Australian Politics
Another limit to Australia's electric vehicle revolution
If you are towing something with an EV, you can't just drive onto a forecourt and fill up as you would with a combustion-powered vehicle. Anybody who ever tows a trailer of any kind would be mad to buy an EV. EVs are just a rich man's toy
I have financed an older couple to travel around Australia towing a long and very well-appointed caravan. A diesel Toyota Prado does an effortless and untroubled job of towing it. They pass through many country areas so would just not be able to do the trip with an EV.
The photo of a grey Tesla hooked up to a BP Pulse charging station at an undisclosed location was shared in a Facebook group on Thursday, captioned: 'I'm aware they don't have a spare tyre, I wasn't aware that they don't have reverse.'
Clearly well beyond the bay's perimeters, the majority of the car had mounted the kerb in front.
Social media users were quick to criticise the car's position, questioning why the driver didn't reverse into the spot to make it easier for the charging cable to reach the outlet.
But it soon became apparent why the Tesla was across the boundaries of the parking bay when the original image, which had been cropped, resurfaced and revealed the Tesla was towing a trailer.
It highlights yet another glaring issue with the government's plans to drastically grow the country's EV network by 2030.
Of the 3,000 electric vehicle charging stations currently available nationwide, none of them are equipped for cars towing caravans.
The current infrastructure means drivers often have to unhitch the trailer to effectively charge their vehicle or risk blocking other vehicles.
Carola Jonas, CEO and Founder of Everty, said it's something charging station owners and operators must 'pay close attention to'.
As well as having a lot of catching up to do in terms of having ample charging stations both roadside and in buildings, Jonas argued 'a balance' must be found with the types of bays available for drivers.
'If you look at the charging stations in Wilson or Secure car parks in the city CBDs the parking bays there are limited, but you also wouldn't use these ones with a trailer,' she told Yahoo News Australia.
'But then when you look at highway charging or charging in more public open locations, it would definitely be good if the charging networks start implementing a mix [of suitable bays].'
Some charging networks are currently installed in the 'trucking areas' of some petrol stations so trucks and longer EV vehicles can still use them, Jonas continued.
'So even if you come there with a normal passenger car, you can just drive into the trucking parking area and use the charger. The other way around, it wouldn't have been possible.
'So there are solutions, but it's really for the infrastructure providers to make sure they're for the right mix.'
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Pauline gets it right on Muslim Immigrants
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has accused the Albanese government of importing people who do not adopt the laws and values of the countries they settle in.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was allegedly attacked by a knife-wielding terrorist on Monday evening while the clergyman was delivering a sermon at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the western Sydney suburb of Wakeley.
The teenager who allegedly stabbed the bishop justified his actions by telling police the Christian leader had 'sworn' at 'my prophet', and reportedly screamed the Islamic phrase 'Allahu Akbar'.
The Australian National Imams Council and other individual Muslims have condemned the attack on Bishop Emmanuel.
'These attacks are horrifying and have no place in Australia, particularly at places of worship and toward religious leaders,' the Imams Council said in a statement.
Senator Hanson claims the viscous stabbing, which police are treating as a terror attack, was the result of importing people with an 'Islamist ideology' who 'do not adopt the laws and values of the countries they settle in'.
'Instead they demand their fundamentalism is simply accepted and adopted in their new countries, and they employ violence or radicalise young people into violence in perverse attempts to achieve this end or attack those who oppose them,' she said.
'Islamist ideology, which seeks to impose fundamentalist Islam across the world, is completely incompatible with Australian values of freedom, democracy and religious tolerance.'
Senator Hanson argued Australia was seeing a rise in radical Islam with 'extremist Islamic preachers in Australia calling for jihad and death – and getting away with it' and 'the intimidation and violence we’ve seen directed at Jewish Australians'.
She contended the 'most effective solution' to this problem is 'people with such ideology are never permitted to come here' but the opposite was happening under the Albanese government.
'Labor doesn’t care about the threat they represent and continues to import this ideology to Australia to shore up support for its western Sydney MPs,' she said.
'The Albanese government has fallen over itself to hand out visas so people who overwhelmingly support the terror group Hamas can escape the consequences of Hamas’s terror attacks on Israel.
'When will the major parties wake up and stop importing people and ideologies that are completely incompatible with Australia and its way of life?'
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Queensland Backtracks on Homeschool Curriculum Mandate
Under proposed education reforms in Queensland, home-schooled children will not have to follow the national curriculum but will instead have their progress checked by a new government advisory group.
Currently, there is no set homeschooling curriculum, but parents or caregivers are required to develop an educational program based on the eight core learning set out in the Australian National Curriculum, which includes English, maths, science, humanities and social science, arts, technology, physical education, and language learning.
In March, the government attempted to mandate the curriculum via a Queensland parliamentary committee tasked with drafting the Education General Provisions Amendment (EGPA) Bill, which proposed changes to homeschooling.
However, after consultation with education stakeholders, doubts were cast over whether such a mandate would alienate the stay-at-home students and their families.
As a result, Education Minister Di Farmer has announced that a new Home School Advisory Group will be established.
The government said it respects the right of parents to home-school, but the advisory group will check on whether children are receiving comparable learning.
“I will also be establishing a Home Education Advisory Group to consider in detail how we ensure children being homeschooled are receiving the high-quality education,” Ms. Farmer said.
“Additionally, a review will commence into the role of the Home Education Unit to how best it can help not only better regulate, but provide important support to families who choose to home school.
“All Queensland children are entitled to be safe wherever they live and learn and as a former child safety minister, I understand too well that this is not always the case.”
Homeschooling in Australia has been steadily growing in popularity as an alternative to traditional schooling, initially taking hold during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of children now staying home from the traditional classroom surged by nearly 300 percent in 2023.
Families choose homeschooling for a variety of reasons, including a desire for more flexibility in their children’s education, dissatisfaction with the schooling system, or a wish to provide a tailored education that meets their child’s individual needs.
Proponents of the method say one of the key benefits of homeschooling is the ability to customise the educational experience to suit the child’s learning style, interests, and pace.
Homeschooled children often have more freedom to explore subjects in depth and pursue areas of passion. Additionally, homeschooling can provide a more flexible schedule, allowing for travel, family commitments, or other activities.
Critics of homeschooling often point towards potential issues with a lack of social interaction with children the same age, hampering adult development, and failing to maintain a consistent schedule required when entering the workforce.
Response to the Homeschool Changes
Free2Homeschool campaign manager Patricia Fitzgerald, who is hosting a “peaceful picnic” at Parliament House in Brisbane to celebrate the withdrawal of the national curriculum, said parents and caregivers should be kept in the loop.
“Queensland Home Educators want to ensure they are recognised, supported and are consulted appropriately so that any legislation reflects the actual needs of home education in the community,” Ms. Fitzgerald said.
Shadow education minister Christian Rowan saw the backdown as a failure for Labor.
“Labor has descended into a government in chaos and crisis which utterly failed to consult and listen to Queenslanders on this issue and now has been forced to abandon its reckless plans,” Mr. Rowan said on April 15.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles disagreed with Mr. Rowan’s sentiment.
“I have always said I will listen to Queenslanders and act when I need to, which is why I worked with Minister Farmer to ensure we heard the concerns of teachers.”
“I look forward to seeing updated consultation proceed,” he said
https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/queensland-backtracks-on-homeschool-curriculum-mandate-5630088
********************************************Senator Claims TGA ‘Overriding’ Experts While Processing Vaccine Injury Claims
Senator Gerard Rennick has alleged—under parliamentary privilege in the Senate—that the Therapeutic Goods Administration is “overriding the decision of the specialists” in refusing claims for vaccine injury from people who received COVID-19 vaccinations.
Services Australia administers the scheme, which offers people a way to seek a one-off compensation payment, instead of going through legal proceedings, if they experienced harm from a vaccine.
The Scheme was designed to “compensate for losses due to the harm ... suffered” and not for “pain and suffering.” The compensation covers lost earnings, out-of-pocket expenses, paid attendant care services, and “deceased ... vaccine recipient payments and funeral costs.”
To meet the criteria for the payment, Services Australia’s website says a person must have:
received an approved COVID-19 vaccine.
met the definition of harm, for example, an administration-related injury or one of the clinical conditions listed in the policy.
been admitted to hospital as an inpatient, or seen in an outpatient setting for an eligible clinical condition.
been admitted to hospital as an inpatient for an administration-related injury.
experienced losses or expenses of $1,000 or more.
The site also lists the eligible conditions including myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and the autoimmune disorder Guillain Barre Syndrome.
A claimant must have their condition verified by “a medical specialist in the relevant field of practice” (for instance, a cardiologist for myocarditis), and then send the medical report and evidence of the expenses being claimed for assessment by Services Australia.
Senator Claims to Have ‘Insider’ Informant
Mr. Rennick told the Senate that he had spoken to “an insider from the TGA” who had since resigned, and who “played a big role in designing this scheme.”
“The whole point of that scheme was that once the injured person got a specialist to say that the person was injured by the vaccine, he or she would be entitled to compensation. Now that is not happening,” the senator said.
“What is happening is Services Australia make these people wait [on average] 297 days to get a decision. Many of them can no longer work. They are seriously ill. They have to do all the legwork of trying ... see a specialist, a cardiologist or a rheumatologist, and that takes a lot of work. It’s very expensive. You’ve got to go and get MRIs or something to back [it] up. And then they’ve basically been neglected.”
He alleged that, once the claim came up for a decision, “what they do is [refer it] back to the TGA, [and the] TGA is a turning around and saying ‘we are overriding the decision of the specialists who actually examined the patient.’”
“Now my insider tells me these doctors at the TGA are not qualified to be overriding specialists. And I believe that if you haven’t examined the patient who you decide this isn’t actually a vaccine injury, how would you know?”
Mr. Rennick said he had talked to scientists—whom he did not name—who told him that “you will never know while a person’s leaving because you can’t take tissue samples from living people. So we are operating in the dark here in regards to our ability to examine what’s really going on as a result of these vaccine injuries.”
Only 14 Deaths Recognised as Vaccine-Related
Senator Rennick claimed there were 1,000 reports of suspected deaths due to the vaccines in the country.
“And how many have the TGA recognised? 14,” he said.
“When you press the TGA and you say to them, ‘Can you actually prove this wasn’t a vaccine?’ They say, ‘No, we can’t.’
He also claimed there were 10,000 unexplained excess deaths during the period between May and December 2021 when the vaccines were being administered.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Evelyn Rae, a conservative Australian political commentator
Margo Robbie -- a beautiful australian
My son Joe at ANU
One of the happiest pictures ever -- Cleo Smith, aged 4
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