Superannuation fund commits to net-zero emission investments after Brisbane man sues

A 25-year-old man from Brisbane has successfully sued one of Australia's biggest super funds over its handling of climate change, forcing it to commit to net-zero emissions for its investments by 2050.

It's the first time a superannuation fund has been sued for failing to consider climate change

In 2018, Mark McVeigh sued Rest, his superannuation fund, in the Federal Court after it failed to provide him with information on how it was managing the risks of climate change.

Mr McVeigh alleged Rest had breached the Superannuation Industry Act and the Corporations Act by failing to manage those risks — which could include fossil fuel companies plummeting in value or infrastructure being damaged by extreme weather.

The law requires trustees of super funds to act with care, skill and diligence to act in the best interest of members — including managing material risks to its investment portfolio.

In an 11th-hour settlement reached on Monday while the case was adjourned, Rest agreed its trustees have a duty to manage the financial risks of climate change.

Because the case was settled out of court, the outcome doesn't carry the same weight as a legal precedent decided in court. But Mr McVeigh's lawyer, David Barnden, head of Equity Generation Lawyers, said the case still sets an important precedent globally.

"This outcome should represent a significant shift in the market's willingness to tackle climate risk — a shift which should set a clear precedent for the industry in Australia, and also pension funds around the world," Mr Barnden said.

Martijn Wilder, a lawyer at Pollination, another climate-focussed law firm, said the settlement meant the impact of the case could fall short of what some were expecting. "It has not [produced] a clear legal decision by a court which clarifies the obligations and duties of directors under the law," he said.

"However, there is widespread acceptance in the legal and business community that these obligations regarding climate clearly exist."

In a statement, Rest outlined the agreement it made with Mr McVeigh, and said: "The superannuation industry is a cornerstone of the Australian economy — an economy that is exposed to the financial, physical and transition impacts associated with climate change."

An historic agreement

In the statement, Rest said that "climate change is a material, direct and current financial risk to the superannuation fund".

Rest went further and agreed to manage its investments so they would be responsible for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

It also agreed to immediately begin testing its investment strategies against various climate change scenarios, publicly disclose all its holdings and advocate for companies it invests in to comply with the goals of the Paris Agreement, which aims to stop global warming at 1.5C.

The case was the first time an Australian superannuation fund had been sued for not doing enough on climate change.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-02/rest-super-commits-to-net-zero-emmissions/12840204

Deputy PM Michael McCormack slams Adam Bandt’s comments to South Korea as ‘treacherous’

Bandt is an old Trot (Trotsky-ite) so he hates the whole of Western society. Trotsky thought even the Soviet Union was too conservative. His followers normally see themselves as "revolutionary"

They are too extreme for mainstrean politics but a few of them have infiltrated the Greens, where they are very disruptive -- pushing the Greens even furtherto the Left than even the Greens want to go. Some of them have by now been eased out but Bandt has so far survived

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has slammed Greens Leader Adam Bandt for ‘treacherous’ comments he says are against Australia’s national interest.

The Nationals have called on Greens Leader Adam Bandt to retract his comments urging South Korea to stop buying Australian coal, or resign.

During an address to South Korean MPs on Tuesday, Mr Bandt encouraged them to stop buying Australian coal and renegotiate trade agreements to include carbon tariffs.

Nationals Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said reports that Mr Bandt was urging a foreign government to act to the detriment of Australia’s national interest were “deeply concerning”.

“By urging a foreign government to agitate for a change to Australia’s domestic policies through a free-trade agreement, the Greens have attempted to undermine our democracy,” Mr McCormack said on Wednesday.

“In telling a foreign government to stop buying Australian coal, Adam Bandt is telling tens of thousands of workers in our resources industry that their jobs don’t matter.

“He is telling tens of thousands of families that they shouldn’t be able to put food on the table. He is telling small and medium-sized businesses that they should just shut up shop.”

Mr McCormack said the comments were an attack on Australian jobs and the national interest.

“Adam Bandt is Australia’s modern-day Benedict Arnold. This is treacherous behaviour,” he said.

“The Nationals urge Mr Bandt to immediately withdraw his comments and apologise to the thousands of workers who rely on Australia’s resource industry for their livelihood. If Mr Bandt does not withdraw these comments, he should resign from parliament today.”

https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/mining/deputy-pm-michael-mccormack-slams-adam-bandts-comments-to-south-korea-as-treacherous/news-story/42ca81bb9f979b960f170aef9928690d

Queensland tourism fares better with COVID-19 than all other states according to latest findings

QUEENSLAND has withstood the coronavirus tourism wipe-out better than any other state according to new research to be released on Friday.

There have been fears the virus – and Queensland’s controversial border blockades – would wipe up to $15 billion from the state’s tourism coffers, but the new findings will be a welcome ray of light for the embattled industry.

The data, from Tourism Research Australia, showed Queensland tourism expenditure was down 24 per cent in August compared to the same time last year, but other states dropped up to 96 per cent.

Queenslanders also answered the call to arms from our tourism industry, with the number of Queensland holiday-makers taking a break in their own state soaring compared to the same time last year.

According to TRA data, there was a 31 per cent increase in Queenslanders taking a trip in their own state, increasing their spending by 62 per cent for the month.

The figures also take into account the ‘Super Long Weekend’ created after the cancellation of the Ekka and other Queensland shows in August as well as the extended relocation of most AFL clubs to the Sunshine State.

Tourism and Events Queensland’s “Good to Go” campaign encouraging people to take a well-earned holiday had also just launched.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who has come under frequent fire over the state’s hard line stance on borders, said the measures had allowed Queensland to return to a new normal ahead of other states.

“This is only possible because of our strong health response in Queensland,” she said. “While other states are still struggling to contain the virus, we’re rebuilding our economy.

“Coronavirus has had a huge impact on our tourism industry. “But today’s data shows we’re heading in the right direction.”

Unsurprisingly, COVID-ravaged Melbourne lost virtually all tourism revenue, while in NSW tourism expenditure was down 51 per cent.

South Australia saw a 49 per cent drop, with Tasmania (45 per cent) and WA (42) also down significantly.

Ms Palaszczuk said it was encouraging that Queenslanders had embraced the concept of exploring their own backyard in the face of international travel bans. “I asked Queenslanders to get out and explore their state. This data shows that they’ve answered the call,” she said.

“Not only are we seeing more Queenslanders out and about, they’re spending more – pumping millions of dollars into local businesses and supporting local jobs.

“Contrary to the national trend, regional Queensland had an increase of three per cent in overnight visitors in August, with total expenditure suffering significantly less than all other states and territories.

“While our tourism industry’s recovery will continue to be challenging, particularly with uncertainty around international borders, these figures show the enthusiasm Queenslanders have to explore their own state and provided much-needed support to the tourism industry.”

While parts of Queensland’s tourism industry – particularly operators in the north, have been left hanging by a thread under the weight of border blockades and other prohibitive restrictions, some regions, notably the Granite Belt and Scenic Rim, have been reporting record tourism numbers due to the huge volume of holiday-makers unable to head overseas.

“Queenslanders have heeded our ‘Good to Go’ campaign and some regions are seeing more visitors than ever before as people explore new places,” she said.

“Queensland is an internationally renowned tourism destination and we hope to convert more Queenslanders to choose holidays at home in the longer term by showcasing the broad depth of experiences on offer in the state.

“Everything from authentic Indigenous experiences, to getting up close with wildlife, connecting with nature and wide-open spaces, to experiencing Queensland’s ‘beautiful one day, perfect the next’ lifestyle, or reconnecting with friends and family at local events – there are incredible experiences on offer just a short drive or flight away.”

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-tourism-fares-better-with-covid19-than-all-other-states-according-to-latest-findings/news-story/6d83a2512fbf7985b06eba0f344cecaa

Banks not doing well

Banks have been hit from all directions and some have responded better than others to the litany of issues they are facing.

The National Australia Bank has dealt with the cards it has been handed a bit better than ANZ or Westpac. The Commonwealth Bank is, at this stage, the best in class but it has a different reporting period than the other three, so it's not as readily comparable.

That said it has been a horrible year for bank profits. ANZ, NAB and Westpac profits were down 42 per cent, 37 per cent and 62 per cent respectively in the 2020 financial year to September 30.

Each of them recorded levels of one-off provisions or remediation charges which are reflected in these outsized falls in profits. They did, at the very least, manage to reward shareholders with a payout of around 50 per cent of profit in the second half - the maximum currently allowed by the financial regulator.

Now they are caught in the dilemma of how to maintain or grow profits when their margins are under enormous pressure. In ultra low interest rate environments bank margins can get squeezed because the amount they pay depositors can only go so low. Already a large rump of deposits are receiving zero interest.

Under normal circumstances the response would be to make further inroads into their cost base.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has not only required banks to radically increase credit provisions, it has also added another layer to expenses, leaving them to swim against a strong cost tide.

The banks already had elevated costs in the wake of cleaning up the mess exposed during the Royal Commission. Dealing with the long tail of remediation has been expensive - it has required investment in people and systems along with compensating customers.

Westpac is additionally challenged by the need to get its compliance systems in order in the wake of actions taken by the financial crimes watchdog, AUSTRAC, relating to money laundering. These costs are over and above the $1.3 billion needed to settle this legal action.

The struggle with containing costs was evident to different degrees in all three profit reports.

Unfortunately keeping the cost base under control limits their ability to invest in more productive areas at a time when they desperately need to do so.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/national-australia-bank-profit-the-best-of-a-bad-bunch-20201105-p56bwo.html

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

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

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

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

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

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

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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One of the world’s largest batteries to store renewable energy is set to be built in Victoria

This is just a boondoggle. It is the size of a small power station, but, unlike a small power station, it will not be able to run indefinitely. At a claimed 300 MW/450 MWh it will discharge at full pelt only for 90 minutes. And that will decay by about 5% every year. In dollars per MWH it has to be hugely expensive

The Victorian government on Thursday announced the 300 megawatt Tesla lithium-ion battery would be installed near the Moorabool Terminal Station, just outside Geelong, and would be ready by the 2021-22 summer.

Energy, Environment and Climate Change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said it would be the largest lithium-ion battery in the southern hemisphere.

She said an independent analysis had showed the battery would deliver more than $2 in benefits to Victorian households and businesses for every $1 invested.

She said consumers would pay for the use of the battery through their power bills, but the reduction in wholesale energy prices delivered by the battery would mean Victorians paid less for power.

The battery will help reduce wholesale prices by storing renewable energy at a time when the weather makes it plentiful and at its cheapest and then discharging it into the grid when power is needed the most, such as on a 40C day.

The state government said the battery would also reserve a portion of its capacity to increase the power flow through the Victoria-New South Wales Interconnector by up to 250 megawatts to help reduce the chances of unscheduled power outages in peak summer months.

Global renewable energy company Neoen will pay for the construction of the battery and for its ongoing operation and maintenance.

Construction of the battery was expected to create more than 85 jobs, the state government said.

Ms D’Ambrosio announced on Thursday she had directed the Australian Energy Market Operator to sign a contract with Neoen to deliver the new Tesla battery.

“What we want to proof against is that lack of reliability when we’re in the middle of summer, when businesses need that power to keep running and Victorians need that power at home when they crank up their air conditioners to keep cool and to keep healthy,” she said.

AusNet Services executive general manager of regulation and external affairs, Alistair Parker, said it was a “terrific idea”. AusNet will be responsible for connecting the battery into the electricity transmission network that they own and operate.

“The particularly smart feature of this battery is the way it enables more capacity around the network day in, day out,” he said.

Ms D’Ambrosio said the service was an 11-year contract worth $84 million, and the Victorian battery would be double the size of the one already installed at Hornsdale wind farm in South Australia.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/victorian-government-reveals-plan-to-store-renewable-energy/news-story/88ec01f577926878950d9d68e14fe17f

NSW Education Department: 2394 teachers leave, 321 sacked for abandoning students

A record number of dud teachers have finally been put out to pasture this year following a Department of Education review into its human resources practices.

A total of 321 teachers have been terminated so far this year after the “Workforce Transition team” undertook a review of staff who had effectively deserted their positions.

“This review resulted in a large number of staff being deemed as having abandoned their employment and were terminated as a result,” a note accompanying the data said.

By comparison, last year only 10 teachers were terminated by the Department of Education.

Parent groups welcomed the surge in sackings of teachers who were in a kind of education purgatory -- no longer teaching in classrooms nor officially fired-- saying it will free up space for enthusiastic young teachers to secure a permanent job.

This year a total of 2394 teachers left the job including those who were terminated, along with 850 public school teachers who resigned so far this year, 1,152 who retired, 44 who were medically retired and 26 who died while still employed as a teacher.

NSW P and C Federation president Tim Spencer said the highly unionised workforce meant it was difficult to get rid of dud teachers and welcomed the push which would clear the decks and give young enthusiastic teachers the opportunity to get a permanent job.

“It is challenging for a principal to deal with staff who either just don’t turn up to work or go on prolonged stress leave, they have to replace them with casuals,” he said.

“(There) has to be a reasonable and rational discussion as to why that person is not performing their role just like it would be in any other workplace and dealing with it appropriately.”

Central Coast P and C president Sharryn Brownlee said the move could save thousands for the Education Department if the teachers had been still getting paid while on leave, at the same time principals had to pay another casual teacher to take their classes.

“It is long overdue… dragging things out for long periods of time is stressful for the individual and the school,” she said.

Secondary Principals’ Council president Craig Petersen said some teachers simply would never return from annual leave and the Department of Education had no mechanism to fire them. “These are people we haven’t seen for months and terms and in extreme cases, years,” he said.

A Department spokesman said they wrote to the teachers seeking explanation for their unauthorised absence this year. “The teachers who did not respond, or did not provide a valid reason for their absence, were terminated,” he said.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the Department had done a great job reviewing unauthorised absences. “Freeing these positions allows our principals to fill permanent roles with high quality teachers,” she said.

Shadow Education spokeswoman Prue Car said more needed to be done to keep good teachers in schools following the resignation of 850 teachers this year. “It’s concerning there is no proper plan to keep our best and brightest teachers in our schools,” Ms Car said.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/nsw-education-department-2394-teachers-leave-321-sacked-for-abandoning-students/news-story/0853782fc20729c2f72ded4c8d4a4001

Revealed: The new values statement immigrants have to sign before they are granted any Australian visa - and it sends an important message to non-English speakers

Immigrants applying for permanent, provisional or temporary visas now have to sign an updated Australian Values Statement before being allowed into the country.

The Australian Values Statement was first introduced in 2007 but has not been substantially updated until October 30, when the new statement came into effect.

Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge said the new statement has 'a greater focus on values like freedom, respect, equality and the rule of law'.

Immigrants must now read a 'Life in Australia' booklet available in 41 languages to educate themselves on Australian history, culture and society.

After completing the required reading, immigrants can then sign the Australian Values Statement.

The Values Statement itself requires immigrants to confirm they have read or had explained the provided materials and that they understand Australian society values.

All immigrants must accept respect freedom in all forms, commitment to the rule of law, parliamentary democracy, equality of opportunity for all people, a 'fair go' for all and the English language as the national language as part of the statement.

Permanent visa applicants sign the same statement with two additional pledges.

They must make reasonable efforts to learn English if it is not their native language and an understanding they will need to pledge their loyalty to Australia if they become an Australian citizen in the future.

​The declaration that Australian citizenship applicants sign as part of their application has also been updated to mirror the wording of the Australian Values Statement.

Mr Tudge said: 'The updated statement better reflects the importance we place on these values.

'There will now be one statement for both temporary and permanent visa applicants that confirms they understand and will conduct themselves in line with our values and our laws.

'Those who want to settle in Australia permanently will also commit to make reasonable efforts to learn English, so they can fully participate in the community and have the best possible chance to get a job.

'There is no new test or threshold associated with this change.'

The changes are part of the Morrison Government’s $62.8 million investment in creating social cohesion, which builds on the $71 million social cohesion package announced in March 2019.

A new Australian Citizenship Test​ with a stronger focus on Australian values will also come into effect on November 15.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8915225/Immigrants-pass-new-values-test-given-Australian-visa.html

Adani mine to rebrand to Bravus Mining & Resources

MEGA miner Adani will change the name of its Australian mining operations as part of a major rebranding exercise, but the company insists it’s not because of relentless protesting.

Adani Mining, which is delivering the contentious Carmichael Coal Mine in the Galilee Basin, will today announce it is changing its name to Bravus Mining & Resources.

It comes as the miner marks its 10-year anniversary of operations in Australia.

Bravus Mining & Resources CEO David Boshoff said the name change was not motivated by protesting but rather the company felt it was the right time as the mine progressed into its operational stage.

“We feel if we were motivated by protesters … the height of that was in 2019, we are on track to deliver coal by 2021 and we feel nothing stands between us and that,” he said.

“Certainly if we were motivated by the protesters it would have made sense to do that 12 to 18 months ago.”

Mr Boshoff said “bravus” to the company meant “courage” in Latin. “We believe it took a lot of courage for us to where we are,” he said. “Our 10 years in Australia has been a journey that has tested the resilience, skills and determination of our people and has confirmed the depth of our commitment to regional Queensland.

“We have made a significant investment in Queensland and we will be here for the long haul employing local people and doing business in Australia.”

The CEO said Bravus was an Australian company, operating under Australian laws and would pay taxes and royalties.

He would not say how much the rebranding was costing but said the transition would take place over coming months.

While the company’s mining and resources operations will undergo a name change, Adani’s other operations across Australia will remain the same.

Adani was granted approvals for its scaled-back $2 billion mine by the State Government in June last year.

More than 1,500 people are currently employed on the mine and rail project and more than $1.5 billion worth of contracts have been awarded.

Mr Boshoff said 88 per cent of that work was being conducted in Queensland.

“The Stop Adani movement has tried unsuccessfully to prevent our business from operating in Australia, but the fact is there is ongoing demand for thermal coal in Asia and India,” he said.

“We have already secured the market for the 10 million tonnes per annum of coal produced at the Carmichael Mine, which is focused on India and Asia.”

Mr Boshoff said the coal market was predicted to recover from COVID-19 lockdowns next year.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/business/adani-mine-to-rebrand-to-bravus-mining-resources/news-story/4d89858bd820114484e5981557c2ace8

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

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

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

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

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

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

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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Coopers Gap Windfarm hit by major problems due to turbine damage and generator replacements

A South Burnett Times investigation has uncovered multimillion-dollar issues at Australia’s largest wind farm project, including the need to repair almost half of the Coopers Gap project

IT‘S billed as one of Australia’s biggest renewable projects, but the South Burnett Times can reveal just six months since the installation of the final turbine, operators are already working to replace critical components in nearly half of the major windfarm’s generators.

Coopers Gap Windfarm, a nearly $1 billion investment in future energy security, was completed just months ago, but already major issues have appeared.

In April, the final blade was installed on the last of the 123 wind turbines at the Darling Downs site, 50km from Kingaroy, which is estimated to have cost $850 million to develop.

But an anonymous source has revealed to NewsCorp that the commissioning process in recent months uncovered multimillion-dollar mechanical issues that have forced operator AGL and construction partners GE CATCON to begin major overhaul works – including replacing an entire turbine.

An AGL spokeswoman confirmed to the South Burnett Times major faults were found by General Electric during testing. “During the commissioning process, rigorous tests were carried out to ensure the long-term operational capability and reliability of each component,” the spokeswoman said.

“However, recent testing by GE has identified that one of their wind turbines will need to be replaced. An exclusion zone has been erected around the turbine to ensure safety.”

The Times was told by the well-placed source that one of the turbine‘s blades – the largest ever transported in Australia, measuring 67m long and weighing 22 tonnes – may be at risk of becoming separated from the turbine.

The source also said “about 50” generators needed to be replaced and there were major component issues just months after the wind farm finished construction.

Both GE and AGL refused to confirm or deny the claim about the turbine blade when contacted, however GE did confirm 53 generators will need to be replaced, due to a single component which the multinational corporation believed could impact the generators’ long-term reliability.

The generators are situated at the base of the site’s turbines – one per turbine – with the remaining 70 generators not requiring the same work to be completed.

“To ensure reliability over the longer term, we are also proactively replacing a component in some of the turbines,” a GE spokesman said. “We have already commenced planning for a repair program conducted in phases to minimise disruption.”

When questioned as to what had occurred that required an entire turbine to be replaced rather than simply repaired, GE did not directly address the question – with the spokesman issuing a statement that mirrored AGL’s own response.

“During GE’s routine inspection and testing, it was identified that one of the turbines will need to be replaced,” he said. “This turbine has been taken out of service while the Coopers Gap project continues to remain operational.”

The South Burnett Times understands engineers are working to determine what caused the serious issue discovered during testing – however the nature of this issue remains unclear.

The Times has been told the 400m exclusion zone around the turbine is standard practice and there is no “imminent risk” of an accident at the site. As the public cannot access the wind farm site where the turbine is located, there is no risk to the public.

Neither AGL nor GE responded to questions regarding the time frame or cost of these major repairs.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/major-failures-half-of-coopers-gap-windfarm-to-be-repaired/news-story/5f107f9fa59360a8e895eca235decd8e

Intelligence Committee to focus on higher education and research sector security

This is about China

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has received a letter from the Minister for Home Affairs agreeing to its suggested Terms of Reference for an inquiry into National Security Risks affecting the Australian higher education and research sector with a requested reporting date of July 2021.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (the Committee) will inquire into and report on national security risks affecting the Australian higher education and research sector.

In considering national security risks to the Sector the Committee specifically seeks information on:

A. The prevalence, characteristics and significance of foreign interference, undisclosed foreign influence, data theft and espionage, and associated risks to Australia’s national security;

B. The Sector’s awareness of foreign interference, undisclosed foreign influence, data theft and espionage, and its capacity to identify and respond to these threats;

C. The adequacy and effectiveness of Australian Government policies and programs in identifying and responding to foreign interference, undisclosed foreign influence, data theft and espionage in the Sector;

D. Responses to this issue in other countries and their relevance to the Australian situation; and

E. Any other related matter.

A full terms of reference are available online here

The Chair, Mr Andrew Hastie MP, said “We are going to examine the question of foreign interference in the Australian higher education and research sector. The Committee will engage with a wide variety of stakeholders in this sector as well as appropriate national security agencies.”

https://www.miragenews.com/intelligence-committee-to-focus-on-higher-education-and-research-sector-security/

Australian exporters to China face $6 billion 'D-Day'

It's utterly stupid to antagonize China

Australian exporters to China are facing a $6 billion cliff after unconfirmed instructions from Chinese customs authorities threatened to ban Australian wine, copper, barley, coal, sugar, timber and lobster from Friday.

The notice, distributed by a customs clearance agent on Tuesday, has not been confirmed by the Chinese government, but its publication was enough to send shares in ASX-listed copper miner Sandfire Resources falling by 8 per cent.

Some Australian wine exporters have been notified by Chinese importers that Australian wine will not be cleared through Chinese customs from this Friday onwards. Australia exports $1.2 billion of wine to China each year.

Tony Battaglene, chief executive of wine industry group Australian Grape and Wine, said the message was going right across the industry to exporters of all sizes.

"There’s a very consistent message coming out, which is that Friday is D-day, and it’s not just about wine it’s about a whole lot of products," he said.

“The message that we’re hearing is that as of Friday product will not be cleared through customs. So any product arriving before will be okay, but if it arrives after Friday then you won’t be cleared, and essentially the border will be stopped."

The November 6 deadline, if enforced, will be a major escalation in Australia's trade dispute with China. More than 20 tonnes of live lobster, feared dead, are still stuck on the tarmac in airplanes at Shanghai Pudong airport, where they have been since Friday undergoing tests for elevated metal levels.

Victorian Rock Lobster Association president Markus Nolle said rock lobster fishing businesses were watching nervously for the latest developments in China. Up to 95 per cent of lobsters from Victoria are sent to China.

“People have just come out of a pretty bad time with the COVID restrictions going back to January,” he said. “It hasn’t been a good year. If they don’t have enough certainty to go fishing they’ll have to tie up the boat and do something else to generate an income.”

Queensland timber logs have also been banned after tree-destroying bark beetles were allegedly found in a shipment along with barley from Emerald Grain Australia. The claims have been strongly denied by Australian exporters.

The trade dispute followed Australia's push for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus in April but has continued to intensify after Beijing imposed new national security laws on Hong Kong and advanced its territorial claims on the South China Sea.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has denied it is ratcheting up economic pressure to win diplomatic concessions.

Australian trade officials were on Tuesday afternoon examining the authenticity of the instructions relayed in the customs notice, as concerns grow it may be self-fulfilling and encourage importers to diversify away from Australian products.

Senator Birmingham said on Tuesday the numerous reports of difficulties that different Australian exports are facing on entry into China are of concern.

"Whilst we shouldn’t jump to conclusions, we are working closely with the various industries who have been the subject of these reports," he said.

Senator Birmingham has urged Australian companies dependent on China to broaden their markets to account for "unpredictable administrative decisions that have been made at the Chinese end". He has threatened to take China to the World Trade Organisation over the infringements.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/australian-exporters-to-china-face-6-billion-d-day-20201103-p56b31.html

Premier’s about-face on euthanasia is pure politics

There is only one word needed to explain why a risk-averse Premier like Annastacia Palaszczuk would bring voluntary assisted dying into the election fray just a few weeks out from polling day – Currumbin.

Instead of waiting for the Law Reform Commission to bring down its report into euthanasia in March next year, a re-elected Palaszczuk Government will fast-track laws to the February sitting of parliament.

Here’s the politics. Former Liberal Cabinet Minister Jann Stuckey’s husband, Richard, a doctor, is running as an independent in his wife’s former seat of Currumbin.

Dr Stuckey has said he will preference the Labor Party before the LNP – even though his wife was a former LNP Cabinet Minister – because it has a clear and concise policy around Voluntary Assisted Dying, which he supports. That policy position was made clear by the Premier at the Labor launch.

There is a belief within Labor circles that candidate, Kaylee Campradt, can upset Ms Gerber off the back of Dr Stuckey’s preferences.

But not everybody in the Labor Party is happy with Ms Palaszczuk’s backflip on her commitment to the churches that she wouldn’t bring forward the legislation until the Law Reform Commission had brought down its report.

NSW Upper House MP Greg Donnelly, who has been in Parliament for 15 years, posted online on Friday that Ms Palaszczuk’s decision to bring VAD into the election campaign was “utterly reprehensible’’.

“Deliberations over proposed laws to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia for legislators are as serious as it gets ,’’ he said. “Using such issues to try to secure some base political advantage should be beyond the pale.’’

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-premiers-aboutface-on-euthanasia-is-pure-politics/news-story/e7fd29b250edc3b024648fc810114abe

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

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

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

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

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

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

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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The Australian economy will lose more than $3 trillion over the next 50 years if climate change is not addressed, according to a new report from Deloitte Access Economics

Absurd. How can anybody predict what will happen in 50 years' time? There will always be unpredicted events like the coronavirus to throw all predictions into a cocked hat.

What, for instance, would the eventual arrival of practical thermonuclear fusion bring about? Would limitless energy requiring only water as a feedstock make a difference?

Report author Pradeep Philip, who was a policy director for former prime minister Kevin Rudd, said there was also a lot to be gained if warming was kept below 1.5 degrees and Australia achieved net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

"If we do act over the next few years then in just 50 years there is a benefit to the economy of $680 billion," he said.

"We'll have an economy 2.6 per cent bigger, generating 250,000 jobs, so this tells us if you are pro-growth and pro-jobs then we need to act on climate change now.

"We know that there are new sectors around renewables, hydrogen, electric vehicles that can be created."

Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia will feel the effects most acutely, with trade, tourism and mining some of the industries most exposed to the effects of climate change.

"As things get hotter because the planet warms up, it makes it really difficult for those labour-intensive industries to work," Dr Philip said.

"If you work outside, in construction, higher average temperatures make it quite unbearable to work, so we get a loss of productivity, we get adverse health affects, and this translates across the board into retail, manufacturing, transport and mining.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-02/australian-economy-lose-$3-trillion-climate-change-inaction/12837244

Hawaii and bushfires fade as halo effect shines on Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison’s political domin­ance is such that it’s hard to conjure up circumstances that would see him lose the next election. Morrison may have been the underdog at the last election, but he’s the firm favourite at the next. Every advantage is his. Prime ministers choose the timing of federal elections, which only adds to his chances of winning, by picking the exact moment in the electoral cycle to force Labor to the polls.

The summer of 2019-20 feels like a lifetime ago now. Morrison was under pressure, having returne­d from Hawaii, caught out for trying to secretly holiday while Australia burned. On his return he struck all the wrong chords when confronted about his failure.

The Morrison of today doesn’t make those mistakes. The ups and downs of managing the pandemic have hardened him politically, but softened him in the eyes of many Australians.

The PM’s critics sometimes find that hard to accept, because all they see is the rat cunning, which to be sure is still there. There is a hint of the left’s response­ to Howard in the way Morrison’s critics spitefully hiss at him. It can leave swinging voters who aren’t enamoured with Morrison­ defending him against the worst of insults they feel are over-the-top, just as swinging ­voters did with Howard.

Australians are appreciative for where the country is at versus how other nations are struggling through COVID, and they largely give Morrison the credit for that.

Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party aren’t that many seats short of the elusive majority, but the issues aren’t running their way. Not even close. In the post-pandemic world, incumbency advantag­e is high, as long as those in power haven’t mishandled the virus. Donald Trump is the example of what happens to a leader when they do mismanage something so important.

The Coalition government certainly hasn’t failed when it comes to COVID-19, and even the few pockets of failure along the way have been glazed over in the name of applauding the wider successes Australia has enjoyed. Because it has been a global pandemic, ­comparisons with other nations are easy. Whether it’s minimising the health impacts or evading the worst of the economic downturn, compared with neighbours near and far, Australia looks pretty good.

Morrison — the master of shifting blame or absolving himself of responsibility — has been able to do exactly that each time question marks have arise about mismanagement. We almost waited too long before shutting the border to the US. The disembark­ation of the Ruby Princess was found to be a failure of the NSW Health Department. The problems in the aged-care sector in Victoria only grew because of the second wave, which became the state Labor gov­ernment’s responsibility, courtesy of its mishandling of hotel quarantining and poor contact tracing procedures.

There is little doubt aged-care problems are the closest Morrison has been to coming unstuck in this pandemic. Even then, if the problem had grown out of control, he could have cut the minister, Richard Colbeck, loose — just as he did with Bridget McKenzie when the sports rorts scandal was gaining traction.

Federal Labor is talking of “the Morrison-Frydenberg recession”, but nobody is seriously­ buying into that. Not when the recession is global in scale. To the extent that the surplu­s target was both unnecessary and perhaps even unachievable in the wake of the bushfires, COVID-19 almost instantly insul­ated the Coalition from criticism, including for its “back in black” gloating before it had even been delivered.

Labor would have been pilloried for the size and breadth of spending on schemes such as JobKeeper and JobSeeker had it delivered­ them. The conservative side of politics being so bold, in contrast, was applauded. Even the decision to wind back the payments­, while difficult for some, can be seen through the prism of encouraging people back into work and attempting a return to normality.

The bushfires saw an alarmingly quick decline in Morrison’s personal support, however, those days are over. Just like state leaders right around the country, including­ Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, the PM’s personal numbers are significantly higher than the Opposition Leader he squares off against, and his satisfaction rating is sky-high.

Criticisms of potential lost ­opportunities when it comes to reform­ in the aftermath of a crisis, while valid, will not resonate among mainstream voters. This is Morrison’s heartland, and he is savvy enough to know how to feed it red meat when he needs to. A hint of nationalism when rebuffing British PM Boris Johnson for having the temerity to suggest Australia needs to adopt zero emissions targets. A sprinkle of hope that a further lowering of taxes to help with the cost of living is just over the horizon.

The PM also knows how to instil­ fear into these voters. Don’t risk a return to Labor, he says, lest it makes a bad situation worse. This is followed up by a positive message: trust the Coalition to steer the country the rest of the way out of this pandemic. Let us finish what we started.

Labor knows it is facing an uphill­ task to be competitive at the next election, much less win it. Alread­y we are seeing signs of turf wars over unity and individual survivalism over collective hope of victory. Albanese will battle this all the way up until polling day.

Team Morrison is also well served by its campaign unit. At last year’s election, new Liberal Party federal director Andrew Hirst may have been the difference ­between victory and defeat, with his deployment of ground-game tactics and a cut-through advertising campaign targeting Bill Shorten. He is already planning his line of attack for Albanese, not to mention alternative leaders in Labor’s caucus should change happen on the eve of the election.

The one-time novice director will go into the next campaign more seasoned but still hungry for further success. Unlike in years past, the Coalition is now every bit as good as Labor at online campaigning and fundraising.

Context is everything when it comes to the next election, and the Coalition will fight that campaign having successfully steered Austra­lia through the COVID recession­ and out the other side of the pandemic. Labor could have benefited from a similar halo effect­ at the 2010 election, having survived the global financial crisis, had it not been for the fact that it removed the leader who did that just months before polling day.

There is no chance of Morrison suffering the same fate.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/hawaii-and-bushfires-fade-as-halo-effect-shines-on-scott-morrison/news-story/2602a0d1ecc0c1485ad4d7f0a276d5d7

Merino Sisters commercial promoting Aussie wool in China goes viral reaching 230 million

The revival of the Aussie wool trade is falling on three sheep in a funny commercial for a Chinese audience that’s reached more than 230 million people.

The advertisement – in an attempt to make wool popular in China – has been viewed almost 10 million times and has had more than 230 million impressions.

The marketing campaign explains the benefits of wool to a Chinese audience with Chinese celebrity Loura Lou interviewing three Merino sheep.

Funded by the Australian Wool Innovation’s The Woolmark Company, the Merino Sisters campaign is aimed at making “prestigious Merino wool” popular in China in an attempt to increase exports of the Aussie fibre.

The campaign featured on China’s huge online shopping platform, Tmall, and has generated more than 230 million impressions and 9.9 million video views.

The teaser post by Loura Lou ranked up two million views in less than 24 hours on Weibo.

“I’ve met the rich and famous and I’m never impressed … but the Merinos?” Ms Lou says in the video before she talks to the sheep.

AWI made the call back in March at the height of the coronavirus pandemic to pull out a global campaign as exports of the fibre dropped.

Exports of Aussie wool has dropped to about 2 to 3 per cent in India and Italy, which was previously taking about 5 per cent of the export.

However, China takes about 80 per cent of our Aussie wool.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/merino-sisters-commercial-promoting-aussie-wool-in-china-goes-viral-reaching-230-million/news-story/e20bcc150de59934254ebe541317c803

Coronavirus: Climate change effects not stopped by pandemic?

The harshest impacts of climate change are still devastating the world's environments despite the coronavirus pandemic bringing the world to a halt in 2020, a UN report says.

South Korean policymaker Soyoung Lee, an MP with the ruling Democratic party, said: “Korea’s 2050 net-zero announcement will encourage other countries which are still deliberating over a 2050 target year, especially considering that Korea is still heavily reliant on the manufacturing industry and other high-carbon industries.”

This week the world’s fifth-largest emitter, Japan, pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, following China’s commitment to hit carbon neutrality by 2060.

The European Union, which has also set a net-zero emissions target by 2050, has proposed a carbon border tax that could see high-emissions exports hit with an import levy.

The EU's Foreign Affairs chief Josep Borrell on Friday said China's "announcement could be a tipping point in the global fight against climate change."

"The simple fact that China acknowledges the dramatic threat of climate change and that we need more action is of paramount importance," he said.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-defies-international-pressure-to-set-emissions-targets-20201028-p569ed.html

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

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

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

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

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

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

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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Many Aborigines are their own worst enemy

A case in point. He paid the ultimate price for his foolishness.

If you want the police to be civil to you, you have to be civil and co-operative with them. And running away is the extreme of non co-operation

The police have an important job to do and we must expect them to do what it takes. And in this case they clearly followed their rules

Dwayne Johnstone was handcuffed, shackled and running away when he was shot in the back and killed by a corrections officer outside Lismore Base Hospital, an inquest has heard.

State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan will take submissions on Wednesday on whether the threshold has been met for her to refer the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The inquest into Mr Johnstone's 2019 death, which began on Tuesday at Lismore Court House, heard the 43-year-old Aboriginal man had been taken to hospital while on remand after suffering an epileptic seizure in the cells of Lismore Court House, where he'd been denied bail on assault charges.

Counsel assisting the inquest, Peggy Dwyer, said Mr Johnstone had a history of drug addiction and involvement in the criminal justice system – mostly over property theft, minor assaults and possession or trafficking of drugs. He had twice been convicted of escaping lawful custody.

Because of his history of escape, Ms Dwyer said he was classified E1, meaning "an inmate in those circumstances was to be handcuffed and ankle cuffed and treated as high risk at all times".

Ms Dwyer told the inquest Mr Johnstone, described as "a much-loved partner, son and stepson", had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and had been sexually abused as a child by the principal of his primary school, and again at the Burnside boys home.

A nurse who treated Mr Johnstone at the hospital described him as "compliant" and "appreciative of hospital care", Ms Dwyer told the court.

But as he was escorted back to the van on March 15, 2019 by two corrections officers – one of whom was armed with a revolver – he "elbowed" the unarmed officer who had a grip of his pants, throwing him off balance, and started running. The officers cannot be named for legal reasons.

Ms Dwyer said the inquest would hear multiple accounts, including from the corrections officers, that Mr Johnstone was moving fast despite being shackled and handcuffed.

The officer carrying a revolver told police in an interview that he called out "stop, stop, or I'll shoot" before firing a warning shot into the bushes, Ms Dwyer said. Mr Johnstone kept running, so he said "f---ing stop" and fired again.

The officer told police he aimed a second shot "in Dwayne's direction but not at him". When he still didn't stop, the officer aimed a third shot "at the centre of mass". The bullet entered the middle of Mr Johnstone's back and went through his aorta, liver, and diaphragm, Ms Dwyer said.

The officer who fired the shots told police he was surprised at how fast Mr Johnstone could run, and didn't think he or the second officer would be able to catch him.

But Ms Dwyer said the second officer told police his partner had told him to "get out of the road", and asked if he thought he could have caught up, he said he "didn't know" and hadn't been given the chance.

Ms Dwyer told the inquest that armed corrections officers carry guns but unlike police, are not equipped with non-lethal weapons, such as Tasers, extendable batons, or capsicum spray.

She said corrections officers may legally discharge firearms in a number of circumstances, including "to prevent the escape of an inmate" – with a number of provisos, including that a warning must be given and there cannot be reasonable grounds to believe the shot could hit another person.

However, she said the use of force must be the "option of last resort" and officers "may use no more force than is reasonably necessary in the circumstances".

Ms O'Sullivan said the question of whether the threshold for the matter to be referred for criminal prosecution had been met "is certainly a live issue".

She adjourned the inquest until Wednesday, when she will hear submissions from the parties before making a decision as to whether to continue or have the matter referred to the DPP.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/dwayne-was-fatally-shot-in-the-back-while-running-away-inquest-hears-20201027-p568xk.html

TV star-turned Perth Lord Mayor, Basil Zempilas, has been condemned for his 'insensitive' opinions about transgender people

The breakfast host, 49, who was elected in mid-October, told listeners of his radio show on Wednesday that it was 'wrong' for a person to identify as a gender that was not the same as their physical anatomy.

'If you've got a penis mate, you're a bloke. If you've got a vagina, you're a woman. Game over,' he said.

Mr Zempilas, a former Weekend Sunrise host, was encouraged to undergo transgender awareness training to assist in his role serving the broader community.

Hunter Gurevich, who chairs TransFolk WA, described the comments as unacceptable and 'repugnant'.

'These comments are repugnant, bigoted, narrow minded, parochial and fundamentally deny contemporary science,' he said. 'Further, it puts LGBTQIA+ people at increased risk of harm, when we are already a vulnerable group in society.

'It is especially disappointing when The City of Perth has long supported the LGBTQIA+ community of Perth. 'For Mr Zempilas to now betray not only the community, but our relationship with the city, is beyond inexcusable.'

Curtis Ward, from Pride WA, suggested Mr Zempilas hadn't quite grasped the difference between sex and gender. 'It is possible to appear one way and feel another and when someone says they're transgender, they are simply saying they feel differently to how they appear,' he said.

'[That is] sex being your physical appearance and your biology whereas gender is how you identify psychologically, whether you're feminine or masculine.'

Mr Ward said Zempilas' comments only fueled stigma surrounding the LGBTQIA community and perpetuated misinformed, hurtful and damaging opinions.

'I think people need to be educating themselves about what they're speaking about and if they do have that stage, and they are commanding such a large audience, they should be making educated statements,' he said.

During the segment, Mr Zempilas encouraged 'any women with a penis' to ring the radio station to win a $100 voucher.

Mr Zempilas told Out In Perth he would apologise if his comments had caused offence, and insisted that was not his intention.

But Mr Gurevich already said it would be difficult for members of the community to accept the apology. 'No apology will be accepted until Mr Zempilas confronts the damage his comments can and have done,' he said.

He will quit his presenting role on the radio show at the end of the year after stepping into the role of Lord Mayor.

The latest controversy came after he wrote in a column piece in August that he would 'forcibly' remove homeless people from the city centre if he was elected. 'I make no apologies for this, the homeless need to be moved out of the Hay and Murray Street malls and the surrounding areas,' he wrote.

'Forcibly, if that's what it takes. I'm sick of being told by people who don't live and work in the city like I do that it's not that bad — actually, it's worse. 'The look, the smell, the language, the fights — it's disgusting. A blight on our city.'

Mr Zempilas was forced to apologise after copping widespread backlash over the comments, with critics accusing him of being 'disconnected from the city'.

'Those comments were made in frustration over nine months ago after an incident with my wife and my six year old daughter and a man exposing himself at 11am on a Sunday,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'But the comments weren't appropriate and I have apologised.

'I've spent a good deal of the last six months educating myself by speaking with people who are homeless, trying to understand their situation better and by speaking with service providers. '

Mr Zempilas is a famous face in West Australia, and in March 2018, he was co-host of Weekend Sunrise, replacing Andrew O'Keefe. In September 2019, he stepped down as regular host of Weekend Sunrise, however continued to appear as a fill-in presenter.

The TV star is has been married to longtime partner Amy Graham since 2009, with the pair tying the knot in Greece. They share two daughters and a son.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8888957/Newly-elected-Perth-mayor-Basil-Zempilas-slammed-LGBT-groups-insensitive-comments.html

‘Hermit nation’: World’s astonishment at Australia’s response to COVID-19

The world is flabbergasted by our response to COVID-19, but one major newspaper reckons strict rules have turned us into a “hermit nation”.

Articles published internationally over the weekend highlighted our monumental success, reporting that Saturday was the first day of no community transmission cases of virus in 145 days.

The New York Times ran a piece saying Australians now embrace the isolation they tried to escape for so long, but that our rules are so strict they’ve essentially turned us into a “hermit nation”.

The author wrote that our rules were so strict they “seem like something out of China or North Korea”.

“The virus has turned this outgoing nation into a hermit. Australia’s borders are closed, internationally and between several states.” the author wrote.

“Rather than chafing against isolation, though, Australians these days are more willing to smile in the mirror. Island living looks like a privilege when the world is pestilent. “

American current events opinion website Business Insider said we had an advantage over most countries from the start.

“It’s an island with relatively low population density,” they wrote. “But its rules were still far stricter than in many other countries.”

With Victoria reporting another day of zero cases on Sunday, it appears the state is on track to easing restrictions this coming weekend.

More rules are set to be scrapped on November 8, including the 25km travel radius for Melburnians, and now it has been revealed that even more restrictions could be eased than previously thought.

Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said on Sunday that some of the rules around gatherings could also be changed on November 8.

“We can always make consideration of what the caps might be in certain settings, what the density quotients might be and some of the specific industries that might come on board in terms of being able to operate,” he said.

Australia’s success comes amid sharp rises across the rest of the globe.

The US reported 99,321 new Covid-19 cases today – the highest single day number of cases recorded for any country to date. It marks an alarming jump of almost 11,000 more cases compared to yesterday.

Meanwhile the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a national lockdown after passing one million coronavirus cases, and France is recording around 50,000 new cases daily.

https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/australia/coronavirus-hermit-nation-worlds-astonishment-at-australia/news-story/1f4b4b491a3d4f2c3c75833ad6347403

Conservative Daisy Cousens on social media trolls, Q+A and a Trump win



Less than four years ago, Daisy Cousens was firmly embedded in the performance arts community. As the daughter of music theatre royalty Peter Cousens and film and television actor Suzanne Roylance, it was only natural that her friendship circle comprised theatre thespians.

But then came a huge falling out, and long-time friends disappeared overnight. Her crime? During a highly-publicised appearance on the ABC panel program Q+A in February 2017, for which she was heavily trolled afterwards, Cousens revealed she was a staunch conservative.

“I was so terrified of how my friends would react,” she tells Stellar.

“I didn’t tell any of them that I was going on the show because I knew they were massively left wing – and not informed left wing, either. They’re the type of people who read a two-line headline from The New York Times, and make an opinion based on that and think everyone who disagrees with them is a hateful bigot.”

The subsequent backlash stung. “I don’t really care about what people I don’t know say about me online, but I really care about friends who will just completely delete you from their universe if you say something they disagree with politically.”

Whatever the appearance on Q+A may have cost her personally, it gave back tenfold professionally. In the years prior, Cousens had been feeling directionless. She had left university with “a bunch of ultimately useless arts degrees” and after discovering there was limited work available in the industry, she went back to school to get her masters in creative writing..

That led to a writing position with an online women’s magazine and her spot on Q+A, which, in turn, led to a several television appearances, a successful YouTube channel that now has almost 200K subscribers and, ultimately, her current role as a Sky News contributor.

“I’d aligned my whole sense of self from [when I was] a little kid to being a musical theatre performer and a singer, and I had to let that go,” Cousens says. “Also, my fiancé and I wouldn’t have met had I kept doing the theatre route.”

She met her partner, Calum Thwaites, at a book launch in Sydney in early 2017. Since he lived in Brisbane, and Cousens in Sydney, they dated for 10 months by long distance. “I figured that doing long distance would get easier because we’d get into a routine, but actually it gets harder as you get more attached,” Cousens says.

Given the nature of her work, it was easier for her to make the move interstate to join him in Brisbane. “I count my lucky stars every day,” she says. “We try to keep politics separate from our day-to-day life. Sometimes he’ll change my opinion, sometimes I’ll change his. What’s great is that it never gets personal.”

The same can’t be said for the comments online. “Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. You have to not care what other people say or think about you, particularly anonymous people on Twitter,” she tells Stellar. “I mean, who really cares if XYZ Bot with two followers said Daisy Cousens is a racist Nazi white supremacist?”

Cousens may dress in uber-feminine clothing (“I’ve always been really, really girly”) but that doesn’t mean she’s in any way a shrinking violet.

She admits to poking the proverbial bear – like the time she said, “I called myself a feminist before I started, you know, thinking”, or the time she pointed out there were reports stating that “people on the right are on average better-looking than those on the left”.

And while she admits that politics is particularly “grubby” at the moment, that hasn’t deterred her from getting into the boxing ring.

“I’m hoping for Trump to win,” she says of the upcoming US elections. “I have faith he can, and I picked his victory last time. But I’m not betting on any horse just yet.”

So with her propensity to shock people, is Daisy Cousens the public persona the same as Daisy Cousens the person?

“I think the best way to describe a commentator is that it’s the same person but with the volume turned up,” she says with a laugh. “You’re a bit more theatrical and provocative. The way I am in The Bolt Report or in my YouTube videos is very me. I try to stay really true to who I am.”

https://www.couriermail.com.au/lifestyle/stellar/conservative-daisy-cousens-on-social-media-trolls-qa-and-a-trump-win/news-story/886038968222f24b83dbf2f2bce87951

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

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

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

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

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

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

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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Queensland Election: How One Nation propelled the Labor party to victory

Queensland is my home state. All four of my grandparents were born here. And I am delighted that I don't have to move elsewhere in search of a better life.

I agree with the analysis below. I am myself a One Nation voter but I too thought Leftist Premier Annastacia has been doing a great job in keeping our borders closed.

Aside from businesses in the tourist industry, life has remained pretty normal in Queensland -- while most other places were suffering heavy lockdowns. Queensland has been an oasis of civilization amid authoritarion repression elsewhere

We actually have done even better than Sweden in continuing to lead normal lives. They have had thousands of deaths while we have had hardly any

One Nation is one of two genuinely conservative minority parties. The other being KAP. KAP has it base up in the Far North where I come from. So I was delighted to see that they got 3 seats

It was a move straight out of Pauline Hanson’s playbook that helped Labor to a surprise majority government win at the election. Ironically, it came with the help of One Nation supporters.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has cruised back into office with the help of One Nation, ironically borrowing from Pauline Hanson’s parochial playbook of slamming borders shut to outsiders.

One Nation’s vote collapsed across the state, with Labor seen as a major beneficiary.

Analysts believe older One Nation voters worried about their health amid the COVID-19 pandemic turned to Labor because of Ms Palaszczuk’s tough stance on border closures to ‘keep Queenslanders safe’.

It was a domestic nod to Ms Hanson’s rise to power in the mid-1990s on a strong anti-immigration platform.

Last night, One Nation had recorded just 7 per cent of the vote statewide, down from nearly 14 per cent in 2017.

Strong swings against the party were recorded in many north and central Queensland seats including traditional strongholds such as Hervey Bay and Pumicestone, where it suffered swings of 13 per cent.

Labor legend Graham Richardson said it was no surprise that the One Nation vote moved towards the ALP. “I don’t think Palaszczuk’s ever been thrown off course, she just keeps going in the same direction,” he said. “Pauline mightn’t like it but Queenslanders obviously do.”

One Nation admitted its major focus was holding its only Queensland seat, Mirani, west of Mackay. “I think we had net zero game,’’ party spokesman James Ashby said. “The primary focus was to re-elect Stephen Andrew in Mirani.”

One Nation, whose resurgence impacted on a host of seats in the 2017 election by way of preferences, was recording a plummeting vote in seats right across the state in early counting.

Senator Hanson called for Queensland to reopen the border early in the pandemic, saying it was “destroying people’s lives’ and threatening a High Court challenge to the ‘unconstitutional’ border closure

She also urged vulnerable Australians to ‘lock yourselves away’ so the borders could reopen to provide relief for suffering tourism operators.

But Senator Hanson was largely invisible throughout the election campaign.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/state-election-2020/parties/how-one-nation-propelled-labor-to-victory/news-story/e77ccd0de807e225a530777d4c96c0eb

In the case of Peter Ridd, we’ll soon learn whether academic freedom matters

Prof. Ridd was critical of alarmist utterances about the Barrier Reef coming from his university colleagues

This week there were whoops of delight from Republicans over the appointment of conservative lawyer Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court. It will, they say, buttress democracy for decades to come. The Democrats were inconsolable, marking the rushed appointment as the end of democracy. The divide is fundamental: is it the role of America’s highest court to interpret law in humble deference to what the law says, or to change the law to suit social ­engineers who have grown ­impatient with the democratic process?

Everyone agrees on one thing: judges on the US Supreme Court can alter the country in profound ways.

By the way, two new judges were appointed to Australia’s High Court this week, although few will know their names. For the record, Simon Steward from Melbourne and Jacqueline Gleeson from Sydney, both former Federal Court judges and both in their early 50s, will serve long stints on our most influential court until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70. Steward will join the court in December, and Gleeson, the daughter of former chief justice Murray Gleeson, will take up her seat in March next year.

Both judges will be watched closely by those who understand that the High Court can fundamentally change the direction of our country, too. Eighty per cent of its cases are mundane, having little impact on the country. The other 20 cent are the Big Bang cases. Through the intersection of law, politics and values, they can cause seismic shifts throughout the country.

Will Steward and Gleeson become roaming judicial adventurers making decisions like philo­sopher kings rather than humble judges? There are no guarantees. After all, the court’s most recent appointment, and disappointment, is Justice James Edelman. Part of the recent 4-3 majority decision in Love v The Commonwealth, along with fellow justices Michelle Gordon, Geoffrey Nettle and Virginia Bell, Edelman dreamt up a legally bogus racial privilege to exclude two men from the normal application of our non-citizens laws.

Chief Justice Susan Kiefel’s scathing rebuke of the majority should be inscribed somewhere along the hallowed halls of the High Court for the newcomers.

“Implications are not devised by the judiciary,” Kiefel said, because they are “antithetical to the judicial function since they involve an appeal to the personal philosophy or preferences of judges”.

The departure of Nettle and Bell means that, without the support from the new appointees, Edelman and Gordon might be relegated to minority dissents the next time they choose to cook up propositions to suit their preferred outcomes, and pronounce them as the law of the land.

All eyes will be on the newest judges especially if the High Court decides to hear the case involving physics professor Peter Ridd. In August, Ridd lodged a 13-page ­application for special leave to ­appeal a 2018 Federal Court decision that upheld his sacking by James Cook University. On Thursday, the High Court agreed to hear oral arguments about special leave in February next year. This is interesting. The vast maj­ority of applications are rejected “on the papers” — in other words without an oral hearing.

Next, the High Court will decide if the Ridd case is sufficiently important to warrant judgment from the nation’s highest court. There is, as former High Court judge Michael Kirby once said, no point pretending that it is a logical or scientific process. In other words, it’s down to whether the court finds a matter interesting. The test is subjective, their decision unappealable.

For the punters, the raw odds are about one in 10: last year, of a total of 445 special leave applications, the court granted leave in 52 cases.

Insiders give Ridd a 50-50 chance of making it over the next hurdle. The case, after all, is not just about the “substantial injustice” of JCU’s termination of Ridd’s career, claiming he acted in an uncollegial manner in breach of the university’s vaguely drafted code of conduct when he raised questions about the quality of climate research at JCU.

If the High Court grants Ridd special leave to appeal, the court’s final determination is likely to ­reverberate across the country. Many universities have intellectual freedom clauses in their ­enterprise agreements with academics. And most universities have ambiguously drafted codes of conduct that could be used to restrict these same intellectual freedom clauses. Where does that leave academic freedom in this country?

Ridd’s case is being led by Melbourne QC Stuart Wood, while JCU has Bret Walker SC in its corner. Ridd’s claim for special leave to appeal includes a powerful observation from legal scholar Ron­ald Dworkin that “any invasion of academic freedom is not only harmful in itself, but also makes future invasions more likely”.

There is another harm to ­society. If JCU’s infringement of academic freedom is allowed to stand, it will have a chilling effect on other academics. We will never know what research escapes rigorous testing by academics who do not want to jeopardise their jobs.

The High Court is being asked to rule on the core mission of a university: is it, first and foremost, to defend academic freedom and further research, to seek the truth by challenging orthodoxies that can become dangerously inaccurate over time?

If, on the other hand, universities are allowed to sack academics in circumstances similar to Ridd, with obvious impacts for the quality of research and learning, then Australians are entitled to confirmation of this dystopian brave new world at Australian universities from our highest court.

And dystopian it certainly is. Along with making 17 findings against Ridd, two speech directions and five confidentiality directions (even prohibiting him at one stage from speaking with his wife about the matter), JCU also issued a “no satire” direction against Ridd demanding he not make fun of the disciplinary proceedings.

No satire? It’s hard not to make fun of a taxpayer-funded university that censures, then sacks, a respected professor of physics, and employee of 27 years, a man ranked in the top 5 per cent of researchers globally for raising questions about the quality of climate science research at the Great Barrier Reef.

Only this week, this report slipped under the ABC News’s ­Armageddon radar: “Researchers have found a new reef that is as tall as a skyscraper in the waters off Cape York in north Queensland.” As Ridd told Inquirer this week, “we are constantly learning new, and incredible things about the reef”.

The shoddy, disproportionate treatment of the physics professor by JCU has become the centrifugal force to better protect academic freedom at universities, not just via the courts, but by parliament too.

Ridd’s sacking led Education Minister Dan Tehan to initiate a review into free speech and academic freedom at Australian universities in 2019 by Robert French. Nothing had been done prior to Tehan taking the portfolio. This week, Tehan tabled the Higher Education Support Amendment (Freedom of Speech) Bill 2020, which gives effect to legislative changes suggested by the former chief justice. The bill requires that universities commit to “academic freedom” — as defined by French — in return for getting registration, and taxpayer funds.

These are indeed interesting times for academic freedom, with a review under way by Professor Sally Walker into the implementation by universities of the model code on academic freedom also recommended by French.

The model code is intended to operate as an umbrella-like standard to fall over all university policies, codes, pronouncements, etc. If a particular enterprise agreement has a broader definition of academic freedom, that is great for academics at that university. If an EA offers less protection than French’s model code, then that model code will lift the standard of academic freedom protections. That will be a terrific boost for academic freedom across the country because, as experts who have trawled through EAs of Australian universities told Inquirer this week, none of the EAs offer more protection than French’s model code.

When Walker’s review is completed late next month, we will discover which vice-chancellors have dragged the chain, more cowardly corporatist controllers than defenders of robust intellectual excellence.

Their incalcitrant approach to academic freedom should firm up the minister’s resolve to stop the rot. Tehan’s next move might be to legislate that every university implement the full French model code as a requirement of university registration. Even if not legislated, the minister has a backdoor way to secure the same outcome. Under section 136 of Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act, Tehan can direct the university regulator to use the model code when enforcing the educational standards to Australian universities. With oversight from Senate Estimates, this could well transform TESQA, known as a wet-lettuce regulator, into a genuine guardian of university excellence acting in the best interest of academics, students, taxpayers and the country.

In other words, with the model code in place, either by law or ministerial directive, what happened to Ridd can never happen again. That, of course, will not help the unassuming, but determined, professor. His final appeal for justice, and common sense, rests with the High Court next year, when at least one new judge, maybe two, will be on the bench. No wonder we will be watching closely.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/in-the-case-of-peter-ridd-well-soon-learn-whether-academic-freedom-matters/news-story/e9989ee75d014de015f7551ad8ed4e66

Bank's climate policy reveals steps away from coal to support net zero emission by 2050

But not shifting support away from family farms

ANZ has released its new climate change policy that will see the bank take steps away from financing thermal coal and towards supporting the transition to a net zero emissions economy by 2050.

Under the 10-year strategy, ANZ has committed to stop directly financing any new coal-fired power plans or thermal coal mines including expansions by 2030.

It will also "wind down" existing direct lending to coal-fired plants and thermal coal, and help existing customers with more than 50 per cent exposure to thermal coal create diversification strategies by 2025.

ANZ group executive Mark Whelan told investors via its blog Bluenotes that the new approach committed the bank to "taking strong action to support the Paris Agreement".

The big four bank has pledged to no longer provide services to any new business that makes more than 10 per cent of its revenue from thermal coal.

The bank also made changes to how it would finance the construction of large-scale office buildings, saying loans would only be provided if the buildings were highly energy efficient and had a 5-star energy rating.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack released a statement on Thursday condemning ANZ's policy for being "sheer virtue-signalling".

Mr McCormack said banks should be focused on "supporting our agricultural producers, not adding an extra layer of administration".

"Imposing largely Euro-centric standards to satisfy shareholder activists while our nation recovers from a global pandemic is grossly unfair," he said.

ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott told investors via Bluenotes on Thursday afternoon the bank was not shifting support away from farmers.

"ANZ's climate change statement is focused on the top 100 carbon emitters, and will have no impact on the bank's farmgate lending practices," Mr Elliott said.

He said the policy was about the bank's "major agribusiness customers" becoming more energy efficient and was "not about family farms".

The new policy adds ANZ to a growing number of businesses that are ahead of the Australian Government when it comes to commitments to stop the effects of climate change.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-29/anz-climate-policy-steps-away-from-coal-toward-carbon-neutrality/12825934

Democracy under attack from the censorious Left

Democratic politics, which can only function within a system of representative government, turns on the successful and peaceful regulation of difference. In other words, democracy is all about ­debate and discussion.

In contemporary Western societies, this concept is under attack, primarily from the left, by means of de-platforming individuals. This amounts to non-violent silencing, or political censorship.

In Australia, it exists within such institutions as universities, and can even be found within ­sections of the ABC.

Division and disagreement is essential to the proper functioning of democracies. Yet you would not know this judging from some recent contributions to the political debate. On Tuesday, federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, the member for the Melbourne seat of Kooyong, delivered one of the best speeches heard in the House of Representatives in decades.

The story is now well known. Labor Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese attempted to surprise the Coalition government by introducing a motion before Question Time commending “the people of Victoria for the sacrifices they have made in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic”. The motion was introduced following the reductions to the harsh lockdown in Victoria introduced by Premier Daniel Andrews’ Labor government, which were announced on Monday. Not surprisingly, Albanese’s motion had a political message. It noted the people of Victoria had succeeded because they “have heeded the advice of dedicated public health officials” and resolved that this message be conveyed to the Premier of Victoria.

Most motions of this kind are rejected by the government. Not on this occasion — apparently to Labor’s surprise. Prime Minister Scott Morrison not only accepted the motion but said that, if asked, he would have seconded it. Morrison then proceeded, in a strong speech, to point out Victoria’s failure to handle hotel quarantine which led to close to 100 per cent of Australia’s second wave infections. He added that the commonwealth provided “$200m every day of support to see Victorians through this crisis”.

Then it was the regional Vic­toria-based Labor deputy leader Richard Marles’s turn. He saw fit to praise the Victorian government, which he declared had “been a source of crystal-clear decisions at the heart of which has been the very best medical advice which has guided us from where we were back in July to where we are right now”.

In his speech, Marles compared the situation in Victoria favourably to that in Britain. Albanese had made a similar comparison.

Following Marles, Frydenberg showed considerable passion, if not anger. He declared that the ­reduction of the virus in his home state was a victory for the people of Victoria — “and no one else’s victory”. He said that Victorians have suffered so much but that “it should never ever have come to this”. And he reminded the opposition that the proper comparison “is not with the United Kingdom (and) not with the United States; the comparison is with NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and South Australia”.

Frydenberg referred to school closures, business failures, COVID-19-related deaths, job losses and mental health impacts of the stage four lockdowns necessitated on account of the Andrews-led Labor government’s failure with respect to hotel quarantine and contact tracing.

This was modern politics at its best as the leaders of the Labor Party and the Liberal Party confronted each other on the floor of the House of Representatives. It is sometimes said that modern politics in the Westminster system is too bland. Well, this wasn’t the case on Tuesday.

But not all were happy. Katharine Murphy is the political editor of the left-wing Guardian Australia online newspaper. Writing after the parliamentary debate had finished, the Canberra-based journalist came to the view that Victorians following the debate would have experienced “alienation or possibly revulsion”.

According to Murphy, Frydenberg not only “puffed like a pool toy at full inflation” but was also “vibrating with outrage”. She added that, when responding to Marles, the Treasurer “had taken up residence behind the bike sheds and started swinging”. Murphy also made reference to “junkyard dog politics” and “the revenge of the knockdown clowns”.

And then there was more. According to Murphy, “instead of sober acknowledgment unifying the country, adolescent rancour, either sheathed or naked, prevailed”. And she accused Frydenberg of “the deliberate infla­mmation of societal divisions”.

All this demonstrates just how out of touch some members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery are. All democratic societies are divided to a greater or lesser extent. This is particularly the case with the COVID-19 pandemic, which is the greatest socio-economic disaster to hit Australia since the Spanish Flu a century ago.

The fact is that the ACT, where Murphy lives, is doing well. There is little virus around. No public servants have lost their jobs due to the pandemic — some have received pay increases. The quality of housing in Canberra is high, which makes life relatively easy for professionally educated and technologically literate types who can work from home.

Meanwhile in Melbourne, very small and medium businesses have closed down, maybe never to reopen. Schoolchildren have lost experiences that they can never regain. The unemployment numbers are devastating. Families cannot get together if they live outside a restricted area. Victorian Police are behaving in a manner which has led to the imposition of excessive force on normally law-abiding citizens. People were locked up in rooms and apartments for 110 days in a row. And so on.

But Murphy reckons Frydenberg has no right to express restrained anger at the plight experienced by his fellow Victorians in general, and young families in particular, due to the incompetence of the Andrews government’s management of health.

Andrews is on record as saying of Frydenberg: “He’s not a leader, he’s just a Liberal.” This overlooks the fact that such long-serving Australian leaders as Robert Menzies and John Howard were Liberals. Andrews also seems to overlook the fact that Frydenberg has spoken out strongly in defence of his fellow Victorians — which is what leaders are expected to do in successful democracies. A point missed, apparently, by The Guardian’s political editor.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/democracy-under-attack-from-the-censorious-left/news-story/4a5f1375b63dca73acefb85ecdb74905

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

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

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

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

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

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

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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The African problem comes to Darwin

The video clearly depicts Africans

A group of out-of-control youths have been terrorising Darwin, leaving residents feeling like prisoners in their own homes.

Armed with knives and rocks, the group of children - some just eight years old - have been wreaking havoc across this city every night this week.

Over the past 24 hours cars, cafes and homes have been broken into by the same group.

Blue Taxi Company has been posting images of the carnage they've experienced at the hands of the group. Their latest post shows glass scattered across the backseat of a taxi after a window was smashed. 'And another day in the war zone,' the post read.

Blue Taxi Company owner Helen Pachos told Daily Mail Australia the crime was so bad residents felt like prisoners in their own homes. 'It's just getting more and more out of control,' she said. 'During lockdown it quietened down, I'm not sure what changed in the last week but they are out and about.

'We get told by the police that it's just a group of youths - they call them youths, I call them thugs - that are repeatedly doing it.

'What is really concerning is they've got 10 and eight-year-olds tagging along, I call them ''crims in training''.'

She said she had put additional security measures in place to deter criminals but it had't stopped them from being targeted.

'We now have cameras everywhere. 'It doesn't stop them, it just gets the evidence that it's happening, that's not what I want, I want to feel safe. 'It's very scary. We're prisoners in our own home.'

Rick Hall shared a picture on Facebook on Thursday showing his car which had the window smashed in. 'That lovely little, but growing band from Karama just smashed my car with rocks as I was going past Casaurina Square,' he said.

'When I stopped and got out about ten kids pelted me with rocks and two threw their scooters at me.'

Another horrified homeowner discovered a knife left behind in a car after it was broken into this week. 'To the people of McMinns Lagoon, the little terds are armed,' the post read. 'They raided our cars and got cash. They left their knife in there so it's now in the hands of the police for fingerprints.'

Fresh Point Co cafe was also targeted by the group, with CCTV footage capturing the brazen thief in the act. The popular cafe was broken into at 2.45am on Friday after crooks smashed in the front door. The group made off with 10 bottles of alcohol.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8895853/Residents-claim-Darwin-overrun-control-youths-armed-knives.html

Can the new broom remove the feminist tentacles strangling TEQSA?

Bettina Arndt

We’ve had a very lively few days, with interesting developments in our campus campaign.

The good news is we have learnt that the new CEO of TEQSA, Alistair Maclean, might be the new broom the university regulator needs to clean up its act, given its shameful history of pandering to activists by bullying universities into setting up the regulations to usurp criminal law.

Maclean’s previous job was CEO of Victoria’s anti-corruption commission, IBAC, and he was also once senior adviser to former PM John Howard. This should be a man interested in ensuring regulators do their job properly rather than allowing universities to indulge in ideologically driven policies aimed at punishing men.

We can only speculate that this was a deliberate government decision to provide some proper oversight of this regulatory authority which has so clearly run amok. Dan Tehan must be frustrated that TEQSA chose to ignore his advice at their conference last year telling them to instruct universities to leave sexual assault to the criminal courts.

The Government has also set up an TEQSA integrity unit. No, that’s not a joke! Apparently the idea is to encourage the regulator to rein in the unscrupulous behaviour exhibited by many of our universities, with the kangaroo courts coming in for particular scrutiny.

On Wednesday our campus justice group sent a long background document to Maclean, outlining the whole history of TEQSA’s shameful role in this quasi-judicial mess.

Lo and behold, the letter ended up featuring in a highly entertaining Senate Estimates session that night, where the brilliant Queensland Senator Amanda Stoker grilled Nick Saunders, Chief Commissioner of TEQSA, about TEQSA’s role in the establishment of these courts.

Regular readers may remember that last year Stoker’s inquisition left Saunders and his colleagues squirming as she waved before them one of the TEQSA documents on adjudicating campus rape cases, pointing out it contained not one word about the rights of the accused.

We’ve put together a video about all this, which starts with an extraordinary confrontation where Saunders emphatically denies that TEQSA’s initial Guidance Note to universities on this matter was intended to push them to adjudicate sexual assault. He claims he’d never heard of such a notion, apart from the letter they had received that very afternoon – which was, of course, the email from our campus justice group. Watch Saunders’ normally flushed tones turn a vivid shade of puce as he mentions the offending email!

Clearly TEQSA is not at all happy that their new CEO is being exposed to the truth about their meddling on this matter.

Anyway, please watch my video and promote it widely.

I am sure you will find the Stoker/Saunders confrontations riveting and very revealing. We need people to know about all this.

Bettina Arndt newsletter newsletter@bettinaarndt.com.au

Australia’s gas plan will push the Reef to extinction

A brainless Greenpeace emission below. Give them their assumptions and they would be right. But all their assumptions are at best dubious.

For instance, bleaching is mostly caused by sea-level fluctuations: Low level episodes in particular. They make no effort to look at that, They just regurgitate concentional assumptions

And coral is very good at regrowing so bleaching from whatever cause is never permanent. Even Ove Hoegh Guldberg noted that rapid regrowth

After three mass bleaching events in the last five years, the Great Barrier Reef is not as great as it once was. Now, as Australia attempts to rebuild from the economic fallout of COVID-19, a new threat has emerged which could threaten the world’s largest living organism even further.

Scientists have made it clear that the blame for warmer and more acidic oceans lies on coal, the number one driver of climate change. But now that the Australian Federal government is pushing for a so-called “gas-led recovery” from the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of gas in the Reef’s demise can no longer go unscrutinised.

Rather than heeding the best advice of scientists and switching Australia from polluting coal and gas to clean energy sources like wind and solar, the Australian Federal Government is instead laying the groundwork to replace one destructive fossil fuel with another. If the government’s gas dreams become reality, the implications for the Reef could be cataclysmic.

In its 2019 Production Gap Report, the UN warned that in order to keep global heating at 1.5 degrees, gas production must decline by 20 percent by 2030.

“The continued rapid expansion of gas supplies and systems risks locking in a much higher gas trajectory than is consistent with a 1.5 degree Celsius or 2 degree Celsius future,” the report reads.

“These declines mean that most of the world’s proven fossil-fuel reserves must be left unburned.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on the impact of 1.5C of global warming found that coral reefs would likely decline between 70% and 90% if the temperature increased to that level. If global warming reaches 2C, more than 99% of coral reefs could be wiped out.

Climate change expert and researcher at the Australian National University, Professor Will Steffen, was unequivocal that gas has already damaged the Reef and expanding the industry would only make that damage worse.

“There is no doubt that climate change is the primary driver of the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef,” Professor Steffen said.

“Climate change is caused by the burning of fossil fuels like gas, so there is a direct link between the greenhouse gas emissions from Australia’s gas industry, whether the gas is burned in Australia or elsewhere in the world, and the degradation and destruction of the Great Barrier Reef.”

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2257705-australias-gas-plan-will-push-the-reef-to-extinction/

Politician in hot water over ‘racist’ Chinese post

CONTROVERSIAL Whitsunday MP Jason Costigan has been accused of racism after sharing a post about Chinese LNP candidate for Stretton Peter Zhuang.

Mr Costigan shared a message from Moreton Young LNP to his personal and official Facebook pages last night opposing advertisements Mr Zhuang placed in Chinese newspapers asking for support ahead of this Saturday’s state election.

The group’s Facebook page has since been deleted.

In sharing the post to his followers, Mr Costigan wrote, “Anyone for Chinese? If so, vote for the LNP”.

The comments sparked a heated debate over whether the words used were offensive or even racist.

Facebook user Dennis Charters commented that the NQ First leader had invoked “racist comments”.

“Jason you must be clutching at straws,” he said.

Fellow Facebook user Peter Hood said the comments crossed “the boundaries of acceptable behaviour”.

“Racism is never acceptable and I’m now assured that the Italian, Chinese, Greek, 1st Australian and other ethnic North Queensland (First) supporters in Mackay are not happy,” he said.

Mr Costigan stood by his comments, saying “anyone who thought it was offensive is most likely sympathetic to the pro-Chinese Liberals”.

“As the son of an immigrant, who helped build the nation, from the Snowy Mountains to the Bowen Basin, I’m very proud of who I am, where I have come from and the special role that immigrants have played in the development of our country,” he said in a statement.

https://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/regional/costo-in-hot-water-over-racist-chinese-post/news-story/63d98d22dd1efbc3c704aa01f9b12cfc

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

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

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

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

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

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

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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