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  • Showing only topics in ~news with the tag "australia". Back to normal view / Search all groups
    1. Australian Cardinal George Pell convicted of child sex abuse offences - but reporting of this is banned in Australia.

      So... here's an article I read in my newspaper earlier this week: "Why the media is unable to report on a case that has generated huge interest online". As you might imagine, this left me quite...

      So... here's an article I read in my newspaper earlier this week: "Why the media is unable to report on a case that has generated huge interest online". As you might imagine, this left me quite unenlightened. I had no way of knowing or guessing what this case was, or who was involved. It was only a few days later, in conversation with some people I work with, that I found out what had happened.

      And this is the first chance I've had since then to sit down and research the story for myself.

      In short, Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic Church official to stand trial for sexual abuse, has been convicted of sexual abuse offences relating to his time as Archbishop of Melbourne in the late 1990s.

      However, the Victorian court hearing the case has imposed a suppression order on the case, which applies in every jurisdiction in Australia. We have seen no reporting of the case as it proceeded, and no reporting of the outcome.

      Before some people start assuming that this is protecting the Church, it's related to the right of an accused person to a free trial. Cardinal Pell is facing another trial in a few months for further charges of sexual abuse on a minor (relating to his time as a priest in Ballarat in the 1970s), and the court feels that reporting the outcome of this trial will potentially influence any possible jurors for that trial. Those possible jurors should go into that trial without any preconceived ideas of the accused person's guilt - and reporting that he is guilty of similar charges will undermine his right to a fair trial.

      All that we in Australia are being told is "George Pell removed from Pope Francis's cardinal advisory body". It's obvious why he was removed... if you know about the conviction.

      32 votes
    2. Australia's Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme has released its report. It describes the Scheme as "an illconceived, embryonic idea and rushed to Cabinet".

      Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Tabled_Documents/2743 Some summary quotes: From the Preface: It is remarkable how little interest there...

      Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme

      https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Tabled_Documents/2743



      Some summary quotes:

      From the Preface:

      It is remarkable how little interest there seems to have been in ensuring the Scheme’s legality, how rushed its implementation was, how little thought was given to how it would affect welfare recipients and the lengths to which public servants were prepared to go to oblige ministers on a quest for savings. Truly dismaying was the revelation of dishonesty and collusion to prevent the Scheme’s lack of legal foundation coming to light. Equally disheartening was the ineffectiveness of what one might consider institutional checks and balances – the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s Office, the Office of Legal Services Coordination, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal – in presenting any hindrance to the Scheme’s continuance.

      From the Conclusion:

      The report paints a picture of how the Robodebt Scheme (the Scheme) was put together on an illconceived, embryonic idea and rushed to Cabinet. If ever there were a case of giving an unproportion’d thought his act, this was it.

      The application of [public interest] immunity has also limited the Commission’s ability to reveal the entirety of the documentation concerning how the original proposal which became Robodebt, was passed and what was put to Cabinet thereafter. The salient points have been able to be made, but large parts of the relevant ministerial briefs, materials put before Cabinet and Cabinet minutes themselves have not been able to be revealed.

      One of the questions in the Terms of Reference is when the Australian Government knew or ought to have known that debts were not, or may not have been, validly raised. [...] Some DHS senior executives always had that knowledge; some DSS senior executives must have suspected it, at least by 2016. As to members of the Government, one Minister, Mr Morrison, took the proposal to Cabinet, knowing that it involved income averaging and that his own Department had indicated that it would require legislative change, but on the basis of the contrary indication in the NPP checklist, proceeded without enquiring as to how the change had come about.

      And... this ticking time-bomb from the covering letter:

      I have provided to you an additional chapter of the report which has not been included in the bound report and is sealed. It recommends the referral of individuals for civil action or criminal prosecution. I recommend that this additional chapter remain sealed and not be tabled with the rest of the report so as not to prejudice the conduct of any future civil action or criminal prosecution.

      Some news articles:

      20 votes
    3. Scott Morrison is the new Prime Minister of Australia

      Key points: The petition for a party room meeting of the Liberal Party got 43 signatures, so Turnbull allowed the meeting to be called. The party room voted 45:40 to spill the leadership. Three...

      Key points:

      • The petition for a party room meeting of the Liberal Party got 43 signatures, so Turnbull allowed the meeting to be called.

      • The party room voted 45:40 to spill the leadership.

      • Three candidates nominated: Peter Dutton, Scott Morrison, Julie Bishop.

      • Bishop was eliminated in the first round of voting.

      • Morrison won the second round of voting against Dutton, 45:40.

      • As the leader of the Liberal Party, Morrison becomes the new Prime Minister... probably. It now depends on whether their coalition partners, the National Party, support the new Liberal leader (but they probably will: the alternative is to lose government).

      EDIT1: And Josh Frydenburg is the deputy leader of the Liberal Party. That does not make him the Deputy Prime Minister: that role goes to the leader of the National Party whenever the Coalition is in government.

      EDIT2: The news: http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-24/scott-morrison-wins-leaderal-leadership/10160168

      Follow live here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-24/live-turnbull-leadership-challenge-looms/10159462

      Some background on Scott Morrison: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-24/scott-morrisons-rise-to-prime-minister-of-australia/10160458

      20 votes
    4. Man says he doesn’t have to lodge tax returns because he’s not a ‘person’

      Man says he doesn’t have to lodge tax returns because he’s not a ‘person’ Based on his patterns of speech - "who stated his name was Glen, of the family Polglaise" - and his argument that he's a...

      Man says he doesn’t have to lodge tax returns because he’s not a ‘person’

      Based on his patterns of speech - "who stated his name was Glen, of the family Polglaise" - and his argument that he's a human being who waives his right to recognition as a person, he seems to be a "freeman on the land" (also known in the USA as a "sovereign citizen").

      18 votes
    5. The 'Voice to Parliament' referendum pamphlets for Yes and No camps have been published by the Australian Electoral Commission

      ABC news article: Voice to Parliament referendum pamphlets for Yes and No camps published by AEC On the Australian Electoral Commission's website: The case for voting Yes The case for voting No...

      ABC news article: Voice to Parliament referendum pamphlets for Yes and No camps published by AEC

      On the Australian Electoral Commission's website:

      The Sydney Morning Herald / The Age newspapers have provided annotated versions of each pamphlet:

      As has been observed in those annotation pages, there is no legal requirement for either of these pamphlets to be truthful or factual, and there is no obligation for the AEC to fact-check them (in fact, the AEC is legally restrained from commenting on those pamphlets in any way - its role is restricted to disseminating those pamphlets, because it must stay neutral).

      12 votes
    6. Darwin shooting: Four people killed and another injured, 45yo alleged gunman arrested by police

      ABC coverage: Darwin shooting: Four people killed and another injured, 45yo alleged gunman arrested by police Some local flavour: Four people dead in mass Darwin shooting (The NT News is renowned...

      ABC coverage: Darwin shooting: Four people killed and another injured, 45yo alleged gunman arrested by police

      Some local flavour: Four people dead in mass Darwin shooting (The NT News is renowned for its... quirky... style.)

      EDIT: Fixed broken link.

      12 votes
    7. 'Free the flag': Aboriginal businesses told not to use Aboriginal flag over copyright

      Here's a secondary news article (web-based): 'Free the flag': Aboriginal businesses told not to use Aboriginal flag over copyright Here's the original news article (it's a PDF document from this...

      Here's a secondary news article (web-based): 'Free the flag': Aboriginal businesses told not to use Aboriginal flag over copyright

      Here's the original news article (it's a PDF document from this website): ‘Our’ flag raises questions

      10 votes