sydney MPs Tony Burke and Ed Husic have started posting examples of their local community work on social media, not something either Cabinet minister has done in recent months.

Clare's community presence remains visibly absent, adding to speculation that he might be a surprise departure at just 52 years of age.

The official Labor Party campaign spokesperson from the last election, Clare holds the seat of Blaxland once held by former PM Paul Keating.

Long touted as a future Labor leader himself, Clare’s political career hasn’t met the lofty expectations many had for him.

Sources close to Clare say that if he does leave politics now it is because he sees himself as still young enough to embark on a second career outside of politics. Perhaps in the private sector.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13669811/PETER-VAN-ONSELEN-surprising-touted-future-Prime-Minister-rumoured-quitting-Team-Albo-PM-plans-major-shake-up.html

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Fast-food plea: hold the penalties

The Australian Industry Group will use the Fair Work review of part-time employment to push for a new clause in the fast-food and retail awards that would remove automatic access to overtime payments if a part-timer worked more hours than initially agreed.

Under the proposal, the clause could only be activated by agreement between the employer and employee. Employers said the current restrictions in the two awards meant they often had to employ casuals or labour hire in place of part-timers, and the new clause would give extra pay to part-timers if they were happy to work additional hours.

Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox said most awards contained clauses governing part-time employment that were far too complex and restrictive, with employers forced to engage staff as casual workers rather than on a permanent part-time basis.

“Ai Group has proposed that awards be varied to make it easier for employers to offer part-time workers additional hours without facing the need to pay penalty rates, where an employee agrees,” he told The Australian.

“The practical reality is that many part-time employees would value the opportunity to earn ­additional income from working extra hours from time to time, where an employer can offer it.”

He said the “sensible” change would greatly increase permanent employment opportunities across a range of industries.

“We can’t allow union mania for rigid workplace rules and regulation to undermine a legitimate form of employment that has worked well for employers and employees for decades,” he said.

“At a time of a cost-of-living crisis, the ability to provide ­additional work when it is available to the part-time workforce without major additional costs and restrictions should be a priority for the workplace relations system.”

ACTU president Michele O’Neil hit back at the employer claims, saying unions would ­oppose the business lobby push.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/fastfood-plea-hold-the-penalties/news-story/252912b87e1ae0733e1b828a7160c8cf

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All my main blogs below:

http://jonjayray.com/covidwatch.html (COVID WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)

http://jonjayray.com/short/short.html (Subject index to my blog posts)

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Union power is just one way the new laws will hit family businesses

Robert Gottliebsen

In the US, both political parties encourage aspiration and family business.

In Australia, we have embraced the reverse strategy and decided to hit our family businesses hard.

And alarmingly, the vast majority of Australia’s 2.5 million family enterprises – which account for some five million workers or around 40 per cent of the private sector work force – have no idea they are about to be savaged by the Albanese government.

Today, I detail some of the globally unprecedented blows they face starting next month. They will be required by legislation to share management control of their business with newly appointed union delegates.

Forcing on family enterprises a decision-making process that is entirely incompatible with the staff trust that causes those businesses to succeed will create incalculable damage to Australian productivity and standard of living. But it will substantially increase the current token union membership in family enterprises.

Large enterprises can handle Albanese’s legislated management formula because usually they have the market power and can pass on the cost.

Most family enterprises don’t have that market power and gain their competitiveness by their trusting relationship with their workforce and the efficiency that delivers.

Let me explain how the family business will be hit.

* Unions have the power to appoint a delegate to any business employing at least one person. It is not clear how the various unions will share that right, but the Fair Work Commission indicates one union delegate per fifty employees is appropriate.

* The tasks and powers of the union delegate(s) are wide-ranging. They must be consulted on all major workplace changes including rosters and any process or procedure in which employees are entitled to be represented, including resolution of grievances or disputes, performance management and disciplinary processes. The definition of whom union delegates can contact in an enterprise effectively means everyone.

* Enterprises employing 15 or more people must be given time to attend the Trades Hall for “training”. Those with under 15 employees can do their training online. Transport enterprises are excluded because they have their own set of rules designed to push up costs by around 10 per cent by eliminating efficient and safe independent family owned truckies.

* It will be dangerous to retrench or sack a union delegate, and employers must give them access to space to do their work and to use the workplace communication system. The union delegates’ rights to share information among delegates in rival enterprises will be the subject of much controversy.

* Almost certainly, union delegates will be instructed by Trades Hall to insist that employers obey the new laws on casual employment. As I set out on April 23, the new law defines casual employment in such a complex way that most businesses currently employing casuals will be acting illegally if they continue with the current arrangement after August 26, 2024.

They will need to be punished. Businesses that obey the law and remove casuals will cause great anger among casual workers who are currently getting 25 per cent premium for their casual work which they use to pay rent and mortgages.

Delegates to family enterprises may be instructed by their union bosses to wait until after the election before “dobbing in” their employer’s “illegal” casual hiring.

The Albanese government legislative aim is to convert casuals to part or full-time employees so they are much easier to recruit as union members. But, not only do most casuals like the current “illegal” flexibility and cash rewards, casuals in many areas lift business productivity and competitiveness.

* Enterprise agreements and arrangements will be gradually replaced by industry awards that incorporate the most expensive provisions that unions in a particular enterprise were able to negotiate with companies that had no choice but to give in.

This eliminates any competitive advantage and its impact on Australian family business productivity is incalculable.

I meet many smaller family enterprises, and the horror and disbelief that I encounter when I personally explain what is about to happen to the employee trust that drives their enterprise is heart-wrenching.

I will never forget the emotion in one of the few family businesses to survive after the closure of the automotive making industry.

The person who drove the parts business into new global areas stood up and said to his son with some with emotion: “We must sell”. Unfortunately, it was too late.

The above rules are merely snippets from the 700 pages of industrial relations legislation, which from August 26 will form the basis of running businesses in Australia.

Along with government imposed rises in long-term energy costs and other government imposts, the legislation locks in higher than necessary inflation for longer, which impacts interest rates.

It is also significant that the vast majority of jobs that have been created over the last year or so have come from activities that were either government owned or relied on government income to operate. Health and education have been important.

Australia needs to restore balance, but the legislation is designed to push employment away from family businesses that do not rely on government income.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/union-power-is-just-one-way-the-new-laws-will-hit-family-businesses/news-story/00c313793f67ea3d316b04f6dabc5847

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Excellent NSW curriculum changes should be national

Reforms to the NSW primary school curriculum will help children who are struggling at school.

This clear and commonsense curriculum will change children’s lives.

Other states and territories must copy NSW’s A+ homework and simplify their own syllabus materials.

NSW’s gutsy reforms will take the guesswork out of schoolwork for students, teachers and parents.

The new syllabus shies away from woke and worthy lessons to focus on giving kids the knowledge and skills they need to grow into successful, educated adults.

One in three Australian kids is starting high school barely literate, having failed to grasp the fundamentals of reading and writing in primary school

This sets them up for failure.

For decades, too many Australian kids have been bored stupid – quite literally – because they can’t comprehend what they’re being taught in classrooms, or find the content dull and irrelevant.

Now NSW has delivered a succinct syllabus co-designed by classroom teachers, instead of ivory-tower academics who think “phonics’’ is a dirty word.

This new curriculum spells out precisely what children need to learn, using plain-English wording and practical examples. It is clear, coherent, carefully sequenced and far more interesting for inquisitive kids. Teachers will no longer have to stay up all night Googling definitions of education jargon, or swapping lesson plans on Instagram.

The scandal is that this fundamental reform has taken so long, and that so many children have fallen through the cracks of a flawed education system.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/excellent-nsw-curriculum-changes-should-be-national/news-story/e13b62b492ed3076120620d4fcd2ce1a

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Female footballer beats up teenager

Toughie

An NRLW player has been charged with assaulting a teenager inside a Sydney eastern suburbs unit block over an argument relating to a food delivery order.

Parramatta Eels player Kate Fallon, 20, was charged after emergency services were called to an apartment complex at Namatjira Place, Chifley at about 1.30pm last Tuesday.

Paramedics treated a 17-year-old girl for injuries to her head before she was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital as a precaution and released.

Ms Fallon was arrested at the scene and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

She was granted bail and will appear in Waverley Local Court on August 14.

The girl’s father told 2GB that the alleged altercation occurred when she ordered $70 worth of UberEats and it did not arrive.

He described her injuries as “gruesome”.

“She’s not too bad considering what she’s been through, you know what I mean,” he said.

“And the funny thing about it is I haven’t received a call from anyone, the NRLW, Parramatta or even the Integrity Unit.”

Parramatta said in a statement that they were aware of a matter involving one of their NRLW players.

“The club advised the NRL integrity unit as per our normal process,” the club said. “As it is a police matter, the club will not be making further comment at this time.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/nrlw-player-charged-with-assault-over-alleged-uber-eats-argument/news-story/6c6c644e401184d8542f9c51d2b5c83f

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Your home will be worth less with us: Greens

Catchy!

Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather has made clear the minor party’s policies are aimed at achieving a real decline in housing values over time to ­ensure the next generation has a better chance of buying a home

Mr Chandler-Mather said that Labor had failed to comprehend that “the social contract has been broken”, and that an “entire generation of people who previously, I think, probably would have got involved in the Labor Party have abandoned them”.

He said that a hard working, well educated young Australian with a good job could now be “earning a $100,000-plus a year wage” and it was “still impossible for you to buy a home”.

The Greens have proposed a major overhaul to phase out negative gearing and abolish the ­capital gains tax discount, as well as the establishment of a government-owned property developer to rent and sell at below-market prices.

The party has also advocated for a rent freeze and cap on rents, arguing that 20 per cent of renters across the nation vote Green.

In an interview with The Australian as part of a series exploring the Greens’ policy platform, Mr Chandler-Mather said the party’s key objective was to halt housing price growth.

“I think our goal, our stated goal, is to stop house price growth, so zero per cent growth, to give wages a chance to catch up,” he said. “I think the net effect would be a stabilisation of house prices.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/greens-plan-would-push-down-the-value-of-the-family-home/news-story/d3dc09b63737f78af36d42e86e67a83e

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All my main blogs below:

http://jonjayray.com/covidwatch.html (COVID WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)

http://jonjayray.com/short/short.html (Subject index to my blog posts)

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The Coalition must follow Trump’s lead

Wokeism is collapsing. The most putrid ideology to ever inflict liberal democracies is finally crashing. The perpetrators, those silvertails who ponce about with their virtues offered to all and sundry as leading lights, have been exposed as the frauds they always were.

This includes the Teals, the Greens, the communist left of the Labor Party, and the most sickening of all, the left of the Liberal Party who are effectively traitors to Menzies’ forgotten people.

In America, Trump and Vance are emerging as Menzian in their outlook. What I mean by this is they are offering a more pragmatic policy platform that is not driven purely by ideology. The Coalition must follow Trump’s lead as it is only a matter of time before the reversal of the Woke trends in America hits our shores.

The rise of China and the re-emergence of Russia have upset the globalisation apple cart. While global free trade promised to end wars and global poverty, the return to nationalism is a reaction to those who hate the very idea of freedom. But freedom is something that must be learnt through the patient study of philosophy and the great books or what the late Harold Bloom referred to as the Western Canon.

Bloom was no leftie and he referred to those on the left who insist on hating all that is good about Western thought and the liberal tradition as the School of Resentment. Synonymous with this school are the Wokerati.

Freedom, or more appropriately, liberty, is a concept that relies on an educated populace. The Wokerati have been hell-bent on destroying education to become not a system for critical thinking and debate, but an orthodoxy of Wokeness. In the words of Milton in his Areopagitica:

Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.

The Wokerati have used our education system to stifle debate, silence critics, cancel writers they don’t like, and package their opinions as facts. This is exactly what dictators, who are antithetical to liberty, attempt to do. It may well explain why global free trade was unable to achieve the universal benefits it promised. Which brings me back to pragmatism.

Trump and Vance have captured the nationalist spirit and with it, America’s forgotten people. These are the people JD Vance speaks of in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. The similarities between Vance’s people and my own are remarkable. You may have to leave the big cities to find them, but they are the salt of the earth and the heart and soul of Australia.

Unlike big-city Millennials, the forgotten people would defend Australia with their last breath. The 98-year-old American second world war veteran who said that with Trump as commander in chief, he would ‘re-enlist and storm any beach America needs me to’ represents that spirit.

Trump is often referred to as a ‘populist’. This is not an endearing term but one that the Wokerati use to refer to ‘far right’ politicians (read: everyone right of socialism). Populism refers to a leader who represents the ‘forgotten people’ against the elites who are taking the piss out of the common people. The Wokerati in the US and Australia are these elites. Trump and Vance are taking up the challenge, and it is time the Coalition did, too.

While Australia and America are different political beasts, our politics are necessarily intertwined. Trump is already talking about 10 per cent tariffs on all imported goods and making America’s allies share the burden of the cost of defence. Trump is an expert negotiator so this might just be the starting point, but it does signal what will probably be in store for Australia after November.

The Albanese government has been all over the place and the hits just keep on coming. Albo has been weak on defence and weak in his support of the alliance with America. He has made Australia a leaner not a lifter in the security partnership with our most important ally.

The Coalition need to engage with the Trump-Vance team now. Pragmatism must be the aim and not ideology. I have argued elsewhere that Dutton’s nuclear policy will require a big government approach. Rather than seeing this as ‘unnatural’ for the Liberals, they have to go back to their Menzian roots and reinvent Menzies’ approach to the post-globalisation world we now live in.

This means capturing the hearts and minds of Australia’s forgotten people once more. Who would have thought two years ago that the Teals would prove such a failure, that the Albanese government would likely become a one-term government, or that Trump would be looking at becoming America’s 47th President?

The Wokerati are on the ropes, and Australians are fed up with our self-inflicted cost of living crisis and an education system producing uncritical, Woke automatons.

To win, the Coalition needs to develop a credible defence policy as a bargaining chip for Trump. We need this too, so it is no skin off our nose. But the Coalition also needs to develop a trade policy that will work with an isolationist America, as an insider rather than an outsider. This will be essential to our survival in the decades to come.

Trump’s choice of JD Vance as his running mate, as opposed to Trump’s security detail, is no diversity pick. Trump is not chasing Teals but America’s working class (read: the forgotten people).

The Teamster’s leader speaking at the Republican National Convention suggests there is tension in the labour ranks. Australia’s labour movement is in a similar position and these voters are screaming for political representation.

But most importantly, the Coalition needs to excise the Wokerati from their ranks. Chasing Teals is a waste of time. Winning the hearts and minds of the contemporary forgotten people, in Australia as in America, is the way to victory and an end to Woke nonsense.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/07/the-coalition-must-follow-trumps-lead/

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Reforms failed on maths teaching, says new report

Students’ falling maths scores can be stemmed and reversed by focusing on teacher effectiveness instead of dedicating resources to measures such as increasing teacher-to-student ratios or lifting funding for disadvantaged groups, a new report claims.

“There has been limited interaction with the science of learning with key domains, particularly mathematics and mathematical cognition and learning,” according to the report from the Centre for Independent Studies.

Siobhan Merlo, author of The Science of Maths and how to Apply it, said she hoped the report “gives teachers the tools that they need to understand how learning works and what the implications are for the way they teach”.

She contrasted Australia’s faltering performance in international scores compared to peer countries such as Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan.

“I feel like in Australia … we have instructional casualties,” she said, adding the reasons were “multifaceted” including the country was not producing enough maths teachers.

“Teachers generally don’t go into maths teaching as much as they go into other subjects, so we definitely don’t have enough maths teachers. We have a lot of out-of-subject teachers teaching maths in Australia.”

She said focusing on measures such as teacher-to-student ratios and directing funding to disadvantaged students – measures of the kind that had been proposed in the Gonski review – had not worked.

“If these things they did target had worked, we wouldn’t see the results we’ve got now,” she said. “Despite this funding and despite these best efforts, we’re seeing that decline or stagnation. Teacher effectiveness has not been properly addressed in the Gonski review.”

On the topic of teaching effectiveness, Dr Merlo’s report advocates for thinking about it in a “measurable-effectiveness focused” way.

This school of thought focuses on “explicit instruction and developing mathematical competency”, the report states.

“Engagement happens via building competency and setting students up for success, not via relaxing requirements on correctness of answers or refraining from using timed tests.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/education/gonski-failed-on-maths-teaching-saysnew-report/news-story/d23a4a987ec3bec11522fd5ccc1226df

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Jacinta Nampijinpa Price lists the benefits of colonisation - as she warns Indigenous prosperity is being held back by victimhood culture

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has sensationally claimed that 'no one is disadvantaged because they are Indigenous' - as she lists how Australia has benefited from colonisation.

Sharing her views in an opinion piece for The Australian, the controversial Liberal Senator argued it was inevitable that the country would be colonised and it was only a question of 'by whom and when'.

The Opposition Indigenous affairs spokeswoman said British settlement afforded Australia a common law legal system, democracy, freedom and prosperity - things that were not previously known to Indigenous people.

Ms Price admitted Australian history is 'not perfect' and there are 'shameful chapters' but claimed the country is now a 'modern success story'.

'Crimes were committed, violence and injustice perpetrated by bad actors, but I don't think it should be controversial to say that both black and white Australia were making the best of things by the standards of the times,' she wrote.

'This is demonstrated by the fact that, out of these decades of disruption, something resembling a nation emerged.

'So much so that when duty called our first Anzacs to serve in the Great War, more than a thousand Indigenous Australians signed up to fight. Many of these heroes went above and beyond.'

Ms Price also claimed Indigenous prosperity was being held back by a victimhood culture - which she argued was creating division.

She said Indigenous culture prior to British settlement was marked by violent conflicts and if we continue along a 'separatist road' negative parts of Indigenous culture will be left alone to 'grow and fester' - such as arranged marriage, violent cultural payback and attributing tragedies to 'sorcery'.

She said the 'progressive left' put too much focus on the 'less than savoury' aspects of Indigenous history, rather than celebrating the events that led to the nation's 'great prosperity, security and success'.

She said it is not commonly acknowledged that British rulers ordered settlers to maintain friendly relations with the native people - although the instructions were often ignored.

She also noted that Europeans and Aboriginals were viewed equally before the law, and settlers who killed Indigenous people were sentenced to death - citing the Myall Creek massacre, where seven white men were found guilty and hanged.

She also claimed that many descendants of the Stolen Generations' now enjoy greater prosperity and success than those generations who were simply neglected and left to live in poverty and squalor' and argued the best way forward for the nation was for everyone to view themselves as modern Australians.

'The simple fact is that no one is disadvantaged just because they are Indigenous. But those who are disadvantaged will remain so if we don't learn the lessons of our past and move forward together,' she wrote.

'Last year, in my address to the National Press Club – at the height of the voice referendum debate – I made more than a few headlines when I highlighted positive impacts of colonisation on Indigenous Australians, instead of merely regurgitating the standard deficit narrative peddled by those seeking to maintain the victim mentality.

'I stand by that view, because when you take an honest, even-handed position on our nation’s history, it’s obviously true.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13649279/Jacinta-Nampijinpa-Price-lists-benefits-colonisation-warns-Indigenous-prosperity-held-victimhood-culture.html

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Stakeholders Disconnected from Corporate ESG Efforts: Research

‘While corporate activism may appeal to a small, vocal minority, it risks alienating a broader base of stakeholders, including consumers,’ said Emilie Dye.

In light of corporations increasingly engaging in social activism, new research has found that many shareholders, employees, and customers disagree with their companies’ social and political activities.

The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) has released a report (pdf) shedding light on stakeholders opinions on corporate advocacy and activism.

The study, which surveyed 2,500 Australians (1,000 consumers, 1,000 employees, and 500 shareholders), found that most stakeholders were unaware of their companies’ social and political activities.

Specifically, 58 percent of the employees, 66 percent of the shareholders, and 44 percent of consumers did not follow their companies’ advocacy for social causes.

The figures were even higher for political causes, with 83 percent, 74 percent, and 65 percent reporting a lack of engagement.

Corporate Social Activism Misaligns With Stakeholders
According to the report’s co-author Emilie Dye, over 60 percent of employees and 41 percent of shareholders felt that corporate support for political causes did not align with their personal convictions.

“Among consumers, 60 percent say the corporate political advocacy rarely or never aligns with their views,” she added.

“In fact, 6 percent of employees say they have left a job because of their employer’s activism.

“The results suggested that far from being a mass movement, driven from the ground up, these activism initiatives are considered peripheral—if not largely ignored—by most shareholders and employees.”

While younger generations increasingly wanted businesses to intervene in contentious public debates, Ms. Dye said two-thirds of Gen Z respondents (born between 1997 and 2012) preferred companies to focus on providing good service and high returns, and stay out of public debates.

The report also found that consumers were twice as likely to avoid purchasing from a company they disagreed with, compared to those who would choose a company they agreed with.

When asked why companies engaged in social activism, 24 percent of respondents believed it was to increase profits, followed by fear of public backlash (22 percent) and gaining favour with the public and politicians (20 percent).

“The data suggest that while corporate activism may appeal to a small, vocal minority, it risks alienating a broader base of stakeholders, including consumers,” Ms. Dye said.

Echoing the sentiment, Simon Cowan, another co-author, said there was a “critical misalignment” between corporate activism and stakeholder values.

“This report should give strength to managers who feel bullied into taking a public position on contentious social issues, and make those who have been convinced to do so take pause,” he said.

The CIS report comes as companies in Australia and around the globe are increasingly engaging in political, environmental, and social issues.

During The Voice movement, an initiative by the Labor government to embed an Indigenous advisory body into the Australian Constitution, it was reported that 14 of the 20 top ASX companies supported the Yes campaign.
Despite the top companies donating millions of dollars to support the movement, it was overwhelmingly voted down by Australian voters.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/corporate-activism-risks-alienating-stakeholders-research-5688909

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All my main blogs below:

http://jonjayray.com/covidwatch.html (COVID WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)

http://jonjayray.com/short/short.html (Subject index to my blog posts)

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The Pell case is another one that should never have even been prosecuted

An even shakier case than in the Brittany Higgins debacle. Higgins was a beneficiary of pro-feminist prejudices. Pell was a victim of anti-Catholic prejudice

The Pell case was a serious miscarriage of justice. So far there has been no inquiry into the actions of the police or how the legal system managed to get this so wrong, and worst of all there seems to be no mood in Victoria for a serious inquiry into Pell’s case.

However, as Daniel Andrews made pretty clear, the presumption of innocence didn’t even seem to apply in cases such as the cardinal’s, with the then Victorian premier’s “we hear you and believe you” remark after the High Court judgment, meaning all complainants are “victims”.

Nevertheless, many commentators and distinguished legal experts have called for such an inquiry, not the least of whom is former High Court justice ­Michael Kirby, who has said basic evidence in the case showed “a very serious doubt was raised as to cardinal Pell’s guilt”, adding: “Effective protections against miscarriages of justice must be there for all serious cases, even for a cardinal.”

So, what do the shenanigans in Rome have to do with any of this? Good question. The charges against the cardinal occurred close to the time he had alleged that corrupt forces within the Vatican had sought to stop his work in reforming the Catholic Church’s finances. Shortly afterwards, some of the people he had brought in from outside were sacked.

I saw him just after the police interviewed him in Rome and he was simply incredulous about the obvious attempts to fit him up, including about things that supposedly happened in Australia when he was overseas. He frankly dismissed the whole thing and told me he had more to worry about in Rome than those “clowns” in Victoria because he had “great faith in the Australian justice system”.

Nevertheless, Pell was found guilty in 2018. The Victorian Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in August 2019. While all this was happening the vast irregularities of the Vatican finances began to emerge. Archbishop Angelo Becciu fell under suspicion and has since been found guilty of embezzlement, complete with a telephone recording that emerged later saying after Pell’s conviction, “the way is now open for you”. So it seems there could have been a link between the prosecution of the cardinal and the financial misdeeds of clerics close to the Pope.

Or could there? What does any of this really matter to us?

There are several strands in modern-day Catholicism. There is the nominal Catholic, the everyday practising type (me) and then there are the real ultraconservatives. At that end of the spectrum are a growing number of Catholics who have been disappointed with the current papacy and the Pope’s pronouncements on everything from marriage to war and the calibre of candidates for the priesthood in seminaries. Pell was not a fan of the current papacy, so it is not hard to see how a conspiracy theory about Pell has flourished in some conservative milieus.

However, the fact remains for all Australians that the case against Pell should not have been prosecuted. The Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions rejected it three times. Even the magistrate in the committal hearing noted: “If a jury accepted the evidence of the Monsignor (Charles Portelli) and Mr Potter (Max Potter, the sacristan) … then a jury could not convict”. Pell was convicted on the say of one accuser with no corroborating evidence. The High Court went as far as stating that no jury acting “rationally” would not have found reasonable doubt. So why didn’t the jury act “rationally”?

Obviously, the main reason was the huge campaign instigated by the Victoria Police in concert with the ABC to denigrate the cardinal as a covert sexual predator. He was subject to a relentless campaign of persecution by the public broadcaster whose minions, Louise Milligan and Sarah Ferguson, were desperate to pin something, anything, on that man, even after the High Court had exonerated him: bizarre accusations about swimming pools, a libellous book, even nasty songs – all of it was aimed at the public.

The injustice Pell had to face in Victoria, not Rome, is where the focus should lie. Each time I met the cardinal and even after he was convicted and had to go to prison, he said he had great faith in the Australian legal system. It is a great pity that faith was so sorely tested and that some of the powers that be did not have the same faith.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/victorian-case-against-pell-the-greater-scandal/news-story/12d212f2d6457faa5d4ae8cd3fe932d4

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Why some parents have swapped school for homeschooling

Heidi Ryan says it took until her eldest child reached year 11 to realise mainstream school was doing her three children more harm than good.

So she turned to homeschooling.

Like her two older children, now 24 and 20, her youngest daughter, 16, is autistic. Each struggled with the teaching style at school and so, six years ago, Ryan decided to become both teacher and mother.

“It was the best thing we ever did,” she said. “For their mental health, us as a family and for their understanding of who they are and how they learn.”

She is one of a growing number of “accidental homeschoolers” who now account for about 85 per cent of the sector, according to Queensland University of Technology education researcher Dr Rebecca English.

“These are families who never intended to homeschool but for reasons such as school refusal, neurodivergence, bullying or just having kids who are different prompted parents to look for alternatives,” she said.

A speech therapist, Ryan said not having to follow standardised assessments took the pressure off and allowed activities and subjects to be child-led. A fan of cosplay, Ryan has included wig styling in their lessons.

“We don’t do any formal assessment, I don’t quiz them on things. I can see and acknowledge their learning is happening in subtle ways.”

Ryan has used open university courses, online apps and programs from support organisations like the Home Education Network, and has tapped into parent-run groups, which organise excursions and other learning opportunities.

She made sure her children kept in contact with existing school friends and encouraged them to form new friendships through their homeschooling network and extracurricular activities, such as volleyball, archery, pottery, cosplay and tennis.

Once the domain of libertarians and Christian families, English said the impact of COVID restrictions on schools had proved a tipping point for many families.

“It was like a risk-free trial,” English said of enforced homeschooling under COVID restrictions. “People got a taste of how family life could be organised, and once they tried it many didn’t go back.”

Department of Education data shows the number of students being homeschooled jumped 112 per cent from 5333 in 2018 to more than 11,332 students in 2022.

As of June last year, there were 10,481 students registered. While it represents an 8 per cent decrease on 2022’s COVID-induced spike, data shows registrations have grown steadily since 2018.

“The numbers were tracking up anyway but COVID was a real shot in the arm,” English said.

Last year 59 per cent of homeschooled students were aged under 12, with the remainder aged 13 and over.

Families who chose to homeschool need to register with the Victorian Registrations and Qualifications Authority, which audits 10 per cent of homeschooling households a year. Parents are not required to follow a prescribed curriculum or provide progress reports, but they do need to submit lesson plans covering eight key learning areas.

If requirements of homeschooling are not met, the authority can cancel the homeschooling registration.

Kirsty James from the Home Education Network said homeschooling suited a range of students, particularly neurodiverse, disabled and high-performing students and those unable to attend mainstream schools.

“Some children with sensory issues can’t deal with noise or uniforms that are uncomfortable or scratchy, or they struggle with bright lighting,” James said. “When a child is in their home they are in an environment that is comfortable to them.”

Asked what she would have done if homeschooling wasn’t an option, Ryan pauses.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I think we would have just pushed through because we wouldn’t have had a choice. We would’ve come out of the other end with a dislike of school and learning. Which is a bit sad.”

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/i-can-t-learn-why-some-parents-have-swapped-school-for-homeschooling/ar-BB1pUaX1?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ACTS&cvid=8615aa87ecd2491187aad80421ac0000&ei=35

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Nuclear experts have refuted Labor’s claims about nuclear energy water use

ALL power stations vaporize a lot of water for cooling purposes

Leading nuclear experts have rejected Agriculture Minister Murray Watt’s claims that nuclear power stations would take water from farmers and put cropping and grazing land at risk of accidents.

State and territory agriculture ministers from around the country raised concerns on Thursday about potential effects of proposed nuclear power stations on farming land.

A joint statement issued ahead of the quarterly meeting of agriculture ministers called on the opposition to outline plans to protect land used for cropping and raising livestock in the event of an emergency.

Agriculture ministers or government representatives from Labor states endorsed the joint statement, but Tasmania, a Liberal state that is not home to a proposed nuclear reactor, was not included.

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt, speaking at The Australian’s Global Food Forum in Brisbane on Wednesday, said the Coalition’s plan to build nuclear plants on seven coal-fired power station sites in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia would take water from farmers.

Senator Watt on Thursday rejected Coalition claims that Labor was running a scare campaign, and cited parliamentary research showing there were 11,955 farms located within an 80km radius of the selected sites, requiring “expensive” risk mitigation plans.

“I think it’s about time the federal opposition provided some answers to Australia’s farmers and our ag sector, about where the water will come from, what would happen in the event of a nuclear accident, and what preparations they would be making with the agriculture sector to prepare for such an event,” he said.

“What are those 12,000 farmers going to be expected to do if we do have an accident, and what steps would they need to take to ensure that the food and fibre that they produce is safe?”

The claims have been refuted by nuclear engineering experts and Nationals leader David Littleproud, who accused Senator Watt of misunderstanding the science of nuclear energy production and the comparable rate of water usage between coal and nuclear power plants.

Nuclear engineer and advocate Tony Irwin, an honorary associate professor at the Australian National University, said new technologies meant reactors were safer than ever and could be set up for use with significantly less cooling water.

“Solar and wind farms have far more effects on farming in Australia than nuclear will ever have,” Dr Irwin told The Australian. “There’s far less impact from nuclear plants because they are on existing industrial sites … using existing cooling water supplies.

“I think Labor are getting a bit desperate … Wind and solar have definitely a part to play … but when you start taking farmland for solar and wind, that’s a bad idea.”

Dr Irwin said the concerns around nuclear accidents on farmland were unfounded.

“There’s always fallback plans for any sort of disaster,” he said.

Nationals MP Keith Pitt, a former water and resources minister, said Australians wanted a nuclear energy debate based on facts. “Nuclear reactors in Europe have been operational for decades in agricultural environments and coal-fired power stations already have significant water allocations and storage,” he said.

Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable said it was disappointing “misinformation” was being used to stir fear in regional communities.

“For decades, operating nuclear power stations have coexisted with productive agricultural regions throughout Europe and North America without any negative impact,” she said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/nuclear-experts-have-refuted-labors-claims-about-nuclear-energy-water-use/news-story/ac67bacdb114b0501bcb749a4f02d7fe

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Immigration has become a potent issue that lies beyond the traditional political divisions

Buried away in the British election results is a huge warning for Australia, made all the more relevant by the Senator Fatima Payman saga. On the face of it, the election was a triumph for British Labour, of course. It won over 65 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons. But in electoral terms, it won only 34 per cent of the vote.

The Conservatives saw their vote plummet from 44 per cent to 24 per cent in just five years. But behind the facade of that result lurked the toxic issue of immigration and multiculturalism. It’s what the Americans like to call a “third rail” issue.

Across the English Channel, the French election was also a huge warning for Australia. In that election, the anti-immigration party of Marine Le Pen won more votes than any other political party although the parties of the centre and the left by collaborating each won more seats. Le Pen’s party won 37.3 per cent of the vote while the coalition of the left won 26.9 per cent. This was a huge vote against immigration and multiculturalism.

This same trend has been seen over the past year in the Netherlands and Italy and more importantly helps explain the Trump phenomenon in the United States. For a long time, commentators argued this rise in support for these hitherto fringe political movements was caused by globalisation: the loss of manufacturing jobs to China, the decline in living standards in traditional industrial towns, and so on.

There may be some truth in this. After all, centre-left and centre-right governments believe heavy manufacturing should be closed down because of the CO2 emissions it generates. Better to transfer those emissions to China and India. A lot of punters may think that policy is not just damaging to them but intellectually absurd. But still, that isn’t the main reason many people are shifting away from traditional parties.

The fundamental cause of this drift away from traditional political parties of the centre left and centre right is the way immigration and multiculturalism have been handled. It would be a mistake to think that in Britain, France, the Netherlands, the US and Italy the public are opposed to immigration. It’s not that simple. And it’s not that they object to people because of their colour. Immigration is not so much the issue as two aspects of it. The first is unregulated immigration. Tens of thousands of migrants have been pouring into Europe and America without approval, normally courtesy of people-smugglers.

Unregulated immigration is deeply unpopular. And the second issue is those migrants who fail to integrate into society. Multiracialism is one thing but the term multiculturalism, which we all praise, denies the existence of cultural norms that bind a society together. That is resented and creates tensions and divisions.

In France and the UK, some migrants have congregated very heavily in particular suburbs of major cities, turning those suburbs into what appears to more traditional people little more than foreign enclaves.

The people within those enclaves are often alienated from the rest of society by virtue of their physical isolation. The enclaves have their own schools, religious institutions, shops and so on. In recent elections, these concentrations of migrants have had an alarming effect on electoral outcomes.

In the recent UK election, in constituencies where at least 40 per cent of people are Muslims, the Labour vote actually declined from the 2019 election by nearly 34 per cent! In constituencies where Muslims made up between 10 and 20 per cent of the vote, Labour’s vote fell by 6.8 per cent, whereas in constituencies where Muslims accounted for less than 10 per cent of the electorate, Labour increased its vote by an average of 3 per cent. In a general election that was a triumph for the Labour Party it nevertheless lost five seats to Muslim activist independents.

This recent practice of migrants or the descendants of migrants of a particular religious persuasion voting en bloc – in this case on the issue of the Hamas-induced war in Gaza – has alarmed not just the Labour Party but the broader British population. But for immigration and multiculturalism to be embraced, and for a country successfully to hold together as an entity, there have to be some binding principles and attitudes that define the nation. Without that, the nation will atomise.

As British philosopher Sir Roger Scruton wrote: “We, like everyone else, depend upon a shared culture for our security, our prosperity and our freedom … we can welcome immigrants only if we welcome them into our culture, and not beside or against it.” Three days after the election, former Labour prime minister Tony Blair gave some stark advice to the new government. He said new Prime Minister Keir Starmer “needs a plan to control immigration” and made the very simple point: “If we don’t have rules, we get prejudices.” That’s exactly right.

In the US this issue is also very potent and one of the driving forces of former president Donald Trump’s popularity. It is claimed that some 10 million illegal migrants have entered the US since President Joe Biden was elected. That figure may be a bit of an exaggeration, but still, the problem of illegals pouring over the Mexican border is huge.

Within the US multiculturalism is embraced and accepted. In the main. But like anything, it can be taken too far. To use it as a tool by specific ethnic groups to denigrate the nation that has welcomed them, to pour scorn on its history and to appear supportive of its adversaries is politically inflammatory. It is also disrespectful of the country that has welcomed these people to its shores.

So what about our own country? We have to be careful. Senator Payman was elected on a Labor Party ticket and has resigned from that party over the issue of a foreign war in which Australia is not involved. If our politics is going to descend into this kind of ethnic conflict, then it’s going to be hard to keep our country together.

But don’t worry, the punters won’t tolerate that and will start voting with greater enthusiasm for fringe political movements if our two mainstream parties don’t just control immigration – the Howard government explained all that many years ago – but make sure there are core principles that hold our country together. We cannot afford to allow a hugely successful country to atomise.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/immigration-not-globalism-is-true-cause-of-centrist-pain/news-story/09e49e28d63d07ef16b4faab5c35be56

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All my main blogs below:

http://jonjayray.com/covidwatch.html (COVID WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)

http://jonjayray.com/short/short.html (Subject index to my blog posts)

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Hatred of feminism linked to violence, report finds

Rubbish! The headine above may perhaps be accurate but the "Report" that underlies that headline shows no such thing. the "Report" is here

https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/items/9c386698-5d92-4667-8bbb-4060ed59f42b

All it shows is that various negative attitudes tend to correlate with one-another. There is NO demonstrated link to violence or any other form of behaviour.

"Reports" are a common way of bypassing the critical scrutiny that publication in academic journals articles requires

A new report has warned that anti-feminist beliefs are a strong predictor of violent extremism, with 20 per cent of Australian men surveyed believing feminism is dangerous to society and should be fought with violence if necessary.

According to the survey of 1020 men and women, 30 per cent of all respondents agreed or slightly agreed with hostile sexist attitudes and 19.4 per cent of the men believed it is legitimate to resist feminism using force.

Some of the statements put to the respondents include that feminism has ruined modern relationships and feminists are trying to get more power than men.

The research found hostile sexist attitudes and attitudes permissive of violence against women are strongly associated with most forms of violent extremism, including extremism motivated by religion, ethnicity and incel ideologies.

The Misogyny, Racism and Violent Extremism report said addressing the role of racial and gendered biases as underlying drivers of violent extremism and terrorism is significant but an “overlooked” security concern.

Report author Dr Sara Meger, who teaches international security and gender in international relations at the University of Melbourne, said she sent her research to commonwealth agencies in the hope it will help the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation redefine what is recognised as violent extremism.

“The biggest shortcomings we had this year with the Bondi Junction attack is that the current acting definition of terrorism can’t grasp how someone is motivated for a hatred of woman or anti-feminist ideology,” Dr Meger told The Australian. “We were motivated to do this research because … we thought we needed some empirical data to corroborate the growing recognition that there is some sort of element of gender ideology driving violent extremism.”

Independent MP Allegra Spender has called for a greater focus on violence against women following the Bondi stabbings.
The report also found that if policy were to define violent anti-feminist beliefs as a form of extremism, it would be the most prevalent form in the country.

It said that young people and boys are more likely to support violent extremism in all forms and those in the 18-39 age bracket are more likely to agree with restricting a woman’s right to choose her sexual partners compared to older respondents.

Dr Meger said “online echo chambers” are the biggest influence on younger generations preferencing these views over older people.

“These young men for whatever reason who are struggling socially, financially, emotionally, they’re looking for answers in these online forums. They find an easy one and blame feminism. Some forums might say feminism is the reason your life isn’t as good,” Dr Meger said.

She said it would take a whole-of-society approach and more online content regulation to prevent young Australians from adopting harmful views.

“I think it’s going to be a very difficult issue as there’s such mistrust with authority figures that goes along with this radicalism and polarisation,” she said.

The report said terrorist attacks and incidents of mass violence in Australia were found to have gendered and racialised determinants, and pointed to the Lindt Cafe siege terrorist who had a domestic violence intervention order against him at the time of the attack, and the Bondi Junction killer who was described by his father as frustrated by his lack of dating success.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/hatred-of-feminism-linked-to-violence-report-finds/news-story/1285876eb4b77f1d13a9c21386013c1d

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Government guarantees tax breaks for private schools

The Albanese government has buckled to a private school backlash by ruling out plans to axe tax breaks for donations to more than 5000 schools within five years.

The Productivity Commission on Thursday unveiled radical tax reform proposals that were condemned as a “direct attack’’ on ­religious schools.

Despite a storm of protests from private and Catholic schools, the commission refused to back down on its controversial call that parents and other donors be stripped of tax deductions for donations to school building funds.

But Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, immediately ruled out changes to school donations.

“The recommended changes to tax settings for donations to school building funds are not being considered,’’ he said.

“A world-class education system is essential to tackling inequality, driving economic growth and supporting well-paid, secure jobs, and our school system is a key part of it.’’

In its final report on philanthropy, released on Thursday, the commission calls on governments to directly fund school infrastructure instead of relying on public donations.

It also recommends the Albanese government axe tax deductions for donations that pay for religious instruction or ethics education in schools.

Tax breaks benefit wealthy parents in private schools, the report states, adding: “The capacity of schools to raise donations varies widely, depending on the wealth and income of the school community. There is a material risk that higher levels of indirect government support to schools through tax-deductible donations would benefit communities with higher socioeconomic advantage.

“A DRG (deductible gift recipient) status for school building funds is unlikely to deliver support to the areas of greatest need.’’

The PC warns donors could benefit financially, because building funds lower the cost of school fees. “There is the potential for a donor to be able to directly or indirectly convert a tax-deductible donations into a private benefit,’’ the report states. Potential donors are most likely to be people directly involved with the school and benefit directly from donations, such as students, their parents or alumni. Alternative government funding arrangements should be put in place.’’

The commission calls for a five-year transition period before schools are stripped of their DRG status. The report states that “it is highly unlikely that donations would fall to zero without it’’.

The commission found that private schools make up 3500 of the 5000 schools with building funds. Its analysis of donations shows that 20 per cent of all ­donated money went to just 1 per cent of schools, with 71 per cent of total donations shared between 10 per cent of schools.

The commission says tax breaks should be granted to education charities that have “an explicit equity objective’’ – such as scholarships for poor students.

It says universities and TAFE colleges should retain their DRG status because they “tend to be involved in public research’’.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/education/government-guarantees-tax-breaks-for-private-schools/news-story/847bb11eb7d6ae722533e948cd302c49

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Australians pay the price for CFMEU tactics, figures show

Australians are paying the price for union tactics that add billions to the nation’s building costs and weaken productivity, as the federal government works on an urgent draft law to ensure it can overcome any attempts to block an overhaul of the CFMEU.

Labour productivity has fallen 18.1 per cent in the construction sector since 2014, far worse than in other parts of the economy, while the CFMEU is being blamed for a cost surge in the industry.

The work on the draft law comes after the federal government said the Fair Work Commission would seek to impose an external administrator on the CFMEU after days of revelations from an investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes into the union’s ties to organised crime.

Employment Minister Tony Burke is preparing the new laws so they are ready to go next month if needed to impose the changes despite union objections.

Union to go to war over bid to stamp out CFMEU corruption
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has turned the dispute over the CFMEU into a political test over the cost of living, claiming the union has added 30 per cent to the cost of major projects.

The changes have the potential to influence costs across the economy because of the central role of the construction sector and the way major projects can be a burden on taxpayers and can impact households through housing and other costs.

Dutton’s cost claim is backed by Master Builders Australia and has some support from independent economists as well as the former head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Rod Sims.

“If somebody said the behaviour of the union was pushing up costs by 30 per cent, that would not surprise me,” Sims said.

“I don’t have any evidence to support the 30 per cent, but directionally it’s got to be right, and I suspect the quantum is not far out.”

Sims said construction affected everything from new supermarkets to office blocks and the cost increases were passed on to consumers.

“It also means there are projects that are not going ahead because they can only proceed if costs are below a certain level, and if the costs are pushed up because of activity by the CFMEU, then that means some projects don’t go ahead,” he said.

“It’s quite clear to me, from general observation over a long time, that that is exactly what’s happening.”

Master Builders Australia commissioned Queensland Economic Advocacy Solutions to analyse CFMEU wage deals that imposed sweeping conditions that could stop work, limit hours and put other restrictions on how work was done.

The analysis said an apartment project would be 3.5 per cent more expensive with a low application of the CFMEU provisions, 18.2 per cent more costly with a medium application and 33 per cent more expensive with a high application of the rules.

This meant a two-bedroom unit in Brisbane would cost $287,000 more than otherwise, it said. A three-bedroom unit would cost an extra $430,000, pushing its cost to $1.7 million.

CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith has not responded to requests for comment since the government’s announcement on Wednesday, and it is not yet known whether he will support the administration process.

Independent economist Harley Dale, who was the Housing Industry Association’s chief economist for 17 years, said CFMEU conduct at building sites had hampered productivity and added costs to consumers in both the residential and commercial sectors.

Labour costs were also a factor alongside issues such as planning delays, the cost of construction materials and the shortage of skilled workers, he said.

“There’s been a trend in the decline of labour productivity in construction since 2014 and it had a fresh low in 2023 after more than 10 years,” he said.

“I would argue that some of the obstructive behaviour on the part of the CFMEU has certainly been part of that.

“All of that’s got to feed through to the bottom-line pricing of these construction projects. Absolutely, it has to be passed on.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australians-pay-the-price-for-cfmeu-tactics-figures-show-20240719-p5juxl.html

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‘Reckless renewables’: The NSW community fighting a massive solar farm

The residents of the tiny hamlet of Wallaroo in the NSW Southern Tablelands are quick to say they support renewable energy, yet they are united against a proposal for a giant solar farm on their doorstop.

In a microcosm of the problems besetting the broader renewables rollout, the community sent a clear message to the NSW Independent Planning Commission at a public meeting on Thursday: the proposed Wallaroo Solar Farm is the wrong project in the wrong place.

Many of the 570-odd community members – farmers, vineyard owners, commuters to Canberra and retirees – have solar panels on the roofs of their own homes or farm sheds, and some have a biodiesel generator as back-up.

But a massive solar farm, with about 182,000 photovoltaic modules, a substation and battery storage system spanning 165 hectares across two properties in Wallaroo, is a different proposition.

The project, which could power about 48,000 homes mostly in Canberra, is deemed state significant, and is supported by the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.

Community member Adam Gresham told the meeting his main concern was the number of trucks travelling on the narrow country roads each day during construction and beyond.

He said there were 56 children, including his own – aged 16, 12 and 10 – who catch the school bus from the end of their driveways or across the road.

“The verge is quite small and to think that people would allow multiple trucks to come through that area daily, and not think that is a risk, is quite scary for us,” he said, speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald after his presentation.

His wife Christy added that they were “not wealthy people”, and with a “monster mortgage”, they would be unable to move if prices dropped.

Gresham, an ACT firefighter for more than 20 years, is also concerned about the fire risk both in Wallaroo and on the outskirts of Canberra since the area is prone to bushfires and battery storage systems can be volatile.

“To have something within hundreds of metres of residential properties and the toxins that will be created if something goes wrong, that will be carried through smoke to these residents is a major concern,” he said.

At the Murrumbateman Community Hall about 20 minutes from Wallaroo, the public meeting stretched over four hours, with a break for lunch. Twenty-five residents spoke against the project, raising issues about the impact on views, tourism, traffic and road safety, and fire risk.

Only the development manager for the project, Ben Cranston, spoke in favour. He said the project would deliver $1.6 million for community projects over 30 years, employ 150-200 people during construction, and four to five during the operational phase.

“If the project is approved, we will remove approximately 215,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere [annually],” he said.

Cranston said the project had been amended in the past week to reduce the footprint, as well as previous concessions to add landscaping, reduce glare, and control traffic.

Community member Ben Faulks told the Herald the landowners would make money, but the rest of the community would pay the price in lost amenity and lower property values.

“This is a transfer of wealth from the residents of Wallaroo to one or two landowners,” Faulks said.

Faulks said he supported renewables, but argued the project location was driven by the proponents rather than a planning decision about where a solar farm should be sited.

Real estate agent Mark Johnstone, a resident of 23 years, told the meeting he expected a 20 per cent drop in property values from the loss of scenic beauty.

“I support renewables but not reckless renewables,” Johnstone said. “This is not the right location.”

Community member Andrew Cunich told the meeting he bought his property in 2020, paying a premium for the view, and building an outdoor lifestyle around it.

“Imagine if you bought yourself a brand new telly and somebody came up with a black texta and just went right across the centre of it and said ‘enjoy your TV’,” Cunich said.

https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/reckless-renewables-the-nsw-community-fighting-a-massive-solar-farm-20240718-p5juoh.html

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All my main blogs below:

http://jonjayray.com/covidwatch.html (COVID WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)

http://jonjayray.com/short/short.html (Subject index to my blog posts)

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The coverup of vacine side-effects takes a life

She and her family knew she had vulnerabilities from pre-existing conditions but were not told of the vaccine side effects that combined with those conditions to kill her

The death of a young woman in her 20s after she received a Covid-19 vaccine could progress to a full coronial inquest.

Coroner Catherine Fitzgerald told the involved parties that she would tighten the reins on expert reports being filed to the court, as mountains of medical information piled up.

Natalie Boyce, 21, died in March 2022 at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, five weeks after receiving a Moderna vaccine booster.

Lawyers for Ms Boyce's family opposed Moderna's request on the grounds the doctor saw the young woman for lupus four years before she died.

Natalie Boyce died from myocarditis. She spent the last three weeks of her life unconscious.

Ms Boyce was studying at Deakin University. She spent the last three weeks of her life unconscious. Her death certificate lists myocardial infarction with subacute myocarditis as the cause.

When she was 15, Ms Boyce was diagnosed with an uncommon blood clotting disorder that affects about one-in-2000 people.

Ms Boyce's mother, Deborah Hamilton, previously told a parliamentary inquiry that she believed her daughter would be alive if she had not received the Covid-19 vaccine booster.

'Had we known that there were risks there would have been no way that I would have allowed Natalie to receive another vaccine and I know that she would not have had it either,' Ms Hamilton told MPs in Canberra in 2023.

The day after getting the Moderna booster, Ms Boyce fainted, had a fever, stomach pain and vomiting. Her condition deteriorated over trips to doctors and several different hospitals.

Ms Hamilton has blamed both the vaccine mandates and 'medical negligence' from Victoria's health system.

Ms Boyce was encouraged by her part-time employer to get vaccinated and required a vaccination to go to the university campus.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13642351/Natalie-Boyce-died-Covid-vaccine.html

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Cleo Smith update: New photos show insight into her life after being kidnapped

The family of Cleo Smith have shared a miracle update on their little girl three years after she was kidnapped.

Cleo made international headlines when she was snatched from her sleeping bag as she slept alongside her mother, stepfather and baby sister inside a tent at the Blowholes campsite, about 960km north of Perth, Western Australia, on October 16, 2021.

A mammoth police operation was launched for Cleo, who was four years old at the time, which led to her dramatic rescue 18 days later.

Now aged seven, Cleo has adjusted to a normal life following the horrific abduction and intense media scrutiny.

A collection of photos, shared to Instagram on Wednesday by 60 Minutes Australia showed a beaming Cleo enjoying life with her family.

The photos received an overwhelming response from social media users all around the world, with many sharing well wishes for the family and for Cleo.

Police smashed down the locked door of a house in Carnarvon - just 3km from her family's home - at 12.46am on November 3, 2021, freeing the little girl.

Cleo was held captive by Terrence Darrell Kelly and locked alone in a bedroom of the home.

Terence Kelly was arrested and subsequently charged with one count of forcibly taking a child under 16.



Her captor, one of Australia's "First Nations" people

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on April 5, 2023, to 13-and-a-half years behind bars. The sentence was backdated to his arrest in November 2021. Kelly will be 48 by the time he's eligible for parole in May 2032.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13645033/Cleo-Smith-update-New-photos-insight-life-kidnapped.html

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Top doctor hits out at plans to introduce a 'sin tax' on sugary drinks in Australia

Nick Coatsworth has hit out at a proposed tax on sugary treats arguing that '$8 cans of coke' will only punish the poor and fail to fix the nation's obesity crisis.

A recent Senate report recommended a 20 per cent tax on unhealthy products such as soft drinks in order to curb surging obesity rates, particularly in children.

But the prominent doctor, who became the face of Australia's Covid vaccine campaign as the national deputy chief medical officer, argues that implementing a so-called 'sin tax' is misguided and echoes the draconian government overreach seen during the pandemic.

'It's hard to escape the conclusion that sin taxes are proposed by rich people looking down on the behaviour of the sinful masses,' Dr Coatsworth told Daily Mail Australia.

'Can you imagine a can of Coke costing $8? Is that what it will take to reduce consumption?

'In regional and indigenous communities I predict it will reduce consumption by precisely zero.'

He noted that while governments can legitimately regulate things such as age of consumption of products such as alcohol and penalise people who sell harmful products to children, it should be cautious in applying such restrictions to adults.

'The recent trend to is to make penalty and prohibition the first choice and not the last resort, and this is leading to bad policy choices,' Dr Coatsworth said.

'If you're struggling to make an income and support your family there is much less capacity to make good health choices, and the 'sins' help you get through a tough day.

'A sin tax that does nothing to lift people into a position that they can make positive health choices.'

Dr Coatsworth also warned there are limits in trying to legislate people into being healthier.

'We've just been through a very disturbing episode in our lives where we criminalised or harshly penalised legitimate actions of citizens in the name of public health,' he said referring to the Covid period.

'As a basic principle public health should operate by consent of the community not by coercion.

'This applies as much to current debates as it did to Covid.'

The Australian government already imposes similar taxes on tobacco products and raises the excise every year to make it prohibitively expensive. It currently stands at about 75 per cent of the sale price.

Although the rate of smoking has decreased from above 20 per cent in 2001 to 11 per cent now, illegal vaping rates have soared along with the illicit tobacco trade.

'It's a law of diminishing returns,' Dr Coatsworth said.

'Tobacco excise had climbed so high that a black market has blossomed.'

'It's clear that the Australian Federal Police can't stop illicit tobacco coming into the country, let alone illegal vapes and it's creating a problem for state policing who now have to deal with the emergence of organised crime.

'It's bizarre that the same people who acknowledge that a 'war on drugs' is the wrong way to tackle hard drug use passionately declare that a 'war on vapes' is likely to work.'

Despite Dr Coatsworth's opposition to raising taxes on unhealthy food and drink, he does agree that there is an 'obesity crisis in Australia and that diabetes is an enormous cost-burden for our health system'.

'There is a big gap between agreeing with that and asserting that sugar taxes will have a meaningful impact on either,' he said.

'The classic behaviour of the activist is to surf a moral panic and then criticise an opponent as being an enemy of the public good.

'Labelling someone as being an enemy of public health is a very effective way of silencing debate.'

Earlier this month a Senate report recommended the federal government implement a levy on sugar-sweetened beverages and look to international examples to fix prices.

It pointed to the British example of 'tiered tax' where the levy grows with the amount of sugar in a product.

The Parliamentary Budget Office estimated applying a 20 per cent tax on all sugar sweetened drinks would bring in about $1.4billion annually

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13638369/Nick-Coatsworth-sin-tax.html

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PsiQuantum to help shape Qld university offerings

Queensland’s biggest universities have struck a skills partnership with PsiQuantum that gives the Silicon Valley startup a say in the direction their science, technology and maths courses take.

The memorandum of understanding, which comes as the company looks to secure a pipeline of talent for its attempts to build the world’s first fault tolerant quantum computer, also opens the door to joint research projects with the universities.

Five universities, together accounting for some 110,000 students, are represented in the consortium: the University of Queensland, Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology, the University of South Queensland and the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Announced on Tuesday, the university and research tie-up with PsiQuantum is the first partnership to emerge from the $940 million joint investment by the federal and Queensland governments.

The investment, which includes $370 million in equity, has been mired in controversy since it was announced in April, with key details still to emerge almost three months on.

Under the new partnership, the five universities will work with PsiQuantum to create targeted educational programs that develop the skills required for quantum computing and other advanced technology industries.

PsiQuantum will have input in the development of “study modules, courses, degree, lectures and industry training”, including at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

The programs will also provide “pathways for traditional STEM careers like engineering and software development into the quantum sector”, allowing upskilling of “diverse scientists” to take place.

Roles in the company’s sights include quantum applications engineers, software developers and other technical lab staff, as well as more traditional roles like mechanical, optical and electrical engineers.

“This collaboration will provide a framework for academic institutions in Australia to offer opportunities for academic, postgraduate, and undergraduate placements that will attracts and retain leading Australian and global talent,” PsiQuantum said.

The company has also previously promised PhD positions, mentoring and internship opportunities, although they were not included in Tuesday’s announcement.

PsiQuantum chief executive and co-founder Jeremy O’Brien said the partnership will “help ensure that Australia is developing the necessary skills and driving research to continue leading this field for decades to come”.

Professor O’Brien developed the beginning of the photonics-based quantum approach being pursued by PsiQuantum at the University of Queensland. The approach uses uses photons as a representation of qubits instead of electrons.

University of Queensland vice-chancellor Deborah Terry said the university will “work with PsiQuantum across the education spectrum – from schools, through TAFE, to universities– to prepare our students for future jobs in quantum and advanced technologies.

“Our researchers are also incredibly excited to explore and find projects of common interest with PsiQuantum, taking full advantage of this unique opportunity,” she said.

https://www.innovationaus.com/psiquantum-to-help-shape-qld-uni-offerings/

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All my main blogs below:

http://jonjayray.com/covidwatch.html (COVID WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)

http://jonjayray.com/short/short.html (Subject index to my blog posts)

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