Australian Politics
Thursday, April 04, 2024
Truth Telling, circular arguments, and the wrongful conviction of colonialism
The breast-beating about Australia's colonial past is just a pathetic Leftist attempt to make their fellow citizens feel guilty. It is a basic precept of natural justice that we are not responsible for what others do. And that includes our ancestors. So individuals today should feel no guilt about what some people did in the past.
If the past is to be judged by modern standards, I would have a good claim to have been affected by injustice. Two of my ancestors came out to Australia chained up in the holds of little wooden ships. They were convicts whose offences would be treated as trivial today.
So do I feel aggrieved and complain about how they were treated? To the contrary, Australians with convict ancestry usually feel proud about it these days: Proud to be descended from tough survivors.
Just when you thought Australians had voted firmly against the Voice to Parliament and its entire grievance baggage, Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney says she is in active discussions with Cabinet to develop a model for a ‘Truth Telling’ process, flagging that it could be included in the school curriculum.
The phrase ‘Truth Telling’ is, I believe, code for weaponising the past. The Burney-preferred meaning of the phrase matches the Oxford Dictionary (Woke edition):
‘Recognition or acknowledgement of historical injustices affecting Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people following the colonisation of Australia, and re-evaluation of the impact of the discrimination and often violent treatment they have faced since that time.’
As a guide, look to the purpose of the Yoorrook Justice Commission which former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews green-lit in 2020. It exists to ‘investigate historical and ongoing injustices committed against Aboriginal Victorians since colonisation, across all areas of social, political, and economic life’. This is a circular argument that starts with the conclusion it is trying to prove.
That rings a bell. The original mandate from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for the IPCC did not seek to explore possible reasons for any warming; it was to address ‘dangerous human-caused climate change’. That set the agenda, which became the ruling orthodoxy – a circular argument that starts with the conclusion it is trying to prove.
A circular argument is a useful device when evidence is absent or too weak to prove an allegation.
A good (bad) example of this is the prosecution’s case against Robert Xie, tried for the murder of five members of his wife’s family.
‘The Crown does not know exactly what time it was that the murders occurred,’ said prosecutor Tanya Smith, in her opening address in trial 4 (the final one). ‘But our case is that it must have occurred after 2 o’clock in the morning, because you will hear that it is accepted that the accused had been at home with his wife using the internet until around this time. So it is at some point after 2 o’clock and before 5.30 am.’
In other words, the murders must have been committed after 2 am because ‘we accept he was busy on his computer until then’.
The prosecutor didn’t say ‘we will show you evidence that the murders occurred after 2 o’clock in the morning’. That was not possible, as there was no such evidence. In my opinion, there was no direct evidence against Xie. The Crown’s case had been built around Robert Xie’s computer-proven alibi but challenging his after-2 am alibi of being in bed asleep beside his wife.
Indeed, the forensic pathologist agreed with defence counsel that it was possible that at least one of the victims (Min) could have been killed well before 2 am. With the jury absent, the judge recognised evidence to that effect. And the jury bought the Crown’s circular argument. (Xie was sentenced to life imprisonment.)
Like the IPCC taking as proven the ‘dangerous human-caused climate change’, and the Yoorook Commission taking as proven ‘historical and ongoing injustices committed against Aboriginal Victorians’, Linda Burney’s Truth Telling will likely consist not so much of ‘truth telling’ but of grievance gathering, a regurgitation of how evil the white settlers were – and are. Apologies and atonement not accepted.
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth should be the mantra, as in court. For if Truth Telling is merely another example of evidence-free, biased ‘Blak’ history, it will be as catastrophic as a wrongful conviction. In this case, perhaps the wrongful conviction of colonialism.
As Ramesh Thakur observes, ‘The colonial legacy is mixed rather than uniformly evil or virtuous. Every culture and civilisation has stains in its history.’
The controversial Canadian-American author, Bruce Gilley, professor of political science at Portland State University, argues extensively in his recent book, The Case for Colonialism, that colonialism was not always harmful and had significant benefits, such as the enabling of human flowering through ‘expanded education, improved public health, the abolition of slavery, widened employment opportunities, improved administration, the creation of basic infrastructure, female rights, the enfranchisement of untouchable or historically excluded communities, fair taxation, access to capital, and the generation of historical and cultural knowledge…’ Some of these apply to the Australian experience.
He says:
‘The origins of anti-colonial thought were political and ideological. The purpose was not historical accuracy but contemporaneous advocacy. Today, activists associate “decolonisation” (or “postcolonialism”) with all manner of radical social transformation, which unintentionally ties historic conclusions to present-day endeavours. One failure of anti-colonial critique is perhaps most damaging. It is not just an obstacle to historical truth, which itself is a grave disservice. Even as a means of contemporary advocacy, it is self-wounding. For it essentially weaponises the colonial past…’
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Easter silence: corporations, councils, and governments bury another Christian festival
Despite no longer being a believer, I used to go to church at Easter. It seemed the right thing to do. I get about only with difficulty these days however so I stayed home this year. I did however put on some early Christian music during our family gathering on Easter Saturday so I did show some respect for the occasion
Last year, swathes of my local area spent time swaddled in trans flags, rainbow flags, and Welcome to Country messaging.
Residents of the overwhelmingly conservative local community were forced to duck and weave around aggressive activist propaganda – no doubt in the hope that if they politely smiled and went along with all the nonsense, they would be repaid during Christmas, Australia Day, Easter, and Anzac Day with equally enthusiastic decorations.
After all, is that not what we were promised with a ‘multicultural society’?
Nowhere did elected officials and ESG regulations for companies mention that ‘including’ minority issues would also mean snuffing out mainstream and greatly-loved community events.
The Upper North Shore is a traditional area. While it might be temporarily in danger of falling under the spell of the Teals in a fleeting stupor of misguided green ‘virtue’, it remains an area thick with Christian churches, private schools, traditionally-minded public schools, and a community that describes itself as Christian – even if only in the loose spiritual sense.
It is an area whose parks frequently brim with Christmas and Easter celebrations and small businesses who look forward to community events every year. These celebrations are important, not only for individuals, but to preserve the culture and heritage of the area. And yes, Australia has a culture. We have a heritage. What we have is deeply special.
Culture is something the modern world pretends to care about when it comes to the demands of the newly arrived minority, but for the majority, there are powerful and well-funded political movements that spend their days plotting to destroy Australia’s culture through silence. Erasing Easter by failing to celebrate it with the same gusto as Pride Week is one way that activists can ‘pretend’ that there is no demand to continue on with the show.
Last year, the steps of the newly built train station at Hornsby were covered in a trans/rainbow flag. Every day, commuters had to trudge up the propaganda on their way to an unreliable rail service, wondering why the money wasn’t spent on cleaning the trains instead of painting the concrete. Reaching Town Hall, those same commuters had to duck under a sea of trans bunting and ‘Pride’ signs making it clear that City Rail was on its knees, bowing to the gods of rainbow activism. What do they get in return for this? Who knows. They won’t tell us. Instead, parents like me have to explain the situation to our children who are enticed by the pretty colours like candy offered by the creepy stranger at the park.
Over the Easter weekend, the train stations did not contain a single scrap of Easter cheer. Not an egg in sight. No bunny ears hiding behind the arrival board. Nothing. Easter isn’t on City Rail’s ‘Woke’ virtue list and as for the station steps, they remain barren and grey.
When it comes to council boards at the base of the station, they aggressively demand subservience to their ‘Welcome to Country’ messages, declaring that all of the trappings of a free and prosperous civilisation are actually built on ‘stolen land’. Land the council is happy to sit there collecting taxes for, puffing up their personal salaries instead of fixing potholes and building footpaths. Would it kill them to mow the lawn and weed the sidewalks instead of spending thousands on signs trying to guilt people about their race? Perhaps they could try writing, ‘Happy Easter’ on these boards once in a while.
And when you make it beyond the council’s nastiness, you get to a Westfield shopping centre.
For weeks, perhaps a month, last year, its giant entrance pillars were wallpapered with trans and rainbow paper to ‘celebrate’ Pride Whatever. Every spare surface held a message of ‘Pride’. Even the areas dedicated to children were covered in rainbows which now hold a sinister activist threat instead of the Christian promise of redemption.
Westfield suffocated its shoppers with Pride and yet here we are, over the Easter weekend, I look around and there is not a single Easter message. No sign. No decorations. Nothing. Decades ago, the shopping centres looked forward to Easter, dressing their businesses up to celebrate the complex twin festival of Pagan rebirth and Christian resurrection. It was a beautiful and complimentary culture forged over thousands of years.
This Easter, Westfield is as barren as the activist message.
There is no love in activism, only a wasteland of propaganda.
Shame on them all for trying to erase our cherished heritage. We can see what you are doing.
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Australian wine back on the menu after China ends crippling tariffs
Australian wine will retake its place among Chinese supermarkets, restaurant wine lists and banquet tables after Beijing announced the end of crippling tariffs that should see China return to being the Australian wine industry’s biggest export market.
Late on Thursday afternoon, just before the Easter break, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced the end of the politically-motivated tariffs that had all but wiped out what was once a $1.2bn export trade for Australia.
“The Ministry of Commerce ruled that in view of the changes in the relevant wine market conditions in China, it is no longer necessary to impose anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties on imported relevant wines originating in Australia,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
The Beijing ministry said the tariffs would be lifted on March 29, Good Friday.
Anthony Albanese welcomed Beijing’s decision, which he said came “at a critical time for the Australian wine industry”.
“This outcome affirms the calm and consistent approach taken by the Albanese Labor government and follows the success of the similar approach taken to remove duties on Australian barley,” the Prime Minister said, in a joint statement with Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Trade Minister Don Farrell and Agriculture Minister Murray Watt.
Although Australian winemakers remain cautious about re-entering the Chinese market, with many caught out by the imposition of the whopping tariffs almost four years ago that destroyed their business in the Asian giant, there will be celebrations in the $45bn wine sector as a once billion-dollar market is back open for business.
Ending the tariffs has been a top priority for the Albanese government, which agreed to halt a WTO case against China’s impost in an attempt to quicken the return of Australia’s trade. That face-saving arrangement for China was made to create an off-ramp for the nearly 200 per cent tariffs that were imposed by Beijing in November 2020 as one of the centrepieces of its sweeping trade coercion campaign against the Morrison government.
Mr Albanese said Australia would end those WTO proceedings now that Beijing had agreed to lift the duties.
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Solar Panel Waste Predicted to Hit 1 Million Tonnes by 2030: Australian Research
The volume of solar panel waste is rising rapidly in Australia, predicted to reach 280,000 tonnes within one year and one million tonnes within a decade.
According to a new study by the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, led by experts from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the challenge of dealing with significant levels of solar PV waste would come within the next two or three years.
A photovoltaic (PV) cell, also called a solar cell, is a non-mechanical device that converts sunlight into electricity. It is the basic building block of a PV system and typically produces one to two watts of power.
The study showed that the cumulative volume of end-of-life solar panels would reach 280,000 tonnes by 2025, 680,000 tonnes by 2030, and a “significant milestone” of 1 million tonnes between 2034 and 2035.
“This finding contradicts earlier forecasts, which predicted significant volumes of PV waste would not appear until post-2030,” the researchers said.
Researchers also noted that by 2030, more than 80 percent of the discarded solar panels will come from small-scale distributed PV systems, due to the earlier evolution of Australia’s residential PV market.
Meanwhile, on an annual scale, the waste volume in Australia is expected to exceed 50,000 tonnes in one year, and reach 100,000 tonnes from 2030 to 2035.
“This projection is four times higher than earlier predictions because it accounts for the pre-mature decommission of residential solar panel systems,” the study noted.
The solar panel waste is predicted to mainly concentrate in major Australian cities, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.
However, from 2030, the waste volume of PV is expected to accelerate in regional and remote areas as large-scale PV systems reach their mid- or end-of-life cycle.
The Challenge Of Recycling Solar Panel Waste
Like most electronic waste, solar panels are made from potentially reusable materials such as glass, aluminium, and copper. However, due to the amounts of heavy metals it contains, solar panel waste could become hazardous waste and contaminate the environment if left in landfills to degrade.
The UNSW researchers noted that there is a lack of financial incentive to recycle solar panels. For example, it costs about $20 to recycle a typical 20-kilogram solar panel, and about $2 to send a panel to a landfill.
“Recyclers face slim margins due to intricate technology, insufficient material returns to offset costs, especially when operating at a small scale,” the study noted.
Finding markets for recycled solar panel materials is also a challenge, as up to 70 percent of solar panels are made of glass—an extremely low-value material.
“The challenge extends beyond glass, as the highly mixed nature of the components makes it challenging to find markets for their use.”
The researchers also noted the logistical difficulties of transporting separated materials to distant waste management infrastructures.
“This includes utility-scale solar farms in regional and remote areas. Coordinating collection points and recycling facilities to take into account the widespread distribution of panels across the country will be a significant barrier.”
The paper proposed a 12-year industry roadmap to tackle the challenges. This includes building a “national product stewardship scheme” that defines management structures, optimising waste logistics by creating a streamlined network to transport waste efficiently, investing in full-recycling technologies, and establishing large-scale PV waste treatment in major Australian cities.
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Australian School Principals Report Record Near 50 Percent Jump in Student Attacks
Australian school principals are experiencing a record-high surge in physical attacks from students, driving many perilously close to the brink of self-harm.
A survey conducted by the Australian Catholic University (ACU) of 2,300 school principals found 48.2 percent experienced physical violence in 2023, up 76.5 percent from 2011.
Students perpetrated almost all (96.3 percent) of the attacks, followed by parents (65.6 percent).
“It is deeply concerning that offensive behaviour towards school leaders and teachers persist and appears to be on the rise,” ACU co-lead investigator Professor Herb Marsh said.
Nearly all principals who were attacked (42.6 percent) triggered a “red flag” email, indicating they were at risk of self-harm, occupational health issues, or a significant impact on their quality of life.
One in five school leaders reported moderate to severe depression, particularly among early career leaders, with others facing risks of serious mental health issues such as anxiety, burnout, stress, and sleep problems.
Growing Teacher Shortage
Around 60 percent of those with six to ten years of experience want to exit the profession, and experienced school leaders with over 15 years of experience are at the forefront of the impending departure.
“Assuming only half of those who agreed or strongly agreed to quit acted on this response, there would be an exodus of more than 500 school leaders—the data strongly suggests this would be experienced school leaders,” Ms. Marsh said.
The upcoming departure would add to the existing shortage of teachers nationwide.
Education Minister Jason Clare recently mentioned that while there are around 300,000 teachers currently working in our schools, there are an additional 100,000 registered teachers with qualifications who have chosen not to teach but maintain their registration.
Urgent Call for Action
Despite challenges, the survey revealed that some school leaders still exhibit strong dedication, commitment, and commendable resilience.
Their grit was independent of state education department policies or other regulatory body policies, indicating that these entities’ formal policies or guidelines failed to aid their ability to cope.
Paul Kidson, ACU investigator, and former principal, called on education ministers to urgently take collective action to address the significant threats facing principals.
“We’ve had a national spotlight on teacher education and workloads, disruptions in the classroom, campaigns to boost the profession’s status, and a continued focus on students’ mental health and academic outcomes—all noble and necessary,” Mr. Kidson said.
However, he said, “Principals are being asked to do more with less.”
“It’s been over a decade since the Gonski Review, and we still do not have full funding based on student needs. It is naïve to think this does not translate into the increasing stress among school leaders today,” he explained.
The Australian government commissioned the Gonski Review in 2010 to comprehensively review school funding in the country.
Businessman David Gonski led the review to address inequalities in school funding.
The review’s final report, released in 2011, recommended reforms to improve the quality and equity of education across the country.
A new funding model was proposed called the “Gonski model,” which advocated for needs-based funding to ensure that all students, regardless of their socio-economic background, receive the support they need to succeed in school.
However, leading school wellbeing expert Associate Professor Theresa Dicke said there is an urgency for education ministers to make a priority of responding to the data in this report.
She proposed a national summit to coordinate strategies and resources, warning that failure to address these issues could lead to a mass exodus of school leaders.
“Many of them will act on their intention to leave and it will make achieving important policy initiatives very unlikely,” she said.
Since 2011, this survey has aimed to understand and support the health and well-being of school leaders by providing personalised reports based on data collected from a large sample of participants.
This year’s report categorises data by different career stages and represents nearly a quarter of all Australian school leaders.
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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
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