Archive for the ‘Australia’ Category
Friday, May 22nd, 2020
The People’s Republic of Queensland
The dubious conduct of an Australian university with Chinese ties shows the CCP’s long reach abroad.
Global View by Walter Russell Mead May 21, 2020
The entrance to the University of Queensland’s St Lucia Campus in Brisbane, Australia.
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
The University of Queensland is what Australians call a “sandstone university,” something like the American Ivy League in prestige. Queensland consistently appears on lists of the world’s 100 best universities and is widely seen as one of the top three in Australia.
Lately, however, its cozy relationship with China has ignited a firestorm. Questions have been asked in Australia’s Parliament, and stories in the country’s leading newspapers and on its public television network have raked administrators over the coals. A Journal news story offers an overview of the scandal.
Queensland’s purgatory began last July during a peaceful student demonstration in support of Hong Kongers protesting for democracy and in solidarity with persecuted Uighurs in Xinjiang. The demonstrators were set upon by what observers said was a well-organized group of about 300 students and nonstudents, many shouting slogans in Chinese. As some filmed the rally, counterdemonstrators snatched megaphones from the pro-Hong Kong and pro-Uighur protesters and sought to break up the rally. Punches were thrown.
Xu Jie, China’s consul general in Brisbane, commended the counter-demonstrators for their “acts of patriotism,” while blaming the pro-Hong Kong students for “igniting anger and sparking protests from Chinese students.” In a highly unusual step, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne warned all foreign diplomats in Australia to respect the rights of free speech and peaceful protest. Amid all this, the press reported that Mr. Xu had recently been appointed an adjunct professor at the university.
Posted in Asia, Australia, China, Coronavirus, Dictators, Education, Foreign Policy, Indoctrination of students, Intelligence, Marxism, Protestors, Sovereignty, Totalitarian, Transparency | No Comments »
Monday, May 18th, 2020
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The Lockdown Skeptic They Couldn’t Silence
By Allysia Finley Ms Finley is a member of the Journal’s editorial board May 16, 2020
Does a pandemic demand the strong medicine of censorship? Social-media companies seem to think so. They’re taking steps to control speech in the name of combating the spread of medical misinformation. Facebook employs “fact checkers” to review posts, makes those that don’t pass their test harder to find, and directs users to purportedly reliable sources like the World Health Organization. YouTube has taken down videos it deems inconsistent with science. Twitter plans to add warning labels to tweets that don’t pass muster with “subject-matter experts, such as public health authorities.”
Aaron Ginn’s story is a cautionary tale that even well-intended censorship can overreach, suppressing the search for truth. Mr. Ginn, 32, is the Silicon Valley technologist who posted an essay on March 20 titled “Evidence over hysteria—COVID-19” on the Medium website. Citing academic research and government data, Mr. Ginn argued that public-health experts were focusing too much on “flattening the curve . . . while ignoring the economic shock to our system” of shuttering businesses and schools and ordering Americans to stay home.
“When 13% of Americans believe they are currently infected with COVID-19 (mathematically impossible),” he wrote, “full-on panic is blocking our ability to think clearly and determine how to deploy our resources to stop this virus.” The message was well-timed—the day he posted it, Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered “nonessential” New York businesses to close.
Mr. Ginn’s essay drew 2.6 million page views in 24 hours—and a barrage of liberal criticism. Carl T. Bergstrom, a University of Washington biologist, called it “Shakespeare run through google translate into Japanese, then translated back to English by someone who’d never heard of Shakespeare.” Then Medium took it down, saying it violated rules under a “risk analysis framework we use for ‘Controversial, Suspect and Extreme content.’ ”
(more…)
Posted in Australia, China, Coronavirus, Free Speech, Healthcare, Liberalism, Media, Social Media | No Comments »
Friday, December 6th, 2019
A Personal Note: Years ago, while my husband and I were living in Sydney, Australia, we were having dinner at a restaurant when the waiter came over to our table and gave us a bottle of champagne. The waiter explained that the gentleman at another table had recognized that we were Americans and he wanted to thank us for The Battle of the Coral Sea. A very special moment that I will never forget. This article was written by Trevor Loudon and he explains why he feels such gratitude to the United States . It is because of our help to Australia and New Zealand during the Second World War. Nancy
My Thanksgiving to America
Trevor Loudon
Trevor Loudon is an author, filmmaker, and public speaker from New Zealand. For more than 30 years, he has researched radical left, Marxist, and terrorist movements and their covert influence on mainstream politics.
CONTRIBUTOR
December 2, 2019
Over the Thanksgiving period, I pondered a lot on my debt to America. The first thing I owe this great country is probably my very existence. When growing up in 1960s New Zealand, it was accepted wisdom that we owed our freedom and our very lives to the “Yanks.”
In 1942, tens of thousands of young Kiwi and Aussie men were in North Africa fighting the Nazis and the Italian Fascist armies. The Japanese Imperial Army was marching relentlessly through the South Pacific and South East Asia. The Philippines fell; Hong Kong, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, all were invaded in a matter of months, capturing thousands of British, Dutch, and colonial troops in the process.
The Japanese air force bombed Darwin in Northern Australia. There were reports of Japanese submarines in New Zealand harbors. In 1942, 22 New Zealand prisoners of war were beheaded by the Japanese on Tarawa. In 1943, Japanese prisoners rioted at a prisoner of war camp in our little North Island town of Featherston. More than 30 Japanese and one New Zealand guard were killed before order was restored. Rumors flew that the Japanese had already printed up the currency they were going to use when they invaded us.
(more…)
Posted in American History, Australia, Cultural Marxism, Dept of Defense, Foreign Policy, Franklin Roosevelt, History, Japan, John F. Kennedy, Marxism, Military, National Defense, WW II | No Comments »
Saturday, September 28th, 2019
VIDEO – CLICK ON LINK
WATCH: Australian Broadcaster Takes Down The Spoiled Climate Protesting Students In Epic Fashion
Posted at 1:00 pm on September 21, 2019 by Brandon Morse
Alan Jones, an Australian broadcaster for Sky News had some choice words for students taking part in the climate protests that occurred on Friday, which featured these students ditching school in order to push the “we’re all going to die” narrative so beloved by the church of climate change.
Jones had a harsh reality check for these students, who he noted demand better action by people and government in the name of saving the environment (Jones calls it a “hoax”) while they themselves refuse to give up their own cushy lifestyles. His words came in the form of a letter which Jones said he might send to Al Gore.
“It says this: To all the school kids going on strike for climate change, you’re the first generation who have required air conditioning in every room. You want TV in every room, and your classes are all computerized. You spend all day and night on electronic devices,” said Jones
“More than ever, you don’t walk or ride bikes to school,” he continued, “but you arrive in caravans of private cars that choke suburban roads and worsen rush hour traffic.”
“You’re the biggest consumer of manufactured goods ever, and update perfectly good expensive luxury items to stay trendy,” said Jones. “Your entertainment comes from electric devices. Furthermore, the people driving your protests are the same people who insist on artificially inflating the population growth through immigration which increases the need for energy, manufacturing and transport.”
(more…)
Posted in Australia, Demographics, Education, Energy, Environmental Issues, Global Warming, Globalists, Indoctrination of students, Liberalism, Open Borders, Political Correctness, Progressive Movement, Radical Left, Technology, UN Agenda 2030, Videos | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 13th, 2019
The first article tells the the revealing story of Australia’s fatal experiment with trying to maximize energy efficiency. The second article encourages a vote on the new green energy deal to put Democrats on record for supporting this fantasy land proposal. It is truly fascinating to watch this spectacle unfold of a party self-destructing right in front of our very eyes. Nancy
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Green New Deal: A Cautionary Tale
Australia’s costly and fatal 2009 effort to upgrade houses for energy efficiency.
By Tim Blair Mr. Blair is an associate editor at Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.
February 12, 2019
Sydney
The Green New Deal—introduced in Congress last week and immediately endorsed by several Democratic presidential candidates—calls among other things for “upgrading all existing buildings in the United States . . . to achieve maximal energy efficiency.” We’ve tried it in Australia—on a much smaller scale—and it didn’t go well.
On Feb. 3, 2009, Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his treasurer, Wayne Swan, announced the Energy Efficient Homes Package. “To support jobs and set Australia up for a low carbon future the Rudd Government will install free ceiling insulation in around 2.7 million Australian homes,” declared a press release from Mr. Swan’s office.
“For a time-limited period of two and a half years, from 1 July 2009, owner-occupiers without ceiling insulation will be eligible for free product and installation (capped at $1,600) simply by making a phone call.” At the time, A$1,600 was worth about US$1,280.
In many cases those calls weren’t necessary. At the Daily Telegraph, where I work, we discovered something was amiss when our chief of staff ordered a pizza. To her surprise, the delivery man also offered an insulation quote.
There were only 250 registered insulation businesses in Australia when the package was announced. That number quickly blew out to 7,000 because the government was handing out free money to installers. Pizza drivers could pick up more in one insulation job than from a month’s worth of tips. They received their rebates directly from the government rather than from homeowners, who therefore had little incentive to check if the work had been done well or even at all. Some ceilings ended up with a mere handful of insulation batts thrown around. Others featured only shredded paper. Almost every insulation job went right up to the $1,600 cap, regardless of size or ceiling area.
The insulation army worked at frantic speed, eager to cash in while they could. When the difference between five jobs done reasonably well and eight jobs done in careless haste is $4,800, a short amount of time represents a lot of money.
Then the deaths began. Four young men were killed while installing insulation under the government’s program—three by electrocution and one from hyperthermia during the Australian summer. Dozens more workers, most of them inexperienced, suffered injuries and heat stroke.
Nearly 100 houses caught fire. Environment Minister Peter Garrett, whose hits as Midnight Oil’s lead singer included 1987’s “Beds are Burning,” subsequently announced the planned deregistration or suspension of 5,000 installers.
Those suspensions were never required. In February 2010, a year after the Energy Efficient Homes Package was announced, it was abandoned.
Mr. Blair is an associate editor at Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.
Posted in Agenda 21, Australia, Big Government, Democrats, Energy, Environmental Issues, Global Warming, Liberalism, Progressive Movement, Radical Left | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 28th, 2018
Canada was instrumental in the creation of this U.N. directive regarding migration throughout the world which President Trump thankfully refused to join. Because Canada is so deeply involved in this U.N Suicide Pact, we now need to also secure our northern border along with our southern border.
VIDEO “U.N. MIGRANT COMPACT: THE DEATH OF NATIONS”
ARTICLE BELOW (click on link) Angela Merkel Defends the UN pact (Is anyone surprised?)
Angela Merkel defends UN migration pact, rejects ‘nationalism in its purest form’
German leader reaffirms support for UN compact as Australia joins list of nations opposed
Thomson Reuters · Posted: Nov 21, 2018
Posted in Africa, Agenda 2030, Australia, Big Government, Border Security, Demographics, Diversity, Donald Trump, EU ( European Union), Europe, Germany, Global Warming, Globalists, Globalization, Illegal Immigration, Legal Immigration, Liberalism, Migration - Islamic, Multiculturalism, One World Government, Open Borders, Political Correctness, Progressive Movement, Racism, Radical Left, Social Justice, Soros, Sovereignty, U.N., UN Agenda 2030, Videos | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 24th, 2018
REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT WATCH
Australian rejected ‘refugees’ on the way to US this week!
Posted by Ann Corcoran on January 23, 2018
We can get excited about the slowdown in the normal refugee flow to America (see post yesterday), but here comes the very abnormal flow—58 of the Australia-rejected mostly single men who have been detained by the Aussies for as long as four years will now be free in America.
The deal, originally agreed to by Obama as he was walking out the door, represents an application of international refugee law that is simply unheard of and possibly illegal.
A legitimate asylum seeker is to ask for asylum in the first safe country in which he or she arrives. If Australia rejected them, they should be returned home, not given a ticket to America!
Here they come, mostly Muslim young men that Australia refused to admit to its mainland. Photo: SBS News
This batch is going to: North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Georgia!
And, you know that resettlement contract agencies in those states know they are coming and this will all be kept secret from your ‘welcoming’ towns!
(more…)
Posted in Australia, Border Security, Foreign Policy, Illegal Immigration, Islamic Refugee Migration, Legal Immigration, Liberalism, Migration - Islamic, Obama, Obama Administraiton and Policy, Progressive Movement, Refugee Resettlement Watch - Ann Corcoran, Terrorism, Transparency | No Comments »
Saturday, December 3rd, 2016
Lou Dobbs of Fox Business had a segment on this issue this evening as to the tremendous cost this refugee program is costing the American tax payer which is just one consideration, others are obvious security concerns, and the migrants are not readily assimilating into our culture.
Also, why is this program classified ? The American people are being kept in the dark regarding the details of this program. What happened to the transparent administration that Obama promised ? Nancy
FREEDOM OUTPOST
Obama Fast Tracks 1,800 Muslims Migrants to the US That Australia Rejected
Posted in Arab Winter, Australia, Congress, Demographics, Diversity, Foreign Policy, Islamic Refugee Migration, Legal Immigration, Liberalism, Middle East, National Defense, Obama, Obama Administraiton and Policy, Radical Islam, Refugee Resettlement Watch - Ann Corcoran, Terrorism, Transparency | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 17th, 2013
A Different Immigration Mess
The debate in Australia over who gets in.
Fred Barnes
September 9, 2013, Vol. 19, No. 01
Sydney
A century ago, Australia used a “dictation test” to keep non-whites and selected others from entering the country. It required an immigrant to write 50 words in any language chosen by the customs official who administered the test. The most notorious example occurred in 1934, when a Czech immigrant was told to write a passage in Scottish Gaelic. The test was abolished in 1958.
Australian immigration policy has changed repeatedly since then—three times in the past decade alone. In 2010, nearly 190,000 immigrants were admitted legally, more per capita than entered the United States that year. But it’s illegal immigrants that are a problem in Australia. An average of 3,000 “boat people” were arriving monthly this past spring, and roughly 30,000 await rulings on their requests for asylum.
So America’s immigration mess is not unique. But while Australia’s situation is similar, it’s not exactly the same. The countries are different. Australia is thinly populated—
23 million occupy an area almost as large as the continental United States. It’s an island continent. It has no land borders. Illegal immigrants must arrive by sea. They risk life and limb on rickety boats to reach the Australian shore.
It would be nice if Australia offered hard lessons to guide reform of America’s immigration laws. It doesn’t. But its experience, more than any other country’s, is still worth examining.
n Deterrence. The key to stemming the flow of illegal immigrants is deterring them from attempting to enter in the first place. This was achieved under the “Pacific Solution” adopted by Prime Minister John Howard in 2001. The Australian Navy interdicted boats and forced them either to return to Indonesia or deposit refugees seeking asylum on islands outside the Aussie “migration zone.” The year after the policy was introduced, “arrivals dropped from 43 boats carrying more than 5,000 people, to one boat carrying one asylum seeker,” reported Bridie Jabour of the Guardian.
In 2007, Howard’s Liberal party was defeated. And the new Labor government installed a more relaxed policy that proved to be highly unpopular. Howard’s detention centers on Christmas Island were shut down and a new one was established in Australia. The refugee boats returned. (more…)
Posted in Australia, Illegal Immigration, Legal Immigration | No Comments »
