Generation unprepared: The school and university leavers with ‘no skills to work at all’

OVER the past 18 months, Queensland mining employer Jack Trenamen has developed a formula that helps him predict the performance of his new apprentices.  The country kids who have worked on mum and dad’s farm from a young age will work hard and appreciate every dollar they get. “You can’t fault ‘em on work ethic,” he says, adding that it shows in their performance.

But the ones who come from more affluent areas, whether that be from the big cities where their parents are a bit more well off and happy to give them pocket money, or mining regions where jobs are available and salaries are competitive, are more difficult to engage. They’re also less likely to agree to get their hands dirty when it comes time to sweep the shed.

The contracting boss has seen exceptions, of course, but he’s also noted strong trends, and what he’s picked up is in line with the bigger picture — the grim picture that’s emerging of a generation of newcomers to the workforce unprepared for work.

“I’ve had countless experiences with kids who are just not ready,” he says.  “They haven’t picked up the skills that you learn by working and that’s often because they haven’t had to.  “They come in late, they don’t realise that they might have to do things they don’t want to, and they don’t appreciate the job. They think if they don’t like it here they can just pack up and get another job around the corner, keep chasing that almighty dollar without building their skills.”

Mr Trenamen might sound like another disgruntled boss whining about “kids these days”, but what he’s picked up is reflected in national trends.

Australian Bureau of Statistics show that school and university students are less likely to pick up part time work while they’re studying with only 31 per cent of 15 to 19-year-old students employed.

The figures are unsurprising to Australia Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Kate Carnell, who tells news.com.au she could have predicted the findings based on conversations with employers like Jack.

She says while on paper young employees are more qualified than ever before, 20-somethings are showing up to work with degrees from universities that are “disconnected with the workforce”, and a lack of workplace experience.

“A number of our members consistently tell us they’re seeing students come out of university or training programs and they might have the academic or theoretical skills, but no skills to work at all. It makes them really hard to employ,” she says.

“General issues are not understanding that a job is about turning up on time every day, not just when you feel like, that it’s about taking direction, and basic things like you’ve got to be well presented and you’ve got to be pleasant.

“The number of young people not working while they’re in school is one of the problems.”

Ms Carnell says the declining need for kids to work is a symptom of a largely more affluent society, and while it offers young people the luxury of focusing on their studies, it also deprives them of the skills they will pick up in the work force before they take up a full time role.

Another part of the problem, Ms Carnell says, isn’t just a lack of enthusiasm for kids to get a job down at the local takeaway or supermarket, but parents encouraging them not to while they focus on their studies.

As well as the lack of work experience young employees bring to their career-starting roles, bosses are also quick to point the finger at the education system.

Mr Trenamen suggests schools teach workplace skills from year 10, and encourage kids to get into the workforce. It’s an argument Professor Johanna Wyn, director of the Youth Research Centre at the University of Melbourne has heard before.

While she believes there is a disconnect between what kids are learning at school, university and TAFE and “the real world”, she says it’s unfair to put pressure on educational institutions to be “all things to all people”.  “It’s not that the universities are teaching the wrong thing, but more that young people are encouraged to get an education, follow that to a job they believe they want to do, and the assumption that it’s going to be an automatic match with what’s required in the labour market,” Professor Wyn says.

“It would be fabulous if young people were gaining really strong skills that they should be learning, but it’s really hard for educators to catch up. Instead of turning it around and blaming schools, we should look at other path ways. “There are some really good models of how communities can wrap more around schools and bring educators and employers together.”

Brett Schimming is the CEO of Construction Skills Queensland, an industry body that works with schools and young career seekers together with employers providing skilling programs to bridge that gap and equip kids to get in to jobs.

“What we do know is that if you simply are going to employ a young person and expect them to know what to do on day one, you are more than likely not going to have success and it doesn’t end well for anyone,” he says.

“We’ve learnt that it’s 50/50 in terms of effort, so we like to increase the chances of matching the right people to the right jobs, and matching people who are each willing to give their 50 per cent and work together.”

The key thing small businesses are looking for is that attitude and they get challenged by how best to find that person because they’ve had experience where they’ve hired people and it hasn’t worked out.”

Apprenticeship Support Australia, which covers the recruitment of more than 300,000 apprentices, is another group trying to meet businesses and new workers halfway.

Last month the federal government-funded group announced a “job-fit test” that would gauge Gen Y job seekers’ work ethic, skills and job readiness before they are approved for an apprenticeship.  The performance test was devised in response to the drop out rate of apprentices falling to a shocking 50 per cent, the Herald Sun reported.

So there are programs that help, and employers, educators and industry bodies alike believe there should be more, but back at ACCI Ms Carnell says the simplest way to learn skills is for young people to get into the work force as soon as they can.

“Young people are always conscious of the reputation their generation has, and they should work to break that,” she says.
“It really, really makes a difference as an employer if you get a CV from a young person and see they’ve been employed during school or university. It’s a huge tick.”

SOURCE






WA premier softens stance on Uber

THE West Australian government is softening its stance on ride-sharing service Uber, but won't drop prosecutions against drivers accused of breaking the law, Premier Colin Barnett says.

"Uber has come into the market - it is not meeting the legal requirements of a taxi service, we all know that - but it is popular," Mr Barnett said on Tuesday in his first news conference after returning from holidays.

"There is a segment in the community that uses Uber and likes the service they provide, so we will look at ways in which we might be able to accommodate that.  "It will mean some changes probably on their part. "I'm not about restricting choice for consumers."

Mr Barnett said the prosecutions would run their course in court.

He said he was concerned that during his absence, the Department of Transport invited tenders for covert surveillance of Uber drivers to ensure compliance with taxi and transport legislation.

"I've got to say I was a little bit concerned when I heard about that decision made by the department."

Transport Minister Dean Nalder will release a paper on taxi transport in the next week or so, Mr Barnett said, and he hoped it would result in an improved offering for customers.  "At the moment, the law doesn't allow that and people are breaching the law."

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Muslims shrink from aggressive confrontation

Anti-racism protesters have been warned to stay away from an anti-Islam rally in Melbourne after a social media post by one of the nationalist group's leaders glorified the murder of a teenager.

A video posted to the Facebook page of far-right group the United Patriots Front showed CCTV footage of the killing of anti-racism activist Carlos Javier Palomino, who was stabbed in the heart by a neo-nazi on a packed train in Spain in 2007.

The video was posted ahead of the group's protest against Islam and Sharia Law at Parliament House on Saturday, which is being promoted as the "biggest patriot rally in Australian history", and is scheduled to follow a rally by Reclaim Australia earlier in the day.

Neil Erikson, an administrator of the United Patriots Front, promoted the video as showing "one patriot versus a thousand unwashed filth", in which he praises the man convicted of killing the 16-year-old and stabbing another man in the chest.

Narrating over the footage he describes the moments after the deadly attack - when horrified commuters fled the train and platform - as "bloody awesome".

"Look they're like ants running away from one patriot. We have the power. There he is by himself, he won the battle. One patriot versus a thousand left wing unwashed scum. Bring on July 18, Melbourne, Parliament House, 1pm."

The disturbing video, which has since been removed, has prompted a call to abandon a counter rally organised by No Room For Racism which has been planned to thwart the UPF demonstration.

Mo El-Leissy, an Islamic community worker and trained imam, issued a warning to stay away from Saturday's rally, saying the video incited violence.

"It has raised the level of concern in the community about having Muslims especially attend the counter rally, knowing that these people glorify violence against anti-racism campaigners, but also have quite adverse views towards Islamic people," he told ABC Radio on Tuesday morning.

"These are people that do border on Nazism and Fascism and we just think it's not appropriate for us to be face to face with these people."

But Yarra councillor Stephen Jolly confirmed the counter rally would go ahead as planned, saying Mr El-Leissy's views were not shared by the vast majority of anti-racism protesters. "It's definitely on," Mr Jolly said.

"There's going to be large numbers of people, not just the usual suspects, but people from the Islamic community who are on the front line of this Islamophobia."

Mr Jolly said he met with police on Monday to discuss security measures at the rally and was reassured of protesters' safety.

"That meeting strengthened my belief that this will be a peaceful rally and that there will be no face-to-face contact between the thousands of people who turn up to the anti-racist rally and the tiny handful of neo-Nazis who will be kept well away," he said.  "It will be a very safe. My 17-year-old daughter will be coming with me."

Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday defended people's right to express their views as long as they were lawful and done so with a sense of decency.  "People can put a lawful view, people can protest but it needs to be peaceful, and lawful and orderly," Mr Andrews said.

The Premier said Victoria proudly has the best set of anti-discrimination and vilification laws in the world.

The United Patriot Front broke away from Reclaim Australia earlier this year and while it is a relatively small group it is considered far more extreme in its racist views.

Anti-extremist protesters from No Room For Racism faced off against the UPF at a protest outside Richmond Town Hall in May. That clash saw about 70 supporters of the far-right group outnumbered by hundreds of counter protesters, and one man was charged with weapons offences after being caught carrying a knife.

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Fancy footwork from the ALP in Queensland State Budget

Sounds a lot like the heavily "fiddled" Gillard budget of 2011

Treasurer Curtis Pitt has set out a debt reduction plan, which will see the public servant super fund help pay down the state's debt, while potentially also funding future commitments.

Having already announced its plan to shift $4.1 billion off the general government debt books onto that of the government-owned corporations, Mr Pitt plans on saving the state another $3.4 billion by changing the way it funds entitlements, particularly long-service leave, for public servants.

Since the 1990s, the government has funded long service leave as a central investment allocation. Mr Pitt said it would now, under advice from Treasury, fund long service leave on an "as required basis".

The government will also take a contribution holiday from the Defined Benefit Scheme, which it claims will reduce the state debt by $2 billion over five years.

Mr Pitt said the scheme would remain "fully funded" at "more than 100 per cent" by even the most conservative estimates.

With a current scheme surplus of $10 billion, Mr Pitt said there was "no danger" of the scheme not being able to meet its responsibilities.

The government is trumpeting its plan to pay down general government debt  - the amount the government has borrowed over the years to cover the cost of doing business - by more than $9 billion over the forwards, without cutting services or selling assets.

But hidden within the Treasurer's speech was a line regarding the "next steps".  "Over the next six months, we will work with Treasury to examine ways for Queenslanders to invest in Queensland," he said.

"This due diligence work may include enabling the defined benefit scheme to invest in growing Queensland infrastructure through our energy GOCs.

"The defined benefit fund currently invests Queensland money in a range of interstate and overseas infrastructure, including Thames Water in the UK and the Ohio University car parking system in the US.

"The fund is also currently carrying historically high levels of cash that could responsibly invested in Queensland to deliver much needed employment and economic growth."

In his budget press conference, Mr Pitt categorically denied it was an asset sale – adding that there was nothing to say it would go ahead.  "This is all about ensuring that we are being very diligent with the way that we carry Queensland forward," he said.

"What we will be doing is undertaking due diligence as part of our energy GOC merger process.

"The first step of course, was the re-gearing of those businesses.  We will be looking at what the best fit for the network versus generation companies would be and we'll be able to provide an update at the mid-year review."

The government's rationale is that the money within the defined benefits scheme is still government money, despite being set aside for public servants, as they don't utilise it until they leave the public service.

It contends that as the fund belongs to the government, it can use it to invest in government-owned corporations – essentially borrowing from it – to fund future capital needs and infrastructure.

But with nothing more than a sketch of a plan at this stage, there was no detail to scrutinise.

Instead, Mr Pitt and the government want the public to focus on its general government debt reduction plan and service funding as the take away from a budget low on sweeteners or cost of living relief.

The government's $1.975 billion in election promises is to be paid from $2.315 billion in "reprioritisations".  Ministers have had to find more than $1.12 billion in savings from their portfolios, with the majority coming from cuts in consultancies, contractors and advertising.

Mr Pitt said that would be done without cuts to services, or redundancies, be they forced or voluntary.

Total government debt for this financial year has been set at $74.113 billion, with $35.885 billion coming from the general government sector and $35.962 billion coming from the GOCs.

It is forecast to increase, predicted to hit $78.802 billion over the forwards.

SOURCE






Clive Palmer's swan song?

He failed to make a mark but has only half acknowledged it so far.  Next election he will go down like his now vanished "Titanic" replica

CLIVE Palmer has apologised to Queensland voters for losing control over his party’s former Senator Glenn Lazarus and for failing to wield influence in federal parliament.

Mr Palmer’s party has started seeking candidates for the next election and has warned potential applicants they will be forced to pay back any money spent on their campaign if they win a seat and later leave the party.

In a sign that he is worried Senator Lazarus’ independence could cost the Palmer United Party votes at the next election, Mr Palmer attacked his former ally in the letter to voters.

He said he wanted to “apologise to all voters in Queensland for the fact that our Queensland Senator, elected only because of Palmer United Party votes, has let you down by withdrawing from the political battlefield when it got too hot for him.”

The PUP leader conceded his party was no longer influential in the Senate after the departure of Senator Lazarus and Tasmanian Jacqui Lambie.

“We had planned as a team to use our balance of power in the Senate to bring about real change for Queensland but Glenn Lazarus put an end to that and betrayed all those who voted for our party,” Mr Palmer said in the letter.

It was printed on Mr Palmer’s official letterhead as MP for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax but was distributed elsewhere in Queensland.

It is not clear if the mail-out was taxpayer funded.

Senator Lazarus’ new party was last week registered by the Australian Electoral Commission.

He is setting up a regional office in Cairns this week and will soon begin planning other candidates for the next election.

Senator Lambie has also had her own party registered and wants to run candidates in every state.

Mr Palmer’s spokesman did not return calls.

SOURCE

ETU: They are eating our lunch!

Together with the CFMEU, the Electical Trades Union is a major millstone around the neck of Australia's big  builders.  But a lot of their members work installing home solar panels too.  So you can see the reason behind their wail below.  Given their past behaviour, they are not going to get much sympathy
         
The shock decision by the Abbott Government to ban the Clean Energy Finance Corporation from investing in wind or small-scale solar projects has been blasted by the national head of the electricity union.

“At a time when Australia desperately needs leadership on renewable energy, this step is damaging and bizarre,” Electrical Trades Union national secretary Allen Hicks said.

“The government is wilfully destroying jobs in a growth sector and hobbling the ability of the Australian renewables industry to compete on the world stage.”

The comments follow the revelation that Federal Treasurer and Finance Minister had decided to pull the plug on investment in these two sectors by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which the Abbott government has twice attempted to abolish.

“It seems every move this government makes comes at the cost of jobs, money and certainty for industry,” Mr Hicks said.

“We saw them shatter investor confidence with their ideological prevaricating on the Renewable Energy Target.

“Now we are seeing even more political games being played with the technologies of the future.  “There is a limit to the amount of nineteenth century thinking the Australian people will endure, and we have well and truly passed it.

“As a nation, we need investment, leadership and growth in the renewable energy sector in order to compete on the world stage and create the jobs of the future.  “What we are seeing from the Abbott Government is the exact opposite.”

Press release






Curbs on free speech becoming onerous

From the newsletter of Liberal Senator Sean Edwards

If we consider what most fundamentally distinguishes Western Civilisation from the cultural cavemen of the global islamist movement, it’s the free and forceful exchange of ideas and the way those ideas influence the evolution of our society. The recent Federal Council raised once again the issue of Section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act and its impact on reasonable debate in Australia.

It’s the public debate of ideas and values that leads to social change and it’s their debate in Parliament that enshrines those changes into law.

But while the latter is protected by Parliamentary Privilege, public debate in Australia is threatened by an overbearing Racial Discrimination Act and its hypersensitive Section 18c. If free speech is muzzled, we can’t be sure our society evolves in the direction the community wants it to.

The freedom of speech debate has never been an argument about limitless speech. Freedom of speech is not absolute and nor should it ever be, as no reasonable person could possibly support, for instance, the expression of views that induce unjust violence or that intentionally mislead for commercial gain or legal advantage. This is really a debate about where we draw the line.

Section 18c draws the line at the point where a statement relating to race is interpreted as being insulting and it offers special redress when it is. Taking this principle to its full logical conclusion, if legal protection should be afforded to hurt feelings on one basis, why shouldn’t it extend equally to a range of other sensitivities such as speech that is insulting on the basis of religion or gender? Why exclude speech that insults someone on the basis of their politics or their class?

After all, it wasn’t racial but religious rhetoric with which pro-islamist rioters intimidated and insulted non-believers in Hyde Park, Sydney.

It wasn’t racial but class rhetoric with which anti-capitalist protestors humiliated and insulted mainstream Australians during the Occupy protests.

It wasn’t racial but political rhetoric with which dock workers intimidated and insulted their colleagues during the waterfront dispute.

Historical examples are plenty but Section 18c also threatens the most important of debates here and now.

The Government plans to specifically recognise Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders in the Constitution but discussion of who is and is not an Aboriginal person for the purpose of this amendment may well fall foul of the law. So Section 18c may literally prevent Australians from commenting freely on changes to their own Constitution.

Section 18d was envisaged to provide a number of exceptions to the sanctions of Section 18c for scenarios like journalism, art and academic debate. However in doing so it invites a judge to decide whether you hold your view “in good faith” and whether or not it is “reasonable” of you to do so before he or she decides whether they’ll let you off.

Australia did not become the civilised, culturally advanced society that it is by chance or by having our thoughts vetted by the judiciary. We got here through an evolution of ideas, values and beliefs and having them validated or otherwise by the best test there is: public debate.

That Federal Council passed a motion calling for removal of the words “offend” and “insult” from the Racial Discrimination Act will, I hope, inspire further attention to the matter from in the Parliamentary Liberal Party.

SOURCE






Other countries 'airy-fairy' on climate change, says Tony Abbott

The Abbott government does not get enough credit for its emissions reduction policies, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said, as he revealed Australia will not announce post-2020 climate targets until August.

Mr Abbott told a media conference on Monday that targets Australia will take to a global climate summit in Paris at the end of the year will not be made public until after a cabinet meeting at the beginning of August.

But he said the difference between Australia and the rest of the world was that "when we make commitments to reduce emissions we keep them".  "Other countries make all these airy-fairy promises that never come to anything," Mr Abbott said.

Australia is the only developed country that has given no indication of what level of emissions reductions it is prepared to take on.

The government has previously said it would reveal Australia's targets in July, and an announcement was widely expected this week to coincide with the Major Economies Forum in the United States.

Mr Abbott was asked about Australia's likely target after New Zealand revealed its target of 30 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 – a figure condemned by climate experts as not ambitious enough to avoid the globally agreed 2 degrees of warming.

"I'm not going to speculate in advance of a decision by the cabinet and the party room," he said.  "We flagged that we would finalise our position about the middle of the year and we've got a party room meeting coming up at the beginning of August.

"I'm not going to flag any final position in advance of due process and proper consideration."

But he gave an assurance the figure reached by the government would be a "strong" one.  "We'll take a very strong and credible position to Paris," Mr Abbott said.

"This government doesn't get enough credit, Australia doesn't get enough credit, for the emissions reduction work that we have already done.

"We don't get enough credit for the environmental protection that has already been achieved and, while I'm on the subject, let me again congratulate [Environment Minister] Greg Hunt for his work in getting the Great Barrier Reef taken off the World Heritage Commission endangered list."

Australia's emissions are the highest per capita of any country in the developed world.

Erwin Jackson, deputy chief executive of the Climate Institute, said Australia and Japan were the last two developed economies to formally announce post 2020 targets, although Japan has given some indication of what its target will be.

"But the core issue is the target will need to be strong and it will need to be credible if it's to be a foundation for stable and effective climate policy in Australia," Mr Jackson said.

The independent Climate Change Authority has urged Australia to adopt an emissions reduction target of 30 per cent on 2000 levels by 2030, which is equal to 36 per cent on 2005 levels

When compared with other developed nations, the recommendations would put Australia ahead of the US, which has a 26 to 28 per cent target by 2025 and well in front of Canada's 30 per cent target on 2005 levels by 2030.

They would place Australia roughly on par with Germany and Switzerland, but behind Britain.

Australia's current target is to reduce emissions by 5 per cent on 2000 levels by 2020, which is roughly equivalent to a target of 13 per cent on 2005 levels by 2020.

The Climate Council said only Canada, which withdrew from the Kyoto Agreement, was not on track to meet its current emission reduction promises.

Mr Hunt, who has previously said the government would reveal its new targets in July, said on Monday the announcement would be "in the coming weeks". He suggested Australia's target might surprise people and that it would be bigger than some expected.

"We are actually ahead of where I had hoped to be. We are in a remarkably strong position," Mr Hunt said.

"We will have a strong and I think more ambitious target than others would have previously expected. So I couldn't be more pleased and more delighted."

Australia became the first country in the world last year to axe a price on carbon when the government repealed Labor's carbon tax and replaced it with Direct Action, a policy to pay polluters to reduce their emissions.

The first auctions under the Emissions Reduction Fund took place in April, with the government pledging $660 million out of a possible $2.5 billion for 144 projects.

It is unclear when the second round of auctions under the scheme will occur.

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Competition with a vengeance

People have been moaning about the Coles/Woolworths "duopoly" for years.  It is no more.  It has been defeated by capitalism

WHEN Wesfarmers boss Richard Goyder suggested the tax affairs of rival supermarket chain Aldi be “looked at” last month, he possibly didn’t expect this.

The usually secretive German discounter has opened its books to show its sales and pre-tax profits have more than doubled since 2010, giving Woolies, Coles and independent rivals more reason than ever to be concerned.

In a submission to the government’s Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance and minimisation, Aldi issued a three-year snapshot of its accounts between 2010 and 2013. In that time, its pre-tax earnings surged from $121 million to $261 million, while sales ballooned from $3.14 billion to $6 billion, The Australian reports.

Aldi already claims an 11 per cent slice of Australia’s $90 billion grocery market, with major expansion plans for South Australia and Western Australia in the pipeline.

The growth figures put Aldi’s much bigger rivals in the shade, particularly Woolworths, which has suffered a slump in sales in recent years, coming second to Coles in the battle for the weekly grocery shop.

The Senate submission, made by Aldi CEO Thomas Daunt, shows Aldi’s total revenue rise from $3.139 billion in 2010, to $3.52 billion in 2011, $4.16 billion in 2012 to reach $4.998 billion in 2013.
Its average pre-tax profit grew 31 per cent between 2010 and 2013, compared to 13.8 per cent for Coles and just 7.13 per cent for Woolies, according to The Australian.

Mr Daunt hit back at suggestions by Mr Goyder, head of Coles parent company Wesfarmers, that Aldi might be dodging some of its Australian tax responsibilities by pointing out that the Australian Taxation Officie had given the company a “low risk” rating under its risk differentiation framework for GST and income tax.

“The actual income tax paid by the Aldi Australia Group over the four-ear period to 31 December, 2013, is $238 million, which represents an average of $60 million per annum over the same period,” Mr Daunt said.

“Aldi … does not engage in the inappropriate pricing of international related-party transactions for the purposes of artificially reducing taxable profits in Australia.”

SOURCE

Does criticism of multiculturalists imply racism?

Concerning criticism that drew attention to the Greek background of controversial Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios:

I am not entirely in agreement with the thoughts below, though they do have some merit.  I see Dawn Fraser's words as an acknowledgement of multiculturalism.  The very idea of multiculturalism implies a recognition that cultures differ.  And what is acceptible in one culture may be unacceptable in others.  And Australia is unequivocally multicultural.

So if Fraser saw an Australian-born product of Greek culture as lazy and not making an effort, that could be an accurate recognition of a cultural difference.  Given the parasitical tendencies of the Greek nation presently on worldwide dispay, how can we say she was wrong? 

It's certainly politically incorrect to mention any negative features of multiculturalism but that is just prejudging the matter.  It certainly says nothing about the truth of a matter.  It forbids truths of some sorts from being uttered but it does not abolish them

Fraser was entitled to her views and she should have been tolerated when uttering them, not condemned.  The Leftist myth that all minority cultures have nothing negative about them is absurd 

 Dawn Fraser's apology for her inappropriate 'go back to where you came from' comments about tennis player Nick Kyrgios needs to be kept in perspective regarding the extent of racism in Australia.

One interpretation is sure to be that Fraser's ill-judged remarks illustrate the 'dark underbelly of prejudice that persists in this country as a legacy of the White Australia policy'.

But what this incident really shows is how far we have come as a nation in refusing to tolerate intolerance.

Compare the current situation to when the White Australia legislation was passed by the federal parliament in 1901.

All of our first four Prime Ministers spoke during the debate. Three (Barton, Watson and Reid) advanced arguments that today would be condemned as racist and see them drummed out of public life.

The fourth (Deakin) was so embarrassed by his colleagues' racial prejudice that he argued it was actually the good qualities of 'alien' peoples such as the Japanese that explained why Australians were so determined to keep them out of the country.

The story of how we overcame our racist heritage and became one of the most successful multiracial nations in the world is a long and important one. I tell some of this tale in my article included in the free speech issue of the latest Policy magazine.

The takeaway is that we can rely on our culture of tolerance to curb bigoted speech and don't need laws like Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act that can be exploited to curtail legitimate free speech and debates about important public issues.

This is supported by the events of this week. The public outcry the comments provoked showed Fraser had crossed a line with regards to acceptable speech and forced her to issue an 'unreserved apology'.

This shows we can rely on the culture, and not the law, to protect people from racially insulting speech.

SOURCE





Australian union afraid of Chinese competition

If anybody needs competition to straighten them out the CFMEU  does.  They might have been listened too if they had been less hostile and obstructionist to everyone.  They have constantly broken the law and used violence to rip off builders.  It was unionist dislike of Chinese workers that inspired the White Australia policy enacted in 1901. So is the CFMEU racist too?  It seems so
         
A national television advertising campaign highlighting flaws in the Abbott Government’s recently signed free trade agreement with China will begin airing from tonight, warning that the deal will leave Australian workers “without a hope.”

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union advertisements — which will begin tonight in the ACT, Tasmania and Queensland — come as the union accused Trade Minister Andrew Robb of deliberately misleading the Australian public in his attempts to promote the agreement.

The commercial, which features the faces of young Australian’s in trades that will be opened up to Chinese workers without the need for existing mandatory skills assessments, warns that: “instead of creating jobs for Australians, the Abbott Government’s deal allows Chinese companies to bring in their own workers, leaving Australian workers without a hope.”

CFMEU national secretary Michael O’Connor hit back at attacks by Mr Robb on the union campaign against key elements of the free trade agreement, accusing him of publishing deliberately misleading and untrue statements in a Ministerial media release issued on July 7.

“Mr Robb appears to be deliberately misleading the Australian public about key details of this free trade agreement with China,” Mr O’Connor said.

“Among these deceptive statements is Mr Robb’s claim that a Chinese company investing more than $150 million in Australian infrastructure projects ‘must use Australian workers, unless it can prove that there are no qualified Australian workers to do the job’, which is completely untrue.

“As is his claim that ‘even then, an investor may only be approved to bring in a limited number of qualified workers with the specific skills required for a limited period of time.’

“The facts are that any company contracted to work on such a project — whether Chinese or Australian based — can use unlimited numbers of Chinese workers in all 651 skilled occupations covered by the 457 visa with no legal obligation to advertise jobs to prove there are no qualified Australian workers available.”

Mr O’Connor also attacked Mr Robb’s claim that “these are the same major project provisions that Labor introduced when in office.”

“Labor’s Enterprise Migration Agreements required a project to be worth $2 billion — with a workforce of at least 1,500 people,” he said.

“Mr Robb’s IFA’s have no minimum workforce size, only need a total project expenditure of $150 million, and only require Chinese investment to be 15 per cent of that.

“Another of his claims, that the China free trade agreement ‘does not change the skills and experience requirements’ for an application for a temporary skilled visa to work in Australia, is also false.

“The ChAFTA agreement includes a side letter — signed personally by Andrew Robb — stating that for 10 skilled occupations, including electricians, mechanics and carpenters, mandatory skills assessments will no longer be required.

“These mandatory skills assessments are currently required for workers from China, as well as many other countries, and are being removed directly as a result of this agreement.

“In its rush to secure an agreement, the Abbott Government appears to have been outsmarted or outmanoeuvred by the Chinese government, to the detriment of Australian workers and businesses.

“They are now too embarrassed to admit key elements of the agreement may be a mistake, instead attacking unions who highlight the negative impacts this free trade deal will have on Australian jobs, workplace safety, and consumer protections.”

Press release from the CFMEU






Federal govt defends wind farm blocking

LABOR says the nation's clean energy bank will be left to fund "flying saucers" after being told by the government not to invest in wind energy projects.

THE $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has been ordered to focus on new technologies instead of wind farms under a revised mandate drafted by the government.  The government says the change is not new but came as part the deal over the renewable energy target reached with Senate crossbenchers in June. Prime Minister Tony Abbott believes it will provide certainty for the sector.

The plan was always to abolish the corporation entirely, he said.
"But while it exists, we believe we should be investing in new and emerging technology - certainly not existing wind farms," he told reporters in Darwin on Sunday.

The opposition mocked the move, accusing the government of sabotaging the future of renewable energy industry. "The guidelines now being proposed ... mean that the only thing the CEFC can invest in is flying saucers," Labor leader Bill Shorten said. "Because anything which is any closer to development Mr Abbott is saying is an established technology."

Environment Minister Greg Hunt lashed out at reports he was left out of the decision, denying it was made without his approval. He says he approved it with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann. "Claims that I have been angered are a complete, absolute and utter fabrication," he tweeted on Sunday.

The Australian Greens branded the change a "vindictive form of industrial sabotage".

Wind farm groups said the "senseless" decision would be the final nail in the coffin for the industry.

The Clean Energy Council said having an overt directive against wind investment would affect the nation's ability to attract jobs and investment.

Mr Abbott has previously said he found wind farms "visually awful" and noisy.

SOURCE






Options for over-crowding in schools

Enrolments in inner city Sydney public primary schools have doubled in the last five years. Most of these schools have reached capacity, and it is likely that the demand for schools in the inner city will continue to grow.

The NSW government has recently discarded plans to build a new school on an old industrial site in Ultimo, reportedly due to the cost of remediating the site to make it safe. While most of the debate has been about whether these cost estimates were over-estimated, the larger question is about how governments can respond to fluctuations in demand for school places, especially where land prices are high. No government wants to risk spending hundreds of millions of dollars building a new school only to find that enrolments are lower than predicted.

NSW education minister Adrian Piccoli has suggested a couple of options instead of building the new school: expand enrolment zones to allow inner-city residents to attend schools in neighbouring suburbs that may have space; accommodate students in demountable classrooms; and refuse to enrol international students in over-subscribed schools.

These are short-term and counterproductive solutions. Eventually, inner suburban schools will fill up too, demountable classrooms are far from ideal learning environments, and international students are a valuable source of revenue. International students pay between $10,000 and $13,500 per year to attend NSW public schools. On this basis, the 1153 students in inner city public schools contribute up to $15.5 million per year to the NSW education budget. One might think it was worthwhile to encourage their enrolment.

Another possibility is to alter school funding arrangements to encourage the establishment of privately-managed public schools in the city. In the US, UK, Sweden and New Zealand, governments have enacted 'charter' or 'free' school policies, which provide full public recurrent funding to private organisations to operate schools, in exchange for the schools meeting a number of requirements - they must have open enrolment, they cannot charge fees, and they are accountable for their performance. These schools usually adapt existing buildings or raise private capital to build new ones. In this way, the capital risk is privatised, but students are still able to access a 'public' school.

Governments in Australia have resisted the charter/free school trend despite evidence that they can work very well if governance arrangements are strong. In the inner city, necessity may force a change of mind.

SOURCE

Antarctic blast begins to bite: Heavy snow falls in southern states, 90km/h blizzards set to batter NSW and drivers urged to stay off the roads as temperatures plummet to lowest in 15 YEARS

At mid-afternoon in Brisbane on Saturday it was 22 degrees!

Emergency services are on high alert as the Antarctic blast is beginning to hit the southern and eastern coast of Australia and people have been warned to batten down the hatches ahead of the worst of the storms overnight and into Sunday.

Damaging 'blizzard intensity' winds of 90km/h in NSW are causing havoc across NSW, and snow is also falling in South Australia and Victoria as conditions worsen.

NSW Police has appealed for all drivers to take extra care on the roads, as thousands of families return home after the school holidays. The warning calls for people to avoid 'risky behaviour'.

A State Emergency Service spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia people should avoid travel all together if possible, as roads become potentially deadly in 'icy conditions'.

It also advised people to move cars undercover, put away or secure loose items at home and be aware of falling trees and power lines.

The freezing front began to roll across the country on Friday afternoon, delivering conditions not seen in 15 years, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Temperatures are expected to fall to zero or below across large parts of Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania, with bitterly cold winds and hail also forecast. Snow is predicted to reach as far north as Queensland, after already falling across Victoria, South Australia and NSW.

The snow spread is forecast to reach further north than it has since 2000.

Sydney and Melbourne can expect average low temperatures of 8 degrees for the weekend, while Canberra will be hit with a freezing 4 - but it could feel as cold as -1 due to the wind chill.

Brisbane will likely end the weekend soaked, with heavy rain predicted across most of the state, in addition to potential snow in areas of higher-elevation. [Didn't happen.  A few light showers only]

SOURCE






Stand up and be counted on electoral roll fraud

WHILE NSW Labor MP ­Noreen Hay stands aside as NSW Opposition whip pending the outcome of an Australian Federal Police investigation into allegations of electoral roll fraud, it might be an excellent time to conduct a wider ­inquiry into electoral fraud across the nation.

The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) is to conduct two new inquiries, with submissions closing next week, but the terms of reference seem to deliberately avoid electoral roll fraud.

The first inquiry will deal with electoral education, the second with behaviour at polling places and ­campaigning activities.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has performed woefully for years. Lex Stewart, the president of Australians for Honest Elections, ­estimates there may be at least 200,000 false enrolments on the electoral roll.

He said the integrity of the roll had worsened over the years and was now in a state of crisis. It is almost 20 years since the AEC stopped making home visits to physically check claims of residence.

Stewart said four reports by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) in 2002, 2004, 2010 and 2014 pointed to the poor state of the roll and the potential for ballot papers to “go missing”.  The 1370 lost in the WA Senate election were merely “the tip of the iceberg”, he said.

With the roll in disrepair and without checks, massive voting fraud could easily occur and change the outcome of a federal election.

Apart from the potential for people to switch electorates in order to give their votes greater weight in marginal seats, there is the capacity for false enrolments to gift political parties with hundreds of thousands of dollars in electoral funding.

If the JSCEM is to hold an inquiry, it should make it meaningful.
The concerns of the ANAO ­deserve to be addressed and the public needs to be assured their votes will count and will not be discounted because of voters rorting elections.

SOURCE






Australian bureaucrat wears Confederate-themed shirt -- gets prize

Australia is not America

THE decision of a senior Northern Territory bureaucrat to wear a Confederate flag to a recent dinner was totally inappropriate, Senator Nova Peris says.

MARK Coffey, the NT manager in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, won best dressed man at the annual Central Australian Beef Breeders dinner on Saturday in a shirt emblazoned with the Confederate flag, the American Civil War emblem linked to white supremacy and racism.

"We're trying to move on from those days, we're trying to build a more inclusive country.... I think wearing that - I call it a costume - you have to think you're going to draw criticism, and rightly so," Ms Peris said.

SOURCE (Nova Peris is black)






ABC-SBS Asian soccer war costs public extra $700,000

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Malcolm Turnbull has demanded that ABC managing director Mark Scott and SBS chief executive Michael Ebeid explain why the two public broadcasters went head-to-head for the free-to-air broadcast rights to soccer’s Asian Cup.

By competing against each other, the broadcasters increased the cost to taxpayers by about $700,000.

SBS submitted a bid of about 700,00 to broadcast the games, which begin in Australia in January, but the public broadcaster has been told its bid was unsuccessful.

The ABC, while still in final nego­tiations, is understood to be the successful candidate, with a proposed payment for the free-to-air broadcast rights of up to $1.4 million.

Mr Turnbull told The Weekend Australian he has asked the ABC and SBS to explain why they engaged in a bidding war, especially given the need for them to become more efficient.

“The efficiency study of the ABC and SBS identified five key areas that may lead to significant operational efficiencies or savings, the first of which was that the two broadcasters look for opportunities for greater co-operation, while retaining their separate and unique programming identities,’’ Mr Turnbull said. “In this instance, it appears taxpayers have been the losers by this advice being ignored. I have asked the two CEOs for an explanation.”

The ABC dominated headlines for a week when it implied its program Lateline could face the axe due to budget cuts but, as The Australian revealed on Friday, it is paying Google thousands of dollars for lead position on search terms such as “politics news”.

On Tuesday, it outbid its commercial rivals to buy a Google search ad for Gough Whitlam’s death.

Commercial media organisations were infuriated by Mr Scott’s use of taxpayer funds to drive traffic away from their news sites, which, unlike the government-funded broadcaster, rely on subscription and advertising revenue for survival.

Opposition communications spokesman Jason Clare called for an investigation into the practice but the ABC’s director of audience and marketing, Leisa Bacon, said the broadcaster had an obligation to have its content seen by as many people possible.

She denied the ABC was spending $10,000 a month on search engine marketing, saying the figure was closer to a 10th of that.

Mr Scott, who has refused a longstanding interview request with The Weekend Australian, is likely to be grilled on the Asian Cup and the buy-up of Google search ads when Senate estimate hearings are rescheduled.

The Weekend Australian understands that SBS, long considered the home of soccer, was disappointed to miss out on the cup rights.

Fox Sports, owned by News Corp Australia, publisher of The Weekend Australian, holds the overall rights to the Asian Cup, the region’s biggest soccer tournament. Football Federation Australia and Fox Sports are likely to grant the free-to-air rights to the ABC because of its national audience.

“Soccer has got a lot of momentum at the moment, so allowing a new audience at the ABC to see this with international teams playing is a good thing for football and for our country,” a source close to the negotiations said.

“It would help the momentum football already has.”

The SBS bid of $700,000 was a break-even assessment of the revenue and advertising the event could return to the public broadcaster. SBS and Fox Sports declined to comment yesterday.

An ABC spokesman said it would be proud to show key games. The Asian Cup was an international event that will reach a large, diverse audience.

“No deal has yet been signed for the Asian Cup, however, we can say discussions with the FFA and Fox Sports have been conducted in good faith and there has been no bidding process for the event,’’ he said.

The Asian Cup Australia is already receiving funds, from the federal, Queensland, NSW, ACT and Victorian governments.

SOURCE






'Just go': Former Labor chief calls on Bill Shorten to QUIT

Bill Shorten should resign in the wake of his appearance before the trade union royal commission, a former ALP national secretary says.

Bob Hogg's call comes after it was revealed the opposition leader only declared on Monday a $40,000 donation made by labour-hire company Unibilt in 2007.

'Bill, do something for the ALP. It is simple. Just go,' Mr Hogg wrote on social media on Wednesday night.

Nine Network's political editor Laurie Oakes also told breakfast show Today that this could be the end for Mr Shorten, as the Federal Labor leader is 'so down in the dumps anyway, so down in people's estimation, he couldn't afford what happened yesterday'.

Mr Shorten, the former Australian Workers Union Victorian and national secretary, fronted the unions royal commission in Sydney on Wednesday. He is expected to appear again on Thursday.

Mr Hogg attacked Mr Shorten in an open letter on social media hours after the inquiry, which revealed the Federal Labor leader failed to declare a company's donation to his 2007 election campaign until this month.

'Dear Bill - is the concept of conflict of interest beyond your understanding?' Mr Hogg wrote, Fairfax Media reports.

'Really?' he continued. 'His campaign director was paid for by a company whose employees were covered by Bill's AWU, and therefore, as union members, deserved their interest to be protected to the maximum.

'The payment wasn't declared until Bill was reminded eight years later: a real lapse of memory, sloppy book-keeping or a hope no-one would notice. Take your pick.'

While Mr Oakes says yesterday's inquiry has done some damage for Mr Shorten, he predicts the opposition leader will 'still lead the Labor party into the next election'.

'People are saying there is no smoking gun being revealed at the commission… he's bruised but he'll get over it,' Mr Oakes said on Thursday morning on Channel Nine.

'Sure, this royal commission is a political exercise, there's no doubt about that. But the point is, is it effective? Well it's aimed a fair bit of damage already and he's due in the box again today.'

Yesterday, after arriving more than two hours early and swearing an oath on the Bible, Mr Shorten faced a series of questions from senior counsel Jeremy Stoljar about the staff involved in the 2007 campaign which propelled him into federal office.

In late 2006 or early 2007, Mr Shorten met with labour hire company Unibilt boss Ted Lockyer and the-then AWU national secretary asked whether the company could provide a research officer, Lance Wilson, the commission heard.

Mr Wilson was put on the books of Unibilt as a 'research officer', but Mr Shorten told the commission he actually acted as his 'campaign director' in his run for the Labor-held seat of Maribyrnong.

Mr Stoljar told the commission the total amount paid by Unibilt came to $40,000, with a further $12,000 written off by the AWU. It was a $50,000 plus job.

Asked whether he declared the donation to the Australian Electoral Commission, Mr Shorten said: 'It has come to my attention that the declaration hasn't been made until very recently.'  Asked how recently, he said: 'In the last few days.'

Mr Shorten said he had signed an official declaration in early 2008 that did not mention the donation. 'What I did once I saw all the royal commission papers, I went back and I have sought legal advice, worked out what needed to be done and I have now completed that,' he said.

Not declaring an election donation is a criminal offence carrying a maximum 12-month sentence.

Mr Stoljar continued to quiz Mr Shorten on whether the company - which was negotiating an enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) with the AWU - had used the donation of the staff member to seek favour.

'Not to my knowledge at all,' Mr Shorten said, denying he was involved in the EBA negotiations.

'Isn't that a situation in which you're using your position as national secretary to gain an advantage for yourself, namely a full-time campaign worker?' Mr Stoljar asked.

'Absolutely not,' Mr Shorten replied.

Mr Shorten asked the commission to keep secret the name of a female part-time staffer who also worked on his campaign team in 2007.  The woman was paid by the AWU's national office, the commission heard.  'She has asked me not to reveal her name in this royal commission, but I am happy to write it down for you,' Mr Shorten said.  'Sometimes being mentioned in the commission can embarrass people, even when they are perfectly innocent.'

Mr Stoljar proposed the woman be described as 'the mystery person'.  But Mr Shorten objected, saying she should be described as the 'second campaign worker'.

SOURCE

GREENIE ROUNDUP

Four current articles below

Climate scientists: More scared of an inquiry into the science than they are of climate change

What’s more terrifying to a climate scientist than “2 degrees” of warming? Answer: Half a degree of hard questions.

Australian climate scientists don’t complain at all when the UN says it wants to redirect $89 Trillion in a quest to change the climate. But they are suddenly all concerned that the Australian Government might waste 0.0001% investigating the science. A disaster!  Since when were climate scientists concerned about wasting public money? Since never.

A group of thirteen scientists, who’ve personally achieved little in the way of scientific advances, have written to Dennis Jensen and Chris Back offering to brief them on the “latest science”, afraid the skeptics might launch an inquiry into the science.  The ABC calls them “prominent”

Isn’t the scientific evidence the most important thing?

Surveys show half of the Australian public are skeptical — unconvinced by their claims that coal will cause a climate crisis or that solar panels can stop the storms. Right now, if the climate is headed for a disaster, nothing is more important than convincing the public. Instead, the climate scientists keep repeating that the debate is over, “trust us”, and “don’t ask questions”. But the debate never happened, the public don’t trust them, and we have many many questions — and they are not going away.

In a Reuters poll, 57% of people said they don’t think UN Climate Scientists can speak with authority on climate. Some scientists keep repeating that there is a consensus, but that spin isn’t working. More of the same isn’t going to change that. It’s time for a real debate.

If the evidence was overwhelming, 95% certain, the climate scientists would welcome the attention. But it’s a gambit they played ten years ago, and the game is over. Skeptics know the case for a crisis will fall over with the merest honest inspection. The unskeptical scientists know it too — that’s why they are so afraid the Coalition might really call their bluff and demand real answers.

The laws of physics are the same in every field

If there is a climate crisis, real scientists would have no trouble convincing other scientists from other fields, but that’s not what we are seeing. Increasingly scientists from other branches of science are protesting, and in their thousands. They are fed up at the way the scientific method is being abused and milked for press attention.

There is no consensus amongst scientists – only among certified “climate” scientists, paid by government. Almost half  of meteorologists are skeptics (crikey!), survey after survey shows that two-thirds of geoscientists and engineers are skeptics, and most readers of skeptical blogs (who chose to respond to surveys and list their qualifications in  comments) have hard science degrees.

Dan Kahan conducted a survey and found people who knew more about maths and science were more likely to be skeptical. In other words, skeptics were better informed about science. See the  qualifications of 400 skeptics here.

How weak is their scientific position?

Dennis Jensen pointed out 97% of models did not predict “the Pause”. So Professor Hoegh-Guldberg simply denied there is a pause. (Hello? What about those satellites? Ignoring most of the big climate temperature data sets?) Probably the only paper in Professor Hoegh-Guldberg’s arsenal is the recent Karl et al one, which ignored the best ocean gauges and used a wildly uncertain estimate to blend two bad data sets together. What’s the certainty? The data was corrected with a figure where the error was 17 times larger than the correction: 0.12 ± 1.7°C. See, exotic adventures in global climate data to unfind “the Pause”. They must be kidding.

Hoegh-Guldberg says 18 years of a global temperature pause is “short term”:

But Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said that was a short-term perspective.  “When you look at the literature, there’s been no hiatus,” he said.

“There’s random variability around the upward signal of temperature.  “It’s just like the stock market. If you look at that it’s going up and down but it’ll have a trend — that trend is what we’re watching.  “[It's] not whether it’s going up or down over a period of 10 years — it’s a long-term signal.”

18 years. 10 years, what’s the difference? It’s only math. ;- )

And oh, yes, please, Hoegh-Guldberg, let’s look at the long term. How many of the IPCC favourite climate models “predicted” the medieval warm period? How many can model the holocene optimum? None and zero. None of their models understand the climate.

M.P.s who understand science are harder to fool

Senator Chris Back is trained in veterinary science. Dennis Jensen has a PhD in physics. Both are happy to listen to the “experts”, but neither will be convinced by weak claims of “consensus”.

Mr Jensen said he was willing to meet the scientists to hear their views.

“I’m open to being convinced but the data and the evidence that I’ve seen [on climate change] thus far certainly I don’t find compelling,” he said.

He claimed that pointing to a scientific consensus on climate science “indicates your argument is weak”.  “When is the last time you heard the consensus of the world scientists is that the earth is roughly spherical?” he said.

“You get the appeal to consensus when the data and the evidence is weak and it’s an appeal to authority rather than examining the data and the evidence.”

Senator Back said he was happy to meet the scientists.

As “a person with a scientific background”, Senator Back said he was concerned by claims that “the science is in and no-one should challenge it”. He is trained as a veterinarian and does not have expertise in climate science.  In response to their concerns, the best the experts can offer is “trust us”

“Exhaustive” and “experts” are just words, not evidence:

Professor Peter Newman, a signatory to the letter and a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the panel’s research was an “exhaustive” process.

He said the political debate around climate change action was legitimate but ”frustrating”.

Professor Newman said MPs should “just deal with the politics, that’s their job”, adding “the scientists have done their job”.

Professor Hughes said MPs who cast doubt on the science of global warming were trying to delay political progress on the issue.

SOURCE

New coal-mine approved for Australia

The Abbott government was under fire Thursday after approving a huge Chinese-run coal mine near prime farmland, sparking division in its own ranks with Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce complaining that "the world has gone mad".

Joyce called the decision "ridiculous" after Chinese company Shenhua was granted approval for the $1 billion Watermark mine near Gunnedah in New South Wales state, under 18 conditions the government said were among the strictest in Australia's history.

"I've never supported the Shenhua mine. I think it is ridiculous that you would have a major mine in the midst of Australia's best agricultural land," Joyce said on Facebook about the project, which is in his constituency.

Large-scale mining in rural areas and concerns about valuable agricultural and mineral assets passing into foreign hands is a hot topic in Australia, with the government earlier this year tightening scrutiny on overseas investment in farmland.

The NSW Farmers Association blasted the Shenhua move as the government turning a "food bowl into coal". The area is known for its rich black soil, excellent water resources and ideal climate.

It said the Shenhua Watermark Coal Project, with a mine life of 30 years, would "disturb an area of over 4,000 football fields in size, in the middle of some of Australia's best farming country".

But Environment Minister Greg Hunt, who approved the mine this week, said he had listened to community concerns and put strict conditions on the mine, with Shenhua needing to complete water and biodiversity management plans before any mining starts.

"There will be no impact on the availability of water for agriculture," Hunt said.

Another condition includes the power to stop mining if there were any effects on agricultural water supply. In the event that it did occur, the mine must immediately provide an alternative water supply to farmers.

National broadcaster ABC said a legal challenge had been launched by the NSW Planning Assessment Commission in a last ditch bid to halt the mine, on claims officials failed to properly consider the impact on a local koala population.

SOURCE

Nuclear power and waste storage proposed for South Australia

THINGS are looking grim for the South Australian economy, and everyone is trying to think of ways to kickstart growth. But is building a nuclear waste dump really the best idea?

South Australia has the worst unemployment rate in Australia, which hit 7.6 per cent in May, the highest since 2001. New figures out today showed it grew to 8.2 per cent in June.

University of Adelaide Associate Professor John Spoehr told The Advertiser the state was “on a pathway to double digit unemployment in the absence of major new investment in infrastructure and construction projects”.

In this atmosphere Liberal senator for South Australia Sean Edwards has floated his ambitious new plan for a nuclear power plant and waste storage that promises economic growth and which could potentially see state taxes abolished and free electricity for residents.

In February a poll for The Advertiser revealed 58.3 per cent of its readers were supportive of building a nuclear power plant in the state. Now state Labor Premier Jay Weatherill, who has acknowledged that the state is in transition with some industries in decline, has formed a Royal Commission to look into the idea.

Money does talk, and Senator Edwards believes nuclear could be an “economic game changer”.

SOURCE

A strong cold front is set to deliver heavy snow and wild winds for much of Australia

Where's that global warming?


THE most powerful cold front to cross Australia’s southeast in years will hit this weekend with forecasters warning of freezing conditions.

The weather event will start on Saturday and unusually cold conditions are expected to last until the middle of next week.

Weatherzone says South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, the ACT, Queensland and the Northern Territory will experience the coldest spell in at least two years, and more than five years in some places.

Snow is forecast to fall in areas of Australia’s south east down to 600 metres, including in some Melbourne suburbs and in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.

“Snow should fall almost right along the Victorian and NSW ranges, falling as low as 600 metres, most likely in southernmost parts.”

This means great news for Ski resorts who have been struggling to open runs after one of the worst starts to the snow season on record.

Victorian and New South Wales alpine areas are likely to receive at least 50cm of fresh powder.

The nation’s capital can expect an average maximum of about 8C over four days, the coldest since June 2009.

Rainfall wise, the heaviest falls will be in eastern Victoria and south-eastern New South Wales where up to 50mm is possible.

“These showers will at times and in some places contain small hail and combining with the bitterly cold and strong winds will add to an already exceptional chill, making the actual temperature feel as much as five degrees colder.”

The situation is being closely monitored and warnings will be issued in each state, as required, as conditions deteriorate.

In the meantime, Perth has recorded its coldest night of the year as the mercury plunged below zero in some suburbs.

The official temperature in the capital dipped to 0.8C while suburbs in the cities south east fell to -1.5C.

SOURCE





OTHER NEWS

Taxpayer-supported Broadcaster against Israel and democracy

Bill Shorten’s parliamentary secretary has joined the chorus of complaint over the ABC’s Q&A, describing it as an “awful program” with a “hardline” agenda.

Melbourne Ports MP Mich­ael Danby has used an opinion piece in today’s Australian Jewish News to question ABC managing director Mark Scott’s supervision of the program as the broadcaster’s editor-in-chief.

“Giving Zaky Mallah a leg-up is not the main problem,” Mr Danby said in a statement yesterday. “The problem is ... TV producers with hardline political agendas, operating in the shadows, distorting the public debate, and shifting it in a direction that only the ‘enlightened vanguard’ like them appreciate.”

Mr Danby hit out at Q&A’s culture. “‘If it bleeds, it leads’ is the old TV news maxim,’’ he said. “The desire for sensa­tionalism is worry enough. But equally worry­ing is the political paradigm in which Q&A’s senior staff operate. Their agenda is anti-Labor leftist, anti-Israel, even sometimes anti-democratic.

“Mr Scott seems oblivious to Q&A’s abiding agenda. Or perhaps he privately agrees with it?”

Mr Danby appeared to endorse security concerns raised by the government over Mallah’s appearance on the show last month. “While we can and should contemptuously laugh at the loon, we also dare not forget that ... (Man Haron) Monis was presumed a harmless attention-seeker too,” he said.

“It’s in this context that the Q&A high command decreed Mallah an acceptable guest. They knew his record.”

In separate comments made to Jewish community website J-Wire, Mr Danby flagged that he would not appear on Q&A: “While it’s their party and they invite who they want to, it’s worth looking at the door-list to see what they would accept.”

SOURCE





The first Australians WERE Aborigines?

This claim is just theory.  The living reality of the pygmy people in North Queensland is ignored

They are the oldest population of humans living outside Africa and now researchers have confirmed that Aborigines really were the first people to inhabit Australia.

For decades anthropologists have debated whether the Australian continent was home to an earlier race of humans based on unusual rock paintings discovered in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

The Bradshaw rock art, as they are known, are advanced paintings depicting figures with unusual body shapes, tassels and hair that are unlike any other rock art found in Australia.

This led some archaeologists to conclude they may have been painted by a group of people who arrived in Indonesia before the ancestors of modern day Aborigines.

The first ancestors of today'€™s non-African peoples probably took a southern route through the Arabian Peninsula as early as 130,000 years ago, the researchers found.

The study is published by Professor Katerina Harvati and her team from the Institute for Archaeological Sciences at the University of Tuebingen and the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Ferrara, Italy, and the National Museum of Natural History, France.

We've all got roots in Africa (if you go back 60,000 years)
However, Dr Michael Westaway, a biological anthropologist from Griffith University, in Queensland, has said the latest scientific evidence has shown that the Aborigines were the continents original inhabitants.

This means the paintings were in fact created by Aboriginal artists.

He said recent DNA evidence has shown that modern Aboriginal Australians are descended from the first modern humans that walked out of Africa nearly 75,000 years ago.

He claims Aborigines probably arrived in Australia at least 50,000 years ago.

In an interview with ABC Sydney, he said: ‘The DNA evidence is extraordinary. We know that they moved out of Africa over 60,000 years ago.

‘We have this remarkable trail that has been recovered for the genomic sequence of the first Australians.

’Many decades ago there were many hypotheses around but that hasn't really stood against any of the evidence.’

The genetic studies, which were conducted by a team led by evolutionary biologist Eske Willerslev, director of the Centre for Ancient Genetics at the University of Copenhagen, were published in 2011.

They support growing archaeological evidence that the Australian Aborigines are one of the oldest cultures to exist on the planet.

Human remains found around Lake Mungo in New South Wales appear to match those of modern populations but date back some 42,000 years.

Dr Westaway said: ‘The morphology of Mungo Man is very similar to the first Australians of today.

‘We have some of the earliest evidence of first Australians in Arnhem Land 55,000 years ago.’

SOURCE

Grotesquely high rate of murder and violence towards women in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities

In aid of political correctness, the writer below initially highlights a few cases affecting whites.  I have not reproduced those mentions below. The writer does however get around to mentioning where most of the violence in the NT comes from:  Aboriginal communities.  I have seen with my own eyes the casual violence Aboriginal men visit on their women

I have lived in Darwin and people there certainly do like a drink and are not very politically correct but there are no big differences between the white people there and other white Australians.  They're mostly from other parts of Australia anyway

Everything that could be tried to improve Aboriginal behaviour has been tried, from paternalism to permissiveness.  The only remaining thing that could be done to protect the Aboriginal women and children would be a much beefed-up police presence in Aboriginal communities.  But governments shrink from that for both political and cost reasons. 

Aboriginal behaviour was much better when missionaries ran the communities but wild horses could not bring that back

The Northern Territory murder rate has soared, making it not only the homicide capital of Australia but outstripping New York City and western Europe.

Australian Institute of Criminology figures show the Top End has a homicide rate of 5.5 per 100,000 people, meaning only Africa, crime ridden South America, the war torn Middle East and a few spots in Asia and Eastern Europe are more dangerous.

Much of the Northern Territory violence is against women where those fortunate not to have been killed are 80 times more likely to be hospitalised for assault or injury, than women in any other state in Australia.

The NT's rate for murder and manslaughter is five times the average in all Australian states - which range between 1 and 1.4 - and at 5.5 is not far behind the global rate of 6.2. New York City, where murders have declined, has a rate of four. 

The world average takes into account violence in South American countries like Venezuela, which has a massive 53.7 murders per 100,000 population, the Caribbean where St Kitts and Nevis is 33.6 and African countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (28.3).

The NT's 233,300 people means it is the least populous of Australia's eight states and territories spread over 1.34m sq km. It is one-third the size of India, and has .0002 of India's population, but 1.5 times India's murder rate.

But violence fuelled by poverty and substance abuse have contributed to hike in the rate of unnatural deaths.

Apart from terribly high rates of violence, unemployment is rife, and thousands of people are battling alcohol and gambling abuse, and addiction to cannabis and, increasingly, methamphetamine or ice.

In this place, up to 20 [Aboriginal] people live in some houses and children are stressed out and neglected.

In remote [Aboriginal] areas, up to 65 per cent of children attend school for fewer than three days a week and up to 60 per cent of them fail the national early developmental index which measures a child's ability to cope with starting school.

Murders, attempted murders or just assaults among family members or domestic partners are horrific in detail.

Many assaults are perpetrated by husbands or male partners on women. They include raping with wooden or metal objects, or murdering by repeatedly punched striking with available objects such as a saucepan, stones, concrete, axes, steel pipes, lumps of wood, star pickets, wheel braces or tools.

In one case of Northern Territory murder, a man who used a hose to whip his 32-year-old wife, stomping on her abdomen and dragging her naked body over rough ground, before raping her, and then bashing her with either a stick or metal pole, causing severe internal injuries, before finishing her off with a rock.

In another horrific case, which occurred at an [Aboriginal] outstation on the NT's remote Coburg Peninsula, which lies 570km north-east of Darwin, right at the top of the Territory, a 27-year-old man named Trenton Cunningham attacked his pregnant wife, Jodi Palipuaminni, mother of his four children.

Cunningham was on parole for assaulting Ms Palipuaminni with a steel bar and pouring boiling water over her, causing scalds that required skin grafts to 20 per cent of her body.

Over years of abuse, during which she had complained 29 times to health workers, Cunningham had whipped her with wire, kicked her pregnant stomach, and stabbed her with scissors.

In May 2005, he attacked her one last time because Ms Palipuaminni declined to bring him a cup of water.  No-one reported her screams for help and she was dead by morning. Cunningham's charge was reduced from murder to manslaughter and he was sentenced to a minimum 6.5 years.

In January, a swimming pool manager the remote Indigenous [Aboriginal] community of Yuendumu, 300 kilometres north west of Alice Springs was found dead.

Last December, Major Crime Squad Detectives charged a 39-year-old man with murder following the death of a 36-year-old woman in Charles Creek [Aboriginal] Camp in Alice Springs yesterday.

On a Saturday night in August last year,a group of men fatally assaulted a 48-year-old man in front of witnesses in a car park in central Darwin.

In November, 2013,  a man named Conway Stevenson was arrested over the death of his wife at the indigenous [Aboriginal] Bagot community, in the inner northern Darwin suburb of Ludmilla.

Hours before she was killed, the woman had stripped naked after Stevenson had told her , 'I don't want you any more'.

Later on Stevenson, looking for his wife, had told a woman, 'I’m going to murder her'.

The Australian Institute of Crime's Matthew Willis, said the rates of family violence among indigenous [Aboriginal] people was much higher than non-indigenous because 'it’s really hard for the Territory to provide community-based services — and it’s one of the issues for people living out in remote communities.

'There’s not a lot in the way of services particularly to address offending behaviours and to help for people trying to escape from family violence,' he told news.com.au.

South Australian university lecturer and anthropologist, Professor Peter Sutton, identified an area in Central Australia which included the Northern territory as a violent trouble spot.

'There is a tri-state area in the middle of Australia which is a Bermuda triangle for domestic violence against *Aboriginal*  women,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'People don't want to know, but how about women being raped by a burning fire stick or by a star picket?  'The society where this is going on is very different from the middle-class Aboriginal people that many people know.

"These are hair trigger communities where people fly into a rage in a second. People are under the influence of alcohol and there are beatings and stabbings. Resorting to physical violence is the norm.'

Dr Howard Bath, the Northern Territory's Children's Commissioner said statistics from the NT's five major government hospitals showed that in 2010 the number of non-indigenous females hospitalised for assault was 0.3 for every thousand women in the population.  The rate for indigenous females was 24.1 per thousand, or 80 times the rate.

'In numbers, that was 27 non-indigenous females being admitted, compared with 842 indigenous women being treated for assault,' he said.  'What we are looking at is a disastrous situation in terms of the risk of violence to indigenous women.

'These numbers are mind boggling. The rate of abuse of these women is enormously high and children are being exposed to this, resulting in very, very high rates of child neglect.'

Aboriginal men and to a lesser extent Aboriginal women and non-indigenous men were responsible for violence against Aboriginal women.

Dr Bath blamed alcohol and drug abuse, overcrowding and 'consistent unemployment'.  'Alcohol is the worst factor by a country mile,' he said. 'Between 60 and 70 per cent of violence is directly related to alcohol.

'The facts are generally known, but it's a delicate area. Most of the people who are familiar with the details don't want to put a set of shameful allegations against the Aboriginal community and in particular the menfolk.'

SOURCE





Not an English Country Garden

Some humour for a change: An older Australian on the difficulties of gardening in Australia.  Wait for it









Rogue building union faces $20m slap over strikes

THE CFMEU faces up to $20 million in fines for almost 100 days of allegedly illegal strikes and work stoppages.

The industrial watchdog is alleging in the Federal Court that the construction union ­organised prolonged unlawful industrial action at two John Holland construction sites — the $770 million Enoggera Army Barracks redevelopment and a $60 million project at QUT Kelvin Grove.

Fair Work Building and Construction alleges there were 411 breaches of workplace law at the two sites by the union between March and December 2013, each carrying a maximum penalty of $51,000.

It would mean $20 million in fines if the CFMEU lost on all counts and the court enforced the maximum penalty.

The FWBC will claim that unauthorised strike action — sparked by disagreement over the Enterprise Agreements — took place for up to six days at a time on each site over 10 months. It will also allege the CFMEU ignored an order from the Fair Work Commission in October 2013 to cease industrial action.

Court action has also been lodged by the FWBC against 21 union officers and agents ­who were alleged to be involved in the dispute.

It follows recent rulings that saw the CFMEU, four of its officials and a delegate slapped with $545,000 in fines in Queensland for unlawful, intimidating and coercive conduct at the South Brisbane Common Ground project and $3.55 million in fines in Vic­toria for a series of blockades against Grocon.

In court documents lodged last month, the FWBC alleges that when workers at the Enoggera site in November ­expressed interest in returning to work, they were told by a union official: “I’m running this meeting, keep quiet.”

FWBC director Nigel Hadgkiss said in a statement it was “extremely concerning” that workers were allegedly told to keep quiet.

“All building and con­struction industry participants should have the right to work,” he said.

The CFMEU did not respond to a request for comment. CFMEU boss Michael Ravbar has previously accused the FWBC of running “nothing, frivolous disputes” against it at taxpayers’ expense.

SOURCE






Greens infiltrate the classroom

By retired Leftist politician Gary Johns

I received a letter this week that had been sent to the parent of a 10-year-old schoolboy and signed by the deputy principal of Cottesloe Primary School, Perth. The letter requested her permission to send a letter, allegedly written by her son, to Julie Bishop regarding the UN climate talks.

This was part of a school project. I am informed the parent looked into the project and spoke with her son and was very unhappy about what the school had done. Her son would not author the letter so much as be encouraged to copy a letter written by a green activist.

“Climate Action for a Safe Environment” is a Greens-inspired campaign to infiltrate schools, indeed the minds of schoolchildren. The campaign website contains a note for teachers: “Students can craft a persuasive letter based solely on the information in Curtin’s CASE flyer” (emphasis added).

The letter seeking parental permission reads in part: “This morning (students) had a speaker, Dr Chilla Bulbeck, discussing environmental issues including climate change and global warming.

“The students … were asked to write a letter to Julie Bishop ­putting forward their thoughts on global warming and climate change” (emphasis added).

The letter to parents directs them to the campaign website where a standard letter is ready and waiting.

“Dear Julie Bishop,

My name is … and I am an ­average … student ... please help this goal of mine (to stop global warming) become yours too ­because we can make a difference for Australia” (emphasis added).

Craft a persuasive letter using their thoughts, describing their goal? This is a deception. This is high-pressure propaganda and it is taking place in primary schools right now.

Bulbeck is an expert in selling ideology. She held the chair of women’s studies at ­the University of Adelaide until 2008 but is now a full-time “volunteer” for the Greens in Western Australia. She is a big-time feminist. Her recent book is a lament for the young generation who seem ­comfortable in their skins and not at all concerned with the evils of inequality, racism and sexism that apparently lurk in every conversation and gesture.

Unlike feminist radicals of yesteryear, she finds young people “are stumped to identify or discuss collective or structural bases for inequality and difference”.

She is a radical in love with the idea of a never-ending revolution. To let her at the minds of 18-year- olds at university is one thing; to let her near 10-year-olds quite ­another. Bulbeck claims Curtin’s CASE is not a political organisation, but admits “our project does appeal to Greens members and supporters”. Very subtle. She also makes an appeal to “climate consensus” based on a “tri-partisan” world. It seems the Greens are now up there with the big two parties, provided they fall into line.

A representative of a political party was allowed into the classroom to push the party’s agenda on young children and to use them to write letters to achieve the party’s goals. Were other ­voices heard?

Were children aware that if the world decides to cut the output of carbon dioxide emissions by denying cheap energy-dense sources they are condemning ­millions to an early death through poverty?

The sunny shores at Cottesloe Beach will remain sunny, the West Australian economy will continue to give succour to millions, provided non-renewables remain strong until such time as there are cheap and reliable ­alternatives.

This exercise in high-pressure manipulation of 10-year-olds took place a few suburbs from the University of Western Australia where a posse of ignorant ­academics and students ran Bjorn Lomborg out of town.

They asserted he was a ­climate-change denier. He is not. Lomborg knows the cost of trading the possible loss of life in 100 years from climate change against the certain loss of life now through lack of access to cheap dense forms of energy.

Did children feel pressured to write a letter and to take the Greens’ viewpoint in that letter? I suspect the school will say there was no pressure, but the examples of letters in the project are all from one position.

It is also understandable that a 10-year-old child might feel very awkward about saying in the presence of his teacher and the other students that he did not wish to write such a letter.

The Greens are no doubt presenting this “lesson” at more than one school. Please, parents, if you have examples of this propaganda send them to me.

SOURCE

Nobody else will mention this.  You will read it only here

Read the story below and ask yourself what is wrong with the school concerned.  ZEG read the report and concluded it was a case of general breakdown of discipline.  That's a part of the story but he failed to allow for how heavily our news is censored.  I have read very similar reports about certain schools in Britain so I knew immediately what the problem was.  I give the answer following the article below

TEACHERS at a western Sydney school have described a culture of fear and violence with students threatening them with rape and murder.

Following revelations that students at Granville Boys High School were trading knives “for protection” more teachers have broken ranks to speak to the Parramatta Advertiser, saying threats and intimidation are routine.

One teacher, who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution, said some staff — male and female — walked to their cars in groups for safety, because of concerns students would carry out their threats.

“They make threats, they say they’ll kill us, they’ll bash us. They say things like, ‘I’ll meet you down a dark alley and rape you’; ‘Wait ’til I see you after school, Miss’. And it’s males and females that they say that to, it’s not just the female (staff),” she said.

Granville Boys High School promotes its ‘Safe Respectful Learners’ motto out the front of

Granville Boys High School promotes its ‘Safe Respectful Learners’ motto out the front of the school. Picture: Stephen Cooper Source: News Corp Australia

It is understood that despite a knife amnesty carried out by the school in June, students are still carrying blades with some calling themselves “street pharmacists”.

It is claimed they have methamphetamines or “ice” and pills at school.

“They’re carrying knives (and) we have no control over them — what’s to stop them from killing one of us?” a female teacher said.

Of 20 students interviewed by the Advertiser, 14 said they were aware of at least one other student who had brought a knife to school. Four said they knew students who had brought drugs to school.

The school has been credited with taking steps to rebuild its reputation and the environment for students, including the establishment of a before-class cafe run by students following the 2011 stabbing of a student in a schoolyard brawl.

A NSW Department of Education spokesman said possession of any illegal substance or implement was not tolerated in NSW public schools.

The spokesman said since recent reports of a knife amnesty, no teacher at the school had raised weapons issues with the principal.  “No question of personal safety involving the behaviour of students has been raised with the principal by any staff member,” he said.

NSW Teachers’ Federation president Maurie Mulheron called on the Department of Education to investigate the claims. “Any concerns that have been raised where safety is compromised, we expect the department to investigate the allegation,” Mr Mulheron said.

In a video leaked to the Advertiser that was filmed on school equipment and screened with executive approval at the school’s 2013 Year 12 formal, students can be seen making religious slurs.

The students are heard ordering a “McJesus and holy water” at a McDonald’s drive-through — as well as fighting and degrading the school.

In an email to principal Linda O’Brien, sent to all staff from a teacher, the “insensitive” nature of the video was raised.

“I am writing to you all about a segment of the video which made reference to the Jesus and holy water (sic)”, the email read.

“Students may not understand the significance of this, but as a teacher we have the responsibility to teach the right thing to our students. This is a public school and this sort of insensitive comment should be avoided.”

A NSW Department of Education spokesman said Ms O’Brien “was on leave during the production and screening of a video produced by students.”  The spokesman said Ms O’Brien had not seen the video.

TIMELINE OF TERROR

2008 — A group of five Granville Boys High School students run through Merrylands High School brandishing baseball bats and machetes, leaving 18 students and one teacher in hospital

2011 — A GBHS student, 16, is stabbed six times in the stomach in a schoolyard fight between two other students, 14 and 15

Police at Granville Boys High School where a 16-year-old student received multiple stab w

Police at Granville Boys High School where a 16-year-old student received multiple stab wounds during a schoolyard fight four years ago. Source: News Limited

2013 — A video produced on school equipment containing religious slurs — ordering a “McJesus and holy water” at a McDonald’s drive-through — and depicting fighting, is screened at an end-of-year formal to more than 100 parents, staff and students

June 2015 — Two students suspended for carrying knives at school. A leaked email says students are “trading” blades between each other for “safety” and the school holds a knife amnesty

SOURCE

Did you pick it up?  The Education Dept. is in denial for a very good reason.  I knew immediately what to look for so went straight to the school website.  We read there:  Ninety-nine per cent of students are from a non-English speaking background. 

To be blunt, it is just Muslims being Muslims and showing their usual contempt for the rest of us. Their religion teaches them that contempt.  Start reading the Koran at Surah 9 if you doubt it






Christianity a good force in Australia

BOOK REVIEW of "Post God Nation?" by Roy Williams

Roy Williams has, in Post God Nation?, accumulated a substantial body of wide-ranging research to support his deeply felt conviction that Australia, and the world more broadly, has benefited from Christian teachings and action far more than is usually acknowledged. In Williams' view, the benefits radically outstrip past and current human errors. What's more, much of the good we take for granted in Australia is, he argues, a direct result of lived Christian values and endeavour.

His purpose in writing this book - and in undertaking the research to support it - rests with a hope that Australia could become a more meaningfully religious country, by which he means a more meaningfully Christian country. He explicitly respects other faiths. Christianity, though, is the religion he loves and privileges. "Imagine," he writes in his concluding chapter, "if Australia were looked upon by the world not merely as the luckiest country on Earth, but also as the most righteous. A truly Christian beacon of faith, hope and love. .That would be real, deserved 'national security'."

In that same visionary chapter Williams asserts that, "Christian believers are rather more likely than unbelievers to abstain from the worst excesses [of inhumane or unethical] behaviour and indulgences". Many readers, and I am one of them, will read this with considerable sadness. Williams may even share that sadness because he freely takes to task contemporary Christians who fail their espoused values. Among them are some familiar political leaders. But we needn't accept this as inevitable: "Church leaders should take every opportunity to stare down relevant politicians and decision-makers, and ask the toughest moral questions."

A more morally courageous Australia would be immensely desirable. Williams brackets, vigorously and correctly, leadership as well as community attitudes to foreign aid, the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, and climate change. There he states unequivocally: "Christian attitudes to these issues should be shaped by certain core biblical principles." He includes the famous quote from Luke 12:48: "From those to whom much is given, much will be expected." Indeed.

For that chapter alone, as well as for the array of historical and social analyses that precede it, this book adds substantially to our understanding of religion as a continuing social force that could arguably bring something greater than humanist secular values alone can achieve. Williams usefully includes short portraits of Christians he regards as positive influences in shaping our political and cultural landscapes. With that, he is openly striving to "save" religion as ". an ideological framework that is neither 'right wing' nor 'left wing'", but is also "a potentially precious source of emotional sustenance and ambition; and a form of community attachment that . is unique and valuable".

Much of this is admirable. In fact, for readers who share Williams' views of Christianity as not only the majority faith but also the most ethically developed one, these arguments and the research that supports them will be welcome and persuasive. Few could deny that we would live in a far happier, safer world if Christians lived Christ's sublime teachings, especially when it comes to considering the wellbeing of others above one's own, sharing resources with neighbours (global and otherwise), valuing all lives equally, forgiving wrongdoings and, especially, unconditionally committing to peacemaking and social justice.

Nonetheless, despite the seriousness and honesty of Williams' intentions, I have some reservations. One is personal: that the richly unfolding interiority of a faith commitment rarely appears on these pages. For me, that's what gives life its deepest truth and meaning. I wish it had been more nakedly glimpsed here. More generally, in arguing so strenuously for the good that the Christian institutions and faithful have achieved, I couldn't help but feel that Williams underplays the myriad of ways in which, in the name of Christianity, distinctly un-Christian values have damaged or destroyed lives.

Women, people of every colour other than white, gays, non-Christians: all have been radically harmed by misogyny, racism, homophobia, religious ignorance and prejudice (and forced conversions) endorsed by Christian institutions and the men who run them. Some of this continues. Williams certainly acknowledges this, as well as recent revelations of child and sexual abuse, yet seems not to fully appreciate the soul-wrenching harm done, even between different expressions of Christianity in the name of "authority" and "heresy".

Readers may also question whether he sufficiently values or understands the depth of ethical teachings in other faiths. Within Buddhism, for example, teachings on free will and the power to choose, as well as the value of life, compassion, peacemaking and the unity of all beings have reached a level of sophistication and practice that Christian institutions and leaders could well learn from. Our chances have never been better to benefit from the accumulated wisdom of all faiths, and particularly from what they share. That, too, offers a fine and renewing vision of hope.

SOURCE






Pauline Hanson on Lorna Jane employment controversy: ‘I’m paying the wages, I have the right to ask for who I want’

Pauline is a great one for old-fashioned common-sense.  I don't agree with everything she says (I am quite Sinophilic, for instance) but, as a Queenslander, I had the three occasions to vote for her -- and I voted for every time



PAULINE Hanson has thrown her support behind embattled fitness queen Lorna Jane Clarkson, saying employers should be able to advertise for whom they want when filling positions.

The women’s fitness fashion entrepreneur is facing a possible backlash from female consumers after specifying the dress size and waist measurement of a prospective new receptionist in an employment advertisement.

Appearing on Sunrise this morning with broadcaster Derryn Hinch, Ms Hanson was fired up over the issue.

“If you’re employing people you should be able to advertise for who you want, whether it be male of remale, fat or thin ... because you are the one paying the wages, you know what works for your business,” she said.

The former MP and political firebrand drew on her pre-parliamentary career as the owner of a fish and chip shop in Ipswich, saying she wanted to advertise for female employees only but was told she could not do so.

“I wanted females ... because it was for only a few hours a day. A man is usually the breadwinner of the family, and I just wanted those mums for a few hours a week who would work in the shop.”

“I rang up and said I’d like a female, and they said you can’t (specify) female and I said ‘But I’m paying the wages, that’s who I want to work in my shop’, so I said ‘Please put in the ad

The One Nation founder admitted she did eventually employ a 15-year-old young man, but the experience sounds as if it may have been traumatic for both parties.  “I put him on. He couldn’t sweep the floor, I had to teach him how to mop, he burnt himself ... he actually cut himself,” she said.

“If you have to advertise for whoever to apply for the jobs, not only are they wasting your time, when you know exactly who you want, you are wasting that person’s time and it deflates their confidence.”

“You don’t get a woman for a man’s job ... digging tenches when you know they’re absolutely hopeless at it.”

Hinch attempted to stir some controversy during the segment, arguing that enabling employers to ask for who they wanted in job advertisements would open the door to discrimination.

“In the fish and chip shop you might have said ‘I don’t want black people’; you can’t do that,” Hinch said.

“Oh rubbish Derryn. you had no right to bring that up,” a clearly irate Hanson replied, before claiming that discrimination existed in Australia because Aboriginal people could apply for jobs that were set aside for Aboriginals only.

The segment was brought to a swift close at that point.

SOURCE






Vote change to shift Labor’s power to the Left

Labor’s Left faction will win control of the party’s powerful national executive for the first time in decades if the national conference this month endorses a push to empower the president and two vice-presidents to vote at meetings.

This would see the Left faction dominate the party’s supreme administrative body for the first time since the 1960s and 70s, when it often challenged Gough Whitlam’s authority.

Bill Shorten, from the Right faction, will strongly resist the move.

The push from within the Left to win control of the national executive comes as an assessment of 400 delegates to the conference estimates that no faction has an absolute majority but the Right commands the largest group.

But the Right is likely to lose one member of the executive to the Left when elections take place at the conference. Currently the Right has 11 members of the executive and the Left 10. Mr Shorten exercises a vote as leader at meetings, which gives the Right a majority.

It is expected the Left-Right split on the executive post-conference will be 10-all with Mr Shorten’s vote enough to maintain the Right’s authority. But if the president and two vice-presidents are empowered to vote, the numbers will shift to 12-all and the president will then have a casting vote, tilting the power balance to the Left.

Federal Labor frontbencher Mark Butler, from the Left, was elected president last month. His casting vote will hand power to the Left. West Australian barrister Tim Hammond, from the Right, was elected senior vice-president. Victorian minister Jane Garrett, from the Left, was elected vice-president.

Currently the party’s member-elected president and two vice-presidents do not have the authority to vote at meetings. But at last week’s national rules committee meeting, the Left faction put forward a formal proposal to allow the president and vice-presidents to vote.

The Australian has obtained a document presented to the meeting by Australian Manufacturing Workers Union NSW secretary Tim Ayres. He is a prominent Left union and faction leader who sits on the rules committee and the national executive.

While the NSW Left supports the rule change, other elements of the national Left are not yet fully signed up to the reform. It is possible that if the Left can’t agree on the rule change prior to conference, it will be jettisoned. Left delegates will meet this weekend at the Trades Hall in Sydney to discuss their position on a range of policy and structural issues.

The party’s national executive is an extremely powerful body. Only the conference is able to hear appeals and rule on its decisions. The plenary powers of executive allow it to intervene to overrule a decision made by a state branch of the party.

The executive has authority over policy as it can interpret the party’s constitution, platform and conference decisions. This could bolster the Left’s influence on controversial issues such as asylum-seeker policy.

It can also exercise plenary powers to intervene in preselections and direct members of parliament. It convenes conferences, appoints committees and hears and decides on appeals from any affiliated organisation or party member.

The Left faction has not controlled the executive outright since the 1960s — then named the federal executive — but it has been able to win control periodically on issues when aligning with the now defunct centre grouping in the 1970s and early 80s.

SOURCE