Hillsong pastor Brian Houston has been charged for allegedly concealing child sexual abuse by his late father Frank Houston.Mr Houston, who has been living in the US and recently travelled to preach in Mexico, was charged following a two-year investigation into allegations he failed to report the alleged abuse of a boy in the 1970s.
Source: Brian Houston charged by police for allegedly concealing father’s child sexual abuse
Rogue Coalition backbenchers George Christensen and Matt Canavan have slammed the use of COVID lockdowns and deployment of military on Australian streets. The duo used a series of speeches and interviews to question the stances of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Mr Christensen was chided for not wearing a mask on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, after earlier defending the actions of anti-lockdown protesters, and saying the government shouldn’t be mandating masks.
Source: George Christensen makes anti-lockdown speech to Coalition partyroom
The Doherty Institute modelling is important but the PM’s presentation was likely incomprehensible to anxious Australians watching at home
It’s fair enough to ask if Morrison has proved he is up to it, whether he has the courage, the ability and the wisdom to continue to see the country through these most testing times. Has the Prime Minister grown into the job? An increasing number of Australians think not. Has the Prime Minister grown into the job? An increasing number of Australians think not.Credit:Dionne Gain If you believe the polls, more and more Australians are nudging towards saying no: he does not. They question whether he has the physical, intellectual or mental ability or even the empathy to lead, to earn trust, build coalitions, forge consensus, or to be something more than a moneybags, a punching bag or a spokesman for the premiers.
Source: Prime Minister Scott Morrison in trouble but could again land on his feet
After 46 days cooped up at Kirribilli House and The Lodge, being pummelled with blame for endless lockdowns, a bruised Prime Minister emerged from isolation this week determined to shift the narrative. Armed with new vaccination targets and the promise of greater freedom, Scott Morrison is determined to focus debate on the future rather than the past. With his political fate now tied to achieving the 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccination thresholds agreed “in principle” by National Cabinet, Morrison is trying to stir the nation to get a jab, any jab, as quickly as possible. But that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily willing to throw everything at it. There are limits, apparently, to how far the Prime Minister will go, as his reaction to Labor’s cash-for-jab idea revealed.
A newly released memo shows that Trump told the acting attorney general: ‘Just say the election was corrupt [and] leave the rest to me and the [Republican] congressmen’
Making sure the coup never ends but keeps rolling on is probably Trump’s best chance to avoid going to jail for crimes ranging from rape to bank fraud, sedition and treason. Running for office gives him both some political and legal immunities and access to more cash, so he’s going to persist and amp up the volume of his efforts. But Trump’s neofascist coup is no longer limited to himself and his fellow DC insiders. State after state is being taken over from the ground up by Trump supporters who want to end multiracial democracy in America and turns us back into a white-supremacist ethnostate. From Oregon to Florida and all across states in between, local school boards are being seized by anti-American supporters of the former reality TV star. The world watches with horror and our actual president, Joe Biden, finds himself, along with Democrats in Congress, frustrated at every turn by Trump’s loyalists and a few Democratic senators who are taking money from the same billionaires who fund the GOP and empower Trump. Meanwhile, the coup rolls on.
Source: Trump’s Shadow Cabinet is Part of his Ongoing Coup | The Smirking Chimp
Under international law, Israel is the Occupying power in Gaza and therefore is responsible for the health and well-being of the civilian population there. Israel is rather falling down on the job. The Red Cross says, “the demand for electricity in the Gaza Strip is estimated at 470 megawatts, of which approximately 45% are currently being met.”
The Coalition members’ attempt to run interference in Senate estimates for their colleagues caught breaching ministerial standards on #carporkrorts basically came down to the claim “they all do it”. Such is the low ebb of Australian politics.
Source: Michael Pascoe: Rorting – is it true “they all do it”?
When Lendlease finally fesses up, the enablers will saunter off with impunity, pretending nothing ever happened. It was all a mistake. The millions the Big Four audit and tax firms donate to political parties is their shield against accountability. Who wins Bigger Robber? Crown directors and Lendlease, those with legal and financial responsibility, are still there. The Lendlease heist is bigger in dollar terms and the company is yet to fess up. So, Lendlease claims the mantle of Biggest Robber Australia. Its glory even more resplendent as it has paid virtually no income tax in Australia for ten years while forking out high dividends to shareholders and lavishing high remuneration on those who have presided over the robbery.
Source: The Biggest Robber: Crown caught and confessed as cagey Lendlease covers up – Michael West
The Government department which covered up the security report into the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins is also the department found to have a culture of bullying, and is also the department whose staffer is threatening multiple legal actions against small publishers and other Australians. What is going on at Parliament House? Michael West investigates the Department of Parliamentary Services.
Source: Parliament’s Department of Cover-Ups faces bullying claims, tangle of lawsuits – Michael West
I reckon Albo’s on the right track. The opposition leader wants to pay A$300 to every Australian who is fully vaccinated by December 1. The Grattan Institute is on a similar theme. It has proposed a $10 million per week lottery, paying out ten $1 million prizes per week from Melbourne Cup day. One vaccination gets you get one ticket. Two gets you two tickets. The costs are tiny compared to what’s at stake. Treasury modelling released on Tuesday puts the cost of Australia-wide lockdown at $3.2 billion per week. Paying people to get vaccinated fits the government’s criteria of a response that’s “temporary, targeted and proportionate”.
Source: Paying Australians $300 to get fully vaccinated would be value for money
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, said it well in Tuesday’s press conference: we can aim for a “soft landing” where other countries can’t. The modelling tells us when we get to 80% adult vaccination coverage, we can avoid the huge wave of infections we’ve worked so hard to prevent. Unlike the United Kingdom, where cases peaked again on reopening, or the United States, where cases and hospitalisations are both on the rise, we can leverage our past success in outbreak control and get through this without ever seeing a wave of a truly international proportions.
The weakness of the Australian Government is on full display in southwest Sydney this week, disguised as a show of force. The incapacity of NSW Premier Gladys Berejklian’s “gold standard” Government to contain the latest outbreak of COVID-19 has become a political liability for Prime Minister Scott Morrison. So, as has become standard in such situations, Morrison called in the army, offering 300 troops for what was described as a “crackdown” on compliance with COVID-19 regulations.
Source: Government reliance on army for lockdowns a weak move
Morrison’s not up to the job is something Keane’s been saying since 2018. And many others, not part of a sycophantic, Pravda-like media which blankets Australia. Is Scott a dangerous incompetent?
He’s trying to change the front pages of the Australian media away from his failure on Covid and justify his turning on Gladys.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has just overseen Christian Porter’s assuming of the role of acting leader of the House of Representatives. Amid a burgeoning, pre-eminent mass awakening to the endemic issue of sexual abuse, this decision marks a proverbial slap in the face of our entire nation.
Morrison, Australia’s PM believed that Covid was simply a common cold and a political opportunity to do do what he’d been doing all along little or nothing. He guaranteed and promised his way to prove he was a Trumpist and QAnon idiot as a consequence we lagged behind the OECD with only 25M to vaccinate. Now he claims we can open up the nation with only 50% vaccinated and even calling that number 70%. (of adults). Australia you have an Fwit for a PM.
A few months ago the slow rollout of vaccines was a major source of controversy in Canada. Not anymore. Amazing what can happen when an ex-president and a major political party aren’t trying to screw things up for everybody else. Americans, once buoyantly optimistic about the pandemic, are now increasingly pessimistic, via Gallup
Source: Canada Surges Past The United States In Vaccinations | Crooks and Liars
In the end, the economy is a man-made construct. It can be changed. The laws of nature, however, cannot. It would be tragic to look back and think we gave it all up because we weren’t brave enough to challenge the insane notion of endless growth on a finite planet with the urgency it deserves.
Source: Degrowth economy: The climate solution no one is talking about
At least six videos from Sky News Australia hosts Alan Jones, Rowan Dean and Rita Panahi have been deleted for violating YouTube policies by advocating the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin as treatments for Covid-19. YouTube and Sky News have both refused to reveal which Sky News content was removed when the search engine imposed a seven-day ban on the Murdoch-owned broadcaster. However, Guardian Australia has uncovered six videos which Sky uploaded to YouTube during the pandemic but have since been deleted “for violating YouTube policies”. Sky News has been banned from uploading any new content to YouTube or live streaming until Wednesday after violating the social media site’s medical misinformation policies.
In a short time, Sky News Australia has turned itself from a cable television station with a small audience (most popular in politicians’ offices and Qantas lounges) to a digital juggernaut with one of the biggest reaches of social media of any Australian television station. The key to this turnaround was a strategy that leans heavily on opinion “After Dark” personalities who regurgitate right-wing international culture war topics and flirt with conspiracy, much like Fox News in the US.
Source: Rants, raves and bogus COVID claims: Sky News booms in rural Australia
Duxton Water executives have been boasting about “beautiful” structural imbalances in Australia’s water market, and potentially dazzling profits from drought. Corporate nut farming is thirsty business and the proliferation of almond farms is poised to whip up prices and crush traditional agriculture in Australia’s food bowl, reports Callum Foote.
A worrying coronavirus outbreak in a NSW aged care facility sparked by a Christmas in July event has ballooned out to 20 cases. The cluster at the Wyoming Residential Aged Care Facility in the Sydney suburb of Summer Hill included 18 residents and two staff members by Monday afternoon. Health Minister Brad Hazzard said the outbreak had been sparked by a super-spreader ‘Christmas in July’ event at the facility, which is owned by Hardi Aged Care and regulated by the federal government. “I understand that the actual numbers are believed to have occurred off a super-spreading event that occurred in the aged care facility,” Mr Hazzard said. “Sometimes it isn’t a good idea to have a ‘Christmas in July’ right in the middle of a pandemic, but I do understand that it is an effort to try and provide entertainment and support to residents.” Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said all of the infected residents lived on the top floor of the building. She said the entire floor, all 32 residents, had been taken to hospital either to be treated for the virus or as a precaution. “The reason for that is that some of them are obviously positive and others are close contacts of the positive c
Source: Christmas in July party sparks aged care cluster | The New Daily
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has not only proven himself a failure to Australians but also on the world stage, writes Bruce Haigh.
My thought for the day The danger in looking back is that we lose the will to go forward.
Source: A government with such little respect – » The Australian Independent Media Network
That’s what happens when you go to bat for a notoriously cheap, friendless, crappy businessman.
Source: Rudy Giuliani Is Reportedly Close to Broke—and Donald Trump Isn’t Taking His Calls – Mother Jones
On Saturday, Florida recorded 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, breaking its one-day record for new cases. But even as the state swells with fresh infections, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis remains hellbent on his war against mask mandates. He even recently barred school districts from instituting mask mandates when classes reconvene in August.
Evacuation flights start before visas are issued after insurgents make sweeping gains in provinces
It seems almost obscene to be considering the politics of vaccines given the grave danger posed by the ongoing COVID pandemic to public health. The Delta variant is ripping through the country at an alarming rate, mostly posing severe threat to the unvaccinated but with a disturbingly high breakthrough frequency among the vaccinated as well. Florida has reported 21,683 new Covid cases today alone–a devastating indictment of Governor DeSantis’ refusal to take the pandemic seriously. But tackle the politics we must, because so much of the country’s failure to control the Covid pandemic from the start has been due to Republican political calculations. Then-president Donald Trump didn’t want to take the necessary steps to control the pandemic because he was afraid they might spook the stock market and cost him re-election. They further cynically calculated that Covid would affect people in cities and blue states the most, and that both the demographic devastation and electoral pain of the pandemic would be born by Democratic constituencies and blue state governors. The recall against California Governor Gavin Newsom was driven by conservative outrage over school closures and lockdowns
Source: The Politics of Vaccines Might Cost Republicans the Midterms | Washington Monthly
Who have been Australia’s most accomplished prime ministers? Curiously, it’s a question that is seldom asked. We enthusiastically compile lists of the greatest films or sporting champions, but rarely do we apply the same energy to thinking about prime-ministerial virtuosity.
Source: Who were Australia’s best prime ministers? We asked the experts
By 2019, profits were up 69.3%, far outstripping wages which had lifted only 51.1%. By March this year – the latest numbers – wages were up just 59.3% on 2008, but profits had surged 91.9%. Thus, it seems clear there is only one explanation for any working Australian still supporting the Coalition. A kick in the head by a horse.
Source: Rising living costs plunge Australia’s economic ranking
My point is, in today’s world we are encouraged to turn against those who are different. And we are encouraged to blame someone else for our woes and we are unmoved when they need our help. And we judge them, without even knowing them. We have a federal government who are masters at creating this divisive society, doing so, of course, to deflect the anger of their failures back onto Australians who are different because … (fill in the blanks). Do you have any blanks you can fill in for me?
Source: The saddest thing – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Let’s not forget the LNP government is Newscorp’s biggest advertiser and influencer its biggest source of revenue. Alan Jones is just another cog in the machinery.
Elements within News Corporation are now fighting among themselves over how its platforms should position themselves in response to the worsening COVID crisis in New South Wales. This has become clear with the decision by the editor of News Corp’s Daily Telegraph, Ben English, to ditch Alan Jones as a columnist. Over the past few weeks, as the coronavirus outbreak got inexorably worse, the Telegraph ran a series of characteristically shrill columns by Jones attacking mask-wearing, lockdowns and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Yet Jones also promotes these opinions on News Corp’s Sky News, where his Sky-at-Night slot is undisturbed. Indeed, Jones makes a virtue of this, telling The Sydney Morning Herald:
Most of us are well aware it’s far more likely that a 7-year-old hasn’t done their homework than the dog actually ate it. Morrison hasn’t even attempted to give us a reason why his government’s homework hasn’t been done. Fortunately for us, the state leaders have demonstrated they have the real power, time and time again.
Source: The dog ate my homework – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Federal MPs Craig Kelly and George Christensen have claimed YouTube’s week-long ban for Sky News Australia is “censorship”, while the channel slammed the tech giant for a “disturbing assault on freedom of thought”. As The New Daily reported on Sunday, YouTube has restricted the account of Sky News – one of the biggest channels in Australia, with more than 1.86 million subscribers – for a week and deleted several of its videos, as part of a crackdown on COVID-19 ‘misinformation’.
Source: Sky News YouTube ban is ‘censorship’, conservative MPs howl
Kabul, Afghanistan – A fog of uncertainty looms over Afghanistan. Everywhere you go, from a sports lounge in the capital Kabul to a field in Logar province, everyone asks the same question: “What’s going to happen?”
Source: A fog of uncertainty looms over Afghanistan | Taliban | Al Jazeera
The lifestyles of around three average Americans will create enough planet-heating emissions to kill one person, and the emissions from a single coal-fired power plant are likely to result in more than 900 deaths, according to the first analysis to calculate the mortal cost of carbon emissions.
Ocean waters are now warmer, more acidic and hold less oxygen. Ocean ecosystems, already stressed from overfishing and pollution, face escalating risks of further degradation. With melting sea ice, rising sea levels and growing extreme weather events, human health and well-being now face many threats, most aimed at coastal populations.
Source: Top 5 Ways Coal and Gasoline-Driven Ocean Change can Threaten Human Health
Renewables overall increased 9% between 2019 and 2020. About half of US clean energy now comes from solar and wind, and the other half from hydroelectric power.
Unexplained legal judgments raise questions that deserve a hearing.
What makes it so scandalous is court case has dealt with suppressed evidence and applications to remove and redact documents in court file where there has been extensive argument to justify it. But when it came to my affidavit and written submissions there was no argument and/or application to have the affidavit and written submissions removed. What does “apparently” mean in her reason where she says, “given they contain apparently scandalous and scurrilous material about third parties”? “Apparently” means she was told by someone else. Who was it? Justice Jagot’s abuse of the law is obvious because even it was true and my documents did contain “scandalous and scurrilous material about third parties” those parts could have been redacted, like numerous other documents in this matter have been when challenged, and put back in the court’s online file. And who is this “third party” and what did I say about them?
This article contains distressing information on Stolen Generations and residential schools. When I read that the bodies of 215 children had been found in unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, Turtle Island (Canada), my heart ached for these children and the First Nation’s communities they belong to. Weeks later, the Cowessess First Nation announced they had also found the remains of 751 people, mostly children, at the former Marieval Indian Residential School using ground-penetrating radar. The residential school system in Canada was a tool of cultural genocide that worked explicitly through the forced removal of children and young people from their families. The impact of policies that enabled this to happen have been felt by generations of Métis, Inuit and First Nations peoples. The last school closed in 1996. Get your news from people who know what they’re talking about. As the tally of bodies found in unmarked graves continues to grow, residential school survivors warn this is just the beginning. The experiences of Indigenous childre
I don’t support the anti-lockdown movement. It offers little in the way of cohesive views to support or condemn. The movement is, to borrow the phraseology of Travis View, a ’big tent’ conspiracist movement that houses discordant ideas and sometimes leaderless factions. It’s given direction by a ruling caste of portrait-video-filming figureheads who often scrap with each other for viral supremacy. The attention-seekers among them get a sugar rush of shares, the grifters get lots of money and the political careerists try to craft a future voting bloc.
Source: The good, the bad and the ugly side of lockdown protests
Low morale and dysfunction in DHA Finally, and also not surprisingly, Pezzullo says nothing in the briefing for Andrews about his Department having one of the lowest levels of morale in the Australian Public Service. And of course, he wouldn’t as this is primarily the result of his leadership. The fact is Pezzullo and Outram have lost control of Australia’s visa system and hence, border control. Recovery from this point will be extraordinarily difficult, costly and take many years. But with a government obsessed with its public reputation on border protection, Pezzullo and Outram know that is not what the Government wants to hear — so they have decided the best course of action is just not to tell them and hope they don’t find out.
Telegraph editor Ben English told Jones he was dropping his column, which also appeared in the Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin, because it didn’t “resonate” with readers.
Taxpayers might well question millions funded to the Menzies Research Centre by the Australian Government, given the think-tank’s overarching Right-wing ties, writes David Paull.
Source: How the Australian Government is fostering Right-wing extremism
In keeping true to neo-liberal/Pentacostal win/lose principles, for Scooter to shine others must suffer. Fingers will be pointed, colleagues will be back-grounded, lambs will be sacrificed, rugs will be pulled from under friend and foe and never shall accountability or blame be assigned to The Dear Leader whose true self is there to see for those who bother to look. We’d be better off if, for PM, someone had filled a wetsuit with the contents from the spa filter at an eczema convention.
Source: What’s next from Scomb-over? – » The Australian Independent Media Network
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