A POLITICAL CORRECTNESS ROUNDUP

Five current articles from Australia below

Medivac laws: Asylum-seeker refusal of care shows system ‘being gamed’

Five people who refused to accept medical treatment after being transferred to Australia under contentious refugee medivac laws were diagnosed via teleconference with conditions including dermatitis, abdominal pain and dental pain.

In two cases, specialist care was recommended for men who claimed dental problems with one saying he had been prevented from eating solid foods although both individuals did not seek further assistance after their transfer.

While five transferees have refused any treatment, about 40 have turned down relevant pathology tests and X-rays, triggering new warnings from government MPs on Tuesday that the legislation was being “gamed”.

The number of asylum-­seekers and refugees seeking transfers under the medivac legislation has steadily increased and spiked in October, with 120 ­submitting applications that month. Two weeks ago, 562 ­remained in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

Scott Morrison needs the support of Senate crossbencher Jacqui Lambie to repeal the medivac laws, which were passed prior to the May 18 election by Labor and independent MPs in defiance of his then minority government.

Since the legislation came into force in March, 136 people have been brought from PNG and Nauru to Australia to receive medical assistance.

Of these, about 45 have ­partially or completely refused to accept the medical treatment on offer.

The five individuals who have refused all treatment are men aged from 29-37 and were initially assessed by teleconference or video.

They included a man suffering from stomach inflammation and abdominal pain; another experiencing bowel inflammation and dermatitis as well as the man who claimed an ongoing dental con­dition had prevented him from ­eating.

The other two cases involved a man suffering from a urological condition who refused medical and diagnostic scans while the fifth man also claimed he had gum and dental infections that had negatively affected his appearance.

Former immigration minister Kevin Andrews told The Australian: “The level of rejection and partial rejection of treatments clearly indicates that the scheme is being gamed.”

The government needs four crossbench votes to pass its planned medivac repeal, but will not win over the Centre Alliance, which holds two upper house seats.

Centre Alliance senator Stirling Griff told The Australian he was not convinced the numbers of transferees who were partially or completely rejecting medical treatment under the legislation was a compelling reason to repeal the new law.

“You can have the same situation in a suburb of Canberra,” he said. “They need treatment and they opt not to take it. It’s ­really no different.”

“If they came here in the first instance, they were assessed by doctors.”

Under the medivac legislation, an Independent Health Advice Panel has the final say on who can be transferred to Australia on medical grounds.

The panel is made up of representatives from the Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australian and New Zealand ­College of Psychiatrists and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

A Senate estimates hearing was informed last month that fewer than one in 10 refugees and ­asylum-seekers transferred to Australia under the medivac laws had required hospital treatment.

The Australian understands the number of refugees and ­asylum-seekers in hospital — after being transferred — has fluctuated from zero to one a day.

SOURCE  






Australia Day celebrations could soon be SCRAPPED in parts of Sydney because mayor claims January 26 'marks the onset of colonisation and cultural destruction'

More tiresome virtue signalling

Australia Day celebrations in parts of Sydney could be scrapped in favour of an  Aboriginal festival.

Sydney's Inner West Council is expected to vote on a motion next week that would move Australia Day events from January 26.

The proposal comes after Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton ordered that any council that refuses to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day will not be allowed to hold them at all.

Labor Mayor Darcy Byrne told the Sydney Morning Herald the council plans to move its annual Enmore Park celebrations to a different date, but would continue to hold citizenship ceremonies.

'We're seeking to take a more respectful approach to January 26 and acknowledge that for Aboriginal people it marks the onset of colonisation, dispossession, the removal of children and the deliberate destruction of language and culture,' Mr Byrne said.

'There's a growing number of local communities and people across Australia that think the 26th of January should be a commemoration not a celebration and the ongoing hurt that Aboriginal people feel shouldn't be exacerbated through fireworks and festivals.'

This would also stop it from interfering with the Aboriginal festival Yabun, which celebrates Aboriginal and Torrest Strait Islander culture.

Yabun involves musical performances, stalls, community gatherings and is held in nearby Camperdown on the same day.

The proposal is set to go to a vote on Tuesday and is expected to pass with the support of Labor councillors and the Greens.

But independent Victor Macri claimed the community had not been properly consulted regarding the plan.

'We're the party capital of Sydney and now we want to scrap Australia Day?' Mr Macri said.

Mr Macri claims the community will be disappointed if the Australia Day celebration is moved, as it is always a big day for families.

The Inner West Council first debated scrapping the celebrations last year following a Greens-led campaign to change the date.

The debate over changing the date has raged for years, with the phrase 'Happy Australia Day' coming under fire earlier this year.

Kado Muir, an Aboriginal culture, heritage and awareness advocate, said the phrase 'Happy Australia Day' was an 'ignorant gesture'.

He called on Australians to rise above the 'base destructive emotions' in the debate and instead shift focus onto the aspects that unite the country.

Critics have argued that this day marked the beginning of great suffering and torment for indigenous people and should not be celebrated.

Other indigenous Australians, who trace their lineage on the continent back 50,000 years, refer to January 26 as 'Invasion Day', the start of Britain's colonisation of Aboriginal lands.

In April, journalist Stan Grant said that moving Australia Day would be pointless because some of his fellow indigenous people are 'wedded to grievance'.

Grant, an award-winning journalist of Aboriginal heritage, addressed the issue in a piece published in an edition of The Weekend Australian magazine.

He argued that changing the date of Australia Day might leave January 26 as a day honoured by white chauvinists and risked making the national day more divisive.

Grant added that some Aboriginal people would not be satisfied with the date change either because resentment was part of their 'identities'.

In November last year, Mr Dutton threatened that any council that refused to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day would not be allowed to hold them at all.

'I don't care whether people are seeking to move it in an obvious way or playing games - the intent is very clear,' he told 2GB Radio at the time.

'The rules are pretty clear. If they're not going to abide by it, then they'll find themselves without the ability to conduct the ceremony.' 

An overwhelming majority of Australians reject calls for the country's national day to be moved from January 26, according to poll findings earlier this year.

Polling commissioned by the Institute of Public Affairs, a conservative think-tank, showed just 10 per cent of 1,000 people surveyed want to change the date of Australia Day.

Young Australians were even less welcoming to the idea of moving the date from January 26, which many indigenous Australians view as Invasion Day.   

'Only eight per cent of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 say Australia Day should not be celebrated on 26 January,' the IPA's Dr Bella d'Abrera said.

'[It] proves that despite the media and political left narrative, young people are not drawn to the divisive argument of opposing our national day.'

A separate poll of 1,659 people, conducted by conservative lobby group Advance Australia, found 78 per cent of those surveyed were proud to celebrate Australia Day on January 26.

'The results are in - January 26 is not a day for division and protest, but rather a day for all Australians to celebrate,' the group's National Director, Gerard Benedet, said.

Many indigenous people find it offensive the date their ancestors lost their sovereignty to British colonialists is celebrated with a public holiday.

SOURCE  






Militant vegans launch protest against a defiant butcher who called demonstrators 'maggots' while refusing to stop selling horse meat

A butcher is set to be hit with a wave of protests from vegans because he refuses to stop selling horse meat.  

Members of animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere will demonstrate outside Mr Garreffa's Mondo Butchers in Inglewood in Perth this Saturday.

'Mondo Butchers sells the bodies of murdered victims, yet the owner Vince preaches respect and courtesy toward other beings,' the group posted on Facebook.

'In his hypocrisy his actions toward the innocent are vile.'

They said that despite the ABC's report on racehorses being slaughtered on an 'industrial scale', Mr Mondo 'still decides to promote the demand for the slaughter of innocent horses and other animals'. 

'It's about time normalised violence, especially of this nature is acknowledged and contested. 'Come join us in pressuring society out of the dark ages and eradicating the businesses that uphold pre-evolved this mentality.'

But the butcher said that police and his lawyer will be notified before the militant vegans' planned rallies at his store this weekend.

'Through them doing this... it lifts the support of the community to us. They are just maggots. We'll see what eventuates,' he told the West Australian.

Direct Action Everywhere group leader James Warden and Mr Garreffa already came to blows in October on current affairs program Flashpoint.

During the debate, Mr Garreffa blasted Mr Warden and other vegan militants as 'malicious' for trespassing on farmers' properties.

'Those poor families that you've singled out, they're hurting more than ever when you've had a little win,' he said on the Channel 7 program.

The well-known butcher has been selling horse meat for human consumption for nearly a decade.

'It [horse meat] is available all over the world, in 20 different countries. We are butchers, we have what ever is legally available to the public. 'People take great pride in my shop.'

Saturday's proposed protest won't be the first time vegan militants will storm a butcher in Perth.

Last month protesters lined up outside Tenderwest Meats in Perth's Belmont Forum and shouted at passing customers with a megaphone.

'They never wanted to die for you,' the group's leader yelled while his followers held up signs showing animals in slaughterhouses.

Last month, the explosive two-year investigation by the ABC's 7.30 revealed that an alarming number of retired thoroughbreds are being killed for meat for human consumption.

Racing Australia's official data claims about 34 racehorses every year end up at slaughterhouses, a figure amounting to less than one per cent of retiring horses.

But Elio Celotto from the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses told the ABC that about 4,000 racehorses had been killed in one abattoir alone.

That abattoir - located in Queensland's south-east - has been the focus of the broadcaster's investigation and was infiltrated with hidden cameras. The cameras showed that in just 22 days, more than 300 racehorses, who won $5million in prize money combined, were killed.

SOURCE  






Wrong to go fishing?

Where will it end?

A furious woman has gone on an extraordinary rant and unleashed on a pair of fisherman while she was feeding ducks popcorn.

The fishermen had just dropped a line into Ascot Waters, a marina in Perth, on Saturday when the woman turned on the men.

She was seen on video lecturing the pair and telling them that fishing in the marina was 'stupid'.

Yahoo News reported that the woman had claimed the men were potentially killing the local bird life and dumping fish hooks in the water.

'This is stupid, what you're doing is stupid because it's a bird sanctuary,' the unidentified woman said.

The woman sat next to one of the fishermen who continued to stay quiet and stare ahead, visibly uncomfortable by her actions.

The fisherman argued that he cleaned up after himself, which caused the women to become even more frustrated.

'You lie. About looking after the environment and [yet] you're standing there with a fishing rod in your hand,' she said.

One of the men questioned whether the woman had any experience in marine biology, which infuriated her further.

'I've got three degrees which is something you haven't got and been teaching for 45 years. Shut up,' she said in the man's face.

When he continued to question why she believed he didn't have the same experience, the woman said he was too young 'and too stupid'.

The woman continued to complain and said she works tirelessly to clean up the area, before she stormed off.

SOURCE  





Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi ‘embarrassing’ on horses, trainer says

Choosing a Pakistani to comment on a great Australian tradition begets the ignorance you would expect

The trainer of Prince of Arran has lashed out a Greens senator who said she was “horrified” at the treatment of thoroughbred who placed second at the Melbourne Cup.

British trainer Charlie Fellowes told Senator Mehreen Faruqi on Twitter she was “embarrassing” and invited her to visit the thoroughbred in the western Melbourne suburb of Werribee.

“(Your) lack of knowledge on horse racing is embarrassing,” he said on Twitter. “Come to Werribee tomorrow and I will personally introduce you to Prince of Arran. “You will quickly realise that he is not abused, in pain, or suffering. “Like every horse in my stable he is loved more than any household pet.”

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi, who is the party’s spokeswoman for animal welfare, is calling for a royal commission into animal cruelty in the horse racing industry.

“When animals and gambling mix, animals always suffer,” she declared in a statement released on Tuesday night after jockey Michael Walker was fined $10,000 and received a seven-meeting ban for excessively whipping Prince Arran and Rostropovich suffered a fractured pelvis.

Racing Victoria said Rostropovich is expected to recover from the stress fracture and the gelding is receiving care at the Werribee Equine Clinic.

“The David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig-trained gelding is in a stable condition, comfortable and receiving the best veterinary care,” Racing Victoria said in a statement.

Dozens of anti-racing activists protested outside the Melbourne Cup outside Flemington Racecourse on Tuesday.

The protesters held pictures of dead horses emblazoned with “Is the party worth it?” and yelled “Nup to the Cup” at punters as they entered.

The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses organised a ‘human horse race’ that ran at the same time as official Melbourne Cup day races, including the main event at 3pm, at the nearby Kensington Reserve.

SOURCE  

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here

Another grim week leaves private health insurance in Australia on life support (?)

The Leftist moan below has a point but there is no threat to the continued availability of private health insurance.  The increasing costs of medical procedures are probably unfixable so the cost of private insurance must increase. No government fiddling will alter that. And, yes, that will freeze out some people.  But those who can continue to afford it will do so.  The opportunity to avoid government medicine is compelling.

Government medicine is good enough and sometimes excellent but getting access to it is the problem. You can die on a waiting list and nobody even says "Sorry".  And government hospitals face a double whammy.  They too have to fund the increasing costs of procedures and on top of that they will face an influx of former private patients driven into their arms by those same costs.

So the future for private hospital insurance will remain strong but it will service fewer people.  It will be confined to a mostly affluent clientele, which it is not now.  Middle income people can and do afford it at the moment.

There is no doubt that the situation is politically unpalatable so what is likely to happen?  Restrictions.  Government hospitals will simply refuse some care to some people.  An early candidate for that would be to offer very limited service to people with self-inflicted illnesses -- principally smokers and the obese.  That already happens informally but will almost certainly increase -- no hip jobs for the obese and no lung resections for smokers, for instance.

I can speak from personal experience about one of those strategies.  A high-tech procedure of relatively recent origins is the PET scan. It is the best way of detecting cancer in you.  I gather that there is some access to them in public hospitals but it is very limited so you mostly have to go to a private laboratory to get one.  I did. I had it very promptly and it cost me $700 with NO Medicare rebate.  You can see why there is no rebate.  If there were it would be widely prescribed. And what would 100,000 prescriptions at $700 each cost?  It would break the bank.  So restricting availability of the procedure is both necessary and opens it up only to the well-off

So two-tiered medical care is inevitable. It already exists and will get worse.  Government medicine aims to prevent that but it cannot.  Medical innovations will continue and will continue to be ever-more costly


In April this year, the health minister, Greg Hunt, introduced reforms the government said would make private health insurance easier to understand and more affordable.

The changes, described by the federal government as the most significant reforms to the private health insurance system in a decade, included classifying the some 70,000 private health insurance policies available into gold, silver, bronze and basic categories, and discounts for young people.

A review from the consumer advocacy group Choice published on Wednesday found the opposite. More than 215 “silver” and “silver plus” policies cost more than “gold” policies, the report found, leaving consumers as confused by their options as ever. An Australian Medical Association report published one day later warned private health policies remained unaffordable and non-transparent.

The other cornerstone of the reforms – lower premiums for people under 30 – has failed to stop the exodus of young people from the system, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority [Apra] data shows. The financial authority in May issued a directive to the private health industry to take responsibility for the decline in affordability and uptake of insurance rather than rely on government reforms.

The situation has several health economists and policy experts questioning whether the private health insurance industry, far from being salvageable through reform, is worth saving at all.

Apra executive board member Geoff Summerhayes said it was “frustrating to see little evidence that insurers are taking actions that reflect their own assessment of the heightened risks in this challenging environment”.

“Apra recognises the industry has been under duress for some time, and the main factors, such as rising demand for health services and the soaring cost of treatments, are beyond insurers’ direct control,” he said. “But that’s not an excuse for doing nothing and hoping the government will fix everything.”

According to the Consumers Health Forum and the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association [AHHA] the only way forward is for the federal government to order an independent Productivity Commission review of the whole healthcare system, both public and private components. Unlike previous examinations of the private health insurance industry, this review should not be ordered from the starting point that the private health insurance must be saved, rather would question whether it should be.

AHHA acting chief executive Dr Linc Thurecht said the review should also investigate the public policy objectives that are being served by government support or private health insurance through publicly-funded subsidies.

“While there is a cost associated with holding such a review, this must be seen in the context of the latest data we have showing that Australia spent $185bn a year on healthcare,” he told Guardian Australia.

“AHHA would not say that the death of private health insurance is inevitable. But we need to hold all levels of government to account in reforming our healthcare system to better coordinate the delivery of healthcare, to take a longer-term view of individual’s healthcare journey, to remove low value care, to stop some healthcare providers charging exorbitant fees, to remove inequities in access to healthcare and health outcomes, and to improve transparency on outcomes and costs that matter to people.

“Private health insurance is seen by virtually all as being too expensive, too complicated and opaque, and not offering value for money.”

Grattan Institute health economist Dr Stephen Duckett said the death of the private health industry was inevitable. But he said while it was in a “death spiral, it’s a slow death spiral”.

“So do we arrest the death spiral and are there ways to do it without costing more money?” Duckett said. “The private health insurance industry says the answer is to give them another billion dollars. The answer from the industry always seems to be around forcing more people into private health insurance or undermining Medicare.

“The industry should be told enough is enough. That even if we keep the rebate for taking out private health cover, you must stand on your own two feet. It is crazy that people are forced into private health cover through rebates.

“Can you imagine any other product where we say ‘you don’t want to buy it, we think you should though, so you’re forced into it? It’s the most amazing policy for an economy where we value choice.”

At a presentation to the Actuaries Institute conference in Melbourne in October, the Private Healthcare Australia chairman, John Hill, said insurers would find it challenging not to pass on the rising costs of medical devices through premium increases come April.

“Inflated prices for established medical technologies must come down in line with the rest of the world,” Hill said. “One of the most commonly used implants, cardiac stents, are five times the price in Australia as they are in New Zealand.” It was a claim the chief executive of the Medical Technology Association of Australia, Ian Burgess, rejected as “absurd”. He accused the private health insurance industry of “an increasingly desperate attempt” to rein in costs and maintain profitability “by pointing the finger at everyone else”.

The chair of the Australian Healthcare Reform Alliance, Jennifer Doggett, said all of the reforms implemented to salvage private health insurance to date had been cosmetic. She said while reviews of the system had been done before, the benefit of a productivity commission review would be its scope.

“We haven’t had a review yet that includes the premise that we might not need private health insurance at all,” she said. “The reviews we’ve had so far have not examined what is best for Australia. We need a review that looks at consumer needs, not the needs of the private health insurance sector or doctors who want to keep their fees high, or the private sector, or some other interest group.”

SOURCE  





Greenie destruction of lots of power generators is wiping out Australia's aluminium producers

Mining giant Rio Tinto says its Australian Aluminium smelters, which employ more than 2,600 workers, are not sustainable at current power prices.

The company runs three smelters in Australia, which are under financial pressure due to the high price of electricity, which makes up about a third of their costs, and the low price of aluminium due to a flood of cheap supply coming from Asian competitors.

The resources minister, Matt Canavan, has recently championed the industry, saying Australia was “one of the best aluminium producers in the world” and claiming it needed a continued supply of “cheap baseload” electricity from coal.

“If we turn our back on coal, you turn out the lights on aluminium, it’s as simple as that,” he told ABC Radio last week.

However, speaking in London on Thursday night, the chief executive of Rio Tinto’s aluminium division, Alf Barrios, issued a blunt warning that current prices from coal-fired power were too high.

He said this was despite “fantastic work” done by the team at the Australian smelter division, Pacific, to improve the performance of the plants.

“However power accounts for about a third of the global cost of the smelters and the smelters at Pacific do lack internationally competitive energy prices, which undermines the viability of these assets,” he said.

“We are working very closely with the power suppliers and the governments to find a solution to this challenge. “I’m not going to speculate on the outcome but clearly the current situation is not sustainable.”

The warning comes after Rio Tinto boss Jean-Sebastian Jacques warned in August that Australian smelters were “on thin ice” and follows the company flagging last week that it might close its New Zealand smelter.

Barrios was speaking to reporters ahead of a quarterly update to investors that listed “low-carbon technology” as a priority for its aluminium business.

The company’s head of economics, Vivek Tulpule, said the profitability of aluminium was “challenged by the quick and cheap expansion of supply to meet growth in demand”.

“This underlines the value of our position in Canada with operating costs in the bottom decile of the cost curve supported by hydro power which will become increasingly important in a carbon-constrained world,” he said.

SOURCE  







Feminist poison on the ABC

Since they endorse violence in pursuit of their aims, perhaps I can respond in kind by saying that I would be happy to see the lot of then burn at the stake

The ABC has come under fire after Q&A panellists called for rapists to be killed, labelled Scott Morrison a 'white supremacist' and said police forces should be abolished in an extraordinary programme on Monday night.

The show, featuring a panel of five women and host Fran Kelly, provoked outrage on social media, with hundreds of viewers calling for the ABC to have its funding cut.

The controversy began when a member of the audience asked if aggression and violence were the best ways for feminists to achieve equality.

Outspoken Egyptian-American writer Mona Eltahawy, who dominated the show, replied by endorsing violence and saying that women should kill rapists.

She said: 'I want patriarchy to fear feminism… how long must we wait for men and boys to stop murdering us, to stop beating us and to stop raping us? How many rapists must we kill until men stop raping us?'

Host Fran Kelly then referenced a tweet by Spectator Australia which asked: 'Why is the ABC justifying violence?'

She said: 'So Mona... Spectator Australia is already saying Mona's promoting violence. Is that what you're doing?'

Ms Eltawahy replied: 'What I'm doing is saying that that violence has been owned by the state… exactly how long do I have to wait to be safe?'

The person who asked the question challenged the panel by suggesting that violence was not the best approach, saying: 'Bullying begets bullying and violence begets violence'.

Journalist and author Jess Hill then chimed in to support Ms Eltawahy's argument that violence is necessary.

She said: 'If anyone's shocked by what Mona's suggesting, you just have to look back to history, and a certain faction of the suffragettes… they used violence. They thought what they were fighting was a civil war between the sexes.'

Indigenous writer and activist Nayuka Gorrie also appeared to advocate violence, saying: 'When you say violence begets violence, it's almost sounding like it's a level playing field which it's not.'

'It's absolutely not… I wonder what our kind of tipping point in Australia's going to be when people will start burning stuff? I look forward to it.'

Commenting on Australia's colonial history, she added: 'We've tried for 230-plus years to appeal to the colonisers' morality, which just doesn't seem to exist.

'I think violence is OK because if someone is trying to kill you, there's no amount of, "But I'm really clever. I'm really articulate". No amount of that is going to save you. Let's burn stuff.'

The comments immediately sparked fury on social media as hundreds of viewers were left shocked by such brazen support for violence.

One viewer wrote: 'Violence is never an option and if the ABC insists on pushing violent rhetoric, I will have to insist Scott Morrison pulls funding from the ABC and rescind's their broadcasting licence.'

Another added: 'The ABC is promoting violence? It wouldn’t be first time.'

In another shocking section of the show, Ms Eltawahy called the Prime Minister a white supremacist. 'Your Prime Minister here is a mini version of Donald Trump - because we're talking about white supremacists capitalists,' she said. 'Your Prime Minister is a white evangelical Christian like Mike Pence in the US so you're on a parallel path here.'

Ms Eltawahy then attacked the government over Mr Morrison's proposal to outlaw environmental boycott campaigns.

'When you start talking about banning boycotts, you have to ask what is happening to your so-called democracy,' she said.

Another controversial moment came when the panel discussed Tanya Day, an aboriginal woman who was arrested for being drunk in public and died in a police cell in 2017.

Responding to a question about how institutions can be better held to account for racism, Ms Gorrie said the police service should be shut down. 'Its very formation was to serve the interest of white sovereignty in this country,' she said.

'When we're talking about accountability, I'm not sure how far we can go in keeping an organisation like the police to account because it is there to be violent'. 'It's patriarchal, it's overwhelmingly white. I think it shouldn't exist.'

The show also came under fire for repeated use of foul language, which prompted Kelly to say: 'We are trying to keep the language under control. If you're offended by the profanity, maybe leave now.'

Shortly afterwards, in the section about police racism, Ms Eltawahy made no effort to moderate her words, saying: 'You're asking the person here who travels the world to say f*** the patriarchy.'

SOURCE  





Australia to 'fast-track' permanent residency for highly-skilled tech migrants

A change from useless refugees

Seven "future-focused fields" targeted under new visa scheme.
A newly established permanent migration scheme for highly-skilled technologists will target seven “future-focused fields”, including cyber security, fintech and quantum computing, in a bid to maintain Australia’s competitiveness.

The ‘Global Talent Independent Program’ (GTIP), which was first flagged in June to attract the best talent from around the world, was launched by Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs David Coleman on Monday.

The program aims to lure up to 5000 high-income earners working “at the top of their field” to Australia between July 2019 and June 2020 with the offer of a “fasttracked process to permanent residency”.

It sits separately to the ‘global talent – employer sponsored program’ (GTES), which was made permanent in August after a 12-month pilot.

Only migrants working in one of seven “future-focused fields”, who are likely to earn more than $149,000 per year in Australia, are eligible to for permanent residency under GTIP.

The fields are AgTech, space and advanced manufacturing, fintech, energy and mining technology, medtech, cyber security, and quantum information/advanced digital/data science and ICT.

Normal character, security and integrity checks undertaken for any migration will also apply.

However, instead of waiting for migrants to apply, GTIP intends to actively seek out talent using ‘Global Talent Officers’ from the Department of Home Affairs.

These officers – which have already been deployed in Berlin, Washington DC, Singapore, Shanghai, Santiago, Dubai and New Delhi, and will work across countries in their regions – will guide applicants through the application process.

The Australian Financial Review has reported Coleman as saying this fast-tracked process would take "weeks, not months".

Migrants will also be able to access the program with a referral from “an organisation or an individual with a national reputation in the same field as the candidate”, according to Home Affairs.

Coleman said the GTIP was deliberately targeting the “world’s most highly-skilled migrants” in order to best position Australia for competiveness.

“We want to position Australia at the forefront of major growth trends in the world economy. By enabling local businesses to access the world’s best talent, we will help to grow high growth industries in Australia,” he said.

“Over time, the Global Talent program has the potential to have a transformative impact on the Australian economy.”

While the program is focused on bringing in external talent, Home Affairs expects the scheme will also, by extension, create “opportunities for Australians by transferring skills, promoting innovation and creating job opportunities”.

Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said local job creation, in addition to the 5000 GTIP placements, would “drive growth in the Australian technology industry”.

 “For our domestic tech industry to grow, businesses need to be able to hire skilled Australian workers as well as access the capabilities of specialists from across the world,” she said.

“We can create high-paying local jobs by making Australia a global technology hub and the global talent program is a signal to tech companies that we’re open for business.”

SOURCE  

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here

Queensland tourist industry calls for non-lethal shark control measures

This is a disgrace.  The tourism industry wants to have its cake and eat it too.  The unmentioned fact below is that shark diving is a significant tourist activity.  Going down in cages to observe sharks is a big thrill. So the tourism operators want to keep the sharks alive.  But what about the swimmers?

Swimmers have been kept safe in tourist areas for many years by catching the sharks on hooked lines and killing them. But that has now been forbidden in some areas.  So swimmers are already getting bitten. And that is VERY bad for tourism.

The way the tour operaters propose to square the circle is by using airy-fairy catch and release strategies that offer a very low level of protection to swimmers.  But that is OK to the operators.  They would rather have live sharks and a few dead tourists

I was alerted to the fact that there was something fishy going on (forgive the pun) when I saw that the Greenies were praising the tourism operators


Queensland tourism operators are demanding urgent government action to control sharks in the Great Barrier Reef amid fears foreign tourists are being scared off.

The call comes after bickering by state and federal governments over the best way to control sharks around the popular Whitsunday Islands and other destinations. The two governments have been at loggerheads, with Queensland calling on Canberra to pass laws allowing it to kill sharks in the reef.

In a joint statement, tourist operators have called for aerial shark spotters, netted swimming areas, particularly around Stradbroke Island, and SMART drum lines.

The Queensland Tourism Industry Council, Tourism Whitsundays and Tourism Tropical North Queensland are concerned without such measures to protect swimmers, tourists will be turned off the region.

There are also demands for an investigation in increased shark attacks in the wake of last week's incident involving two British backpackers in the Whitsundays. Alistair Raddon, 28, and Danny Maggs, 22, were attacked in the waters of Hook Passage on Tuesday, leaving Mr Raddon without a foot and Mr Maggs with a lacerated calf.

They had been on a ZigZag Whitsundays boat tour and were in the water when the shark bit one man before circling and returning to bite the other. They are now planning to tell their story to British media and there is concern the fallout may deter overseas tourists.

Shark attacks in Queensland have recently become a political football between state and federal governments. The stoush began after Queensland lost a federal court battle to be allowed to use baited hooks to catch and kill sharks in the reef, requiring state fisheries staff to now catch and release sharks.

It has called on the government to introduce laws to circumvent this decision, but the federal government has told them to use SMART drum lines, despite state fisheries authorities saying they didn't work

SOURCE  







Greenies were big donors in the last Federal election

Zali Steggall given $1.1m donations in successful bid to topple Tony Abbott. Steggall given most among independents at election, and largest donor to independents was Climate 2020 lobby group

Climate 2020, the Simon Holmes à Court and Mike Cannon-Brookes-backed environmental lobby group, donated a total of $354,500 to independent candidates, making it their largest source of funding at the 2019 election.

According to disclosures released by the Australian Electoral Commission on Monday, Zali Steggall received a total of $1.1m of donations in her successful bid to topple Tony Abbott in Warringah, the highest of any independent.

Steggall was followed by Helen Haines, who raked in $421,000 in her successful bid to succeed Cathy McGowan in Indi; Oliver Yates, who received $363,000; and the former independent MP for Wentworth Kerryn Phelps, who received $219,000.

The disclosures reveal only donations from a single source above the $13,800 threshold received by individual candidates, independent Senate groups and their respective donors. Party declarations will be released in February.

The other independents who raised more than $100,000 were candidate for Farrer Kevin Mack, Queensland Senate candidate Hetty Johnston, ex-Liberal MP Julia Banks, former independent MP Rob Oakeshott, and disgruntled Liberal turned challenger in Gilmore, Grant Schultz.

Steggall also topped the list for the most number of donors (1,378), followed by Helen Haines (1,002) and Oakeshott (350).

Climate 2020 gave $145,000 to Oliver Yates, who failed in his bid to dislodge the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, in Kooyong; $50,000 to the ACT independent Senate candidate Anthony Pesec; $47,500 to Phelps; $40,000 to Banks; $37,000 to Oakeshott; and $35,000 to Haines. Pesec also received $20,000 from Malcolm Turnbull’s son, Alex Turnbull.

Climate 2020 Pty Ltd is an initiative of energy consultant Holmes à Court that has also received funding from Atlassian co-founder Cannon-Brookes, who describes it as a “non-partisan, non-profit project set up to assist political candidates with a clear commitment to a science-based response to the climate emergency and to restoring integrity to politics”.

SOURCE  





Drought Australia: NSW rainfall soaks parched farms

A rare deluge over swathes of drought-plagued western NSW has caused farmers and residents to revel in their freshly soaked red earth.

Rain and thunderstorms across NSW on Sunday resulted in a water gush through towns including Bourke, which recorded the highest rainfall in the state with about 66 millimetres, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Girilambone, in NSW’s mid-north, recorded 42.4mm, while in the Riverina Griffith recorded 30.8mm. Mirrool Creek, in the Riverina, is running for the first time in two years.

Nationals leader Michael McCormack warned the drought crippling Australia would take “years to recover from”, despite the heavy weekend rainfall.

“This is great. But one downpour doesn’t end the drought, it doesn’t solve the problem in the drought-stricken communities,” Mr McCormack said.

Prime minister Scott Morrison said this morning In Bangkok where he is attending the east Asia summit: “Australia at present has got some challenges in the agricultural sector, but I was very pleased to hear the reports of rain overnight.”

“It’s very encouraging. “We know that rain of itself is not drought-breaking, but I would say that it has been a tremendous encouragement to those western districts of NSW in particular, who have been looking forward to that.

“But our agricultural sector, despite the fact that we face droughts and floods, remains strong like all sectors of the Australian economy.”

While many of the towns to enjoy the falls had gone months without significant falls, the BOM told The Australian that drought-affected areas had missed out on downpours.

SOURCE  






Scott Morrison threatens crackdown on protesters who would 'deny liberty'

PM signals action on secondary boycotts of resources companies and says progressives want to tell Australians ‘what you can say, what you can think’

Scott Morrison has branded environmental protesters “anarchists” and threatened a radical crackdown on the right to protest in a speech claiming progressives are seeking to “deny the liberties of Australians”.

In a speech to the Queensland Resources Council on Friday, the prime minister said a threat to the future of mining was coming from a “new breed of radical activism” and signalled the government would seek to apply penalties to those targeting businesses who provide services to the resources industry.

Morrison told Australian corporations to listen to the “quiet shareholders” and not environmental protesters, who he suggested could shift targets from coal companies to all carbon-intensive industries including power generation, gas projects, abattoirs and airlines.

In a speech proposing limits on free speech advocating boycotts against polluting companies, Morrison said progressives wanted to tell Australians “what you can say, what you can think and tax you more for the privilege of all of those instructions”.

He claimed that “progressivism” – which he labelled a “new-speak type term”, invoking George Orwell – intends “to get in under the radar, but at its heart would deny the liberties of Australians”.

“Apocalyptic in tone, it brooks no compromise,” Morrison said. “It’s all or nothing. Alternative views are not permitted.”

He pointed to the “worrying development” of environmental groups targeting businesses or firms involved in the mining sector with “secondary boycotts”, such as businesses refusing to provide banking, insurance or consultancy services.

“They are targeting businesses of all sizes, including small businesses, like contracting businesses in regional Queensland.”

“Let me assure you this is not something my government intends to allow to go unchecked.

“Together with the attorney general, we are working to identify mechanisms that can successfully outlaw these indulgent and selfish practices that threaten the livelihoods of fellow Australians.”

But Morrison admitted the government “can’t force one Australian company to provide a service to another”.

The Competition and Consumer Act already contains civil penalties for secondary boycotts, which target one business in order to prevent provision of goods or services to another, including if they cause “substantial loss or damage” or substantially lessen competition.

However, secondary boycotts for the “dominant purpose” of environmental protection or consumer protection are permitted.

In 2014 the Abbott government considered applying penalties to environmental boycotts. In 2015 the Harper competition review said in the absence of “compelling evidence” on the point it saw no need for change although the exception should be reassessed “if such evidence arises from future boycott activity”.

Earlier on Friday Morrison told 3AW Radio that there is “of course the right to protest in this country” but claimed recent environmental protests in Melbourne were “well beyond the pale” because protesters had allegedly spat at people in business shirts.

“If it’s not OK to have secondary boycotts being run by unions … it’s not OK for environmental, well, they’re anarchist groups … to be able to disrupt people’s jobs, their livelihoods, to harass people as we saw down in Melbourne,” he said.

SOURCE  







Protect Small Business From Union Bullies. Pass The Ensuring Integrity Laws

The latest case of the CFMMEU bullying a small business shows why the Parliament must pass the Ensuring Integrity laws.

The Federal Circuit Court found that the CFMMEU and one of its officials in Queensland abused an employee of a sub-contractor calling him “you f…ing, dog, c..t” while flouting right of entry laws in order to subject the small business employee to and “offensive” and “unprovoked” tirade of abuse.

 The court found the CFMMEU official’s actions were “unprovoked and aggressive”, a “gross abuse of the entitlements” given by his right of entry permit and that the union’s conduct was yet another example of its “unending recidivism”.

“It’s bullying pure and simple. It’s not tolerated in the community and it shouldn’t be tolerated on construction sites,” Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia said.

“This is far from an isolated case, it’s just the latest evidence that the CFMMEU deliberately targets small business people and their employees with bullying, aggression and intimidation. The Parliament must act to protect small business people in our industry and pass the Ensuring Integrity laws,” she said.

““I urge Senators, when they come to vote on the Ensuring Integrity Bill, to consider how they would feel if it was them or their staff on the receiving end of such abuse from a CFMMEU bully,” Denita Wawn said.

“The Ensuring Integrity laws are not an attack on unions or their ability to defend the rights of their members on building sites or anywhere else. Only those unions and officials that insist on continuing to break the law will be affected,” Denita Wawn said.

Via email. For more information contact: Ben Carter, National Director, Media & Public Affairs, 0447 775 507

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here

Insane Leftist bureaucracy determined to pervert foreign influence legislation.  Australia's "swamp" in action

They are probably trying to kill the legislation by public ridicule

Tony Abbott has been asked to register as an agent of foreign influence under controversial national security laws, for addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference in August

In the first action of its kind under the foreign-influence laws, the event's Australian organiser, Andrew Cooper, whose small not-for-profit organisation Libety-Works co-hosted CPAC in Sydney with the American Conservative Union (ACU), was ordered to hand over documents and threatened with jail time.

The revelations challenge the integrity of the Coalition's foreign influence registry, which came into effect last December. Attorney-General Christian Porter conceded the actions taken by his department did not represent an effective enforcement of the legislation.

The Weekend Australian can reveal that Mr Abbott was asked to register as an agent of foreign influence one day before he addressed CPAC. The conference was held in Australia for the first time in August and included prominent international speakers including Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage and British political activist Raheem Kassam.

The former prime minister refused the request, labelling it "absurd" and saying "senior officials of the Commonwealth have better things to do with their time". Mr Cooper received an October 21 letter from the Attorney-General's Department demanding the production of documents under the government's Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme.

Like Mr Abbott, he has refused to comply and challenged the department about why it was not focused on more pressing "stories of Chinese Communist Party agents influencing university campuses or bankrolling political candidates"..

The decision by the department to target Mr Abbott and Mr Cooper comes amid a national debate over Chinese influence at Australian universities and research organisations. It coincided with a damning ICAC inquiry that has heard allegations the NSW ALP received a $100,000 donation in an Aldi shopping bag from a banned donor, billionaire property developer Huang Xiangmo.

The government's crackdown on foreign influence has been attacked by legal experts including Sydney University's Anne Twomey, who warned it could force thousands of people, including authors, academics and publishers, to register as agents of other countries.

The letter to Mr Cooper, sent by Sarah Chidgey, the deputy secretary of the Integrity and International Group, advised him to provide all documents "detailing any understanding or arrangement between LibertyWorks and the ACU". She asked for invitations to the event, correspondence with speakers as well as the transcripts and recordings of the addresses. It noted that failure to comply with the order within 14 days carried a maximum penalty of six months' jail.

In his reply, Mr Cooper said the department "appears less like the defender of freedom and more like that of the old East German Stasi". "You hold a gun to our head and demand information that we do not have," he wrote.

He told The Weekend Australian: "I will not be complying with this notice despite the threat of criminal prosecution and jail time. I established LibertyWorks to argue against this type of government control over speech and citizens. "I will not sell out our speakers and delegates by kowtowing to government overlords."

CPAC was aimed at developing ideas for the centre-right of politics and included addresses from conservatives and libertarians. It was heavily attacked by Labor's home affairs spokeswoman, Kristina Keneally, who warned of an "alt-right" takeover and rising white supremacism in Australia.

The first CPAC was held in the US in 1974 with then California governor and future president Ronald Reagan the first headline speaker.

Speakers at the August event included Mr Abbott, former deputy prime minister John Anderson, Liberal senator Amanda Stoker, Liberal MP Craig Kelly, former Labor leader Mark Latham and US Republican congressman Mark Meadows. Mr Cooper said he "just wanted to run a conference".

The department has sent about 500 letters to a range of individuals asking them to consider whether they need to register under the foreign influence transparency scheme. Mr Abbott was informed that, as a former cabinet minister, he had "a lifetime obligation to register any activity you undertake on behalf of a foreign principal".

In a follow-up email, sent by the department last month, Mr Abbott's CPAC address and a September speech to a summit in Budapest, Hungary, were identified as potentially problematic.

In a sharply worded response, sent on Wednesday and obtained by The Weekend Australian, Mr Abbott said: "Neither speech of mine was given 'on behalf' of a foreign principal. I spoke for myself. Any suggestion that I was speaking on behalf of a foreign entity is absurd ... I decline to register and suggest that you rethink the making of such misplaced and impertinent requests in the future. "Surely senior officials of the commonwealth have better things to do with their time"

The department's handling of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme angered Mr Porter. "I have made it clear to my department that I expect it to demonstrate a focus on the most serious instances of noncompliance," the Attorney-General said. "I'm not persuaded this focus has been perfectly demonstrated to date."

Mr Abbott said it was easy for the bureaucracy to turn "well-intentioned government policy into something which turns out to be radically different to what their ministers and staff intended".

The letter to Mr Cooper was the first and only order for the production of documents issued under section 45(2) of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme, which was introduced by Malcolm Turnbull to help counter the "serious threat posed to Australia and our interests by covert interference and espionage".

Mr Cooper told the department on Friday that Liberty-Works "cannot, and will not, comply with this notice". He informed the department that it was impossible to produce the thousands of documents requested within the 14-day timeline. "The breadth and scope of the requirements in your notice betray a lack of specific concerns and you do not 'reasonably suspect' we are required to register with the scheme," he wrote.

The department sent the letter to Mr Cooper, asking him to passage the request by the close of business on Friday, August 9.

"So they threaten me with jail, and then expect me to be their agent so they can go after someone else?" Mr Cooper told The Weekend Australian. "They can go and get stuffed."

The department also wrote to former Liberal politician Ross Cameron in August for speaking at CPAC, asking him to consider registering as an agent of foreign influence.

From the "Weekend Australian" of 2 Nov., 2019






Don't demean, ignore or dismiss dads' daily devotion

Chris Kenny

My daddy blog could be a major hit, generating millions of hits and thousands of dollars as fathers flock to read think pieces on the hardships of being a dad, swap tips on coping with the work/family balance, and share a whinge about how their wives don't understand.

Or perhaps not generally speaking, blokes just aren't into this. Eavesdrop on a walk around the park or at the cafe and you'll know women discuss these life and relationship issues endlessly, swapping ideas and supporting each other.

Blokes tend not to; we are wired differently. Sure, some might be outraged that I've made such a generalisation, and yes, there will be exceptions to prove the rule, but we all recognise the essential truth here. This is not a value judgment, it is
just reflecting reality.

The reason I mention this is because I think fathers get a bad rap. Fatherhood seems undervalued. It is constantly measured against motherhood — if only mothers could have wives, if only fathers did what mothers do — and fatherhood always comes up short.

There seems to be an underlying resentment that motherhood can be different to fatherhood, that fathers seem to get it easy, and so fatherhood can be diminished. Yet fathers have never done more, nor been more flexible and involved in parenting arrangements.

Fathers do brilliant work every day, something that should be celebrated, nurtured and encouraged rather than dismissed or derided. Motherhood and fatherhood, are different, obviously, equal but different

Thanks to technology and changing social norms there is now a high level of flexibility around shared responsibilities. Sure, as a father of four, I have a dog in this fight. But believe me this is not a competition. There is not a father alive who is not in awe of mothers and motherhood. Most mothers work miracles daily, their physical and emotional energy and endurance make the world go around and their juggling of parental responsibilities and careers is extraordinary.

We hear a lot about this in books, on websites, in newspapers and magazines and on television and radio, where mothers are supported, celebrated and encouraged. This is all to the good — I am not averse to dipping into this genre to enlighten myself.

But this column is about dads. In our age of priestly pedophile scandals, predatory criminals and gender quotas, we should not forget that to improve options for women and protect children we need to leverage the good works of fathers, not diminish them in campaigns against toxic masculinity or outdated gender stereotypes.

Where biology once determined a divide in duties between mothers and fathers, it plays a much smaller role now, with couples able to swap or share almost all tasks. Yet, surely, just as we shouldn't be slaves to traditional roles, we don't need to be prescriptive about the future. Let us have our options and choose.

If, even in the most prosperous and enlightened of societies, most families opted for traditional roles, who would be so arrogant or ideological as to condemn their life choices?

In my household, both parents are busy with careers and the daily rush between drop-offs, pick-ups, cricket, footy, music, nippers and incidentals is as demanding as it is chaotic. As the dad, could I pay more attention to the logistics and perhaps do a little more of the cooking? Sure.

But fatherhood is not some blissful dream of unburdened genetic distribution. Halfway through drafting this column, on top of the usual pick-ups, meal preparations and bath duties, I discovered new-found skills in amateur make-up artistry and costume arrangements for Halloween hijinx.

Fatherhood is the school of lifelong learning. In her recent essay Men at Work, Annabel Crabb interrogated the differing expectations we have of fathers and mothers. She asked why we were so interested in how New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern would cope as a prime ministerial mum, yet were not fussed by how Scott Morrison would get his girls off to school in the mornings.

Quite obviously, our Prime Minister was not gestating, delivering and nursing a child, so there are biological imperatives that are unavoidable in this case. But Crabb makes a telling point when she asks:

"What I want to know is: why do we expect so little of fathers? Why do we fret so extensively about the impact on children of not seeing their mothers enough, but care so little about what happens when it's Dad who's always away? Do we think dads are just for weekends? 'Or are we simply so roundly prepared — based on what we see — for their absence that we neither mourn it nor remark on it?"

This is where we need that daddy blog. Families expect an enormous amount from dads, and dads expect everything from themselves. The daily strain is all about parenting, providing, presence and prioritising; surely most mothers see fathers in this daily juggling act. There are bad fathers, just as there are bad mothers, but my daily brushing of shoulders with dads over more than 30 years as a parent only fills me with optimism and admiration for what they do with and for their families.

Crabb used Morrison and Josh Frydenberg as the laboratory rats in her analysis. Their vocational demands and enforced absences make them extreme examples. Over the years, I have had private discussions with each of them about the joy and devotion of their parenthood. The absences of politics make family life difficult and most politicians know they won't do it forever. They work through shared responsibilities with husbands, wives and wider families, to cope as best they can.

For all that, they are no orphans. Many families across the country deal with one parent or another on night shift, flying in and out on a 10-day turnaround, or deployed overseas with defence forces. Most often it is dad who is away, but certainly not always.

This is what families do. We make choices and share burdens for the benefit of our family, not to fit the expectations of some progressive social experiment. Families do not exist to fulfil some idyllic Brave New World of non-gendered roles and cookie-cutter parenting. Families are dynamic organisms and, like snowflakes, all have different designs. Whether it is socially ingrained or deeply embedded in our DNA, like a mother's nurturing instincts, fathers feel a deep-seated responsibility to provide for their family. Most fathers would sooner endure any absence than stay home and feel they are failing their family.

"I'd always been quietly enraged by the interviews with female CEOs that start with the question of how they manage their families along with their jobs," wrote Crabb.

This intrigued me. As a dad, I have always wondered why on earth we don't get asked. It has never seemed patronising for women to be asked this question; how could it be belittling to be asked about something so vital to us?

Rather, it has always seemed insulting that men are spared the questions. Just because we don't blog about fatherhood, are we assumed to be uninterested? Like most fathers, I suspect, I think of myself first and foremost as a father. It is that role that defines me, to myself and to all those I love.

Fatherhood is the greatest privilege and heaviest responsibility; a daily journey of success and failure, overwhelming joy and deepest hurt, duty and indulgence, pride and anxiety, constant learning and endless aspiration. We fathers know this; we seldom discuss it openly in the way mothers might share their trials and tribulations, but we check in on each other, and we watch and learn and emulate.

I have been privileged to grow up surrounded by superb male role models. Men who are strong and gentle, brave and kind, wise and loving. Men like my father, who I always knew valued fatherhood above all else, and his brothers, the eldest of whom was buried this week, surrounded by children, grandchildren and great-grand-children, amid stories of his patience, wit, devotion and kindness.

I had uncles on my mother's side scarred by Changi or being orphaned young, but who grew to impart tenderness through calloused hands.

At kids' weekend sport there is masculinity aplenty without a hint of toxicity, as boys and girls learn to take risks, succeed and fail. There is a nonchalant benevolence in all this, lighting a path for our children.

We risk missing one of the most valuable influences in our community life if we somehow demean, ignore or dismiss this daily devotion of dads. Crabb, maybe, reaches a similar realisation. "Now," she writes, "I don't get mad when female leaders are asked that question. It's a bloody sensible question. Now I just get mad when male leaders aren't asked it. Not asking is actually, in itself, quite a powerful message. It says, 'No one expects you to care about this'."

Yes, not asking about families insults men. Don't blame the dads. Ask them sometime, they might never shut up. Being a dad, like being a mum, is to surrender yourself to a life that supersedes your own — a crushing and enlivening realisation that your own interests will never again be pre-eminent, there is another life for whom you would, in the twinkling of an eye, surrender your own. Life that depends on you, a weight that is somehow uplifting, ever-present and inspiring. Dads know it and live it every day.

From the "Weekend Australian" of 2 Nov., 2019





 
Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton wants the states to charge protesters the cost of police responding to demonstrations

Mr Dutton, who has previously called for protesters to be publicly shamed and stripped of their welfare payments, called on the states to act after a week of anti-mining demonstrations in Melbourne.

"We don't have 150 police just sitting around in Melbourne or Brisbane or Sydney waiting to respond to these people who spontaneously pull these stunts together," he told the Nine Network on Friday.

"These police are being diverted away from other activities and there should be a price to pay for that."

The prime minister is set to announce a plan to crack down on "indulgent, selfish and apocalyptic" environmental activists.

Mr Dutton, a former Queensland cop, has enthusiastically backed the idea.

"For many of them they don't even believe in democracy," he said. "This is not about free speech, it's not about the ability to protest. These people are completely against our way of life.

"These people can protest peacefully, as many people do, but the disruption that they seek to cause, the disharmony that they seek to sow within our society is unacceptable."

Mr Dutton also took aim at magistrates courts for being too lenient on law-breaking activists. "If you're going to the courts eight times and getting a slap on the wrist, why wouldn't you do it a ninth time?"

SOURCE  





Catfish and shrimp take precedence over drought-hit farmers

Environmental madness

Twenty-two billion litres of precious water have been flushed into a swamp in one of Australia's most drought-stricken regions.

The New South Wales state government started releasing 22 gigalitres of water from Wyangala Dam from the middle of last month.

The move was intended to help increase flow to the heavily parched Lachlan River and its tributaries.

But the decision has been criticised because the water has been used without consulting farmers.

The dam has seen its water level fall by 20 per cent as a result and the state's water minister has questioned the timing of the release.

'I would like to see evidence this was the best time to release water for the environment when the Bureau of Meteorology is indicating little to no inflows over the next 12 months,' NSW Water Minister Melinda Pavey said.

The water released from the dam could have sustained 30,000 people living in nearby towns including Cowra and Forbes for over a year.

Instead it will make its journey west down the river to the Great Cumbung Swamp where the Lachlan River ends.

The government agency which operates the state's rivers said in a statement the water release was critical to the survival of the rivers flowing out of the dam.

The Commonwealth Environment Water Holder said the water was vital to improving the health of the river system along the length of the Lachlan River.

A senior green agency source also told The Daily Telegraph the increased supply to the river system would benefit the resident catfish and freshwater shrimp.

But Ms Pavey said 'during times of extreme drought we need flexibility, not blind recklessness'.

The partial opening of the dam has dropped its capacity to about 18 per cent, compared to 23 per cent at the beginning of last month.

The dam is already subject to a proposal to raise its walls by 10 metres at a cost of $650million.

The river stretches almost 1,500km across New South Wales' south and is part of the Murray-Darling Basin which has faced brutal drought conditions in recent years.

SOURCE  

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here

Taking on Gillette and the Family Court

Bettina Arndt

First, a great new video. I had a long talk to Ilan Srulovicz, the brave CEO of the Egard Watch company, who took on Gillette. Ilan was inspired by the dreadful toxic masculinity message of the notorious Gillette ad to make his own hugely successful video promoting what’s good about men. It was a courageous move to put his company on the line like that but it paid off, attracting overwhelming support for his video. I was so pleased to discover this interesting young man is heavily involved in men’s issues and determined to keep making his voice heard.

Here’s the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LIg8XKRAbg


Help make sure the Family Law Inquiry exposes the real issues

Last week I reported on my recent trip to meet parliamentarians in Canberra – showing you the wonderful video of Senator Amada Stoker grilling the TEQSA bureaucrats about their dismal handling of campus rape adjudication.

The other issue which was top of my agenda on this trip was the upcoming Family Court Inquiry. I’ve been posting a bunch of news stories on my social media about the strenuous efforts of feminists to try to close down this inquiry. It just shows how desperate they are to hide the truth which hopefully will emerge, particularly during public hearings, about the rampant use of false violence and sexual abuse allegations and related perjury issues, as well as the failure of the Court to enforce contact orders – which are the issues that interest me the most.

I had very helpful meetings with many of the key players involved in the inquiry and have promised to do everything I can to try to make sure good people are making submissions and appearing before the committee.

Via email from Tina: Bettina@bettinaarndt.com.au






Mandatory maths won’t STEM decline

Even with 400 hours of secondary school mathematics under their belts, it seems that Year 10 students in New South Wales remain underprepared for the 21st century. One proposed remedy is to make mathematics compulsory from Kindergarten through to Year 12.

Prioritising mathematics was announced as part of the NSW Government’s promise to ‘take the curriculum back to the basics’ — apparently in response to the interim findings of the recent NSW Curriculum Review.

Unfortunately, with the Review’s author conceding that the main question is whether the proposed reforms are even heading in the right direction, the report epitomises the lack of clarity, vision and strategy in Australian education.

Weirdly, while chewing up a lot of taxpayer dollars, the NSW Review is being undertaken well before a planned review of the Australian Curriculum in 2020. So policy decisions will be made for students and teachers in one state that may turn out to be even less aligned to practices applying to students across the country than they are now.

Rather than starting with a post-mortem of how we got into the current mess, the NSW effort echoes other misguided reviews, showing a fixation on globalisation and technological threats and promoting yet more educational experiments.

Technology specialist and CEO of global marketing company Freelancer, Matt Barrie, recently referred to Australian education as a “basket case” that produces “avocado toast” graduates whose poor skills – especially in computer science and engineering – explain the national slump in productivity.

Any curriculum can set forward priorities. The NSW Government seems intent on bringing mathematics to the fore, but does this make STEM the holy grail?

Education systems that regularly outperform Australia do not expect their school leavers only to master STEM subjects. In Finland and Singapore, for example, there is also an intensive, sustained focus on languages and humanities subjects. Producing well-educated citizens who can contribute to the national good is a sophisticated undertaking.

Improvements do not come from the ad hoc compilation of ideas or from intermittently bolting subjects on to the curriculum.

A more constructive approach would be to identify policy mistakes that have let down many young Australians, but which have been cleverly avoided by high-performing school systems elsewhere.

This should include an honest analysis of what has worked, what has gone wrong and why, and what can be done – without fear or favour – to change things for the better for future generations.

SOURCE 





'I save $200 per week': Student, 21, on a $33k salary reveals how she manages to put away $10,000 a YEAR

I did this sort of thing in my teens and 20s -- as I documented on October 13 and earlier -- so it is good to read that it is still possible

A 21-year-old student and administration officer on a $33,000 salary has revealed how she manages to put away $10,000 a year in savings.

The woman - who gets paid $1,090 every fortnight after tax as well as $4,000 a year from her Centrelink Student Supplement - said she is diligent with her pay cheque.

As soon as she gets paid every two weeks, she transfers $720 for rent, before popping somewhere between $200 and $400 into her savings account, where she currently boasts $7,000.

'I like to save at least $200 per week,' the student told the publication.

The woman's other monthly expenses include an $80 phone bill, $90 on public transport, $50 on her gym membership and $20 on her internet.

She still has her HECS Debt to pay off, but isn't sure of the figure because she is still studying.

'I put an extra $20 per week away so when electricity bills come I don't notice,' the woman said. She also avoids having to pay for Netflix by using her family's logon.

In order to cut down on some expenses, the woman said she meal preps meals and salads at home with her boyfriend, which she brings to work and university. 'We usually meal prep together on a Sunday and take half [the food] each. I spend $30 altogether,' she said.

Typical items on the menu include a healthy spaghetti bolognese with plenty of vegetables and tuna salads.

She makes these last throughout the week by making bulk portions.

What are the woman's top saving tricks?

* Meal prepping lunches for the week with her boyfriend.

* Bulk cooking and making a massive spaghetti bolognese last several days.

* Using her family's Netflix logon.

* Putting away $20 a week, so she doesn't notice when she gets a utility bill.

* Avoiding cafe and restaurant-bought foods as much as possible.

* Buying half price clothes.

The woman said she often takes home leftovers from her boyfriend's parents' home, and tries to avoid buying cafe or restaurant-bought foods.

She also scours for bargains when it comes to clothes, and recently managed to pick up a $50 half price dress for a wedding.

'I think for a university student I'm quite lucky with money,' the woman said. 'I have a good job that allows me to save and even get a student supplement.'

She said that once she is working full time and not studying, she hopes to be able to save even more - but added that the good habits she's established now will hopefully stand her in good stead in the future.

SOURCE 





'No one listened and then someone died': Fisherman explains why he NEVER lets his family swim in the ocean as the number of hungry, killer sharks increases

Greenie protection of sharks responsible

Fishermen have warned more people will be killed following an explosion in Queensland's shark population and a string of attacks in the water.

Two British backpackers have this week been mauled near Airlie Beach as they snorkelled in the Whitsundays.

Alistair Raddon, 28, had his right foot bitten off as his friend Danny Maggs, 22, copped a leg bite on Tuesday morning.

The shark attacks occurred only a month after Queensland's Labor government removed more than 160 drumlines from 27 beaches.

This followed a Federal Court ruling which ordered the end of shark culling in the Great Barrier Reef.

Nathan Rynn, a Townsville-based commercial net fisherman who operates between Cardwell and Bowen, near Airlie Beach, said surging shark numbers would cause more fatal attacks in the water.

'We've got a catastrophe waiting to happen,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Friday. 'If the government doesn't place some more protection over tourists, swimmers and recreational users, there's going to be more and more of these deaths every year because their numbers are exploding and they're getting hungry.'

Mr Rynn is so worried about predatory sharks in the murky waters of north Queensland he advises his own children to stay out of the water in Townsville.
'Once upon a time, I would have taken them to the local beaches here,' he said.

'If I see mothers or fathers with their kids running down into the water, and they're a fair distance off the beach, I go and tell them, "If I was you, I'd get your kids out".'

David Swindells, a commercial fisherman based at Yeppoon in central Queensland, said he advised swimmers to avoid deep water.

'Put it this way: I'd advise them to stay in shallow water,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'Only go up around your knees.'

In November 2018, Melbourne medical researcher Daniel Christidis, 33, died after being attacked at Cid Harbour at Whitsunday Island during a trip with friends and colleagues.

That tragedy followed two separate attacks – also at Cid harbour – on Tasmanian woman Justine Barwick and 12-year-old Melbourne girl Hannah Papps within 24 hours in September.

Well before those spate of attacks, Mr Rynn said he and other fishermen had warned Queensland's Department of Agriculture and Fisheries about the danger of the surging shark population.

'I warned the department about two to three years ago about the increase in shark numbers - it wasn't just myself - there were other guys that were giving them information on shark predation in our fishing nets,' he said.

'Before last year's attack at Cid Harbour, I said that there's only a matter of time there's someone going to be killed. Bang. We had someone unfortunately killed.'

Mr Swindells said shark numbers had exploded after fishermen were banned from culling them. 'Since they've stopped us culling them, there's been a massive explosion in the shark population,' he said.

'There had not been as many shark attacks as there are now so why would they remove the drumlines to put the general public at risk?'

Mr Swindells, a director of the Queensland Seafood Industry Association, said the state Labor government appeared to be removing shark drumlines in a bid to chase Greens preferences in Brisbane electorates.

The drumlines were removed in September, however, after animal rights group Humane Society International challenged the policy in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The Federal Court in September upheld the AAT's April decision, despite a challenge from the state government.

In 2015, former Queensland fisheries minister Bill Byrne, then the Labor member for Rockhampton, told Parliament there had only been one death at a shark control beach in the 53 years since drumlines had been introduced.

'For decades, Queensland's Shark Control Program has made it safe to swim in our surf,' he said.

'Since the program began in 1962, there has been only one shark fatality at a shark control beach in Queensland.'

Put another way, sharks have killed as many swimmers near Queensland beaches during the past year as the previous 56.

SOURCE 





Life Was Better in the 1950s and '60s

Malcolm Smith

Life is good. I was born in 1949, and my parents had to scrimp and slave to make ends meet. Now I am an affluent retiree. I've seen the world, and the world is at my fingertips by virtue of the machine with which you are reading this. When I get sick, as I eventually will, there will be medical treatment available which was undreamed of when I was young. Nevertheless, I shall go out on a limb and state that life was better in the 1950s and '60s - not materially, but in the things which really matter. Compared to today, it was particularly good for those growing up. I quail at the thought of the challenges the grandchildren will have to face.

     Now, of course, old farts are always proclaiming the superiority of life when they were young and vigorous. It automatically invites the response: "You wouldn't really want to go back to time when [name your favourite bad example]?" Of course not! There is no such thing as a golden age. To just to even the score, I shall mention a few aspects of that time I do not miss.

    Firstly, prior to Vatican II, there was a lot of prejudice and bad relations between Catholics and Protestants. However, it never came to any sort of significant discrimination or other social evils. And it was not as bad as the present day war of the ungodly against the religious.

    Secondly, there was constant industrial action ie strikes. Far from me to say that unions are useless, but it definitely the case that membership has collapsed over the past decades, and workers have still become more prosperous. Strikes were most common in unions under control of the Communist parties, which also managed to infiltrate the whole political scene. It was not terrorism, but subversion and treason which we had to face.

     Thirdly, there was the pernicious habit of smoking, which robbed my father of at least 20 years of his life, and my brother and brother-in-law of at least 30. Today 16½ % of adult men - one in six - smoke, with a slightly smaller percentage for women, but in 1945 it was 72%.

     So what was life like materially when I was growing up? For a start, we could go to the measuring worth website and compare the value of money in 1966, the year decimal currency was introduced, with that in 2016. You will immediately note that there has been rampart inflation; based on the CPI, a dollar in 1966 would buy what $12.63 did 50 years later. More to the point, however, the "income value" was twice that of the "real price". What that means is that an hour's labour, or a day's labour, allows you to buy twice as much as it did 50 years ago. In 50 years, we've all become twice as rich.

     Sewage did not come to my suburb until the early 1960s. Prior to that, we had to use an outhouse in the backyard, which a council worker would empty once a week. (What a stinking job!) Television (black and white, of course) did not arrive here in Brisbane until 1959, at which time we all gathered outside the electric goods store to watch the simplistic programs on display. Prior to that, we used to sit around, sometimes in the dark, listening to serials, comedies, and dramas on the radio. And, of course, there was "Saturday Night at the Movies". Three cinemas graced the suburb closest to mine. We got there by public transport, of course, because cars were a middle class luxury, as were telephones. (My family didn't have either.) The lack of cars resulted in another phenomenon: a proliferation of corner stores. You could get your household needs at three such stores within walking distance of my home.

     I know this is all going to sound like the dark ages to a generation brought up on computers, the internet, mobile phones, CDs, and DVDs, but don't you imagine it! Our parents had it tough: first the depression, and then the war. But we grew up in the flush of post war prosperity. Let me give you a few pointers.

It was possible to raise a family on a single income. At the bottom of economic ladder where my family belonged, the wife and mother often had to seek part time or casual employment, but single incomes were regarded as the norm.

Despite that, they could afford children. They don't call us baby boomers for nothing. Today, despite everyone being twice as rich, our fertility is well below replacement rate. What has gone wrong?

In 1950 it required 301 weeks' of average income to purchase a median-priced house in a capital city. This was reduced to 200 weeks in 1955, and stayed that way for a couple of decades. Now it is 455.

We had full employment. Governments were in danger of losing office if unemployment went as high as 2 per cent. There were cases of workers leaving a job in the morning and picking up a new one in the afternoon.

As far a education went, anyone who was at all bright could automatically get a scholarship to university. That was how I, the son of an invalid pensioner, took my first degree. The second I financed by not too arduous part time work. I still don't understand why, these days, a degree should cost you a year's income.

And finally, we didn't lock our doors at night. Crime might have been reduced in recent decades, but it nowhere near as low as what my generation was accustomed to.

     So, materially, life in the 1950s and 1960s was not too bad. But socially it was much better. Every index of social disintegration is worse now than it used to be.

SOURCE 

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here

Assisted dying outrages religions

Remarkable unanimity

Islamic and Jewish leaders have joined the churches in slamming any rollout of voluntary euthanasia in Queensland, the latest state t0 weigh the right to die. In a joint statement, 16 religious leaders headed by president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge, former primate of Australia and Anglican archbishop of Brisbane Phillip Aspinall, president of the Islamic Council of Queensland Habib Jamal and Rabbi Levi Jaffe of the Brisbane Hebrew Congregation warned that voluntary assisted dying was "not dying well".

"We believe that the Queensland government should main-tain the current laws and improve palliative care for a flourishing Queensland based on human freedom, human dignity and the common good," the statement said.

A modified version of the voluntary assisted dying (VAD) law that came into effect in Victoria in June passed the lower house of West Australian parliament last month, but faces a sterner test in the Legislative Council, possibly by the end of the year.

Queensland is at an earlier stage of assessing VAD but its unicameral state parliament means the process will be smoother if an all-party committee endorses the need for legislation and the state Labor government grasps the nettle.

This happened with abortion law reform in 2017, to the dismay of
the churches. Their effort to block euthanasia shows signs of being more concerted and co-ordinated. The joint statement argued that VAD offered a misleading choice: "You can choose to die horribly or you can take your own life."

But Everald Compton, of the Dying with Dignity organisation and an elder of the Uniting and Presbyterian churches, rejected the religious leaders' position. "I fundamentally disagree with the unreasonable position taken by my church and all the other churches -- which is based on creating fear and misrepresentating what voluntary assisted dying is all about," he said

The religious leaders said the provision of high-quality palliative care was paramount, so that death did not need to be terrible or feared. "High-quality palliative care is not merely a third option; it is best practice," they argued. "Queenslanders do not yet have universal access such as specialist palliative care that addresses the physical, psycho-social and spiritual needs of people."

The statement said VAD would undermine efforts to curb suicide in a state with the nation's second highest rate of self-inflicted death.

Other signatories were: moderator of the Uniting Church Queensland Synod Reverend David Baker, Reverend Peter Barson of. the Presbyterian Church, Conference president of the Churches of Christ Geoff Charles, moderator of the Queensland Congregational Fellowship Dr Joe Goodall, state chairman of the International Network of Churches Pastor Gary Hourigan, Elder Carl Maurer of The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints, Pastor Carl Mutzelburg of Acts 2 Alliance, acting general superintendent of Queensland Baptists Reverend Stewart Pieper, Reverend Rex Rigby of the Wesleyan Methodist Church South Queensland, Bishop Paul Smith of the Lutheran Church, district and state ministries director of Christian Churches Queensland-NT Pastor Gary Swenson.

From "The Australian" of 28/10/2019





Pressure rising for drivers of electric cars to pay their way

Electric vehide drivers should be charged road-user costs, with 76 per cent of Australians calling on green-car owners to contribute to transport infrastructure, and almost one-in-two declaring it unfair they avoid paying fuel excise.

New polling obtained by The Australian reveals pushback against electric vehicle owners, with Australian motorists warning "there shouldn't be one rule for them and another for us". The sample of 1500 Australians, conducted by pollster Toby Ralph for the Australian Automobile Association, shows an "overwhelming sentiment that all road users should pay to fund the roads, not just those using petrol or diesel".

The research, based on 1400 quantitative and 100 qualitative interviews across the nation in July, also revealed concerns about Australia holding 50 days of fuel stocks, with 55 per cent saying it was insufficient and 31 per cent unsure.

AAA managing director Michael Bradley said the data spoke to the fact that "Australian motorists are incredibly price sensitive and very focused on high transport costs". "People understand motoring taxes build and maintain the roads and rail networks we all need, and Australians clearly want that burden shared equally," Mr Bradley said.

"Low emissions vehicle technologies are evolving rapidly and while no one wants the adoption of cleaner, safer cars stifled, Australia's tax system needs to be updated if it is to be ready for the changes coming.

"The task in front of government is to fix a structural flaw in the federal budget by creating a national road access charge for low emission vehicles, which brings this growing fleet into the tax system without disincentivising uptake."

According to Infrastructure Australia, electric vehicles are projected to account for 70 per cent of new vehicle sales and 30 per cent of the vehicle fleet by 2040. In February, the Electric Vehicle Council welcomed IA's identification of the need to construct a national electric vehicle fast-charging network as a "high priority initiative for Australia".

According to interviews conducted for the AAA-commissioned research, respondents raised concerns over electric vehicle owners not paying the fuel excise of 41.6c for every litre of petrol. "It's their choice to get (an electric car) but they should pay too," a respondent said.

Others said "when you think about it, it's like tax avoidance", "why should I subsidise them" and "it's only fair they pay something".

Debate over electric vehicles peaked ahead of the federal election after Bill Shorten flagged an electric vehicle target of 50 per cent of new car sales by 2030.

Both major parties have baulked at funding a major rollout of recharging infrastructure across the nation and supporting generous subsidies for electric vehicles, which have been adopted by some overseas governments.

The AAA research showed while a majority of Australians knew about the fuel excise, they were unaware of how much it was worth, and only older motorists knew it was used to pay for roads. Excise rates on fuel and petroleum products are indexed twice a year in line with the consumer price index.

On paying to increase fuel stocks to 90 days, 59 per cent of those surveyed said nothing and 21 per cent flagged they would likely pay less than 2c. Asked if they were aware Europe's petrol is "cleaner" than Australia's fuel, 72 per cent said they weren't and only 41 per cent of respondents were likely to pay more for cleaner fuel that would "reduce emissions and improve community health".

From "The Australian" of 28/10/2019


‘Unconscionable conduct’: private college fined $4.2m

A private education college that deliberately targeted disadvantaged and illiterate prospective students by offering them free laptops has been fined $4.2 million by the Federal Court.

Unique International College, which operated out of a single room in Granville in Sydney’s west, sold online diploma courses worth up to $25,000 often targeting vulnerable communities in former Aboriginal missions in regional NSW.

In six separate cases, Unique International College was found to have failed to inform students of the cost of the course they were signing up to, did not tell them they would incur a debt and did not give them copies of the contract they signed.

One judgment, relating to a 19-year-old with learning conditions who was signed up by Unique in Wagga Wagga, stated it was “exploitation of an obviously very vulnerable person for financial gain”.

“(Unique’s conduct) involved the exploitation of an uneducated indigenous person with no understanding of what he was agreeing to in return for a laptop which was worth substantially less than the debt which was being incurred,” Justice Nye Perram found in his Federal Court judgment on Thursday.

“It is difficult to imagine unconscionable conduct which could be worse.”

Each of the six people were left with a VET FEE-HELP debt of $26,400, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

“These students enrolled by Unique were unlikely to be able to complete the courses, but would have been left with significant lifetime student debt,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.

“Some of these consumers enrolled in courses by Unique had poor literacy skills, and others could not use computer or did not have an internet connection.

“The ACCC will always prioritise taking action against businesses which engage in egregious conduct impacting vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers,” Mr Sims said.

Using the new VET FEE-HELP student redress measures, the government in the process of cancelling the debts of eligible consumers enrolled by Unique.

In 2017 the Federal Court found the college made false or misleading representations and engaged in behaviour amounting to unconscionable conduct, following evidence that more than 3100 students never completed a single unit of any of the college’s management or marketing courses, costing taxpayers more than $47 million in student loans.

During the trial the court heard evidence that the owner of the college, Amarjit Singh, transferred $22 million from his business account to his family’s account on one day in 2015, in addition to transferring a $5.7 million Kenthurst property owned by the college to another family member in the same year.

But in 2018 the company successfully appealed, with the Federal Court finding there was insufficient evidence that its conduct amounted to a system of unconscionable conduct beyond the six consumers still currently involved in the matter.

Justice Perram found Unique acted deliberately in remote communities on a number of occasions, including Walgett in October 2014, Wagga Wagga in March 2015 and Bourke in June 2015 but “was ignorant” to the fact it was contravening consumer law.

“One of Unique’s employee witnesses stated in cross-examination that he had not in fact heard of (Australian Consumer Law),” Justice Perram wrote.

The college has been found to have acted unconscionably in connection with goods or services, made false or misleading representations, failed to inform of a termination period, did not give a required document to a consumer and contravened requirements for all unsolicited consumer agreements.

It has previously had its registration cancelled and is no longer operating. The college operators have 28 days to pay the fine.

SOURCE  




How water rats are killing toxic cane toads in massive numbers by ripping out their HEARTS with 'surgical-like' precision to avoid being poisoned

Scientists have discovered water rats are learning to kill cane toads without dying from their toxins.

Cane toads have been devastating Australia's ecosystems since they came Down Under from Central America in the 1930s.

But now, water rats are killing the animals by eating certain parts of them that are free from their toxins.

Reproductive biologist Dr Marissa Parrott was working in Western Australia's Kimberly region when she saw the dire effects cane toads had on local wildlife.

Even large crocodiles are found dead with small cane toads inside their stomachs.   

Dr Parrott said that while working near a creek in WA's Emma Gorge, she saw more proof of water rats killing off cane toads.

'I found a number of very large dead cane toads, and all of them were lying on their backs with almost surgical type incisions down their chest. Every day I went there, there were up to five new bodies,' she told VICE.

'We found that in all the cane toads, the heart and liver had expertly been removed, and the gallbladder, which contains toxic bile salts, had been removed and placed outside the body.'

Dr Parrott set up infrared cameras and discovered that local water rats were behind the deaths.

She said that within just two years of cane toads moving into the region, water rats had figured out how to disable, kill and eat the toads, despite them having killed a number of predators.

Despite not being able to get a close-up of the killing, Dr Parrott believes the rats most likely sliced opened the toad's chests with their teeth - which is less poisonous than their backs.

She said the rats would then use their paws to take out the toads' organs. 

'They didn't eat as many medium-sized toads, but when they did, it was fascinating to note that as well as the heart and liver they had also eaten one or both of the thigh muscles after stripping away the toxic skin,' she said.

'We're not sure if they just wanted a bigger payoff for their efforts in overpowering the toad, or if it was easier to subdue the toads by holding down the legs first. Interestingly, they never attacked the leg muscles on the larger toads.'

SOURCE  

 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here