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Thursday, 15 June

21:10

Its Hard When You Have To Say, Well Done, Amanda Stoker! The AIM Network

Sometimes its hard to write things without sounding like a complete wanker Although when I think about it, theres nothing wrong with being a wanker and it could be considered consensual sex with someone I love Certainly weve seen a bit of that from some people in politics lately But seriously, when I write about

The post Its Hard When You Have To Say, Well Done, Amanda Stoker! appeared first on The AIM Network.

17:10

Only One of His Kind The AIM Network

In Praise of a Departed Transcendent Writer By James Moore Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. Rainer Maria Rilke Cormac McCarthy has died

The post Only One of His Kind appeared first on The AIM Network.

16:24

Middle East Eye strongly reviews The Palestine Laboratory Antony Loewenstein

My new book, The Palestine Laboratory, has been very positively reviewed in the UK-based outlet, Middle East Eye, by Long Road Magazine co-founder and journalist Patrick O. Strickland:

As the Israeli colonisation of Palestine plods forward at a breakneck pace and its own facade of democracy trembles, Loewensteins book stands out as a new addition to the pantheon of important works of political reportage about Israels role in the world, and what toll especially for Palestinians that role may take.

Read the whole thing: The Palestine Laboratory: How technology helps Israel cosy up to the worlds autocrats | Middle East

The post Middle East Eye strongly reviews The Palestine Laboratory appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

16:00

The Katy Gallagher Higgins witch-hunt: Australian media's cognitive dissonance Independent Australia

The Katy Gallagher Higgins witch-hunt: Australian media's cognitive dissonance

Suffice to say, if Katy Gallagher needs to resign over Brittany Higgins sexual assault allegations or misleading the parliament over this issue, she would need to take a number and join the queue.

*CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses rape

And Senator Gallagher should take along a book or two to read, as the waiting line of people who apparently knew about the allegations but remained mute is comprised of, though not necessarily limited to, a long list of Morrison Government representatives and staff members, and Parliament House staff who were initially informed of the alleged crime.

However, instead of the mainstream media cabal harassing any or all of the above like crazed paparazzi on Princess Di duty, demanding to know what they knew and when, and why they chose not to act upon that information, before calling for their resignation and/or their heads, as they have done with Senator Gallagher, there was neer a peep for years.

Certainly, there were no magic leaks prior to the 2019 Federal Election, when such information may have come in handy for voters.

Now, following the dismissal of Lehrmanns rape trial, this same media entourage, the one that turned a blind eye to the role of Morrison Government members and staffers in this matter not to mention the already established times both Morrison and members of his Cabinet misled...

15:50

Israeli repressive tech invades our privacy Antony Loewenstein

A key section in my new book, The Palestine Laboratory, is on the role of Israeli spyware and hacking tools. Israeli company Cellebrite is a major player and it has a large, mostly unheralded presence in Australia. Declassified Australia recently ran my investigation into the companys role in Australia (alongside an edited book extract.)

Heres my interview with The Briefing podcast in Australia, conducted by Antoinette Lattouf, on Israeli spyware and serious questions about how such tools challenge the very concept of privacy:

 

The post Israeli repressive tech invades our privacy appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

15:22

Climate Change: Picking a side? No Right Turn

Newsroom has a scoop: Aotearoa has finally picked a side in climate negotiations:

Climate Change Minister James Shaw says New Zealand has finally taken a side in a global diplomatic battle over the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

In an interview with Newsroom, James Shaw said a range of countries including the "petro-states" have been attempting to undermine the global climate accord since it was signed in 2015. Under a new diplomatic strategy seeking to preserve the hope of limiting warming to 1.5C, New Zealand will fight back against those efforts.

A rough outline of the approach is available in a briefing from officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to Shaw, obtained by Newsroom under the Official Information Act. Titled "Fighting every tonne", the new strategy positions New Zealand as a leader in pushing for global emissions reductions, rather than a fast follower or a consensus-builder.

It links in the findings of recent IPCC reports, that global emissions must peak well before the middle of the decade if warming is to be halted at 1.5C.

This is good, if it actually happens, and if it means an end to the traditional special pleading for farm emissions and new accounting tricks for forestry. But those agendas are fairly ingrained in MFAT, which traditionally sees itself as representing noisy and entrenched export industries rather than actual people, so it remains to be seen. Still, its something to be cautiously optimistic over. I want this country to fight for a shared future for humanity, rather than drag us down into apocalypse.

At the same time, it would be nice if they also took that "fighting every tonne" slogan and applied it domesticly, to oil and gas permits, to big polluters, to ETS settings, to fossil cars, and to the dairy industry. These industries are being allowed to continue, or even to expand; the government needs to fight every tonne there too. Because once the carbon - or worse, the methane - is in the atmosphere, its much harder to take out. Better to not emit it in the first place. And while there has been some progress, the government is also engaged in systematic self-sabotage of its own climate policy, seemingly afraid that it might actually result in the change we need. That's not good enough. The government needs to take this challenge seriously, stop that self-sabotage, make emissions reduction its key goal, and actually do it. Otherwise, they're just so much more hot air - and worse, on the wrong side.

15:15

How Israel enforces global borders Antony Loewenstein

The Long Road Magazine is a great, European-based outlet reporting on borders and borderlands.

I was recently interviewed by one of its co-founders, Patrick O. Strickland, about my new book, The Palestine Laboratory, with a particular focus on Israeli tech maintaining borders (in the EU and on the US/Mexico).

The wonderful sketch of me, published alongside the interview, is by Azza Abbaro.

Read the whole interview here: In Conversation: Antony Loewenstein on Israeli Technology on Global Borders Long Road Magazine

The post How Israel enforces global borders appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

15:10

Dumpling Wars The AIM Network

The Ukrainian blonde had the smell of trouble. She had perched herself, along with her mute friend, in a restaurant across from the famed South Melbourne Market. On arriving at the modish, glorious bit of real estate known as Tipsy Village, a Polish establishment famed for accented French cuisine, she shrieked: Why do you have

The post Dumpling Wars appeared first on The AIM Network.

08:46

Who needs PwC when consultancy work could be done more efficiently in-house? Pigs Fly Newspaper

Who needs PwC when consultancy work could be done more efficiently in-house?

Shutterstock

Emmanuel Josserand, University of Technology Sydney

The Senate inquiry into the PwC scandal has prompted the New South Wales Legislative Council to launch an inquiry into the NSW governments use of management consulting services.

While the PwC case highlights confidentiality risks and conflicts of interests, the Legislative Council inquiry targets a potential lack of value for money and the negative impact on the capability development of the public service.

As consulting expenditure by government has risen globally, so have questions about the efficiency of such expenditures. DIY consulting the creation of internal consulting teams within the public service can contribute to reducing consulting costs while future-proofing public service management.

Debates on the negative impact of consulting for the public service rage in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron faced severe criticism during his presidential campaign regarding the use of consultants by his government.

In Australia, the costs from the big four consulting f...

08:00

U.S.-China relations sink further after naval near-miss Independent Australia

U.S.-China relations sink further after naval near-miss

A recent close call with a Chinese warship during a U.S.-Canada military exercise in the South China Sea has been called out by China as a 'provocation' by America, writes Vijay Prashad.

ON 3 JUNE 2023, naval vessels from the United States and Canada conducted a joint military exercise in the South China Sea a Chinese warship (PRC LY 132) overtook the U.S. guided-missile destroyer (USS Chung-Hoon) and sped across its path.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command released a statement saying that the Chinese ship:

'... executed manoeuvres in an unsafe manner.'

The spokesperson from Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbinresponded that the United States:

...made provocations first and China responded [and that the] actions taken by the Chinese military are completely justified, lawful, safe and professional.

This incident is one of many in these waters, where the United States conducts what it calls Freedom of Navigation (FON) exercises.

Freedom of navigation

These FON actions are given legitimacy by 'Article 87(1)(a)' of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea. China is a signatory to the Convention, but the United States has refused to ratify it. U.S. warships use the FON argument without legal rights or any...

07:50

In which the pond must roam in search of whataboutism and entertainment ... loon pond

 

The pond was startled to read John Buckley in Crikey, Publishers enjoy a trust bump as more Australians take up digital subscriptions ...

Among other oddities came these conflicting notions: Australians are willing to pay to access high-quality and trustworthy online news ...", followed by "The most subscribed news service, according to the report, was The Australian..."

There was a coda, "...they are concerned about algorithms and editors choosing news to match their interests and fear they are missing out on information and a diversity in viewpoints, Park said, but the existential absurdity remained, the pond had briefly gone down a very large rabbit hole with Alice, and the pond felt even keenly the need to go ask Alice when the pond looked at the top of the digital edition ...




That's "high-quality and trustworthy online news"

On what forbidden bizarro world alternative planet?

Petulant Peta ranting about the Voice, and the increasingly grotesque Dame Slap doing a grotesque projection and ranting about the grotesque, while the rest of the reptiles rant on and on about the Lehrmann matter?

So many red cards in such a short time. The pond refuses to indulge the reptiles, because their idea of news is a crocodile death roll.

The pond, for balance, might note that the keen Keane has returned to Crikey and offered up Political games and the exemplary punishment of Brittany Higgins... (paywall)

And earlier Michael Bradley had offered I would not walk a mile in Brittany Higgins shoes, with this as the tag: What can we learn from the Brittany Higgins media debacle? That empathy should be our north star in navigating such stories.

Empathy? So that's what they're calling the crocodile death roll these days ... and it didn't get any better below the fold...

07:25

Political games and the exemplary punishment of Brittany Higgins Pigs Fly Newspaper

Political games and the exemplary punishment of Brittany Higgins

The campaign to destroy Higgins continues, fuelled by leaked texts and deep anger that she has dared embarrass powerful institutions.

Even by the standards of Coalition-News Corp campaigns against Labor, the conspiracy theory about Brittany Higgins and her partner David Sharaz working with Labor to weaponise Higgins allegations of sexual assault in the office of then-defence mini...

00:15

RESIDENTIAL AGED CARE IN AUSTRALIA: is push is about to meet shove over the next four years? North Coast Voices

 

Yes, an Australia-wide review of the residential aged care system was long overdue given the ongoing train wreck which started in the Howard Government era and continued through to the Morrison Government era and hasnt yet come to a complete halt. 


Although the Albanese Government's 20 per cent increase ($3.9 billion) in federal government funding for residential aged care and home care in 2022-23 was a promising sign. As was the $23 billion over the 4 years from 2022-23 to improve aged care infrastructure and services that provide support to older Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people and to older individuals from diverse communities and regional areas.


Although the fact remains that between 2012 to 2022 bed numbers in residential aged care facilities were effectively being privatised and creating risk with:

  • government managed beds down from 10,825 to 8,170;

  • Not-for profit managed beds up from 107,410 to 120,053;

  • privately managed beds up from 66,335 to 91,658; and

  • the number of residential aged care providers falling to just 811 business entities by 2022.

...

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Wednesday, 14 June

17:25

The allure of ethno-nationalism Antony Loewenstein

Progressive International is a major, global organisation dedicated to justice and accountability.

In its weekly magazine, The Internationalist, Ive been interviewed about my new book, The Palestine Laboratory, where I talk about Israels appeal as an ethno-nationalist state. Plus theres an exclusive, edited book extract that examines the EUs use and abuse of Israeli drones in the Mediterranean.

Read the whole thing here: The Internationalist Issue 31 Antony Loewenstein

The post The allure of ethno-nationalism appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

16:00

Africa Day soured by aggression in Canberra Independent Australia

Africa Day soured by aggression in Canberra

An act of aggression marred what should have been a peaceful celebration of Africa's relationship with Australia in Canberra recently, writes Kamal Fadel.

IT WAS TO BE an event that celebrated the best of Africa and that continents rich, promising relationship with Australia. Instead, an ugly scene of aggression redolent of Moroccos illegal and brutal annexation of Western Sahara resulted and was the subject of media reports.

I had been invited to Africa Day held recently in Canberra, by the dean of Africas diplomatic corps in Australia, South African High Commissioner, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk. South Africa had a long struggle to be free of the evil of apartheid and identifies with the people of Western Sahara, Africas last colony. 

Africa Day is intended to acknowledge the successes of the Organisation of African Unity (now the AU) from its creation in 1963, in the fight against colonialism and the progress that Africa has made while reflecting upon the common challenges that the continent faces in a global environment.

The Saharawi liberation movement, the Frente Polisario, was first recognised as a liberation movement in the context of a decolonising Africa during the 1970s by the OAU Council of Ministers meeting held in Mauritius in June 1976. The UN General Assembly also recognised the Polisario as the representative of the people of Western Sahara in resolution 34/79 of 21 November 1979.

To this day, the United Nations in its commitment to deliver a self-determination referendum to the people of Weste...

12:55

Greens deputy leader Dr Mehreen Faruqi launches The Palestine Laboratory Antony Loewenstein

Last week in Sydney, I launched my new book, The Palestine Laboratory, at Gleebooks to a packed, overflowing audience.

The atmosphere was electric with a real appetite for hear about the reality of Israels occupation being a major export business.

I was introduced by Deputy Greens Leader, Senator Dr Mehreen Faruqi, who gave a powerful and insightful speech.

With her permission, Im posting it here because it deserves a wide readership.

Heres a teaser:

Today, it issuch a privilege to launch another masterpiece by Antony Lowenstein The Palestine Laboratory How Israel exports the technology of occupation around the world.

Even just reading out the title sends shivers down my spine. To think that Palestinians are being used as test subjects, as effectively guinea pigs for Israels military weaponry and technology of surveillance, espionage, cyber warfare, phone-hacking, and house demolition gives you a window into the toxic ideology that drives settler-colonisation, oppression, violence and apartheid.

Read the whole thing: The Palestine Laboratory launch

The post Greens deputy leader Dr Mehreen Faruqi launches The Palestine Laboratory appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

12:18

Staff numbers - FOI Section Requests or responses matching your saved search

Response by Department of Veterans' Affairs to Alan ASHMORE on .

Awaiting classification.

Dear Mr Ashmore,   I refer to your request for an internal review of LEX 56618 to the Department of Veterans Affairs (Department) LEX 58231....

12:00

Novak Djokovic is larger than tennis Independent Australia

Novak Djokovic is larger than tennis

Despite being ranked as the world's best male tennis player, Novak Djokovic's personality has made him headline news for many other reasons, writes Dr Binoy Kampmark.

THE VICTORY of Novak Djokovic in the latest French Open had the usual mixed reception in Australia. While Australians pretend to like radicals, larrikins and the occasional deviant, the contrary is true. Tight-buttoned, properly behaved and conformist to the point of invisibility, the boringly predictable are always preferred. You can rely on them.

Even in Melbourne, a town where his following is strong (he has won ten Australian Opens), the callback circuit on the local ABC radio station qualified, ignored and even denigrated the Serbs latest achievement. At best, 23 grand slams, making him the most accomplished player in the open era, had to be seen alongside other caveats. He did not, one caller churlishly insisted, do the grand slam in one year, twice!

Another, showing the sort of maturity demanded in some spectators, insisted that a French Open without Rafael Nadal was not a tournament worth seeing. Even the radio host joined in, regretting that it had to be Novak getting his nose in front.

Of the big three who have dominated tennis for almost two decades Roger Federer, Nadal and Djokovic the Serbian has tended to be seen as one playing catch-up; his talent formidable, colossal, yet limping behind the anointed ones. But the views of him as a player have rarely remained technical or specific to his craft. There is always something else about him that irritates and enrages, necessitating his diminishing. He does not play the role of what might be termed the nice person.

Cathal Kelly, writing for The Globe and Mail, wistfully recall...

11:51

Never More Relevant: Ted Kaczynski, Technology and Trauma The AIM Network

Henry A. Murray has much to answer for. Between 1959 and 1961, the Harvard psychology academic, as the leader of a team of equally unprincipled academics, was responsible for conducting an CIA-funded experiment most unethical on twenty-two undergraduates. The individuals in question were pseudonymised. One particularly youthful figure, named Lawful, was the mathematically gifted Theodore

The post Never More Relevant: Ted Kaczynski, Technology and Trauma appeared first on The AIM Network.

11:20

Israeli spyware undermines global democracy Antony Loewenstein

A key part of my new book, The Palestine Laboratory, revolves around Israeli spyware.

US outlet In These Times has published an edited extract from this section.

Heres a taster:

Griselda Triana is a Mexican journalist, and human rights activist whose husband, Javier Valdez Crdenas, was slain by a drug cartel on May 15, 2017, in Culiacn, the capital of Sinaloa state. Valdez was the cofounder of the media outlet Riodoce, which investigated corruption and crime, and wrote about the bloody drug war. He paid the ultimate pricea grenade was thrown into his office in 2009. He had received death threats in the months before his murder, but he bravely continued his groundbreaking work despite the threats.

Ten days after his killing, Triana started receiving unexpected text messages on her mobile phone. She had no idea that they were suspicious until almost one year later, when it was discovered that there had been attempts to infiltrate her phone with the Pegasus system, a phone-hacking tool sold by Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, almost certainly by elements within the Mexican state. Before Javiers murder I did not know that we were being monitored, she told me. Javier had never informed her about the possibility of phone hacking, and she presumed that he was taking precautions for his safety. Javier knew about the risks of reporting criminal activities, but even so he was aware that someone had to document the atrocities of criminal organizations, she said.

Read the whole thing: How Israeli Spyware Endangers Activists Across the Globe In These Times

The post Israeli spyware undermines global democracy appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

10:59

Climate Change: Another failed auction No Right Turn

The quarterly ETS auction was held today, and like March's one, it failed, with no bids above the confidential reserve. As a result, another 4.475 million tons of carbon has gone unsold, and the government will have quarter of a billion dollars less to fund decarbonisation. And its now looking like a real possibility that we'll see millions of tons of units unsold and cancelled at the end of the year (which is good for the climate).

Along with this collapse in price has come a collapse in bid volumes. Before 2023, ETS auctions were always oversubscribed, some massively so. The bid volumes for last year were 11.7, 10.5, 6.4, and 6.1 million tons (it dropped after June because that's when the CCR was exhausted). But in March, bidders wanted just 4.9 million tons (of a possible 4.475, plus 8 million units in the cost containment reserve), and today they wanted only 3 million. The clear implication is that Labour's December 2022 decision to keep ETS prices low has driven investors from the market and crushed demand (the upcoming election and National driving uncertainty about climate policy likely won't be helping either). But the ETS isn't meant to be about investors - its polluters who need credits to meet their surrender obligations. And if they're not even trying to buy, then that suggests that they have plenty of credits already, that we are overallocating the auctions, and that we can cut those volumes. And the government should take this opportunity to do so.

10:29

Discussing the Afghan war with Andrew Quilty Antony Loewenstein

Photojournalist Andrew Quilty spent years reporting in Afghanistan and published a book about his experiences, August in Kabul. I reviewed it for the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age in August 2022.

My interview with Quilty, conduced at the Newcastle Writers Festival late March 2023, covers the war itself, the return of the Taliban and the role and responsibility of conflict reporting:

 

The post Discussing the Afghan war with Andrew Quilty appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

09:38

TRT World interview on Assange and prospects of freedom Antony Loewenstein

Talking on global broadcaster TRT Worlds The Newsmakers program on the case of Wikileaks Julian Assange, the prospects of his freedom and the vital role of Declassified Australias contributor writer, Kellie Tranter, and her FOI work around the case.

The post TRT World interview on Assange and prospects of freedom appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

08:00

Foxtel launches new service to compete with streaming giants Independent Australia

Foxtel launches new service to compete with streaming giants

Foxtel has unveiled a new digital streaming smart TV in a bid to compete with some of the more popular platforms on offer. Paul Budde reports.

FOXTEL IS ADDING yet another service to its range of pay TV and video streaming services. This time, they will introduce the Sky Glass smart TV service that was launched by its sister organisation, Sky UK, in 2021. The company has indicated that it will operate this service from a separate company. It aims to compete with leading streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon.

Foxtel is 65 per cent owned by News Corp and 35 per cent owned by Telstra. It is worth mentioning that Rupert Murdoch no longer owns Sky UK, as he sold it in 2018 to the American telecoms and media giant, Comcast. Comcast was interested in the technology used by Sky, which likely helped them develop Sky Glass.

Over the years, Foxtel has moved further away from its very lucrative pay TV service. Confronted with fierce competition from Netflix and others, it has made several attempts to enter the video streaming market, albeit reluctantly, trying to avoid cannibalising its pay TV service. However, most of the time, the new services offered were priced well above its competitors.

What has consistently saved Foxtel, in the end, has been its sports services (NBA, NFL, NRL, AFL, F1, cricket, Supercars, UFC and football). The majority of Foxtel pay TV customers were willing to pay a premium price to have access to their favourite sporting games.

The most successful alternative service Foxtel has offered is Kayo, a live video streaming service aimed at sporting ev...

07:52

Australia's Misery Index might not be as high as during the Global Financial Crisis or the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic but it's at a less than comfortable level in 2023 North Coast Voices



At its meeting on 6 June 2023 the Reserve Bank of Australia Board decided to increase the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.10 per cent.


Banks and other financial institutions are adjusting their mortgage & loan investment rates upwards again and the ABS Cost Price Index (CPI) remains stubbornly high for the category labelled Food & non-alcoholic beverages.


This was the twelfth cash rate rise in the thirteen months from 4 May 2022 to 7 June 2023.


The inflation rate is hovering at 7.0, while everyone hopes that by the end of June it will stand at 6.25.


The fact that it appears inflationary pressures might still be with us in 2024 doesnt make for happy little Vegemites in the average Australian household.


This general dark mood can be measured using the Misery Index. An economic concept created in the1960s by Okun and further refined by Barro and Hanke.

...

07:38

In which the pond thinks of a mid-winter break, because enough already with the obsessive-compulsive scribbling - not even a productive groaning can redeem the reptiles ...outing by a returning "Ned" or a loon pond

 


Don't be surprised if the pond fails to appear tomorrow. The pond is off to an indictment party, and who knows what might happen there, and truth to tell, the pond is now so jaded by the reptiles' ongoing obsession with the Lehrmann matter and their blatant desire to politicise it, and for Dame Slap to use it in the manner of a vengeful harridan, that the pond feels the need for a mid-winter break.

Just look at the top of the digital page this morning and marvel that there are punters who would pay for this kind of monomaniacal level of ongoing, never-ending obsessive compulsive scribbling ... aided and abetted by the ABC recycling every reptile talking point ...






Um, Ellie, top criminal barristers might talk rubbish, but perhaps you should widen your conversational horizons ...

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one in five Australian women and one in 20 men have experienced sexual assault since the age of 15. Most assaults occur in private spaces, and most are against women by a man known to them.
Yet, almost nine in ten women (87%) do not contact the police.
Many are worried their experience wont be taken seriously. They also worry they will face repercussions, whether personally, professionally or from the perpetrator themselves, if they report the assault.

Suckered in again, with Ellie probably correct. Who needs another case as an example of not being taken seriously and turned into a political football, when there's already enough reasons to go around?

It wasn't any better in the commentariat section ...


...

06:00

A matter of conscience? Jerry Singirok, Sandline and Bougainville "IndyWatch Feed Politics.pg"

In May 1989, PNGs Bougainville copper mine was permanently shut down after disgruntled landowners supported by the Bougainville Revolutionary Army began sabotaging critical mine infrastructure. A secessionist war ensued until 2001 when the signing of the Bougainville Peace Agreement ended it. In the intervening years lawlessness beset Bougainville, government facilities were destroyed, basic services evaporated, chaos and factionalism took hold, and hundreds lost their lives.

In August 1994, Julius Chan, upon becoming prime minister, vowed to end the crisis before the 1997 general election. His strategy was mixed work with the Bougainville transitional government, pursue peace negotiations, and step-up military operations. But the secessionists remained resolute on independence. In October 1995, Chan appointed Jerry Singirok commander of the army, and tasked him to defeat the rebels. When Singirok, like others before him, failed, Chan turned to a private military contractor, Sandline International, for help. The Sandline contract, negotiated in secret and worth US$36 million, was signed on 31 January 1997.

Foreign mercenaries and an elite special forces unit (SFU), which Singirok created, were to eliminate the rebels and reopen the copper mine. On 18 February 1997, as preparations were underway to execute Operation Oyster, an Australian journalist Mary-Louise OCallaghan exposed the Sandline contract. Chan denied it until Singirok, in an address to the nation on Radio Kalang on 17 March 1997, told listeners he had unilaterally aborted it. Singirok was sacked that night.

In the same address he called on Chan, his deputy and finance minister Christopher Haiveta and defence minister Mathias Ijape to resign within 48 hours. Alleging that the contract was corrupt, Singirok called for a caretaker government to investigate it. Before going public Singiroks SFU executed Operation Rausim Kwik, detaining Sandline executives including head of Sandline, Tim Spicer and mercenaries, to deport them.

In his autobiography, titled A Matter of Conscience and published last year, Singirok describes how he struggled with his conscience as he meticulously planned Operation Rausim Kwik. Its his personal account, including of military tours on Bougainville and personal sacrifices, especially an injury from a rescue operation that nearly cost his life.

Singirok, like Chan in...

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Tuesday, 13 June

22:18

Documents relating to the classification of 'Gender Queer: A Memoir' Requests or responses matching your saved search

Follow up sent to Classification Board by John Smith on .

Successful.

The links and instructions may be sent to: [email address] Yours sincerely, John Smith

21:05

Australian whistleblower protection to take historic next step TIA

MEDIA RELEASE

13 June 2023

Australian whistleblower protection to take historic next step

Updated Protecting Australias Whistleblowers: Federal Roadmap report 

Transparency International Australia, the Human Rights Law Centre and Griffith Universitys Centre for Governance and Public Policy are calling on all parties to ensure new federal whistleblower protection reforms pass the Senate as it resumes sitting today.

The three groups are also releasing the latest update to their joint report, Protecting Australias Whistleblowers: The Federal Roadmap, marking progress so far in these overdue reforms.

Clancy Moore, CEO of Transparency International Australia said: 

The Public Interest Disclosure Amendment (Review) Bill 2022 makes important technical improvements to our federal public sector whistleblowing regime, in time for commencement of the historic National Anti-Corruption Commission in just a few weeks time.

...

17:08

Documents relating to the classification of 'Gender Queer: A Memoir' Requests or responses matching your saved search

Response by Classification Board to John Smith on .

Successful.

OFFICIAL   Dear John Smith,   On 13 April 2023, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts...

16:00

Ben Roberts-Smith's alleged war crimes: 'Higher-ups' off the hook Independent Australia

Ben Roberts-Smith's alleged war crimes: 'Higher-ups' off the hook

It appears no action is being taken against more senior officers who had the responsibility of command over Ben Roberts-Smith during his alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, writes Belinda Jones.

*Also listen to the "https://open.spotify.com/episode/6oHUkXjcCfYjxqVm2rQc5T" target= "_blank">HERE.

ON MONDAY 5 June 2023, the complete 736-page judgement by Justice Anthony Besanko in the Ben Roberts-Smith civil defamation trial was published. 

In his damning judgement, Justice Besanko said:

'I do not accept the applicant (Ben Roberts-Smith)and Persons 5, 29, 35 and 38 as honest and reliable witnesses.'

Besanko, in dismissing the civil defamation case instigated by Roberts-Smith, found 'on the balance of probabilities'  that journalists Nick McKenzieChris Masters and David Wroe had proved the allegations they published against the former SAS soldier, which included complicity in the murder of six civilians.

It's important to note this is not a criminal finding of guilt but a determination on the civil...

14:56

More departmental interference? No Right Turn

On Friday, Newsroom had a very disturbing report of Department of Internal Affairs officials attempting to subvert the democratic process by interfering with the work of the select committee on the Three Waters legislation. The story effectively highlighted concerns raised by the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties during the recent review of Standing Orders about select committees' dependence on departmental officials for analysis of submissions and advice. Those officials work for Ministers, not Parliament, and are also usually the people who have developed the policy. They are thus inherently conflicted in their role, and in a position to tilt the advice to support their own (or the Ministers') position. The Department of Internal Affairs seems to have gone a lot further than that, into actively subverting the decisions of the committee, which is why it was noticed. But there's a lot officials can do below that threshold and probably get away with.

And sadly, I have an example. The Health Committee has just reported back on the Therapeutic products Bill. Like many recent government bills, it includes a secrecy clause, so I sent in the usual submission opposing it and trying to have it amended to protect the public's rights under the OIA. The secrecy clause is particularly wide-ranging and odious, covering all information that an "information holder" - meaning the regulatory body and others - obtains while performing their functions or exercising their powers under the Act, and applying criminal penalties for disclosure, effectively reinstating the Official Secrets Act for this information. Meanwhile, the list of functions of the regulator shows how extreme this is: among the things to be decalred state secrets is whether a licence has been issued, whether a a particular product is unsafe and what (if any) action has been taken, whether a product makes false claims of health benefits, and whether guidance was issued to help suppliers avoid making such claims. The regulator also has a function of providing advice to the Minister of Health and the chief executive on " the adequacy and performance of, and funding for, the regulatory system"; that advice too will be a state secret. So if for example they advice that the system is too weak or that funding is inadequate, it will be a criminal offence for it to be disclosed to the pub...

14:01

How To Survive a Famine "IndyWatch Feed Politics.us"

Economic collapse can lead to a breakdown of society and mass food shortages. Severe drought or weather, natural disasters, or a man-made catastrophe like an EMP can also bring on food shortages, and famine, followed by starvation. Millions go hungry. Countless people to die.Most Americans have only experienced the consequences of massive famine on their television screens. In 1981, in the movie The Road Warrior (played by Mel Gibson), this survivor in the apocalyptic wasteland of Australia experienced the results of widespread famine first hand. His way to survive: Dog food. Canned dog food.

I cant remember the brand name. Alpo maybe. But does it even matter? The point is this: In a time of mass famine following nuclear war or some catastrophic disaster that takes place, people who survive may find themselves eating things they would never imagine themselves ever capable of eating. Or you simply starve to death.

Famine  A social and economic crisis that is often accompanied by widespread malnutrition and starvation which leads to epidemic and significantly increased mortality.

Here are a few good tips for preparing for a famine of Biblical proportions, a famine that experts believe could be a direct consequence of a widespread disaster, economic collapse, or even a nuclear terrorist attack, which is a growing risk today to the U.S.

Famine from EMP

The much talked about and feared EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) could also lead to famine, at least in the nation affected by the EMP. Its not that an EMP will cause food to stop growing: Instead, a famine will take place when transportation comes to a halt and food out in counties and states where farming is plenty suddenly have no way to transport seasonal harvest to several million people out in distant cities.

Mass starvation on a widespread scale is a very real threat and can threaten your very survival. That includes your family and friends.

It also include your neighbors, yes that couple that seems so well put together. When pets start disappearing from around your neighborhood, it might be your neighbors behind the disappearances. After about 1 day without food your neighbors may resort to asking other neighbors for food, and then begging if no one is willing to hand over much.

Hungry People Group Up

What happens if you have a few neighbors that are unprepared? Those without may band together, and go after those who have. Guess what? If your neighbors dont see you out looking for food, begging for food, and instead simply locking yourself inside your home, in their minds theyre going to suspect youre sitting on a bunch of food.

If enough hungry people band together, they may decide to take it from you by force.

Finally, after about three days of your neighbors going hungry its p...

12:00

Prisons no place for young children Independent Australia

Prisons no place for young children

Australia's juvenile detention system is failing our troubled youths and reform is urgently needed to rehabilitate those in need, writes Gerry Georgatos.

THERE ARE 17 childrens prisons littered throughout the Australian continent. Nearly 70% of children incarcerated serve gaol time as adults. There are two childrens gaols in the Northern Territory  one in Alice Springs, the other is Don Dale in Darwin.

Don Dale became notoriously infamous when the nation was shown CCTV footage of guards punching children, throwing them across concrete rooms and smashing into them. It led to a Royal Commission but there was no culmination to effective changes that could turn around lives.

Don Dale is not alone. The only child prison in Western Australia remains the longest ongoing riots-ridden crisis, not just of all Australias 17 childrens gaols but of all child prisons in the world. It has been a decade and a half of rooftop riots, recurring takeovers of the prison by protesting children and showdowns between the children and the guards.

There is no other comparison between the crisis that is Banksia Hill to any other child prison in the world.

Childrens prisons throughout Australia, from...

10:32

Declassified Australia talk on Israeli mass surveillance Antony Loewenstein

My recent conversation at the Addi Road Writers Festival in Sydney, Australia about my new book, The Palestine Laboratory, with my Declassified Australia friend, co-founder and co-editor, Peter Cronau.

We discussed surveillance capitalism and Israels leading role in its global proliferation (including in Australia via the Israeli company Cellebrite, a fact explained in a book extract that we published recently at Declassified Australia.)

The post Declassified Australia talk on Israeli mass surveillance appeared first on Antony Loewenstein.

08:00

War on opinion a danger to free thought Independent Australia

War on opinion a danger to free thought

Opinion pages and comment sections are slowly being devalued, edging society closer to a one-party state of mind, writes Dean Frenkel.

FOR MANY DECADES, reputable newspapers have published an opinion page with every edition. Two designated spaces of prime real estate featuring prime ministers, academics, journalists, industrialists and anyone who could write well enough to displace many submitters who competed for the two spots in every edition.

Opinion is under serious attack. Until recently, matters of opinion were commonly valued and sought after. Now they are diminished. The unwritten book of contemporary values is seriously downgrading opinion as a lesser piece of communication, a put-down.

Opinion is rapidly becoming invisible and at this rate of decline, the opinion page may eventually disappear from our newspapers. It is already being restricted to a select few. Opinion has lost its gravitas, it is the new word-pariah. How did it fall out of favour so rapidly?

Part of this attack is a response to the appalling Donald Trump. Trump woke members of the populace to how the system marginalised them. He duped them, stoked their anger and won their passionate support, in the process turning democracy into a loud and dangerous circus. In response, the establishment was emboldened to embrace the other extreme.

Indeed, the war on opinion is being waged by socio-political extremists who identify as progressives and conservatives. Opinion has become a battle for control of the agenda.

The war on opinion is leaving a battlefield of victims. First is the age-old field of wisdom; Socrates would be turning in his grave. Wisdom is a deeper knowing that attains conceptual resonance without necessarily requiring societal processes to back it up. It is higher-level thinking that mindfully delivers uncommon sense with a combination of foresight and hindsight.

Another set of victims has felt coerced to withdraw from participating in debates on incendiary subjects due to reflexive accusations of being phobic, racist or insensitive. There is only room for one side and no room for nuance when agendas rule the news.

On the other hand, the opinion pages have rarely featured Indigenous voices and look what...

07:37

In which the bromancer prescribes great Heinlein books, ancient Troy discovers Brexit's a thing, and there's the usual groaning from the deep ... loon pond

 

The pond regrets to advise that its reptile studies might be erratic in the next few weeks, but today at least the pond can play with a full hand, if not a full deck.

The pond was delighted to be advised of Tony Abbott and John Howard join Jordan Peterson-led group looking at meaning of life.

Sweeping aside thoughts of Monty Python, the pond reckons it can match that, or perhaps trump it, because the bromancer is on a winning streak these days ...



There, it's when the bromancer gets philosophical and deep that things really get cooking. As for Robert Heinlein being the greatest of sci fi writers? Of course, goes without saying ...soul mates: A Famous Science Fiction Writer's Descent Into Libertarian Madness

..Heinleins shift to the right took place over a decade, from 1948 to 1957. In the early 1950s, the Heinleins travelled around the world. The writer was already a Malthusian and a eugenicist, but the trip greatly exacerbated his demographic despair and xenophobia. The real problem of the Far East is not that so many of them are communists, but simply that there are so many of them, he wrote in a 1954 travel book (posthumously published in 1992). Even space travel, Heinlein concluded, wouldnt be able to open enough room to get rid of them. Heinlein treated overpopulation as a personal affront.  

Heinlein had caught a bad case of the Cold War jitters in the late 1940s. He accused liberal Democratic friends, notably the director Fritz Lang, of being Stalinist stooges. With Heinlein's great talent for extrapolation, every East-West standoff seemed like the end of the world. I do not think we have better than an even chance of living, as a nation, through the next five years, he wrote an editor in 1957. The USSR's Sputnik launch in 1957 and Eisenhowers moves towar...

06:00

Australias NZ migration reforms: Pacific implications "IndyWatch Feed Politics.pg"

On 22 April 2023, the Australian federal government announced that, from 1 July 2023, New Zealand citizens would be able to apply directly for Australian citizenship after four years of residence. This represents a complete departure from the position prevailing since the Howard government imposed a requirement for New Zealanders arriving to live in Australia after 26 February 2001 to first apply for and obtain a permanent visa before being eligible to apply for citizenship. Applying for a permanent visa involves not only significant costs (over $4,000 for a primary applicant and more than $2,000 for any additional adult applicants, to say nothing of the cost of migration agents) but also the hurdle of meeting skill and age requirements. Alternatively, after 19 February 2016, New Zealanders who had arrived by that date and had earned above the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold of $53,900 for five successive years could also apply for a permanent visa, although they still had to pay the same fees.

Neither of these pathways have offered much hope for Pacific migrants from New Zealand, whose earning and qualification levels tend to be lower. Even if they have met the eligibility requirements, many unprotected (post-2001) New Zealanders have clearly not bothered to apply given the steep cost, reasoning that their access to the Australian labour market is all that they need. The cumulative result has been that the citizenship take-up rate of Pacific migrants to Australia from New Zealand has dropped away to almost negligible levels.

This has meant that Pasifika New Zealanders in Australia have faced significant vulnerabilities if they find themselves out of work or otherwise disadvantaged: without a permanent visa or citizenship they have been ineligible for unemployment or sickness benefits, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, public housing, student concessions on public transport, employment in the federal public service, and so on. Without access to citizenship they have also lacked political influence, being ineligible to vote, and have also been at a greater risk of deportation under Australias toughened rules in section 501 of the Migration Act. Student loans also became unavailable to non-citizens in 2005, and since 2016 have only been extended to those New Zealanders who arrived as dependent minors.

The new direct pathway solves most of these issues, albeit after four years of waiting. There remains a period of vulnerability, therefore. From 1 July the special category visa is to be a permanent visa for citizenship purposes only, and so New Zealanders remain excluded from benefits until they have actually obtained citizenship. When the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement was agreed in 1973, it was never contemplated that Australians or New Zealanders would need to take out the citizenship of the other country in order to enjoy such entitlements. By contrast, Australians migrating to New Zealand are elig...

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10:20

Novak Djokovic Wins French Open, Sets Record for Most Grand Slam Wins Despite Being Banned by US and Australian Officials for Refusing COVID Vax And Bill Gates Was in the Crowd "IndyWatch Feed Politics.us"

Tennis great Novak Djokovic swept Casper Ruud in straight sets to win the 2023 French Open on Sunday. With this Grand Slam win Djokovic smashed the all-time record with his 23rd Grand Slam title. Djokovic set the all-time record despite being blocked from playing in recent US and Australian Opens fo

Wednesday, 07 June

18:06

DA 2019.115 - documentary evidence that adjacent and adjoining landowners were given 14 days notification of this development proposal Requests or responses matching your saved search

Response by Bega Valley Shire Council to Anthony Taylor on .

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Dear Mr Taylor   I am writing to advise that Council can deal with your request informally a under the Government Information Public Access Act 20...

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