Fury as popular public swimming pool introduces gender segregation and women-only sessions in response to requests from Muslims

A popular public swimming pool has come under fire after introducing gender segregation.

Canberra Olympic Pool brought in new program earlier this month after a series of demands from the city's Muslim community.

The pool will now hold women-only sessions on Saturday nights from 5.30-7, and the same for men on Sunday nights.

One mother said her daughter had been left devastated after she arrived at the pool only to be turned away because it was open to 'boys only'.

'My daughter, in tears, couldn't understand why it was 'boys only'. Like many Canberra parents, my husband and I are trying to raise our child to believe that her gender is not a barrier to anything and to not be self-conscious about her body,' the mother told The Canberra Times. 

'How can we do this when public institutions blatantly turn her away because she is a girl?'

Others slammed the idea on Facebook, labelling it as 'backwards'.

'Does the government not trust males and females in the same pool. Gone crazy totally. We have fought for equality for years and the government and religions are slowly chipping away at it,' one person wrote.

'This country is heading backwards,' another said.

Despite the controversy, Tracy King, the centre's manager told The Australian that the pool has seen an increase in swimmers after the program was introduced.

'We've had two weeks of the trial so far and had extremely high attendance numbers especially for the female sessions,' Ms King said.

She said they picked certain time slots that would be the most convenient for other swimmers.

'The hour also incorporates learn-to-swim classes, which has been greatly appreciated because many are unable to swim or don't often have access to a pool.'

'Because of their culture, some can’t be around men in that setting so they really enjoyed the experience. It was like they were having a party and could relax.' 

The program will run until the end of the month where it will be reviewed over whether it will continue long term.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Canberra Olympic Pool and the ACT Government for comment.

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Maths to be compulsory for NSW students

What if a student has no talent for maths? Will they be unfairly held back?

Maths will be compulsory for all students up until Year 12 under a back-to-basics overhaul of the NSW curriculum.

The NSW government will make maths compulsory for year 11 and 12 students under a plan to ensure school graduates have key numeracy skills.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the NSW government would begin consultation with education stakeholders over how mathematics could be incorporated from kindergarten to the end of the HSC.

“We promised to take the curriculum back to the basics and today we are taking the first steps to deliver on that commitment by prioritising maths,” Ms Berejiklian said in a statement on Thursday.

“My vision is for every child in NSW to have the necessary maths skills to succeed in life, whether that’s managing home budgets or preparing them for the jobs of the future in science, technology and engineering.”

Earlier this week an interim report into the NSW Curriculum Review was released, which signalled the start of a major shake up to the NSW curriculum.

The state government on Tuesday released the interim curriculum review headed by Professor Geoff Masters covering kindergarten to year 12.

It marks the first shake-up of the system in 30 years.

The report suggests reducing the amount of curriculum content so students can develop in-depth subject knowledge and develop the skills to apply knowledge “in the real world”.

This includes a sharper focus on maths, English and science.

It also proposes “flexible progression” for students through the public system, which would involve using levels of attainment to organise syllabuses, so students are recognised and challenged according to where they are on the learning scale.

Premier Berejiklian said the review’s emphasis on fundamentals aligned with the government’s aim to give young people the tools they need to get ahead in life after school.

“The NSW government strongly supports a back to basics approach,” she said in a statement.

“Students need to have strong foundations in maths, English and science to be prepared for the jobs of the future and for attaining lifelong skills.”

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Renewable energy cutting emissions at a cost to users

Extinction rebels and others whingeing that Australia is not doing its fair share to cut greenhouse gas emissions need a reality check. New research from the Australian National University shows emissions could fall from next year following a boom in renewable power investment. Australia is on track, between last year and next year, to invest in wind and solar power three times faster per capita than Germany, four to five times faster than China, the EU, Japan and the US, and 10 times faster than the global average. The researchers expect emissions to fall by 3 to 4 per cent from next year to 2022.

Environmentalists should be cautious, however, before proclaiming the imminent demise of fossil fuels. Sustaining the fall in emissions would require billions of dollars more to be spent on behalf of taxpayers on energy storage and transmission, Graham Lloyd writes on Thursday. The additional costs would add about $5 a megawatt hour to the cost of power in the national market when there was 50 per cent renewable energy in the system. That would soar to an additional $25/MWh at 100 per cent renewables — on top of at least $50/MWh for generating renewable power, which is heavily subsidised. Conversion of the entire system to renewables would reduce emissions by 33 per cent, the ANU researchers calculated. But without more government spending on storage and transmission, they warn, investment in renewables may slow down, causing emissions to start rising.

While admitting the transition to renewables would not be “without headaches’’, the ANU’s work, which envisages “straightforward solutions to the teething problems of technical change in the energy industry”, is a potential road map towards a long-term transition that could provide reliable, affordable renewable power to domestic and commercial users.

The size of the challenge may have been underestimated by the ANU researchers, however. Other reports have made clear that making the switch becomes progressively more difficult as the percentage of renewable energy in the system increases. Large-scale storage has yet to show that it is both achievable and economically feasible.

While the Morrison government is committed to meeting Australia’s Paris target — to cut greenhouse emissions by 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 — affordable, reliable power must remain its main energy policy goal. Some states and the opposition are also starting to show a welcome pragmatism. Anthony Albanese and opposition climate spokesman Mark Butler have not ruled out scrapping Bill Shorten’s 45 per cent emissions reduction target, although Mr Butler has rejected frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon’s call to adopt the government’s target, also favoured by the Australian Workers Union.

NSW is legislating to stop international emissions being used as a reason to block new mines being approved. That sensible move follows the NSW Land and Environment Court’s rejection of the Rocky Hill coking coal mine, citing “dire consequences” on global pollution. And while Queensland is still refusing to release consultants’ reports on “overseas scope 3 emissions” levels being linked to approvals of resource projects, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says such legislation is not being considered. Nor should it be. Australians’ jobs and quality of life depend on rational energy policies that provide affordable, reliable power, regardless of the source.

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Big payout to disgraced Labor figure

She must have known too much

Senior NSW Labor figures are furious general secretary Kaila Murnain will receive a payout believed to be worth $250,000 as severance cover and a further $450,000 to pay for legal costs related to the ICAC investigation that ended her career.

In confirming her resignation, which was announced on Thursday, Ms Murnain attacked a "nasty culture" of sexism in the Labor Party. However, she said she was sorry she had let people down.

The amount paid to Ms Murnain was less than what The Australian understands she sought — $600,000 or two years' pay, as well as legal fees.

Ms Murnain was forced to admit to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption that she sat on an allegation that a $100,000 illegal donation was made by Chinese developer and suspected agent of foreign influence Huang Xiangmo to the ALP prior to the 2015 state election.

Ms Murnain's resignation paves the way for Rail Tram and Bus Union official Bob Nanva to become party general secretary after his endorsement by the Right faction on Monday night. The ALP confirmed yesterday Mr Nanva would not be appointed until a review ordered by federal leader Anthony Albanese into the general secretary's position was completed next month.

Ms Murrain's golden handshake was not welcomed by former party secretary John Della Bosca, who said those who negotiated the deal had "failed in their fiduciary duty to the ALP and its members" and that the payout was "obscene".

"The notion that she should have provision for her legal fees flies in the face of long-accepted party practice," Mr Della Bosca said. "The actions that led to her admissions in the ICAC are a betrayal of the trust of the party's rank-and-file, who are entitled to expect more from the organisational leadership of the party.

"The party should not pay her legal fees. I can think of no case where an incumbent ALP minister, MP or party official has admitted wrongdoing and had the party pay legal fees ... This is  obscene and offends against the values of the ALP, particularly in light of the ICAC revelations."

Ms Murnain said in a statement posted on Twitter: "I am sad to leave the party office. Many wonderful party members have supported me in my ll years in the party office. I joined the Labor Party in 2000 when I was a high school kid growing up on a farm in Narrabri ... In February 2016 I became general secretary. I was the first woman to fill this role. I was 29 years old.

"The circumstances leading up to my election ... were horrendous. I believe it is inarguable that our party has never fully grappled with the nasty culture of sexism which women face in politics."

Part of those circumstances involved her predecessor, Jamie Clements, who is accused of receiving the bag of cash from Mr Xiangmo, quitting over sexual harassment allegations.

Ms Murnain finished: I dedicated my entire life to Labor. I am devastated to leave. I'm sorry to have let you down."

Labor Party president Mark Lennon said in the statement announcing Ms Murnain's resignation that the terms of the separation agreement were confidential but consisted of her basic legal entitlements.

Mr Lennon said the party was actively considering seeking the recovery of all its costs related to the ICAC inquiry, including the sum payable to Ms Murnain, under its insurance policies and from its previous lawyers.

From the Brisbane "Courier Mail" 16/10/2019
 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here

Preschool is accused of 'manipulating' kids by encouraging them to petition for the Aboriginal flag to be raised permanently on the Harbour Bridge

Preschool staff have been accused of manipulating three-year-olds who are petitioning to have the Aboriginal flag flown permanently on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

Children aged three to five at Kelly's Place Children's Centre in Crows Nest on Sydney's North Shore have been supporting a petition by Aboriginal activists since early this year.

They have been walking up and down station platforms and sitting outside their houses to get as many signatures as possible.

Last month the children visited the NSW state parliament and presented their signatures to Labor leader Jodi McKay who supports the idea.

More than 120,000 have signed the petition started by activist Cheree Toka - but many do not approve of children getting involved.

Respected child psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said they are being used by their teachers.  'These children do not even have the cognitive ability to understand what a petition is,' he told the Daily Telegraph.

Referencing 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg's speech at the UN last month, he added: 'I think the idea of roping children into political campaigns seems to be in vogue. Children should not be used as props.'

Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskom agreed, saying the children are 'being manipulated by adults in positions of responsibility for the adults' own political purposes'.

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said she was 'deeply concerned' that young children were being politicised. 

A spokesman for the preschool denied that the children were being used and said the idea to support the petition came from the youngsters themselves.

He said: 'One of the children noticed there was no Aboriginal flag on the Harbour Bridge and said that was disrespectful.

'He was four-and-a-half at the time and came in and told the other children that was disrespectful.'

'They went through the process of learning who to speak to - and they achieved what they wanted. They were incredibly empowered by their abilities.'

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Conservative politician had to take order out against stalker during election campaign


Liberal MP Nicolle Flint was forced to take a police order out against a stalker who followed her campaign events with a “zoom lens camera” and pursued her online launching personal attacks on his social media pages.

The 41-year-old, targeted by GetUp, the unions and Labor at the May 18 election, has also outlined the “sexist” harassment and intimidation tactics used against her during the campaign including the defacement of her campaign vehicle and office.

In a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters inquiry into the federal election, the South Australian MP detailed personal safety fears and efforts to seek protection.

Attorney-General Christian Porter and leading conservative Kevin Andrews — also targeted by GetUp — also provided JSCEM submissions attacking GetUp’s “misleading” and “defamatory” tactics.

Outlining the personal attacks against her, Ms Flint revealed the windows of her campaign office were targeted with posters plastered with abuse including “skank”, “$60/hour” and “Blow & Go”. Her office was also egged.

Ms Flint’s submission described the campaigns targeting her as “well-coordinated, well-resourced and unrelenting”.

But the most serious incident involved an alleged stalker who would “appear frequently when I was at events and when I was campaigning, always with his zoom lens camera”.

“Posts about me on his social media pages appeared almost daily, as did his engagement on other sites aimed at unseating me,” Ms Flint said.

“As I often campaign alone and would not know when he would appear, this became a serious personal safety issue. Because I was driving a branded campaign vehicle I was highly visible and I was very concerned he would find out where I lived.

Ms Flint said she did “everything I could to stop his behaviour”.

“I confronted him and asked him to stop following me, photographing me and harassing me, which seemed to embolden him,” she wrote.

“I reported his behaviour to the Australian Federal Police, who confronted him, but this also failed to stop him.”

As the incidents escalated and the stalker’s “social media posts became more concerning”, the Boothby MP was encouraged by colleagues to report the matter to the South Australian Police.

“The South Australian Police took the matter seriously and issued a stalking order for my protection.”

In August, Scott Morrison attacked GetUp, Labor and the unions over the tactics used to unseat Ms Flint, saying they should be “ashamed of what they did to Nicolle Flint in Boothby” and accused them of “misogyny and bullying”.

Ms Flint said many voters “recognised and criticised the tactics used by GetUp, the unions and Labor”, citing comments in The Advertiser which described their behaviour as “dirty” and “grubby”.

She warned the JSCEM committee that similar campaign behaviour at future elections could “risk the safety of candidates and sitting MPs”.

“This will harm our democracy. If candidates and Members of parliament no longer feel safe in their electorates, whether on their own or in the company of staff, colleagues and volunteers, the free and easy access Australians currently enjoy in relation to their elected representatives will end.”

Ms Flint recommended to the committee that GetUp, unions and Labor should undertake independent reviews of their campaign tactics in Boothby and publish their findings.

“They all claim to support women’s equality and safety and so should act accordingly.”

Backing calls from other Coalition MPs, Ms Flint also called on GetUp to be deemed an associated entity under the Commonwealth Electoral Act.

In his submission, Mr Andrews, a prominent conservative and former Howard and Abbott cabinet minister, said GetUp’s defamatory tactics were withdrawn only after he threatened to issue defamation proceedings. He said the “damage had been done”.

“Countless voters had been phoned by GetUp. GetUp had not checked the veracity of their claim,” Mr Andrews said.

The Victorian Liberal MP also cited a defamatory message sent to “many constituents of an Asian background in Menzies” who received a personal letter in Chinese and lashed GetUp’s telephone script for Menzies which suggested the organisation was not a political party and that the left-wing group’s volunteers were simply giving “independent” voting advice”.

Mr Andrews, the Father of the House, also detailed harassment of voters, singling out both GetUp and Colour Code who had volunteers handing out material at polling booths.

“The GetUp/Colour Code people often harassed voters, seemingly in the belief that by thrusting materials in their face and continuing to advocate their cause as they waited in line to enter the polling booth, people would vote as GetUp/Colour Code wished. “Many voters reported feeling harassed and intimidated.”

Mr Andrews told committee members in “light of this behaviour” they should consider amending laws to restrict the “handing out of electoral materials to only authorised representatives of candidates”. He said “such authorisation should be in writing, similar to requirements for scrutineers”.

In his submission, Mr Porter — whose West Australian seat of Pearce was targeted — said assertions by GetUp that it made 180,000 calls to local constituents appeared to be a “wild exaggeration”.

The Attorney-General said if GetUp’s claims it had 5400 members in his electorate were accurate it would “be the biggest political organisation by membership in the state which seems unlikely”.

“The veracity of GetUp’s claims about the extent of its campaign activity and the extent and nature of its ‘memberships’ remain largely unverifiable,” Mr Porter said.

“GetUp claim that they are a democratic and grassroots movement of one million members from across Australia who directly control the decision making of the organisation. Yet it has been shown that there are just a handful of true members who direct the campaigns that GetUp run.

“An inspection of their register of members shows that GetUp is ultimately controlled by just nine board directors and three ‘founding members’.”

Mr Porter also singled out a number of ‘misleading’ claims made by GetUp including that he had been criticised for “gifting numerous six-figure government jobs to Liberal Party colleagues and donors, including after one of them gave him a free campaign bus”.

The Leader of the House said the GetUp claim, which they suggested was based on an ABC article published in March, was false as his campaign had “not ever been given a ‘free bus’”.

“These examples are not dissimilar to GetUp’s conduct in other electorates across Australia and parallels can be drawn to other important examples,” he said.

“A further example of deceptive conduct occurred in a targeted GetUp letter that was sent to a number of residents in the Pearce electorate during the final week of the campaign. The letter was addressed as “Dear Neighbour” and signed by “Dr Geoff Bower, WA”.

“A constituent receiving this letter would conclude that the letter was sent from someone within their immediate community or at least in the same electorate. In reality, the letter was authorised by GetUp, printed in NSW, and its signatory, Dr Geoff Bower, appears to reside far outside the Pearce electorate, in close proximity to the Perth CBD.”

Mr Porter said his campaign team had made the decision to avoid taking legal action or other avenues against the misleading claims as it was “not practical or affordable in a marginal seat campaign, notwithstanding the potential damage these false statements were likely to cause”.

“GetUp is willing to promote and publish material of a type and in a way that a mainstream party would not ever promote as a responsible political organisation.”

Mr Porter called on GetUp to be “rightly classified as an associated entity.

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Australia's top academics call for Murdoch University to drop case against whistleblower
An open letter published today from 57 professors to Murdoch University vice-chancellor Professor Eeva Leinonen stated they believe the court action sets a "dangerous precedent for all Australian universities".

The signatories are all recipients of the prestigious Australian Research Council's Laureate Fellowship, and come from 15 universities across the sector in disciplines including arts, humanities, science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Quotes from the letter:

"It is a long-established principle of academic freedom that academics must be able to criticise university governance. This right is especially important where aspects of university governance might compromise the integrity of teaching and research."

"The claim for damages is highly intimidatory to all Australian academics and therefore risks the capacity of Murdoch University and all Australian universities to pursue excellence in research and teaching."

"We urge you to withdraw the claim, to settle any dispute without punitive measures, and to affirm the commitment of Murdoch University to academic freedom as an essential university value."
The letter comes after the Australian Institute of Physics and a coalition of 23 international academics issued public statements condemning the university's actions.

One of the letter's signatories, distinguished Professor Michael Bird from James Cook University, told the ABC that academics have been disturbed by the case against Dr Schroder-Turk.

"It appears to be more intimidatory than anything else. I'm a humble scientist. I don't ordinarily feel I should be doing this sort of thing, this was an exceptional case and and we felt that it required an exceptional response," he said.

Professor Bird said the group of academics don't know Dr Schroder-Turk personally but felt compelled to act after reading about the case. "I do not understand how a university could think this was an appropriate action to take," he said

"Academic freedom gives people the right to query decisions that have been made and that's for the good of democracy in the same way that press freedom is there for the good of democracy ultimately.

"If that is eroded, that is not conducive to a healthy democracy and it really needs to be called out whenever it happens."

Dr Schroder-Turk's lawyer, Josh Bornstein from Maurice Blackburn, told the ABC his client remains undeterred despite the legal action.

"Look, he's very resolute and principled but at the same time … he's keen to let people know that this sort of behaviour by a university is out of bounds and is designed to intimidate and silence not only him but any other academics or staff members of universities," he said.

"Obviously there is a David and Goliath dimension to this sort of case, where you've got such a big, well-funded institution which receives public funding and private sources of funds, attacking and seeking to intimidate one of its staff members."

Mr Bornstein said he's concerned about the implications of the case for employees considering speaking up about wrongdoing.

"It's unprecedented for an Australian university to do this, but it's a tactic that we have seen many times before where a corporate entity seeks to shut down criticism or exposure of wrongdoing," he said.

Each year hundreds of thousands of Chinese students flock to Australia to study, lured by promises of enhanced career prospects — but are they getting what they pay for?

"We rely on the bravery of whistleblowers to come forward when they see issues of concern, when they see possible maladministration or corruption," he said.

"They're a vital source that feeds public interest journalism and the public's right to know.

"It's incredibly concerning because we've been talking about the culture of secrecy in government, it now seems that this is an indication that the culture of secrecy is seeping into other parts of our public life."

Students at Murdoch University are planning to hold a protest on campus this week.

Five thousand people have also signed an online change.org petition calling on the university to drop the cross-claim action and conduct a transparent inquiry into the issues raised by Dr Schroder-Turk in the Four Corners program.

In the wake of the program, former Murdoch University Chancellor David Flanagan denied there were problems with international student admissions at the institution.

Murdoch University did not respond to a request for comment but has previously refused to comment on the case as the matter is before the courts.

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Appeals court declares ex-judge ‘irrational’ in anti-coal ruling

A Land Court judge deemed to be “irrational” by Queensland’s highest appeals court has quietly retired, raising searching questions­ about the performance and accountability of the state’s judiciary.

Paul Anthony Smith left his $412,956-a-year post as a presiding member of the Land Court of Queensland ahead of the ruling by Court of Appeal president Walter Sofronoff that he had formed an “extreme and irration­al animus” towards a coalmine developer during high-stakes court proceedings.

Justice Sofronoff upheld an earlier Supreme Court finding that Mr Smith displayed appre­hende­d bias against the New Hope Group, which wants to expand­ its Acland mine, west of Brisbane, with an open-cut operation three times the size of Adani’s controversial Carmichael coal project in the state’s central west.

Justice Sofronoff warned that bias by judges undermined the justice system. “Allegations of bias, whether actual or ostensible, constitute a challenge to the very validity of a judicial decision,” he said. “Such allegations involve an assertion that the administration of justice has failed.”

State Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath is under pressure to appeal against the sentence from federal Home Affairs Minister Peter ­Dutton

Her office confirmed that Mr Smith retired from the Land Court on May 31, but would not be drawn on whether he had faced sanction over his handling of the Acland case.

Ms D’Ath’s spokesman said: “The Attorney-General doesn’t comment on individual judges, past or present, but she would like to acknowledge the improvements at the Land Court over the last 12 months, which include dramat­ic reductions in the time taken to deliver judgments.”

A finding of apprehended bias against a judge is rare, but the blunt language of Justice Sofronoff, a highly regarded former Queensland solicitor-general, cata­pult­s the judgment into the realm of the extraordinary.

It came after Mr Smith recommended that the state government reject applications by New Hope subsidiary New Acland Coal to ramp up production by an estimated seven million tonnes a year through the planned pit.

Formerly a high-flyer in the Department of Premier and Cabinet­, Mr Smith was appointed to the Land Court in 2004 by Peter Beattie’s Labor government.

In May last year, on appeal by the company, Queensland Sup­reme Court judge Helen Bowskill set aside Mr Smith’s orders, finding that his reasons were inadequate and there were reasonable grounds to apprehend bias on his part.

Protest group Oakey Coal Action­ Alliance took the case to the Court of Appeal

Justice Sofronoff found the rea­sons Mr Smith cited for his orders­ against the company contained­ errors of fact and “unnecessary­, unsupportable and irrati­onal criticisms” of New Acland’s commercial and litigious behaviour. “In such circumstances, a reasonable lay observer might well conclude that the member was, at that point of the proceedings, animated by an extreme and irrational animus against Acland,” the judge said.

He found Mr Smith had directed sarcasm at the company and was combative and argumentative. Although New Acland’s lawyers had conducted themselves in an orthodox and proper manner, he wrongly accused them of playing games, “wormings and turnings” and departing from every tenet of “common-law justice in this world”, Justice Sofronoff said.

Further, Mr Smith’s appropriation of cult movie The Castle to frame the dispute had been ­“wholly inappropriate”. One of the principal objectors to the mine expansion, Glenn Beutel, a local refusing to sell his home in the ghost town of Acland, had been likened by Mr Smith to the hero of The Castle, which the Land Court judge lauded as being a film about a “little person trying to protect his property from a corporate giant”.

Justice Sofronoff said: “It is notoriou­s that in The Castle it was the ‘little person’ who ultimately won the litigation and that the ‘corporate giant’ had behaved unethical­ly and had lost. Whatever might be the respective financial power of the litigants, it is the duty of a court to afford them equal justice and to favour neither of them, where rich or poor, for irrelevan­t reasons. The member’s use of this simile was wholly in­appropriate and conveyed partiality by reason of sympathy.”

New Hope declined to comment, pending further orders from the Court of Appeal. With a projected yield of 7.5 million tonnes of coal annually, New Hope claims the new pit would deliver economic benefits to the state of $8bn over 12 years. Critics of the development, including Sydney radio broadcaster Alan Jones, who grew up in the area 50km west of Toowoomba on the Darling Downs, insist it would destroy some of the best farmland in the country.

Land Court judges in Queensland are paid the same as those of the District Court, earning $382,108 in yearly salary, lifted to $412,956 by benefits.

SOURCE 

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

Medevac transfers are just a rort

Fewer than one in 10 refugees and asylum-seekers transferred to Australia under Labor-backed medivac laws has required hospital treatment, and none is currently receiving in-patient care.

Operation Sovereign Borders head Craig Furini told Senate estimates on Monday that just 13 medical-transfer detainees, out of 135 brought to Australia so far, had been hospitalised. "As of this morning, there are zero of those transferred in hospital," Major General Furini said.

He also revealed that six peo-ple had been transferred to Aus-tralia under the legislation despite security concerns, and a further two had been approved for transfer despite similar character concerns.

Five people transferred under the laws had refused treatment after arriving in Australia, and a further 43 had refused chest X-rays or pathology tests.

The Senate heard 10 detainees in Port Moresby had been approved for transfer but were unable to travel because they were being held under PNG law.

As the government prepares to introduce legislation to overturn the medivac laws, General Furini said all refugees and asylum-seekers who had been transferred remained in Australia.

Home Affairs Department secretary Mike Pezzullo said it was a "grievous flaw in the legislation" that detainees could be brought to Australia for assessment without the ability to return them to offshore processing. "(It) the assessment leads to the conclusion ... that, well, actually there is no further treatment required, there is no ability to return," he said.

Mr Pezzullo also rejected claims of a "crisis" in refugees arriving by plane, saying just 0.23 per cent of those entering the country with valid visas went on to claim protection visas.

Labor home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally tackled Mr Pezzullo in Senate estimates on Monday over onshore refugee claims, which she argues are at crisis levels. Mr Pezzullo confirmed there were 92,000 on-shore claims in the past five years from more than four million arrivals.

He said trying to get that number down would deliver a "vanishingly small return". "The marginal gain that you would achieve in tapping that number down by putting onerous restrictions in terms of students, tourists, visitor visas and the like would be completely disproportionate to the gains that you end up getting," Mr Pezzullo said.

"You end up creating so many disincentives in terms of tourist, visitor visa, student categories, that the pain would not be worth the effort."

He said onshore refugee claims were a "completely different problem" than asylum-seeker arrivals by boat, which had led to an estimated 1200 people dying at sea. "I've dealt with a border crisis. This is not a border crisis, I can assure you," Mr Pezzullo said.

He said among members of the Five Eyes security alliance "there is a degree of incomprehension that we have got the numbers as under control as possible". "Frankly, the reaction we get is the Meg Ryan reaction — 'We'll have what they're having'," he said, referring to a scene in the 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally.

Senate estimates heard 24,520 refugee claims were made in 2018-19 by people who arrived by air. This was down on the pre-vious Year, when about 27,900 onshore claims were made. Malaysian and Chinese travellers have previously made up a large proportion of onshore refugee claims, with their applications overwhelmingly rejected.

From "the Australian" of 22 Oct., 2019





Great Barrier Reef has 'vibrant future', authority agrees

They are walking back their Greenie gloom

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has supported Environment Minister Sussan Ley's appraisal that the reef is "good" and has "a vibrant future". A Senate estimates committee hearing on Monday heard a downgrading of the reef condition from poor to very poor was a long-term forecast based on no action being taken on climate change.

GBRMPA chief executive Joshua Thomas said the out-look report was an assessment of the likely condition of the reef if a series of issues were not addressed. These included reducing global greenhouse gas emissions along with improving reef water quality, better marine park compliance, controlling crown of thorns starfish and reducing marine debris.

"The reef is a vast estate and many areas remain vibrant and ecologically robust," he said. "It continuo to be an extraordinary experience for visitors to the region, supporting beautiful corals and abundant marine life."

After her first visit to the reef as minister, Ms Ley said: "It gives me great heart and hope that the future of this magnificent part of the world is a good one." She said at the time the reef
was not dead, was not dying and not even on life support.

"Today we saw coral that was struggling but we also saw coral that was coming back, that was growing, that was vibrant"

Mr Thomas said Ms Ley had been "referring to the fact there are many areas, of the reef that remain vibrant and worth visiting and we support that statement". "It is also true that the reef over the past five years has been subjected to unprecedented changes, including those bleaching events in 2016-177 he added.

The authority's chief scientist, David Wachenfeld, told Senate estimates the outlook report was evidence-based. He said the downgrade from poor to very poor was the long-term outlook for the reef that was largely a consideration of the impacts of climate change on current green-house gas emissions trajectories.

From "the Australian" of 22 Oct., 2019





`Back to basics' plan for new NSW curriculum

The abandonment of year-denominated progress will require a lot more work from teachers and administrators.  Where will the money for that come from?

The NSW school curriculum is poised to be pared back significantly to enable a greater focus on the core subjects of English, maths and science, with the state government promising a "back to basics approach" to education.

Mandated content within the curriculum could be reduced by as much as 20 per cent, while subjects relating to health, safety or social concerns could face the chopping block, under recommendations proposed in the interim report from the NSW curriculum review to be released on Tuesday.

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the draft report, which stemmed from a review under way since May 2018, indicated "significant change" was required to be made to the curriculum. "Students need to be equipped with strong literacy and numeracy foundations to succeed in the 21st century," she said. "We want a curriculum that leaves no student behind while stimulating students who are advancing faster than others."

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said NSW "strongly supports a back to basics approach". Many of the findings from the review, led by Australian Council for Educational Research chief executive Geoff Masters, appear to mirror those made in the 2018 report into Australian school education by David Gonski.

Among more than a dozen recommendations, described as "reform directions", is a call for NSW to scrap the year-level curriculum and instead deliver learning based on each student's level of attainment.

Under such a model, students would progress through a sequence of attainment levels — most likely at different times and rates — rather than all moving in "lockstep fashion from one year-level syllabus to the next" de-pending on their age.

Such a change would have implications for the assessment and reporting of student learning, with A to E grades to be scrapped. "Rather than grading each student's performance against the same year-level syllabus expectations, information will be provided about the highest attainment level a student has achieved in each subject at any given time and the progress they are making towards the achievement of the next level, as assessed by their teacher," the report says.

"In this way, parents/carers and students will be provided with information about how a student is progressing and whether they are on track with learning expectations."

According to the report, "the crowded nature of many syllabuses, particularly in primary schools ... was described as encouraging superficial coverage of material rather than teaching for under-standing, exploring relevance and meaning, and providing opportunities for students to transfer and apply their learning".

"The review also heard wide-spread concerns about additional expectations and demands placed on schools and that further reduce time for quality teaching and learning. "A number of submissions observed that schools are fulfilling functions once the responsibility of families and other institutions in society ... particularly in relation to student mental health, wellbeing and the development of personal qualities."

From "the Australian" of 22 Oct., 2019





Desperate attempts to save aluminium smelter from high electricity costs

[Federal] Energy Minister Angus Taylor has called on the Andrews government to prioritise affordable, reliable power, amid doubts over the future of the Portland aluminium smelter in Victoria's southwest, which consumes about 10 per cent of the state's power.

In its third-quarter earnings results released on Wednesday night, US aluminium giant Alcoa, which operates the Portland plant, said it planned to restructure its global portfolio, placing under review "15 million metric tonnes of smelting capacity and four million metric tonnes of alumina refining capacity".

"The review will consider opportunities for significant improvement, potential curtailments, closures or divestitures," Alcoa said.

The company did not name Portland, but chief executive Roy Harvey told analysts on an earnings call on Wednesday night that the smelters in focus would be those where Alcoa had already curtailed capacity. "The review numbers that we've provided are for both operating capacity and currently curtailed capacity, so all of that capacity would be under review," he said.

That list included Portland, where 15 per cent of the smelter's annual capacity is idled, and facilities in Brazil, Canada and three of Alcoa's US operations. The annual capacity of all of those smelters combined is 15 million tonnes.

Alcoa also declared its ambition to become "the lowest emitter of carbon dioxide" among the world's aluminium companies, adding to the clouds over Portland's future, given 70 per cent of its power comes from brown coal from Victoria's Latrobe Valley.

Mr Taykir said of all energy-intensive industries, smelters were "particularly sensitive" to electricity reliability and price.

"The Australian government is already engaging with NSW and Queensland on the future of their domestic smelters," he said. "The future challenges facing the Victorian energy grid are well known.

"The Andrews government needs to prioritise the affordability and reliability of their grid, and ensure their thermal generators stay in the market, running at full tilt, to ensure the viability of Victorian industry into the future."

Australian Workers Union Victorian branch secretary Ben Davis also highlighted the importance of affordable pcower,saying he had sought assuraces from Alcoa that jobs would not be lost. "The review will take its course," he said. "In the meantime, Alcoa will be seeking negotiations around their power contract,  which expires in mis 2021

He said the aluminium industry was facing challenges and the review did not come as a surprise, but added "To see Alcoa close in Portland would be a catastrophic hit to the economy in southwest Victoria, which none of us wants."

In 2017, the Andrews government provided $200m over four years to ensure Portland would operate until at least 2021. The federal government has also contributed $30m to guarantee operations through to June 2021.

In response to extensive questions about the future of the Portland smelter, an Andrews government spokeswoman said: "This is a matter for Alcoa." Liberal MP for the state seat of ‘South  West Coast Roma Britnell said State government policies had forced electricity prices "sky high" and placed enormous pressure on the Portland smelter.  Andrews can't sit on his hands, he must act and support Alcoa to make the Portland smelter sustainable," Ms Britnell said. "The potential closure of the Portland smelter would be devastating for the community."

Federal Industry Minister Karen Andrews said Alcoa had not identified any specific operations likely to be affected by its review. "It's premature to speculate about the future of its Portland smelter," Ms Andrews said.

From the Brisbane "Courier Mail" 16/10/2019
 Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here

Cases that raise serious issues about forensics and fundamentals of justice

Bibi Sangha and Bob Moles

It is now clear David Eastman in the ACT and Henry Keogh in South Australia both spent over 20 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.

Both murder convictions were based upon fundamentally flawed forensic evidence given by witnesses not properly qualified in the relevant fields of expertise. Over the years prosecutors (and others) had known about the concerns but had not disclosed them, as they ought to have done.

In addition, in recent weeks, the president of the Court of Appeal in Victoria acknowledged earlier reports emanating from the US which established that all of the forensic sciences (apart from DNA) used in criminal trials had not been properly validated. He was supported on this by a senior forensic scientist at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. The Victorian Attorney-General is now calling on all of her counterparts around Australia to support a national review of the issues.

Any review might well consider the problems exposed by the royal commissions into the cases of Edward Splatt and Lindy Chamberlain in the 1980s. Each of the two murder prosecutions had used more than 20 experts at the trials. In each case, all the experts made errors in the evidence submitted to the courts. Curiously, all the errors favoured the prosecution's case.

That is a 100 per cent failure rate in two of the most high-profile cases of their day. It is clear the experts had not colluded as many of them had not met. But they did know which side to support — and the future benefits which might flow from their assistance. The Splatt commission recommended the establishment of a National Institute of Forensic Medicine to operate independently of police. When this was subsequently established, every state and federal police commissioner was appointed to its board.

The national review might also consider that in South Australia the state provided sworn evidence in civil proceedings in the mid-1970s involving the chief forensic pathologist there. It was to the effect he was not qualified to certify cause of death nor to give expert evidence in court. Yet the state continued to use him for the next 20 years to conduct more than 10,000 autopsies and to help secure more than 400 criminal convictions.

The current position of the South Australian Attorney-General is we do not need an inquiry. She says the problem cases can be dealt with on a case-by-case basis "as they arise". There is, of course, no proper process by which the "arising" can take place.

Perhaps the national review might consider how to get cases like those of Eastman and Keogh back to the courts after the deficiencies have been discovered. Eastman was fortunate that his case occurred in the ACT, which is one of only two jurisdictions-(including NSW) that have a special procedure allowing for an inquiry to review his claim to be wrongfully convicted.

He only obtained his review after struggling for years through 11 previously unsuccessful attempts. Keogh was fortunate that, after 13 years of procedural wrangling, we were able to persuade the Human Rights Commission and the parliament of South Australia that the existing appeal procedures in all states and territories were in breach of international human rights obligations.

This failed to protect the right to a fair trial and the right to an effective appeal. That led to a new right of appeal (subsequently adopted in Tasmania) which led to Keogh's case ultimately finding its way back to the courts.

There is no doubt that if either the Eastman or Keogh cases had occurred in jurisdictions other than those mentioned there would have been very little chance of getting them reviewed. That would have likely meant the rest of their lives spent in prison. The head sentence for murder is life imprisonment.

A non-parole period is merely a recommendation by the trial judge which may be considered upon its expiry. If, at that stage, the convicted person refuses to acknowledge guilt, they maybe deemed to be recalcitrant, and unwilling to accept responsibility. In those circumstances parole will most likely be denied.

In South Australia, Derek Bromley is now 13 years past the expiry of his non-parole period because he maintains he is innocent of the crime for which he was convicted.

The UK has had a review com-mission which has overturned more than 400 criminal convictions during the time Eastman and Keogh spent in jail. In Australia, the states spent many millions of dollars trying to prevent those cases from being reviewed. Surely that money would have been better spent trying to prevent such wrongful convictions in the first place — and to ensuring we have proper review mechanisms to deal with those that do occur?

From "The Australian" 18/10/2019






A sort of revenge: Eastman was innocent but prosecuting him cost the government a vast sum

I have followed the case from the outset and it always seemed to me that he was convicted on speculation only. The evidence to convict him was just not there. He was undoubtedly a bit weird but so are many others

Former public servant David Eastman left court this week "relieved" and "very happy" after a judge awarded him more than $7 million in compensation.

The 74-year-old Canberran spent most of his mid-life in prison for murdering the ACT's top police officer, Colin Winchester — a crime of which he was eventually found not guilty.

When the ACT Government announced this week it would not appeal against Mr Eastman's payout, it closed a case that spanned three decades and churned through countless millions of dollars.

Indeed, the Eastman saga is older than the territory government itself, which did not exist when Mr Winchester, an assistant federal police commissioner, was shot dead in 1989.

But the payment has not ended the arguments over why this case was stretched out for so long, how it was conducted and how much it ultimately cost taxpayers.

ACT budget papers show that, before this month's compensation case, the Government had spent about $26 million on Mr Eastman over the past seven years.

That included funding an independent judicial inquiry into his flawed 1995 conviction and prosecutors' decision to go ahead with a retrial, against the inquiry's explicit advice.

But it excludes the costs of Mr Eastman's initial trial, two High Court challenges, his many other legal battles, his 19 years in jail — including in some of NSW's most violent prisons — and what was widely reported at the time as Australia's biggest-ever police investigation.

That investigation involved four police forces: Winchester's community policing colleagues, the federal police, and New South Wales and Victorian detectives, who explored the possibility that Calabrian mafia had ordered the police officer's assassination.

A lack of records, and the number of jurisdictions involved, makes estimating the financial costs of all these related matters impossible.

However, it hardly stretches credulity to suggest that pursuing, prosecuting, imprisoning and defending Mr Eastman (via legal aid) over three decades cost twice or three times the expenses of the latest inquiry and retrial — taking the amount beyond $60 million or even $100 million.

Brian Martin, the judge who oversaw the 2014 inquiry that set aside David Eastman's initial conviction, warned that a retrial would be neither feasible nor fair. But then director of public prosecutions Jon White went ahead anyway.

His decision split Canberra's legal fraternity and remains controversial. Bar Association president Steve Whybrow said many were still critical of the DPP. "It was very hard to reconcile the public interest in a second trial for somebody who had done nearly 20 years in custody where there was such strong recommendations by the reviewing judge about the degree of impropriety in that trial," he said.

But Gary Humphries, who was the ACT's attorney-general at the time of the first trial, believed it was the only appropriate response. "We're dealing with the assassination of the most senior public official in Australia that's occurred, and we couldn't leave that question unanswered," he said.

"The only way of dealing with that question at the time that the court overturned the original conviction was to proceed to a second trial, there simply wasn't any other way of dealing with it."

But Mr Humphries agreed with the government's decision to abandon any future appeals. "The law is quite clear, a person in that position is entitled to compensation," he said. "$7 million is probably an appropriately couched amount for somebody who spent nearly 20 years in jail for what is officially a crime they did not commit."

SOURCE  






Federal Labor has continued its push for Australia to declare a climate emergency

Declaring a climate emergency would be an opportunity for Australia's parliament to "change course" on how it grapples with climate change, federal Labor argues.

Labor climate change spokesman Mark Butler has launched a fresh bid to have a climate emergency declared, by introducing a motion to the lower house.

The motion comes after more than 370,000 Australians signed an e-petition calling for federal parliament to make such a declaration. The attempt comes after a similar Labor motion fell short in the Senate last week.

Mr Butler said reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change make it clear the window is closing for the world to cap global warming at two degrees, or ideally 1.5C.

That's the target laid out in the Paris Agreement, which Australia has signed up to and which the Morrison government says it will meet.

"We're frankly just not on track to meet those," Mr Butler told the lower house on Monday. "We are failing our children. We are failing our grandchildren, and generations beyond that."

The MP said declaring a climate emergency would be an opportunity to move in a different direction. "This motion is a chance for the parliament to change course," he said. "It is an attempt to have the parliament recognise the gravity of this challenge."

Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the government was getting on with the job of cutting emissions. "It's about taking real action, not hollow symbolism and empty gestures," Mr Taylor told Sky News. "It's not about words and motions, it's about actions, and so that's what we're doing.

Nationals MP Pat Conaghan dismissed the motion as "redundant".  He said the coalition has made clear its plan for tackling climate change, including its "climate solutions" fund which supports emissions-lowering projects.

Labor MP Ged Kearney said it's clear climate change is not a priority for everyone in parliament. "If this government had a plan, a real plan, Australia could be leading the way to mitigate this climate emergency," she said.

Labor had moved an identical motion in the Senate last week, which failed with a tied vote.

The day before, the Morrison government killed off a Greens motion to declare a climate emergency in the lower house.

Debate on Labor's latest motion has been adjourned.

SOURCE  






The culprit behind East Australia's big dry

It's not global warming after all. It's the Indian Ocean Dipole

When leading climate scientist Matthew England began work at a lab in Hobart in the mid-1980s, visitors were greeted by a huge graphic depicting a tight correlation between El Ninos and Australia's farm yields.

Any government minister would leave understanding that "we’ve got a tremendous amount of economic wealth" dependent on Pacific climate influences, making El Nino research "iconic", England says.

It turns out more attention should have been paid to the Indian Ocean.

As we have seen this year, conditions that drive El Ninos - relative sea-surface temperature differences between the western and eastern Pacific - have been neutral. But the counterpart ratio in the Indian Ocean has gone haywire. Known as the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), the gauge last week hit record levels.

In its so-called positive phase, tropical waters off Australia's north-west are relatively cool  - compared with those near Africa - strengthening easterly winds and reducing the potential convection that typically supplies much of south-eastern Australia's critical winter and spring rains. A negative IOD has the opposite effect.

“They used to think the Indian Ocean was a slave to the Pacific," says Cai Wenju, a senior climate researcher at the CSIRO, adding this year's IOD figures are "gigantic".

“The biggest clue" that the Indian Ocean could influence Australia independently came in 2007 and 2008 when the Pacific was in its La Nina phase, which should have raised the odds for good rains, Dr Cai said. Instead, the Millenium Drought was still playing out, and there were positive-phase IODs three years in a row.

"Sometimes, the El-Nino Southern Oscillation has copped a bad rap when it should have been the IOD," Andrew Watkins, head of long-range forecasting at the Bureau of Meteorology, says.

Australian researchers from the 1980s had started examining how relative warm or cool waters off Western Australia could affect rainfall over the continent. However, it took two papers published in Nature in 1999 by Japanese and North American scientists - including Australian Peter Webster - to tease out the potential of an independent IOD.

Scientists including England and Cai will gather in China next month to mark that 20th anniversary, with the IOD now a key component of Australia's and global weather and climate predictions.

Scientists caution that reliable observation data only goes back a couple of decades but it is clear this year's positive-IOD is already one of the strongest of record. So-called "reanalysis" using a combination of observations and modelling suggests the event is also notable over the past 150 years.

Nerilie Abram, an associate professor at the Australian National University, published work in 2009 that used coral cores among other data to push IOD estimates back to the mid-1800s. Research awaiting publication will look back 1000 years. While the current event is significant, her study suggests “perhaps the instrumental record doesn’t tell us the full range what’s actually possible in the Indian Ocean”.

The magnitude of an IOD appears to matter more for rainfall over south-eastern Australia than the El Nino-La Nina flux, the Bureau of Meteorology's Watkins said: "The stronger the IOD, the stronger the impacts ... for Australia, and maybe for Africa."

Another difference is that Indian Ocean conditions are more regulated by the seasonal cycle than the Pacific. Positive or negative IODs typically take form by May or June, peak around September and October, and break down in November to December as the monsoon shifts south, disrupting the easterly winds.

Poor winter and spring rains from positive IODs are not just bad for farmers. Those rains also supply much of the run-off that let our rivers run and fill the dams. Heatwaves are more severe and prolonged as soils dry out, removing the cooling function from evaporation, and setting up a busy bushfire season.

England says that while IODs can act independently of the Pacific, the connections remain important. For instance, the so-called Indonesian Throughflow - where warm water from the Pacific funnels its way to the Indian Ocean - could change.

"The predictions are for that to weaken," he says. "If it does, that would be a double whammy of more El Ninos plus more positive-IODs."

SOURCE  

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

Labor, Greens all at sea on asylum claim fast-tracking

The Left wants to slow down the processing of illegals so that they can spend years in Australia.  Then the Left get in and give them all a big welcome

Some folks just never learn, no matter the human turmoil or cost to taxpayers. Kristina Keneally is "completely off the reservation", Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said in a radio interview on Thursday, adding the Labor senator "is dragging even Anthony Albanese to the left on border protection matters".

Labor and the Greens reached a deal to try to scrap fast-track processing of illegal maritime arrivals. As Geoff Chambers reported on Thursday, the new deal could see up to 4000 asylum-seekers who arrived by boat remain in the country for more than 500 days.

Greens senator Nick McKim is leading a disallowance motion to limit the people who can be considered fOr fast-tracking; the Morrison government has delayed debate on the motion and it is now up to the Senate crossbench to decide its fate, most likely next week.

The Immigration Assessment Authority was established as an office within the Administrative Appeals Tribunal's migration and refugee division; it is independent of the minister and the Department of Home Affairs, and it began operations in October 2015. The authority conducts reviews of fast-track decisions that refuse to grant a protection visa to applicants.

The system is for unauthorised maritime arrivals who entered the country between August 2012 and December 2013 and who were not taken to an offshore processing country. The authority must provide a mechanism of limited review that is efficient, quick, free of bias and consistent with the Migration Act.

Labor maintains the fast-track process is neither fast nor fair. As of February last year, the average prOcessing time from lodgement to a primary decision under the current program was 415 days for temporary protection visas and 316 days for safe haven enterprise visas.

Yet in his statutory review of the AAT, former High Court tjdge Ian Callina said the authority was an "effective and fair decision-maker in the cases with which it deals".

Immigration. Minister David Coleman argues fast-tracking is a key border security policy. According to the government, the Labor-Greens disallowance motion would result in appliCation assessments blowing out from 23 days on average, as of June this year, to 504 days. It also would place further stress on the AAT, which is heaving under an immense caseload due to a flood of appeals in the wake of a record number of visa refusals, creating a backlog of almost 62,500 people waiting for determinations.

As Rosie Lewis reported last month, there was a 257 per cent increase between July 2016 and August this year, driven by greater numbers of permanent and temporary visa refusals. The authority's fast-track system is 95 per cent faster than the standard AAT process.

A separate Labor-Greens move would block the privatisation of visa applications: Home Affairs has warned that preventing almost 1000 visa-processing staff, employed by the government, from processing visas would trigger a blowout in decision times, cripple Australia's visa system and devastate key export industries and the inflow of skilled workers.

The government also has raised concerns the medivac bill in its current form could lead to weakened borders due to the "limited nature of the security and character grounds" on which Mr Dutton can refuse a transfer.

In parliament on Wednesday, the Home Affairs Minister detailed his decision to stop the "violent father" of an Iranian asylum-seeker from accompanying her to Australia to receive medical treatment. The father's ban is the first time Mr Dutton has exercised his medivac discretion to refuse a transfer. Labor argues the medivac laws were working and did not need to be repealed by the government.

But the laws are flawed. As Mr Dutton told 2GB on Thursday, Labor had pulled off a con job and had completely lost the plot on border policy. "We know that there are people here now who've come for medical attention, are refusing medical attention, there's no one in hospital," he said, suggesting this would aid the people-smugglers' model.

When Labor weakened border controls in 2008 it led to 50,000 people arriving on 800 boats; 8000 children were placed in detention and 1200 people died at sea. The government estimates the cost to taxpayers has topped $17bn.

Mr Morrison went to the May election pledging to ditch the medivac laws; in July, the Coalition's repeal bill passed the house and was sent to a Senate committee.  On Friday the Senate's report will be handed down, but the upper house won't vote on the repeal legislation until it sits again in November. Tasmanian Jacqui Lainbie is likely to cast the deciding-vote.

For the sake of stronger borders and to avoid more deaths at sea, crossbench senators should back the Coalition's medivac repeal.

For its part, after a crushing defeat in May, Labor should return to the sensible centre, far away from the soapbox antics of Senator Keneally and the siren song of the clueless, ever-posturing Greens. Soft on borders, weak on national security may suit the ambitious Senator Keneally's "woke" personal brand, but it is not a winning formula for Mr Albanese.

From "The Australian" 18/10/2019






Unions at odds with the ALP over free-trade agreements

The old fear of foreigners taking their jobs.  If they were better workers they wouldn't be so worried.  As it is they are often better at striking than working

CFMEU leader Michael O'Connor has lashed out at Labor for backing three free-trade deals, warning that it will cause ongoing "conflict" between the ALP and the union movement, and the "parliamentary party will have to wear the fallout".

Mr O'Connor is the second leading union figure to criticise Labor after ACTU president Michele O'Neil accused the party of abandoning its platform by siding with the government on the Indonesian, Hong Kong and Peru agreements.

Mr O'Connor said the caucus decision sent a "very bad signal" to unions and workers, and guaranteed there would be rank-and-file opposition at upcoming ALP state conferences and the next national conference. "This argument is not over by the decision," Mr O'Connor told The Australian.

"This is going to be an ongoing issue of conflict between sections of the trade union movement and the parliamentary party going forward. "This issue is an iconic issue for many unions, and I think it's going to be a very problematic relationship going forward as a consequence of this. How that manifests itself I am not too sure but certainly this is not a good start to this political cyde by them making this decision. The parliamentary party will have to wear the fallout"

A special meeting of the Labor caucus signed off on the free-trade deals on Thursday. The Australian understands two Labor MPs voted against the deals and 25 supported them at a meeting of the caucus international and legal affairs committee on Wednesday, amid concerns over exploitation in the temporary skilled migration system.

There are 1000 Indonesians in Australia on working holiday visas but under the FTA that number is expected to increase to about 4000 workers in the first year and 5000 after the sixth year. There were also concerns about the investor-state dispute settlement provisions that allow foreign investors in some circumstances to sue the federal govern-ment in international tribunals if they consider new Australian laws harm their interests.

Senior Labor sources said if the party voted against the deals, the ISDS provisions would be much worse under the existing bilateral investment treaty between Aus-tralia and Indonesia that was signed in 1992.

Mr O'Connor accused the ALP of being afraid of adverse media coverage and said the Opposition should have worked with senators to pursue changes to the agreements that would address concerns About job security. "There was probably a natural majority of people in the Senate who had concerns about free trade," he said. "They should have been able to build a coalition among the senators to ensure there were concessions to improve the job security of Australian workers. The fact they didn't have a crack at it is pretty disappointing.

"I think they are scared of your newspaper. They are afraid of getting towelled up by The Australian and Fin Review as anti-trade. "Everybody in the trade union movement supports trade. We just want to make sure that if there are to be trade agreements, that they are robust, fair and don't diminish the job opportunities of Australians. It's not much to ask from a party that claims to represent workers. You would have thought it would be a natural position for them to adopt"

Ms O'Neil said the ALP had "made a mistake that will not be forgotten by Australian workers". "The decision by the ALP to side with the government is an abandonment both of their own platform and of their responsibility to stand up for fair trade deals which deliver jobs for local workers, that protect Australia's public services, sovereignty and visa workers from exploitation and that ensure international labour standards in the countries we trade with," Ms O'Neil said.

Mr O'Connor — the national secretary of the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union and brother of ALP front-bencher Brendan O'Connor, said the caucus decision appeared to be in breach of the party platform and was "certainly a breach of the clear understanding that our union and other unions thought they had with the parliamentary party".

"I think the position the party is taking on free trade is sending a very bad signal to Australian workers about where it stands on issues like job security," he said "It also sends a very bad signal to the trade union movement about trying to work together to have common positions that are about job security for people."

Asked whether he supported Anthony Albanese's leadership, Michael O'Connor said: "I am not talking about Anthony Albanese's leadership, I am talking about free-trade agreements. The party leadership has nothing to do with me. I don't elect people to leadership positions, other people do. But I support, and will always support, good public policy that advances. the interests  of our members and working people generally." He said he expected there would be opposition to the decision by unions and rank-and-file ALP members at party, conferences,

Electrical Trades union Victoria secretary Troy Gray, a close ally Of CFMEU Victorian leader John Setka, who is fighting moves by Mr Albanese to expel him  from the ALP, said millions of workers were "screaming put for politicians to stand up for them and their families".

"This is a moment where the Australian Labor Party needs competent, strong leadership," Mr Gray said. "Sadly, however, Albo has shown it's just too hard for him.

"This blatant disregard for the party's rules, democratic structures and platform is deeply insulting to the party's members, affiliated unions and supporters."

Opposition trade spokeswoman Madeleine King said Labor would back the FTAs but was concerned how the government would implement them, revealing a list of "firm commitments" to ensure Australian jobs were protected and market access for local businesses was maximised.  Labor has sought a guarantee that the FTAs protect Australian jobs; that holidaymakers are not exploited and are appropriately qualified for the work; and that the existing bilateral investment treaty with Indonesia is terminated.


UNION CONCERNS Why they object to the Indonesia, Hong Kong and Peru FTAs:

• The Indonesia. and Peru agreements expand the number of temporary workers in Australia All three include investor-state dispute settlement provisions

• All three contain trade-in-services provisions that encourage privatisation

• Neither the Hong IQ nor Indonesian agreements contains enforceable labour rights

• The government should wait until events in Hong Kong are resolved

• There has been no independent assessment of the economic cost-benefit analysis

From "The Australian" 18/10/2019






From stopping kite flying to bans on running and singing: How a proliferation of absurd rules and political correctness is turning Victoria into the ultimate Nanny State

Victorians are accustomed to being told what they can and can't do by practically everyone.

During this year's footy season, they were told they couldn't even barrack for their team the way they had done so all for of their lives.

Now they're being told they're not smart enough to get 13 out of 15 questions right to get a jet ski endorsement on their boating licence.

As of now, VicRoads has stopped booking in licence tests altogether and are insisting if Victorians want to ride a Personal Water Craft - Kawasaki owns the word Jet Ski - they need to see an accredited trainer.

So people who have diligently studied the guide book to get their marine licence now have to fork out anywhere up to $130 to be trained 'properly'.

A trainer contacted by Daily Mail Australia didn't even know the laws had gone live. But he assured it was happening.

When the Department of Transport was asked for comment, it claimed it was business as usual - for now.  'VicRoads is still taking bookings for PWC endorsement. Applicants are still able to take the knowledge-based test at VicRoads offices or with an Accredited Training Provider,' it stated.

But they're not. 

It's hardly worth complaining about.

Besides, who would listen?

You'll be told these are dangerous machines. 

In 2016 Ivan Maqi was jailed for five years after hooning in a swimmers-only zone off Port Melbourne.

Months later a 16-year-old boy was arrested after crashing his jet ski into a boat at Portarlington.

So a few idiots have spoiled it for the rest of us.

Victorians are a reckless, selfish and dangerous lot.

But thankfully there are many out there who know how to save us from ourselves. 

Victorian legislation is littered with crazy laws.

It is an offence in Victoria to fly a kite to 'the annoyance of any person' in a public place?  Yep. Maximum penalty is a $777 fine.

Singing an obscene song or ballad in a public place can attract a maximum fine of $1554 or two months’ imprisonment. Mess up again and its a $2331 fine or three months in jail. Do it again and you can cop six months in jail.

It is still a crime to loot a shipwreck, use a harnessed goat to pull a vehicle in public or correspond or do business with pirates. 

A few years back Victoria Police reported an individual was caught practicing hypnotism under the age of 21.

It is an offence in Victoria to make unreasonable noise with a vacuum cleaner after 10pm or before 7am on weekdays, and 9am on weekends.

The noise will be considered unreasonable if it can be heard in a ‘habitable’ room in any other residential property, whether they have the door or window open or closed.

Police or the council can direct you to stop making the noise for 72 hours and a breach of their direction can carry a fine of up to $18,655, with an extra fine up to $4,663 a day for continuing noise violations.

In Queensland kids can still buy a 'gel blaster' and shoot each other in the head with soft gel bullets. Pull one out in Victoria and cops are likely to put a full metal jacket bullet into your chest.

But the fun police are everywhere down south.

There are no less than a dozen criminal offences that can be committed by visitors to the MCG, from damaging a plant to moving a boundary marker.

'Interfering with the enjoyment' of the grand prix is also a crime, as is 'attempting to distract' the driver of a Formula One race car.

Schools in Melbourne have outlawed ‘tiggy’ or ‘tag’, with one primary school banning high-fives and hugging. Other schools in Victoria have banned running, and any games involving leather footballs 'to avoid head injuries'.

Boo someone at the footy these days and you'll be compared to Hitler. Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge had it spot on when asked about the topic earlier this year. 'We've become a bit of a nanny state,' Beveridge said.

The introduction of 'behavioural awareness' staff at AFL matches this season was another sign of 'nanny state' mentality. A fan was actually kicked out for calling an umpire a 'bald-headed flog'.

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett  went as far as to suggest the officers patrolling AFL crowds were ill-equipped because they appeared to be 'new arrivals'.

'I’m not being racist when I say this, but when I saw some of the footage, the people who are making judgments while they wear these authoritative coats, are not people who appear to have a great knowledge of our game,' he told 3AW's Neil Mitchell. 'And yet they make judgments about what’s correct and not correct.'

He doubled-down when asked by The Australian if he was sorry about what he had said to Neil. 'I’m worried I’m going to get thrown out of a match,' he said. 'I get very excited watching the Hawks. I love it. 'I don’t withdraw anything I’ve said whatsoever. I don’t make any apology for what I’ve said, because 99 per cent of the public would agree with what I’m saying.'

In a state where commentating footy can almost get you hanged - ask Eddie McGuire - you have to wonder what Hoges would make out of all of this?

The Paul Hogan Show just couldn't exist in Victoria today. It would be blocked faster than a pirating torrent site.

'The sketches were designed, not for you to perv on the girls, but to show what idiots we men can make of ourselves over an attractive woman,' Hoges told the ABC's Australian Story last month. 'So it is a bit sexist, and I apologise to the men.'

Can someone get Hoges on a plane?  Please? 

SOURCE  






Bosses going too far by gagging employees: Attorney-General

Devising a law that will give Christians freedom to live and express their faith without penalty is running into a lot of opposition

Attorney-General Christian Porter has rejected a key concern from big business over the Morrison government’s draft religious discrimination bill, declaring they had gone “a little bit too far” in telling employees what they can and can’t say outside work hours.

The business sector has lashed the so-called Folau clause in the draft bill, which prevents companies with annual turnovers of at least $50 million from sacking employees for sharing controversial religious views outside work unless they can prove it was necessary to avoid undesirable financial hardship.

The Australian Industry Group has previously said the provision was “unfair and unworkable” and would create significant confusion about which categories of out-of-hours conduct employers can legitimately address in order to manage their business.

As Mr Porter attempts to come up with a final bill that balances the needs and concerns of faith groups, the business sector and the LGBTI community, he said he found the business complaints “less persuasive” than other issues that had arisen in the consultation process.

“Most Australians perhaps think that businesses have gone, large businesses in particular, a little bit too far in telling them how to live their lives and what they can and can’t say in their spare time as part of their employment contract — and particularly for people who would otherwise be prevented from making what aren’t much more than statements of scripture or doctrine or belief on Facebook,” Mr Porter said.

“We think that if a big business thinks that’s absolutely necessary to protect their finances then they should be able to show that before they’re able to do that.”

Mr Porter flagged amendments to the draft bill that could ensure religious hospitals and aged care facilities were protected for acting in accordance with their faith.

Under clause 10 of the draft laws, religious bodies “may act in accordance with their faith” and do not discriminate against a person if their conduct may reasonably be regarded as being in accordance with their doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings.

A religious body that “engages solely or primarily in commercial activities”, such as a hospital or aged care home, is excluded, which has been a chief concern of religious groups.

“In our draft, it did not include hospitals and age care at first instance, because we wanted to learn more about how those organisations actually operate, and we have learnt a great deal during the consultations that I’ve conducted,” Mr Porter told the ABC’s Insiders program.

“There are going to have to be some refinements of the drafting in that area. But those exemptions can’t extend too far, clearly.”

In its submission on the draft bill, Ai Group said businesses needed to be able to impose reasonable requirements on employees with regard to social media and regular media activity to prevent their reputations, brands and other legitimate commercial interests being damaged.

“Businesses do not impose these requirements lightly. It is often in response to past circumstances where an employee’s conduct has created serious detriment to the business in some way,” its submission states.

SOURCE  

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

Labourers working on Victoria’s West Gate Tunnel raking in $110,000 for 36-hour weeks

Union rip-off that reduces what can be built

Labourers working on Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel are earning up to $200,000 a year, the Master Builders Association of Victoria has claimed. According to the industry group, young, “entry-level” tradies working on the project are raking in $110,000 per year — in exchange for a 36-hour week.

But those with more experience who work the industry-standard 56-hour week are making a staggering $200,000 per annum.

“Site allowance” payments on the project have also soared to $9.25 per hour, which pushes up a labourer’s wage by more than $24,000 each year.

Master Builders Association CEO Rebecca Casson told news.com.au out-of-control wages hurt everyday Australians.

“Big projects paying unsustainably high wages come at a painfully serious cost that’s often unclear to taxpayers, who foot the bill,” she said.

“That infrastructure is critical for Victoria, but a sustainable wage framework means we can also afford to build schools, aged care facilities and hospitals that make a huge difference in the lives of Victorians.”

She also told The Age workers on the project were getting paid more than many professional employees. “An entry-level labourer, working no overtime, on a six-figure salary is probably getting paid more than a teacher or other workers,” Ms Casson told the publication.

“It’s these incredibly high site allowances that really push wages up; these are payable regardless of any of the environmental factors on site.”

The organisation claimed the incredibly high wages were the result of a deal struck by the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) — and that taxpayers were paying the price.

“ … eventually the cost is actually borne by the people of Victoria because the costs are passed on,” she told The Age.

“The economic health of Victoria depends on the building industry … and we would like to remind people of how many projects that improve lives, like child care or aged care facilities, could be built if we had a sustainable wage framework in place.”

According to the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures, the average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time adults in Australia in May 2019 was $1634, or $1608 for Victorians specifically.

That means even the most junior labourers on the site are earning well above the average Australian’s salary, while some are earning more than double.

Australians have reacted to the out-of-control wages with shock and outrage, with many taking to social media to voice their frustrations.

“This is madness,” one Twitter user posted, while another said it was an example of “typical government contract overspending and lack of oversight”.

However, others argued there was nothing wrong with being rewarded for hard work. “Sweet gig if you can get it …” a Twitter user posted, while another said: “Good on them it’s none of your business what someone else earns.”

But despite the backlash, Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan argued transport building jobs were helping the Victorian economy.

“Projects like the West Gate Tunnel, Metro Tunnel and level crossing removal are essential transport projects that contribute to Victoria’s economic growth,” Ms Allen told The Age.

The West Gate Tunnel is a 5km toll road being constructed in Melbourne, which will link the West Gate Freeway at Yarraville with the Port of Melbourne and CityLink at Docklands via twin tunnels beneath Yarraville.

It is expected to open in 2022, and the construction site of the $6.7 billion project is one of the biggest in the country at the moment.

It is being constructed by a consortium of John Holland and CPB Contractors.

SOURCE  






ALP turns up central beating

LABOR'S last-minute move to declare a "climate emergency" has sparked anger and accusations from within of virtue-signalling and blowing up its chances in central Queensland.

Despite not having an emissions policy, federal Labor yesterday revealed it would attempt to declare a climate emergency in Parliament on Monday. It left Labor vulnerable, with the Prime Minister Scott Morrison immediately saying it meant "the full shutdown of all coal mining".

One Labor MP said that it was "motherhood stuff", which left them open to attack from the Government. Another prominent Labor politician said that declaring a climate emergency would "go down like a lead balloon" in central Queensland.  If it wasn't already hard enough to win seats in Queensland, this will put more lead in our saddle bags," the source said. "If we spend our time virtue-signalling like this, my fear is we'll continue not to win seats in the state."

Labor has been battling to reconnect with central and north Queensland after its electoral wipeout in May, partially brought on by its rhetoric on the Adani mine and the coal industry.

Queensland's Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk stood by her comments from last week when she said she would not declare a climate emergency, citing instead her government's ambitious 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030.

Mackay State Labor MP Julieanne Gilbert said it wasn't necessary to declare a climate emergency "because we've done so much work to work towards having the right balance of industry and having the right balance also in the power that we produce for Queenslanders", she said.

Labor's motion to declare a climate emergency does not define the emergency or what action needs to be taken, other than meeting existing Paris targets.

'Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese yesterday was unable to say what Labor's climate change or emissions policy was, only saying one would be developed. Senator Matt Canavan said it shows the ALP has learnt nothing from the federal election, in which there were huge swings against Labor in central and north Queensland.

Mr Morrison said that Labor was engaged in a "climate fight club" over what its policy should be.
   
From the Brisbane "Courier Mail" 16/10/2019






BHP holds out against activist push

BHP chief Andrew Mackeniie has held firm over the mining giant's membership of mining industry associations in the face of pressure from activist share-holders to quit groups seen as opposing action on climate change. Speaking at of BHP's annual shareholder meeting in London on Thursday night, Mr Mackenzie defended BHP's membership of groups such as the Minerals Council of Australia as the BHP board faced down shareholder resolutions aimed at pressuring the company to quit the group and associated bodies such as Australia's Coal21.

In early October the share-holder push — lead by the Australasian  Centre for Corporate Responsibility and backed by the Church of England Pensions Board — attracted the support of one of BHP's biggest share-holders, Aberdeen Standard Investments. Aberdeen holds about 32 per cent of BHP stock and took the unusual step of speaking out ahead of London shareholder meeting on a resolution calling on BHP to withdraw from groups that lobby for policies inconsistent with global climate change limitation goals — a resolution opposed by the BHP board — saying its research suggested industry lobby groups were a major obstacle to political action on climate change.

But Mr Mackenzie used his address to shareholders to defend BHP's membership of industry groups, saying the company's participation helps it "contribute to the more global solutions also required for a more progressive world".

"For example, I lead a task force across the mining industry, and its supply chains, to make our vehicles greener and safer. "This typifies the vast bulk of the work of all the trade associations we join and we work tirelessly to make sure this kind of work is their major and predominant role," he said

"Mining trade associations, especially, deserve our full engagement "The move to renewables demands a multi-fold increase in the prduction of metals in the dcades ahead, which makes mining one of the most vital components of our low-carbon future."

BHP has said it is again reviewing its membership of industry associations, and has made it clear that its membership of Coal 21— a group originally set up to back research into carbon capture technology but which bankrolled pro-coal advertising campaigns — would end if the body does not focus on its original remit.

The comments come as BHP board set a deadline for the approval of its giant Canadian potash project, a key growth project, as the mining giant's operations had a soft start to the financial year.

BHP said on Thursday its board would make a decision on the $US5.7bn Jansen potash project by February 2021, authorising another $US344m in development capital to prepare the deep underground mine ahead of a final investment decision.

While BHP boss Andrew Mackenzie has consistently pointed to the giant fertiliser mine as a key growth plank for the mining giant, positioning the company to counter slowing growth in its other commodities, the value of the project has divided analysts and investors over its cost and whether BHP risks building the massive mine into an oversupplied market.

BHP declared the decision date as its existing operations put in a slightly softer quarter's performance in the September period, which the company attributed largely to planned maintenance across its major operations.

The comments came as new production figures showed total output from BHP's Pilbara iron ore operations fell 3 per cent from the June quarter to 69 million tonnes as it carried out maintenance at its Port Hedland port operations.

Queensland metallurgical coal output fell dramatically compared to the June quarter, down 21 per cent to 16 million tonnes, due to planned major plant shut-downs at its Goonyella, Peak Downs and Caval Ridge — operated in a joint venture with Japan's Mitsubishi.

Thermal coal output also fell as BHP high-grades its Mt Arthur mine in NSW, down 34 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 4 million tonnes. On a quarter-on-quarter basis only BHP's Escondida copper mine and Caton thermal coal mine lifted production for the period, with total production down 3 per cent for the period on a copper-equivalent basis.

BHP shares closed Wednesday at $36.04. Meanwhile Mr Mackenzie said the global economy was being pressured by trade tensions which were "weighing on consumer confidence and have the potential to impact demand" for BHP's key commodities.

"Longer term our view remains positive. Industrialisation and urbanisation, along with decarbonisation and electrification, will generate demand for energy, metals, and fertilisers for decades to come," Mr Mackenzie said.

From "The Australian" 18/10/2019



    

Emu oil makes a comeback

Old-fashioned Australians have been using it to alleviate sking and joint problems for years.  I had some myself years ago

Australia's emu farmers are ramping up production of oil, with demand increasing as more people become aware of the product's medicinal qualities.

Veteran emu farmer Wayne Piltz said the market has grown significantly in recent years, but production has not risen with it.

Mr Piltz, now the only emu farmer in South Australia, currently has about 1,000 chicks at his Moorook farm in the state's Riverland region.

"It's just got to the stage where there's a lot of it being exported, a lot of it's going into local products, into cosmetics and therapeutic goods," Mr Piltz said. "We're basically short of oil throughout Australia.

"I know the other suppliers over in Victoria, they're struggling to have enough oil, so it's in pretty good demand … which keeps the price very attractive for us."

Although Mr Piltz breeds the birds, he does not process the oil himself, instead sending his stock to a facility in north-west Victoria.

He expects to send up to 400 birds to the interstate facility in coming weeks. "It's an added expense to get birds over there for slaughter, but it's certainly worthwhile," he said. "Because the slaughterhouse at Wycheproof has also got a rendering and refinery facility to do the oil."

The benefits of using emu oil

Postdoctoral medical researcher through the University of Adelaide Dr Suzanne Mashtoub said medical trials have showed promising results for the reparative qualities of emu oil.

"It's been most effective in terms of wound-healing and repair of the intestinal lining," she said.

"Emu oil has been used for thousands of years by Indigenous Australian people, and they used it topically for wound-healing and for treatment of inflamed joints and burns."

Dr Mashtoub said the oil has high levels of omega-9, which is an anti-inflammatory fatty acid.

"Initially, it was thought that [the oil] was predominantly used for it's anti-inflammatory properties, but we also discovered that it has antioxidant properties," she said.

"There is evidence that's been published that emu oil is efficacious in psoriasis and eczema."

Research into the medicinal qualities of emu oil are ongoing, and this year will see a world-first clinical trial on humans take place in South Australia.

Dr Mashtoub will lead the study at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, and said the patients in the trial will be children with ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease.

She said once these trials are complete, doctors can begin prescribing doses of emu oil for medication.

"At this stage we don't make any recommendations in terms of a dose that [patients] can take," Dr Mashtoub said.

"We simply say we have very promising results from our pre-clinical studies and we are hoping that will translate into the clinical setting in humans."

Talyala Emu Oil director Mia Murphy agreed, and said her customers use the oil to help manage skin conditions and dryness.  "Most of our customers use emu oil to help with inflammatory conditions such as arthritis and joint pain," Ms Murphy said.

Despite demand increasing and awareness for the product growing, Ms Murphy said there is still room for the market to develop further. "Where we see those surges in demand are when there's a bit of publicity," she said.

Mr Piltz agreed, and said producers can also help tell the public about the oil's health benefits.

"It's one of the only natural oils that will not clog the pores of the skin, it's got very good dermal penetration, so it goes into the deep layers of skin where it's beneficial," Mr Piltz said. "[The oil] has very good therapeutic and skin repair properties, medicinal properties."

Mr Piltz hopes to increase his emu production to keep up with the demand for oil. "We've got facilities here that we can breed up to, well 600 or 700 birds or maybe more a year," he said. "We're not up to that stage yet, but it wouldn't take long.

"We like to hopefully average between 8.5 and say 9 or 10 kilos of fat per bird...if we can average over 8 [kilograms], we're happy."

Ms Murphy said she hopes more producers will be encouraged to enter the industry for sustainability reasons. "As farming goes, emus are actually a really sustainable crop, they don't take a lot of resources," she said.

Despite this, the drought has had some impact on emu numbers in recent years. "It depends on the drought conditions … this year, 2019, there was a very, very small harvest of emu oil just because we didn't have that many birds," Ms Murphy said.

"Only a minimal amount of birds were hatched because we couldn't get the grain for feeding."

But she said it is looking promising for the years to come. "[A Victorian producer] is really, really increasing the amount of of chicks he will hatch out for next spring," Ms Murphy said.  "Producers in Victoria are absolutely anticipating that the industry is going to continue to grow.

"We would love to see some of those farmers who are struggling with their current crops, look at their land and go, 'right, yeah, we could run emus here'."

Mr Piltz also had high hopes for his farming future. "I hope [the industry] continues to build, and I can't see why it won't, because you're utilising a native ingredient from Australia," he said. "Our biggest native bird has produced some very good products for cosmetics and therapeutics and eating."

SOURCE  

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