/qnotables/ - Q Notables

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18511306 (151005ZMAR23) Notable: AUKUS the worst international decision by a Labor government since World War I: Paul Keating - "The Albanese Government’s complicity in joining with Britain and the United States in a tripartite build of a nuclear submarine for Australia under the AUKUS arrangements represents the worst international decision by an Australian Labor government since the former Labor leader, Billy Hughes, sought to introduce conscription to augment Australian forces in World War One. Every Labor Party branch member will wince when they realise that the party we all fight for is returning to our former colonial master, Britain, to find our security in Asia – two hundred and thirty-six years after Europeans first grabbed the continent from its Indigenous people…..This week, Anthony Albanese screwed into place the last shackle in the long chain the United States has laid out to contain China. No mealy-mouthed talk of ‘stabilisation’ in our China relationship or resort to softer or polite language will disguise from the Chinese the extent and intent of our commitment to United States’s strategic hegemony in East Asia with all its deadly portents. History will be the judge of this project in the end. But I want my name clearly recorded among those who say it is a mistake. Who believe that, despite its enormous cost, it does not offer a solution to the challenge of great power competition in the region or to the security of the Australian people and its continent." - PAUL KEATING - MARCH 15, 2023

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>>42687

AUKUS the worst international decision by a Labor government since World War I: Paul Keating

PAUL KEATING - MARCH 15, 2023

1/5

The Albanese Government’s complicity in joining with Britain and the United States in a tripartite build of a nuclear submarine for Australia under the AUKUS arrangements represents the worst international decision by an Australian Labor government since the former Labor leader, Billy Hughes, sought to introduce conscription to augment Australian forces in World War One.

Every Labor Party branch member will wince when they realise that the party we all fight for is returning to our former colonial master, Britain, to find our security in Asia – two hundred and thirty-six years after Europeans first grabbed the continent from its Indigenous people.

That of all things, a contemporary Labor government is shunning security in Asia for security in and within the Anglosphere.

And in an arrangement concocted on the English coast at Cornwall by Scott Morrison, Boris Johnson – one of the great vulgarians of our time – and Joe Biden, Australia is locking in its next half century in Asia as subordinate to the United States, an Atlantic power.

We have been here before: Australia’s international interests subsumed by those of our allies. Defence policy substituting for foreign policy. But this time it is a Labor government lining us up.

Anthony Albanese’s government has picked up and has taken ownership of the strategic architecture of the Morrison government – but taken it up in full and with unprecedented gusto.

The Morrison government, at great cost, walked away from the French submarine and approached the United States, for Australia to join its nuclear submarine program.

And because Boris Johnson succeeded in dynamiting Britain out of Europe with Brexit, Britain is trawling the world trying to stitch up the new ‘Global Britain’. And guess what? They believe they have turned up a bunch of naïve old comrades in Australia, an accommodating Prime Minister, a conservative defence minister and a risk-averse foreign minister – and all surrounded by a neo-con bureaucracy.

Yet, we approached the United States – not the other way around, on the arguments put to Morrison by the security agencies led by Andrew Shearer and ASPI and as it turns out, without even reference to the Department of Foreign Affairs or its minister. Rather, and remarkably, a Labor government has picked up Shearer’s neo-con proclivities and those of ASPI, a pro-US cell led by a recent former chief of staff to Liberal foreign minister Marise Payne.

And that approach was to have the United States supply nuclear submarines for deep and joint operations against China.

And how did this come to be? And by a Labor government?

The answer lies in Anthony Albanese’s reliance on two seriously unwise ministers, Penny Wong and Richard Marles. Penny Wong took a decision in 2016, five years before AUKUS, not to be at odds with the Coalition on foreign policy on any core issue. You cannot get into controversy as the foreign spokesperson for the Labor Party if you adopt the foreign policy of the Liberal Party – if you are on a unity ticket to deny the Liberals any wedge on foreign policy and defence.

You may stay out of trouble, but you are compromised. Self-compromised.

The cost was that Labor entered a policy depression on Asia – a bit like a low weather trough but in foreign policy. This trough – all five years of it – had Penny Wong and Labor on a unity ticket with Julie Bishop and Marise Payne – a unity ticket which supported the United States dominating East Asia – but not as the balancing power to all the other states, including China, but as the primary strategic power – notwithstanding that the United States was a country not resident in the metropolitan zone of Asia but on a continent of its own, 10,000 kilometres away – the other side of the world.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18511362 (151026ZMAR23) Notable: Paul Keating calls nuclear submarines deal worst decision by Labor government since WWI conscription - Former prime minister Paul Keating has launched an extraordinary attack on the Albanese government over its adoption of the AUKUS pact, accusing it of making the worst foreign policy decision by a Labor government since the attempted introduction of conscription in World War I. Keating singled out Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minster Richard Marles for strident criticism, accusing them of setting Australia down a “dangerous path” by deepening ties with its closest security allies.

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>>42687

>>42713

Paul Keating calls nuclear submarines deal worst decision by Labor government since WWI conscription

Matthew Knott - March 15, 2023

Former prime minister Paul Keating has launched an extraordinary attack on the Albanese government over its adoption of the AUKUS pact, accusing it of making the worst foreign policy decision by a Labor government since the attempted introduction of conscription in World War I.

In a speech released to journalists, Keating singled out Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minster Richard Marles for strident criticism, accusing them of setting Australia down a “dangerous path” by deepening ties with its closest security allies.

Keating’s intervention at a fiery appearance at the National Press Club, in which he jousted with journalists while blasting senior members of his own party, came on the day after the government revealed a plan to spend up to $368 billion acquiring nuclear-powered submarines from the United States and United Kingdom.

Keating has been strongly critical of AUKUS since it was announced in September 2021 by the former Morrison government, saying it undermined Australian sovereignty and risked provoking conflict with China.

He said signing up to AUKUS had broken Labor’s long “winning streak” on foreign policy over the past century and was a “deeply pathetic” moment in the party’s history.

“Falling into a major mistake, Anthony Albanese, befuddled by his own small-target election strategy, emerges as prime minister with an American sword to rattle at the neighbourhood to impress upon it the United States’ esteemed view of its untrammelled destiny,” he said in remarks released before his appearance.

“Naturally, I should prefer to be singing the praises of the government in all matters, but these issues carry deadly consequences for Australia and I believe it is incumbent on any former prime minister, particularly now, a Labor one, to alert the country to the dangerous and unnecessary journey on which the government is now embarking.

“This week, Anthony Albanese screwed into place the last shackle in the long chain the United States has laid out to contain China.”

Answering a question about how Labor came to support the AUKUS pact, he said: “The answer lies in Anthony Albanese’s reliance on two seriously unwise ministers: Penny Wong and Richard Marles.

“Penny Wong took a decision in 2016, five years before AUKUS, not to be at odds with the Coalition on foreign policy on any core issue. You cannot get into controversy as the foreign spokesperson for the Labor Party if you adopt the foreign policy of the Liberal Party, if you are on a unity ticket to deny the Liberals any wedge on foreign policy and defence.

“You may stay out of trouble, but you are compromised. Self-compromised.”

Keating was particularly personal in his criticisms of Wong during a question and answer session, saying: “Running around the Pacific Islands with a lei around your neck handing out money, which is what Penny does, is not foreign policy. It’s a consular task. Foreign policy is what you do with the great powers: what you do with China, what you do with the United States.

“This government, the Albanese government, does not employ foreign policy.”

Keating said of Marles that he was “well-intentioned” but was “completely captured by the idea of America”.

Underlining his increasing isolation from the party he once led on foreign policy and defence, Keating revealed he had approached Albanese’s office for a meeting in February about the AUKUS pact but had not received a response.

He also received no reply from Albanese in the same month when he emailed the prime minister a “long paper” on the importance of sovereignty on foreign policy.

“I don’t think I suffer from relevance deprivation, but I do suffer concern for Australia as it most unwisely proceeds down this singular and dangerous path,” he said.

Keating presented a largely benign view of China’s rise, saying it was “not the old Soviet Union” and was “not seeking to propagate some competing international ideology” to the United States.

“The fact is China is not an outrider,” he said.

“China is a world trading state – it is not about upending the international system.”

Keating said: “Every Labor Party branch member will wince when they realise that the party we all fight for is returning to our former colonial master, Britain, to find our security in Asia – 236 years after Europeans first grabbed the continent from its Indigenous people.

“That of all things, a contemporary Labor government is shunning security in Asia for security in and within the Anglosphere.”

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/paul-keating-calls-nuclear-submarines-worst-decision-by-labor-government-since-wwi-conscription-20230315-p5csba.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18511440 (151052ZMAR23) Notable: ACT DPP Shane Drumgold hires top NSW silk Mark Tedeschi KC ahead of Lehrmann inquiry - Zach Rolfe’s barrister and the crown prosecutor who put away serial killer Ivan Milat will play key roles in the upcoming independent inquiry into the handling of Brittany Higgins’ rape claim. The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold SC, has hired Sydney silk Mark Tedeschi KC to represent him at the inquiry while Steven Whybrow SC – who represented Bruce Lehrmann at his aborted rape trial – has hired Adelaide silk David Edwardson KC.

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ACT DPP Shane Drumgold hires top NSW silk Mark Tedeschi KC ahead of Lehrmann inquiry

KRISTIN SHORTEN - MARCH 15, 2023

Zach Rolfe’s barrister and the crown prosecutor who put away serial killer Ivan Milat will play key roles in the upcoming independent inquiry into the handling of Brittany Higgins’ rape claim.

The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold SC, has hired Sydney silk Mark Tedeschi KC to represent him at the inquiry while Steven Whybrow SC – who represented Bruce Lehrmann at his aborted rape trial – has hired Adelaide silk David Edwardson KC.

Complicating matters, however, is that for the past two years Mr Tedeschi has been prosecuting a money-laundering case against Canberra lawyer Ben Aulich in the ACT Magistrates Court alongside the investigation’s officer in charge, ACT Police Manager of Criminal Investigations Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, whom he may now have to cross-examine at the inquiry.

The Australian has previously revealed that senior police believed there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Lehrmann and that Superintendent Moller, who oversaw the investigation into Ms Higgins’ alleged rape, recorded in his police diary that there was “too much political interference” in the case.

He is expected to be questioned at the inquiry, which will examine how Mr Lehrmann’s matter was handled and a relationship breakdown between the DPP and AFP.

ACT police chief Neil Gaughan and Mr Lehrmann have ­accused Mr Drumgold of misconduct while Mr Drumgold claims there was “a very clear campaign” by police to pressure him not to prosecute Mr Lehrmann.

Mr Tedeschi, who will represent Mr Drumgold at the inquiry, was NSW senior crown prosecutor before resigning in 2018 to return to private practice.

During his 21 years as senior prosecutor, the 71-year-old ran several high-profile cases, including those of convicted child killers Kathleen Folbigg and Keli Lane, kidnapper and double murderer Bruce Burrell, Milat, and Gordon Wood.

In 2008, the latter was convicted of killing 24-year-old Caroline Byrne in 1995 at The Gap in Sydney’s eastern suburbs but after serving three years of a 13-year sentence, Mr Wood was acquitted of his girlfriend’s murder.

The barrister who got him acquitted on appeal was Tim Game SC, who has been hired to represent ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates at the inquiry.

As a commonwealth agency, ACT Policing will be represented at the inquiry by the Australian Government Solicitor with assistance from the AFP’s internal legal area, while its officers appearing have the choice of legal representation from the AGS or a personally nominated representative.

Mr Edwardson, representing Mr Whybrow, represented Northern Territory police officer Mr Rolfe last year where after a five-week trial, he was found not guilty of murdering Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker during a 2019 arrest at Yuendumu.

Mr Edwardson has appeared in many high-profile cases, including the successful defence of former West Australian barrister and crown prosecutor Lloyd Rayney against police convinced he had murdered his wife, Corryn.

Ms Higgins alleged Mr Lehrmann raped her in senator Linda Reynolds’ ministerial office in the early hours of March 23, 2019, after a night out drinking with colleagues in Canberra.

Mr Lehrmann was later charged with sexual intercourse without consent. The 28-year-old’s Supreme Court trial was aborted in October because of juror misconduct and immediately listed for retrial in February.

In December, Mr Drumgold said he would not prosecute the case again because of the impact it would have on Ms Higgins’ mental health. He said while he believed the evidence offered a reasonable prospect of conviction, he did not believe it was in the public interest to proceed.

Within a week, Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury announced establishment of a Board of Inquiry into the Criminal Justice System in the ACT.

Retired judge of the Queensland Supreme Court and Court of Appeal Walter Sofronoff KC is conducting the inquiry. The board will hold an initial public hearing on April 17 to outline the nature and scope of the inquiry, with further public hearings from April 26.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/act-dpp-shane-drumgold-hires-top-nsw-silk-mark-tedeschi-kc-ahead-of-lehrmann-inquiry/news-story/2643d714175ce7306e274fc61866b695

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18517111 (160946ZMAR23) Notable: ‘Outraged’: Bruce Lehrmann breaks silence in the witness box - Speaking publicly for the first time since allegations of rape were made against him, former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has given evidence he was “outraged” after media outlets began reporting the allegations by Brittany Higgins, although he had not been named. Mr Lehrmann said he wanted to commence defamation proceedings, but was advised by his then lawyer to wait until the resolution of criminal proceedings.

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>>42627

‘Outraged’: Bruce Lehrmann breaks silence in the witness box

STEPHEN RICE - MARCH 16, 2023

Speaking publicly for the first time since allegations of rape were made against him, former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has given evidence he was “outraged” after media outlets began reporting the allegations by Brittany Higgins, although he had not been named.

Mr Lehrmann said he wanted to commence defamation proceedings, but was advised by his then lawyer to wait until the resolution of criminal proceedings.

Mr Lehrmann gave evidence in the Federal Court on Thursday about a series of texts he had exchanged with his then-girlfriend while sitting in his solicitor’s office on the day the reports appeared.

A report containing the contents of Mr Lehrmann’s mobile phone has been compiled, with lawyers for the media outlets suggesting text messages he sent contradict one of the reasons he has given for his delay in bringing the action within the prescribed period - that he was advised by his then lawyers against pursuing defamation proceedings.

Mr Lehrmann sent a message to his girlfriend saying: “If I am named tonight, then he says I’m up for millions”.

Mr Lehrmann agreed he was referring to his solicitor in the message but said he was simply placating his girlfriend, because she was upset and distraught.

“I was putting on a brave face to Ms Sinclair,” he said. “I was not telling her the exact advice Warwick Korn was giving me.”

Mr Lehrmann said references to a potential defamation win were merely to placate her and that he had been seeking legal advice in relation to the criminal proceedings.

Mr Lehrmann said he was ”upset” and wanted to “fight back”.

Lawyers for the Ten Network and News Corp are fighting to strike out a defamation claim by Mr Lehrmann on the basis that he failed to launch the proceedings within the required 12 month time limit.

Mr Lehrmann’s barrister, Steven Whybrow SC, who also acted for him in the rape trial, argues the time limit should be extended because Mr Lehrmann was delayed by the criminal proceedings against him and because of his fragile mental health.

He also says his then-lawyer advised him to delay filing the civil action.

Mr Lehrmann told the court he was suspended from his job at British American Tobacco the day after the reports appeared

Mr Lehrmann said he became aware of journalist Rosie Lewis from The Australian making inquiries about him.

He said he presented himself to Royal North Shore hospital and was kept there overnight. He said he wasn’t aware that he was placed on 30 minute observation. He subsequently went to another facility for 12 days.

At that point the media was staking out his home.

Barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC, acting for Ten’s Lisa Wilkinson, told the Federal Court that many defamation cases involved ongoing criminal matters and that was no reason to allow an extension of time.

”Insofar as all the defamation barristers sitting in the bar table are concerned, many, many, many cases are brought by persons who have been charged, by persons who are accused of criminal offences that have not been charged and might be charged,’ Ms Chrysanthou said.

“Most defamation cases in this court concern serious conduct, amounting to crimes; the only other category really is serious professional incompetence or negligence.

“In circumstances where the media often accuse people of crimes whether there’s extant criminal proceedings or not, it seems wrong to us that a plaintiff is entitled to avoid the one year limitation period, …. that they can just avoid that because they’ve been accused of a crime.”

News Corp and the Ten Network filed their defences in the Federal Court last week, each providing an identical 79-point account of the alleged facts leading up to, during and after the alleged rape in Parliament House in March 2019, which they claim are “substantially true”.

Mr Lehrmann, who has consistently denied raping Ms Higgins, launched defamation proceedings against Ten and News Life Media Pty Ltd – an arm of News Corp Australia – in the Federal Court a month ago.

Lisa Wilkinson, former co-host of The Project, and Samantha Maiden, political editor for news.com.au, are second respondents in the proceedings.

Wilkinson filed her own defence two weeks ago – after unexpectedly ditching Ten’s legal team – denying that she was seeking to exploit allegations of sexual assault against Mr Lehrmann for personal and professional gain.

Both media outlets, and Wilkinson and Maiden, will rely on defences of truth and qualified privilege.

The hearing continues.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/outraged-bruce-lehrmann-breaks-silence-in-the-witness-box/news-story/fa1fd3587d2250065424b29fe3690343

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18517144 (161003ZMAR23) Notable: ‘ISIS bride’ Mariam Raad fronts court charged with travelling to declared zone - Prosecutors are gathering financial records and scouring mobile devices for messages to prove that the wife of ISIS’s star Australian recruiter willingly entered a declared area, now confirmed as being the terrorist group’s stronghold Raqqa, in Syria. Police allege Ms Raad, who has four children by maths teacher turned ISIS recruiter Muhammad Zahab, travelled to Syria willingly in 2014 and was aware of her husband‘s activities. Ms Raad along with 16 other wives and children of Australian Islamic State fighters was repatriated in October, after spending years in al-Roj Internally Displaced Persons camp near the Iraqi border.

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>>42279 (pb)

>>42288 (pb)

‘ISIS bride’ Mariam Raad fronts court charged with travelling to declared zone

RHIANNON DOWN - MARCH 15, 2023

Prosecutors are gathering financial records and scouring mobile devices for messages to prove that the wife of ISIS’s star Australian recruiter willingly entered a declared area, now confirmed as being the terrorist group’s stronghold Raqqa, in Syria.

The so-called “ISIS bride” Mariam Raad, 31, fronted Young Local Court on Wednesday wearing a brown hijab and covering her face with a mask and large sunglasses while accompanied by her brother.

Ms Raad was arrested and charged with entering a ­declared area, the Islamic State self-declared capital, in January and was granted bail.

Prosecutors said that they were seeking to gather further “outstanding items” from overseas, “financial records” and “messages from mobile devices” and were granted an eight week extension to gather evidence.

The court heard that Ms Raad – who remained silent throughout the short hearing – would not be required to attend her next hearing, and the case would be moved to Goulburn court.

Police allege Ms Raad, who has four children by maths teacher turned ISIS recruiter Muhammad Zahab, travelled to Syria willingly in 2014 and was aware of her husband‘s activities. Ms Raad along with 16 other wives and children of Australian Islamic State fighters was repatriated in October, after spending years in al-Roj Internally Displaced Persons camp near the Iraqi border.

Zahab, who rose to become ISIS’s most senior Australian fighter before he was likely killed in an air strike in 2018, persuaded dozens of relatives to join him in Syria.

Australian Federal Police and NSW Police investigators from the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team laid charges against Ms Raad and executed search warrants on a home in Young, on NSW’s southwest slopes and Parklea, after “newly obtained evidence” came to light.

Ms Raad has been under close surveillance by police and security agencies since she was brought home to Young.

When The Australian visited the simple house, ringed by vegetable garden beds at the end of a dirt road 10 minutes from Young, a man who claimed to be Ms Raad’s brother said Ms Raad was coping but had nothing to say to media.

In an interview with The Australian at al-Roj Ms Raab pleaded to be permitted to ­return to Australia, saying she lived in fear that her sons would be removed from her.

“I want my kids to have a chance at a real future,” she said. “I want them to start their education and I want to know what’s wrong with my daughter.

“I’m stressed. It’s not easy being a single mother with four children in a camp. The boys are growing older and I go to sleep every night imagining they will be taken away from me.’’

“It will be alleged in court that the woman travelled to Syria in early 2014 to join her husband, who left Australia in 2013 and joined Islamic State,” AFP and NSW Police said in a joint statement in January.

“It will also be alleged the woman was aware of her husband’s activities with Islamic State, and willingly travelled to the conflict region.”

Ms Raad and her children – two boys born in Australia and two girls born in Syria – spent three years living in deteriorating conditions in the refugee camps in northeast Syria.

At the time of her arrest police hinted that other women who spent time in the conflict zone could also face charges.

Young, known for its cherry trees, has become the “unofficial Muslim capital of the outback” with a tight-knit community living a quiet life on the land on the grassy hills surrounding the town.

Just a few hundred metres from Ms Raad’s rural property live the family of Haisem Zahab, her husband’s cousin who was arrested in Young in 2017 and later jailed for designing guided missiles and laser warning devices for Islamic State.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/isis-bride-mariam-raad-fronts-court-charged-with-travelling-to-declared-zone/news-story/acf094fbb7b00b60707afafab851261e

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18517202 (161022ZMAR23) Notable: 328,000 IDs feared stolen in ‘sophisticated’ Latitude Financial hack - Consumer finance provider Latitude Financial said it has been the victim of a hacking incident and believes identification documents of 328,000 customers were stolen, including the driver’s licence details of about 100,000 customers. Latitude provides consumer finance services to Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys, Apple and recently signed up David Jones. The company declined to say if consumers who are using financing from these companies are impacted.

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328,000 IDs feared stolen in ‘sophisticated’ Latitude Financial hack

Colin Kruger - March 16, 2023

Consumer finance provider Latitude Financial said it has been the victim of a hacking incident and believes identification documents of 328,000 customers were stolen, including the driver’s licence details of about 100,000 customers.

Latitude provides consumer finance services to Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys, Apple and recently signed up David Jones. The company declined to say if consumers who are using financing from these companies are impacted.

“Latitude apologises to the impacted customers and is taking immediate steps to contact them,” the company said in a statement to the ASX.

Latitude has drawn criticism from experts on the breach of its systems. “Here is another case of credential theft after Medibank incident. It’s time for the Australian companies to think hard about password and identity management,” Dr Jabed Chowdhury, a lecturer at La Trobe University’s Cyber Security Program, said.

“Two steps even three steps password protection mechanism is the need of the time.”

Latitude said the details were stolen from service providers it uses. The company did not clarify further, but this is believed to refer to companies that provide corporate services to Latitude.

The company said it was continuing to respond to what it describes as a malicious and sophisticated cyberattack and has removed access to some customer-facing and internal systems.

Unusual activity was noticed on its network earlier this week, originating from a major vendor it uses.

“While Latitude took immediate action, the attacker was able to obtain Latitude employee login credentials before the incident was isolated,” it said.

“The attacker appears to have used the employee login credentials to steal personal information that was held by two other service providers.”

Latitude is working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) and said it had alerted relevant law enforcement agencies.

Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil said she welcomed Latitude’s cooperative approach with the ACSC and regulators to minimise the damage resulting from this incident.

“This incident is another reminder for everyone in the community to be vigilant about their personal cybersecurity,” she said.

Latitude has been placed into a trading halt until a further update is released about the hack attack in coming days. The stock last traded at $1.20. Investors paid $2.60 for shares when it listed on the ASX less than two years ago.

Analysts are already expecting that the incident will trigger a multi-million dollar bill, but the longer-term damage is harder to assess.

“Longer term, the impact on the business is more difficult to gauge, as it is unclear presently what the extent of the incident will be and how much franchise damage that will cause,” Citi analyst Thomas Strong said in a note to client.

The attack follows recent major cyberattacks at Optus and Medibank.

Optus was the victim of a major cyber breach in September, with hackers obtaining the data of 10 million of its customers.

The breach will cost Optus at least $140 million, including replacing hacked identity documents, complimentary subscriptions to credit monitor Equifax and an independent report commissioned by Deloitte. The telco is also being investigated by Australia’s privacy and telecommunications watchdogs.

Medibank’s incident in October was more serious with criminals accessing basic account details of 9.7 million current and former customers as well as health claims data for about 160,000 Medibank customers, 300,000 customers of its budget arm, ahm, and 20,000 international customers.

The hackers began leaking some stolen data onto the dark web and Medibank lost $2 billion from its market valuation at the height of the crisis. It still faces lawsuits and an investigation by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner over its handling of the incident.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/328-000-ids-feared-stolen-in-sophisticated-latitude-financial-hack-20230316-p5cslo.html

https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20230316/pdf/45mqrr4z1tb693.pdf

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18517224 (161029ZMAR23) Notable: Queensland to ban Nazi swastika tattoos as part of crackdown on hate symbols - The Queensland government has vowed to make it illegal to display Nazi swastika tattoos as part of its ban on hate symbols that it says will be among the strongest in the country. It will join New South Wales, which has already implemented a ban on displaying the symbol, in applying the restriction to tattoos. Western Australia and Tasmania are also moving to include tattoos in their proposed bans.

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>>42361 (pb)

Queensland to ban Nazi swastika tattoos as part of crackdown on hate symbols

Exclusive: State will join NSW, WA and Tasmania in banning tattoos with hate symbols ‘that seek to invoke fear’

Eden Gillespie - 16 Mar 2023

The Queensland government has vowed to make it illegal to display Nazi swastika tattoos as part of its ban on hate symbols that it says will be among the strongest in the country.

It will join New South Wales, which has already implemented a ban on displaying the symbol, in applying the restriction to tattoos. Western Australia and Tasmania are also moving to include tattoos in their proposed bans.

But Victoria – which was the first state in Australia to ban the public display of the Nazi swastika – has excluded tattoos. An Australian Capital Territory bill has a similar exclusion.

The Queensland government told Guardian Australia that proposed ban will be introduced into parliament within a fortnight.

A spokesperson for the state’s attorney general, Shannon Fentiman, said the laws would “strengthen Queensland’s hate crime laws” and make it illegal to display hate symbols “such as those related to Nazi ideology”.

“The government is committed to protecting our diverse communities,” the spokesperson said. “Unlike the Victorian and ACT approaches, we do not intend to provide a specific exception for tattoos.”

Victoria considered a ban on swastika tattoos but it was considered incompatible with the state’s charter of human rights, given it would restrict a person’s rights to freedom of movement and expression, as well as to take part in public life. It also was considered difficult to enforce.

The president of the Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies, Jason Steinberg, said the proposed legislation was a step in the right direction. “The banning of Nazi hate symbols, including tattoos, is a really welcome initiative,” Steinberg said.

“They’re symbols of hate that represent the murder of six million innocent Jewish people and five million others that were industrially slaughtered by the Nazi regime.

“People who have these symbols … should know that it’s a criminal offence and our society shouldn’t and can’t tolerate it.”

The anti-fascist group the White Rose Society said the state’s legislation was a “welcome improvement” on current laws but called for the introduction of an extremist symbol database that is regularly updated.

“We’ve seen that white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups use graffiti and stickering as a tactic to claim public space and exclude those they deem as undesirable others through creating an intimidating atmosphere,” a White Rose Society spokesperson said.

“We’ve also seen where swastika bans have been implemented in other states that they’ve quickly been subverted through the use of alterations and alternative symbols.”

Guardian Australia revealed in January that three men had been charged with wilful damage in relation to the displaying of neo-Nazi material after police conducted raids on three separate addresses across south-east Queensland.

It came after separate unrelated incidents in which Nazi propaganda was distributed throughout Brisbane suburbs last year and a pig’s head was left outside Arundel mosque.

The White Rose Society said combating white supremacy required a “whole-of-society approach”.

“Our concern is that the Queensland government will pass these laws and then think the job is done,” they said. “We can’t jail our way out of the rise of far-right extremism.”

The attorney general’s spokesperson said the list of symbols banned under the legislation would be prescribed by regulation after consultation, “meaning our laws will extend to all hateful ideologies that seek to invoke fear”.

But there would be an exemption for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains for whom swastikas are religious symbols. There will also be an exemption for when hate symbols were used for educational purposes.

The state government will also introduce reforms to include a circumstance of aggravation for a range of offences, including public nuisance, where the offence is motivated by hatred or prejudice.

“This will mean that a court is able to impose more severe penalties for these offences,” the spokesperson said. “Whether the offences will apply to certain behaviours or situations will depend on the specific circumstances in each case.

“While decisions on whether to charge will remain a matter for police, initiatives will be in place to educate and train police officers about the new laws to improve police responses to hate crimes and vilification.”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/16/queensland-to-ban-nazi-swastika-tattoos-as-part-of-crackdown-on-hate-symbols

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18530552 (181214ZMAR23) Notable: Lehrmann shocked at judge’s secret guilty-plea comment - In his first media interview, Bruce Lehrmann has revealed the judge who presided over his trial for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins made a comment to his barrister at a secret meeting early in the trial, which Mr Lehrmann says showed a possible “apprehension of bias” against him.

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>>42627

Lehrmann shocked at judge’s secret guilty-plea comment

In his first interview, Bruce Lehrmann has revealed the judge who presided over his trial for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins made a comment to his barrister, which showed a possible ‘apprehension of bias’ against him.

JANET ALBRECHTSEN and STEPHEN RICE - March 17, 2023

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In his first media interview, Bruce Lehrmann has revealed the judge who presided over his trial for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins made a comment to his barrister at a secret meeting early in the trial, which Mr Lehrmann says showed a possible “apprehension of bias” against him.

The former Liberal staffer, now 27, has been reluctant to speak publicly about the events that saw him catapulted into the national consciousness after Ms Higgins accused him of raping her on a couch in Parliament House in March 2019.

But Mr Lehrmann is breaking his silence because he believes a comment made to his lawyer by Chief Justice Lucy McCallum in which she contemplated a guilty plea – that would have almost certainly sent him to prison — has profound implications for the criminal justice system.

Mr Lehrmann has told The Weekend Australian that when Ms Higgins failed to turn up to court midway through her cross-examination, and barely a week into a trial originally set down for six weeks, Chief Justice McCallum informed his lawyer that if Mr Lehrmann pleaded guilty she would take that early plea into consideration when sentencing him.

Mr Lehrmann said his barrister, Steven Whybrow SC, considered the judge’s comment would be so upsetting to his client that he did not tell him at the time. The comment was made at an early point in the trial when Ms Higgins had given only part of her evidence and failed to return to court when ­expected, reportedly for mental health reasons, and ­before more than two dozen witnesses had ­appeared.

Senior criminal lawyers contacted by The Weekend Australian say that when a judge informs an accused person that a guilty plea will result in a discount on sentence, that should always happen in open court, where it is recorded in a transcript, and where judges can make the appropriate comments to avoid a perception of bias.

Mr Lehrmann, who has always denied the accusations against him, says that he only recently learnt of the conversation and was shocked. “I’ve only found this out a few weeks ago and I was choking back tears,” he said. Rightly or wrongly, he interpreted the judge’s comments as an invitation to plead guilty.

“I took her comments to mean that if I did the ‘right thing’ by pleading guilty, given Ms Higgins was suffering mental health issues, the judge would do the right thing by me come sentencing,” Mr Lehrmann said.

He said he was content with the decision by his barrister not to relay the comment to him at the time, because of previous instructions he had provided.

“I mean, I was quite upset. Steve, of course apologised for not telling me, however, his justification for not telling me is incredibly sound because he and the rest of my team knew that I was never ever going to change my plea,” Mr Lehrmann said.

“The other aspect was, as he says, he has a duty of care and the amount of stress that I’ve been under, he was trying to keep me alive.”

He said he felt the comments raised a risk of an apprehension of bias. “There were some people around me that said there should have been an application to have her recused,” Mr Lehrmann said. A senior member of the Sydney Bar told The Weekend Australian that Chief Justice McCallum’s comments were unusual. “The first point is that he [Lehrmann] was at that stage in the jury’s charge, not the judge’s charge,” the barrister, who asked not to be identified, told The Weekend Australian.

“The judge is judge of the law, but not the judge of the facts; and while someone could always ­suddenly plead guilty in the middle of the trial, it’s certainly not for the judge to be doing anything to suggest or encourage that course.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18530599 (181225ZMAR23) Notable: Bruce Lehrmann trial: Balancing interests of complainants and defendants - "Understandably, many in the legal fraternity are concerned to learn that, barely five days into the rape trial of Bruce Lehrmann, ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum told Lehrmann’s defence lawyer during a secret conversation that, should his client decide to plead guilty, she would take that into ­account when sentencing. Justice McCallum is constrained in her capacity to respond to questions put to her on the issue. If she could speak freely she might say that it is entirely commonplace, and indeed necessary, to inform an accused that an early plea will result in a discount on sentence. That is not in dispute. But such conversations should occur in open court where a judge can eliminate any risk of a perception of bias by fully explaining any comments made." - Janet Albrechtsen - theaustralian.com.au

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>>42627

>>42721

Bruce Lehrmann trial: Balancing interests of complainants and defendants

JANET ALBRECHTSEN - MARCH 18, 2023

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Understandably, many in the legal fraternity are concerned to learn that, barely five days into the rape trial of Bruce Lehrmann, ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum told Lehrmann’s defence lawyer during a secret conversation that, should his client decide to plead guilty, she would take that into ­account when sentencing.

This is not a niche legal issue. It raises yet again the concern that in these days of #MeToo, too many people, right up to the judiciary, are overcorrecting in the struggle to find the right balance between protecting the rights of victims of alleged sexual assault and the rights of defendants.

The context of the Chief Justice’s secret conversation is critical to understanding why it is so troubling. First, McCallum secretly raised the possibility of a guilty plea with defence barrister Steven Whybrow barely a week into a trial originally set down for six weeks. The jury was sitting and was therefore charged with determining the facts. The judge’s role in a jury trial is to oversee the law.

Second, Brittany Higgins had not finished being cross-examined over her allegation that she was raped in the early hours of March 23, 2019, when she and Lehrmann returned to Parliament House after a boozy night out.

Third, Higgins’s version of events was beginning to unravel. Whybrow’s cross-examination of the complainant exposed discrepancies in her original evidence. Higgins had claimed she put the dress she wore on the night of the alleged rape under her bed, unwashed, for six months; during cross examination she admitted she wore the dress some seven weeks later at a campaign dinner with her boss, Linda Reynolds.

Higgins claimed she suffered a panic attack in a parliament bathroom for possibly some hours on April 4, 2019, when Reynolds’ chief of staff texted her to check on her. Higgins was forced to admit she was at farewell celebrations for her former boss Steve Ciobo. Higgins originally claimed she asked her father to come to Canberra after the alleged rape; cross examination revealed his visit had been prearranged. Higgins made multiple statements to various people and police that she had made or been to doctors’ appointments but had not been to any; there was no evidence they were made.

Justice McCallum is constrained in her capacity to respond to questions put to her on the issue. If she could speak freely she might say that it is entirely commonplace, and indeed necessary, to inform an accused that an early plea will result in a discount on sentence. That is not in dispute. But such conversations should occur in open court where a judge can eliminate any risk of a perception of bias by fully explaining any comments made.

During cross examination, Higgins admitted deleting phone messages prior to going to police, including text exchanges with a Parliament House security guard on the afternoon of the alleged rape, and deleting a single message from a text thread with her former boyfriend Ben Dillaway where she said “Not interested in pursuing, but it’s all beyond strange”. Higgins also acknowledged, during cross-examination, refusing to hand her phone to police and making appointments with police that she didn’t turn up to, texting boyfriend David Sharaz: “I’m clearing out my phone ahead of the police.”

Cross-examination also revealed Higgins had drafted chapter headings and an outline for a book before her interview with The Project and before going to police. Further, on March 16, 2021 she received confirmation from Peter FitzSimons there was a publisher’s offer of $325,000.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18530774 (181256ZMAR23) Notable: Neo-Nazi group marches into pro and anti-transgender protest in Melbourne’s CBD - A female police officer was allegedly placed in a headlock while another was allegedly slapped on the neck in a clash between pro-transgender and anti-transgender activists on Saturday (March 18 2023). The rally attracted a heavy police presence in the area including officers from the public order response team and the mounted branch. The group of men, dressed in black, performed multiple Nazi salutes while holding a sign that read: “Destroy Paedo Freaks.” Among the crowd was neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell, who founded the far-right European Australia Movement.

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Neo-Nazi group marches into pro and anti-transgender protest in Melbourne’s CBD

Brianna Travers, Grace Baldwin and Regan Hodge - March 18, 2023

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A female police officer was allegedly placed in a headlock while another was allegedly slapped on the neck in a clash between pro-transgender and anti-transgender activists on Saturday.

A Point Cook man, 22, was arrested for allegedly putting the officer in a headlock and taking her to the ground, while a Thornbury woman, 23, was arrested for the alleged slapping.

If convicted, the two protesters are expected to face six month mandatory jail sentences for allegedly assaulting police.

A third person, a 22-year-old from Preston, was also arrested for unlawful assault.

Victoria Police said it was a dynamic demonstration.

“Some of these groups failed to engage with police in the lead-up to the protest, or altered their plans without notice, resulting in the potential for multiple clashes between the opposing groups,” a police spokeswoman said.

“Consequently, officers were required to form many lines between the different groups to protect the safety of all involved, stop breaches of the peace and prevent any physical violence.”

The two police officers were not injured.

It came as masked men performed Nazi salutes in Melbourne’s CBD while they crashed the demonstration between pro-transgender and anti-transgender activists.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside Parliament House on Spring St about midday.

The rally attracted a heavy police presence in the area including officers from the public order response team and the mounted branch.

The group of men, dressed in black, performed multiple Nazi salutes while holding a sign that read: “Destroy Paedo Freaks.”

Among the crowd was neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell, who founded the far-right European Australia Movement.

Sewell, 29, was convicted and sentenced to 150 hours of community work in January after punching a Channel 9 security guard.

Last year he duped a Melbourne beer hall into hosting a celebration of Adolf Hitler’s birthday.

Prior to their arrival, Kellie-Jay Keen, a British trans-exclusionary women’s activist, had been speaking on the Spring St steps.

Her visit attracted supporters as well as counter-protesters.

Ms Keen, also known as Posie Parker, has been travelling across Australia and New Zealand on a tour titled “Let Women Speak”.

Her tour hosts public events to discuss transgender laws and policy and has been sponsored by Binary Australia — an organisation dedicated to the idea that “biological sex plays an important role in our society”.

Ms Keen’s gatherings have caused occasionally violent clashes between trans-inclusionary activists and her own fans across the country, with a strong police presence at each rally.

Over the past week, Ms Keen has held events in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

On Saturday she was surrounded by people holding signs emblazoned with slogans including “men can never be lesbians” and “woman is a fact not a gender identity”.

Other notable presences at the rally included the divisive Katherine Deves, known for her vehement campaigning against trans women being allowed in women-only spaces.

Ms Deves shared pictures of the rally to social media, calling her opposition “anti-woman protesters” and observing “armed and mounted police holding back aggressive protesters to protect the women and supporters at a women’s rights rally”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18530856 (181309ZMAR23) Notable: Soldiers of hate: Army investigates neo-Nazis in its ranks - "The Australian Army has launched an urgent investigation after discovering serving soldiers have links to neo-Nazi groups. The inquiry was triggered by an investigation by this masthead into white supremacist groups which features leaked recordings and conversations from encrypted forums that reveal an emerging cohort of Australian extremist leaders seeking to access firearms and ridiculing law enforcement." - Nick McKenzie - theage.com.au

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Soldiers of hate: Army investigates neo-Nazis in its ranks

Nick McKenzie - March 18, 2023

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The Australian Army has launched an urgent investigation after discovering serving soldiers have links to neo-Nazi groups.

The inquiry was triggered by an investigation by this masthead into white supremacist groups which features leaked recordings and conversations from encrypted forums that reveal an emerging cohort of Australian extremist leaders seeking to access firearms and ridiculing law enforcement.

This masthead’s investigation unearthed links between extremist groups and Australian Defence Force members, as well as state police forces. The Queensland Police also launched an inquiry into connections between two serving police and alleged white supremacists.

The investigation also established the identities of emerging or previously unknown neo-Nazi leaders around the country, some with a keen interest in obtaining firearms and training in their use.

At least three soldiers appear to have joined the military after being active members or liaising closely with white supremacist groups, including those monitored by Australian security and intelligence agencies.

One soldier’s social media footprint reveals his involvement with a white supremacist outfit called Operation Werewolf.

A security briefing seen by the investigation described Operation Werewolf as a group that “strives for Aryan supremacy”, with Australian members who “undertake survivalist training including unarmed combat, weapons training and hunting”.

Before joining the military, a second serving soldier attended a training camp for neo-Nazi group Antipodean Resistance, which advocates a race war and has been the subject of intensive ASIO investigations. This soldier previously socialised with at least two members of Australia’s largest neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Network.

While the number of ADF recruits with neo-Nazi backgrounds appears small, and there is no evidence they have engaged in extremist activities while in the military, their discovery raises questions about the adequacy of military vetting.

The US military is grappling with cases of infiltration by active white supremacists on a scale far greater than that in Australia.

A security source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the ADF still had gaps in its vetting programs that made it vulnerable to neo-Nazi infiltration.

Defence declined to comment on individual soldiers but said it investigates and acts when personnel are identified as potentially involved in unlawful or inappropriate activities.

There was “no place for unlawful or inappropriate association with groups or organisations that engage in advocacy for extremist ideology, extremist views, or criminal activity within the Australian Defence Force”, it said in a statement. “Defence works closely with law enforcement and intelligence agencies to identify and counter threats to Defence and Defence personnel involving ideologically motivated extremism.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18537925 (190828ZMAR23) Notable: Texts reveal Bruce Lehrmann sought ‘gear’ to ‘get lit’ on night of Brittany Higgins TV interview - Bruce Lehrmann texted a friend asking “got any gear” on the night Brittany Higgins appeared on television making her rape allegations, according to a trove of messages and documents released by the Federal Court.

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>>42627

Texts reveal Bruce Lehrmann sought ‘gear’ to ‘get lit’ on night of Brittany Higgins TV interview

STEPHEN RICE - MARCH 19, 2023

Bruce Lehrmann texted a friend asking “got any gear” on the night Brittany Higgins appeared on television making her rape allegations, according to a trove of messages and documents released by the Federal Court.

The WhatsApp messages reveal Mr Lehrmann telling friends “need bags” and confiding he wanted to “get lit” as he watched the Lisa Wilkinson interview with Ms Higgins while drinking scotch with his lawyer, Warwick Korn.

The texts also reveal Mr Lehrmann telling his then girlfriend, Greta Sinclair, as the evening progresses, “I’ve been pretty upset” and “we need to keep a close circle, so I can’t speak very much but I trust you with my life”.

Ms Sinclair responds: “That’s OK. And no worries, can keep a close circle. It’s scary.”

Mr Lehrmann reassures her that if he is named on the program, Channel 10 and the government “are up for a lot of money”.

She responds: Yep! I love you and we will get through this.”

Mr Lehrmann told the Federal Court on Thursday he lied in some texts sent to Ms Sinclair that night, including telling her his lawyer believed there was no chance of criminal proceedings against him, claiming he did so because she was distraught and he was “putting on a brave face”.

Mr Lehrmann said he had lied in claiming Mr Korn thought he was “up for millions” from a potential defamation payout in order to placate Ms Sinclair.

However, his evidence was challenged by lawyers from the media outlets he is suing, who say the text messages accurately reflected the advice he was being given, and he was well aware he could sue for defamation at that point.

Lawyers for the Ten Network and News Corp are fighting to strike out the lawsuit because Mr Lehrmann failed to launch proceedings within the required 12-month time limit. They say the texts contradict one of the reasons he has given for the delay in bringing the action – that he was advised by his then lawyers against pursuing defamation proceedings.

The newly released messages show Mr Lehrmann texted a friend at 10.11pm saying “Need bags”, followed by “Let’s get it done. No one has work tomorrow”. At 10.33pm he asks: “You got any gear?”

The friend responds: “No, I am at home. And you guys need to keep it clean. Enough!! Lots of kids around.”

Mr Lehrmann responds: “Nah ditch them or bring them.” He also texts Ms Sinclair claiming “I’m a pawn, Rick (lawyer) says as part of a bigger political hatchet job”.

Ms Sinclair immediately responds: “What about the CCTV?”

Mr Lehrmann responds: “Well as I said I went in got my stuff and she stayed and I left to go back to Alex at my apartment which we both rented together.”

She replies: “OK good.”

The texts show friends asking Mr Lehrmann if he knows “who the guy was” who is the subject of the rape allegation. Mr Lehrmann responds to one friend: “Not the faintest idea. I haven’t been approached by anyone.”

To another he replies” No idea in the slightest.”

Mr Lehrmann, who has consistently denied raping Ms Higgins, launched defamation proceedings against Ten and News Life Media Pty Ltd – an arm of News Corp Australia, publisher of The Weekend Australian – in the Federal Court a month ago.

Ms Wilkinson, former co-host of The Project, and Samantha Maiden, political editor for news.com.au, are second respondents in the proceedings. Both media outlets, Ms Wilkinson and Ms Maiden will rely on defences of truth and qualified privilege.

Justice Michael Lee will rule at a later date on whether to extend Mr Lehrmann’s deadline for bringing the case.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/texts-reveal-bruce-lehrmann-sought-gear-to-get-lit-on-night-of-brittany-higgins-tv-interview/news-story/78a3d6c378d2894af915322c1af2fdbe

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18538063 (190910ZMAR23) Notable: Neo-Nazi salutes at protest could prompt changes to anti-vilification laws - The Victorian laws that ban displaying the swastika might be toughened after a group performed Nazi salutes on the steps of Parliament House

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>>42723

>>42724

Neo-Nazi salutes at protest could prompt changes to anti-vilification laws

Simone Fox Koob and Rachel Eddie - March 19, 2023

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The Victorian laws that ban displaying the swastika might be toughened after a group performed Nazi salutes on the steps of Parliament House during a protest on Saturday.

British anti-trans rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull had organised to speak to her supporters at Parliament House on Saturday afternoon, prompting a counter-demonstration protesting against her views.

About 30 people from neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network, dressed in black and most with their faces covered, attended the protests on Spring Street supporting Keen-Minshull, repeatedly performing the salute and holding up a sign using offensive anti-trans language.

On Saturday night, a state government spokeswoman described the behaviour from the neo-Nazi group as a cowardly act of hatred and intimidation.

“Not only have Victorians made it clear they have zero tolerance for these disgraceful beliefs, we’ve made it clear in law with the ban of the Nazi hate symbol,” she said.

“We will continue to monitor the use of hate symbols and may consider the inclusion of additional symbols to the legislation at a later stage.”

Last year, the Andrews government outlawed the Hakenkreuz, or Nazi swastika, and became the first jurisdiction in Australia to do so. Anyone who intentionally displays the Nazi symbol in public faces a year in prison or a $22,000 fine.

The ban acted on the recommendation from a cross-party parliamentary inquiry into anti-vilification laws, which called for the display of Nazi symbology to be criminalised.

Earlier this year, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said the government was also considering banning the Nazi salute after a series of recent incidents where white supremacists performed the gesture in public spaces, including at a ceremony for Indigenous Australians on January 26.

The salute is already restricted in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland and Sweden.

Federal Labor MP Josh Burns said now was the time to consider whether tougher laws were needed.

He told ABC radio it made no sense that it was illegal to display the Nazi symbol in Victoria but people could still walk along Spring Street doing the Nazi salute.

“We need to look across governments about what laws are required … to ensure the bigoted and ugly scenes in Melbourne don’t happen again,” he said on Sunday. “What was happening yesterday crosses a line.”

The state opposition said the display from the neo-Nazi group amounted to a deliberate attempt to incite hatred and violence.

“These shameful individuals and the hateful ideology they push have no place in our state and must never be tolerated,” said Liberal MPs David Southwick and Brad Battin in a joint statement. “Victoria is better than this.”

The Age revealed on Saturday that the Australian Army has launched an urgent investigation after discovering serving soldiers have links to neo-Nazi groups.

The inquiry was triggered by an investigation by The Age into white supremacist groups, which unearthed links between extremist groups and Australian Defence Force members, as well as state police forces.

The investigation also established the identities of emerging or previously unknown neo-Nazi leaders around the country, some with a keen interest in obtaining firearms and training in their use.

Premier Daniel Andrews condemned the Nazi salutes and anti-trans protesters in tweets on Sunday. “They were there to say the trans community don’t deserve rights, safety or dignity. That’s what Nazis do. Their evil ideology is to scapegoat minorities – and it’s got no place here. And those who stand with them don’t, either,” he said.

Andrews and Opposition Leader John Pesutto both also condemned the group’s actions in their speeches at the Victorian Multicultural Gala Dinner on Saturday night.

Andrews said the group’s views were vile and represented the worst of Victoria. “I condemn that in the clearest terms.”

Pesutto, who is also the shadow minister for multicultural affairs, described what happened on the steps of parliament as an abomination.

“I too will stand against it, I condemn it and I will work tirelessly with my colleagues to make sure it never gets a foothold here in our country or anywhere else.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18543718 (200740ZMAR23) Notable: Victoria to ban Nazi salutes after far-right rally - Victoria will strengthen its anti-vilification laws to ban the Nazi salute following a far-right protest at Parliament House. Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes confirmed the move on Monday morning, condemning the behaviour at the protest as “disgraceful and cowardly”. “It’s clear this symbol is being used to incite hatred, not just towards Jewish people but our LGBTIQ+ community and other minority groups,” she said.

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>>42723

Victoria to ban Nazi salutes after far-right rally

Broede Carmody and Lachlan Abbott - March 20, 2023

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Victoria will strengthen its anti-vilification laws to ban the Nazi salute following a far-right protest at Parliament House on Saturday.

Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes confirmed the move on Monday morning, condemning the behaviour at the protest as “disgraceful and cowardly”.

“It’s clear this symbol is being used to incite hatred, not just towards Jewish people but our LGBTIQ+ community and other minority groups,” she said.

“Victorians have zero tolerance of this behaviour and so do we. That’s why we’ll expand our nation-leading legislation banning the Nazi Hakenkreuz to include the Nazi salute – because everyone deserves to feel safe, welcome and included in Victoria.”

It’s not known when exactly the legislation will be brought before parliament. However, Opposition Leader John Pesutto has already flagged his support for a ban.

“We will work constructively with the government,” he told radio station 3AW on Monday morning.

“I think most sensible, decent people are on the same page here. What these salutes mean, and what they have the potential to incite, is a very serious thing. And I believe it’s justified as a limitation of free speech.”

On Saturday, anti-trans rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull organised to speak to supporters outside the Victorian parliament. A group of about 30 people dressed in black from the neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network attended in support and performed Nazi salutes on parliament’s steps before being led away by police.

Victorian upper house MP Moira Deeming, who previously said equality has been taken to extremes and has also taken aim at the state government’s approach to gender-diverse young people, was also at the rally. She said she didn’t know the group of men performing the salute and was afraid of them.

Pesutto has announced his intention to expel Deeming from the parliamentary party room because of her involvement in “organising, promoting and participating in a rally with speakers and other organisers who themselves have been publicly associated with far-right-wing extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists”.

The Andrews government last year outlawed the Hakenkreuz, or Nazi swastika, becoming the first Australian jurisdiction to do so. Anyone who intentionally displays the Nazi symbol in public faces a year in prison or a $22,000 fine.

The ban was the result of recommendations from a cross-party inquiry into anti-vilification laws.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18543758 (200753ZMAR23) Notable: Deeming vows to fight ‘unjust’ move to expel her from Liberal Party - Liberal MP Moira Deeming has vowed to fight Opposition Leader John Pesutto’s push to expel her from the parliamentary party and welcomed the government’s commitment to ban the Nazi salute. Addressing the saga that could lead to her expulsion from the party room, the upper house MP condemned the neo-Nazis who she says crashed the Let Women Speak rally organised by British anti-trans rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull.

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>>42723

>>42727

Deeming vows to fight ‘unjust’ move to expel her from Liberal Party

Annika Smethurst, Sumeyya Ilanbey and Rachel Eddie - March 20, 2023

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Liberal MP Moira Deeming has vowed to fight Opposition Leader John Pesutto’s push to expel her from the parliamentary party and welcomed the government’s commitment to ban the Nazi salute.

Addressing the saga that could lead to her expulsion from the party room, the upper house MP condemned the neo-Nazis who she says crashed the Let Women Speak rally organised by British anti-trans rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull.

“I condemn the actions of the masked men in black who were later identified as neo-Nazis, who gate-crashed the Let Women Speak event,” Deeming said in a statement.

“Most of the LWS supporters did not realise who they were until they were being escorted out by Victoria Police, when they did the despicable Nazi salute. I completely reject the beliefs of National Socialists (Nazis) and I have seen first-hand the impact that the Holocaust had on a family member.”

On the bid to expel her from the party, Deeming said: “I intend to fight the unjust motion to expel me from the Parliamentary Liberal Party.

“Our shared Liberal traditions ensure robust freedom of thought and speech in our pluralist society but not at the cost of public order and/or an incitement to violence such as this.”

Pesutto on Sunday announced he would move to expel Deeming from the parliamentary Liberal Party, in a vote early next week because of her actions before, during, and after the Let Women Speak rally organised by Keen-Minshull.

He said he was not aware of Deeming’s promotion of an anti-transgender rally until it took place on Saturday on the steps of the Victorian Parliament, where neo-Nazis gathered in support.

Pesutto said Keen-Minshull had previously shared platforms with white supremacists and Deeming should have been aware of those associations.

“Moira Deeming has had an association with people to organise the rally along with her assistance, who have shared platforms with viewpoints with people who promote Nazi views or sympathies. That’s the first thing,” Pesutto said.

“Second, Ms Deeming stayed at the rally when the Nazis arrived. Thirdly, having seen the ugly scenes and having had an opportunity to disown and dissociate from those very people, Ms Deeming chose to celebrate [with organisers], as evidenced on social media.”

Deeming had actively promoted and addressed the event.

She said none of the organisers were involved with the men making Nazi salutes on the steps of Parliament.

“The Let Women Speak event saw a number of women injured by the extreme left counter-protestors who infiltrated the event,” Deeming said.

“I was assaulted and injured, along with multiple other women, including one who was taken to hospital after being knocked unconscious. They also became violent with police and punched police horses, forcing the event to finish early. I condemn their actions.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18544011 (200921ZMAR23) Notable: Latitude cyber attack: Passport copies stolen, historical customers affected, trading suspended - Latitude Financial has confirmed a cyber attack in which almost 330,000 identification documents were stolen, has affected historical customers – and a number of copies of passports and Medicare cards have been exposed. The attack has resulted in the theft of about 315,000 copies of driver's licences being stolen, about 10,000 copies of passports and about 3000 copies of Medicare numbers, according to an update by the company.

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>>42719

Latitude cyber attack: Passport copies stolen, historical customers affected, trading suspended

JOSEPH LAM - MARCH 20, 2023

Latitude Financial has confirmed a cyber attack in which almost 330,000 identification documents were stolen, has affected historical customers – and a number of copies of passports and Medicare cards have been exposed.

The attack has resulted in the theft of about 315,000 copies of driver's licences being stolen, about 10,000 copies of passports and about 3000 copies of Medicare numbers, according to an update by the company.

The hack is still active, according to Latitude’s early investigation and the incident is the subject of an Australian Federal Police investigation.

Chief executive Ahmed Fahour said Latitude had no choice but to shut down a number of services affecting merchants and customers to mitigate further risk, and only a limited number of transactions would still be able to be processed

“While we continue to deliver transactional services, some functionality has been affected resulting in disruption,” Mr Fahour said.

“We are working extremely hard to restore full services to our customers and merchant partners, and thank them for their patience and support.”

Mr Fahour said he understood the “frustration” the incident has caused, and apologised to affected parties.

“I sincerely apologise to our customers and partners for the distress and inconvenience this criminal act has caused. I understand fully the wider concern that this cyber attack has created within the community,” he said.

“Our focus is on protecting the ongoing security of our customers, partners and employees’ personal and identity information, while also doing everything we can to support customers and applicants who have had information stolen.”

On Monday, trading of Latitude shares were suspended although a trading halt imposed had been set to lift. The suspension is in place until at least Wednesday.

The company confirmed that it was “likely” there more victims of the hack, and that applicants, not necessarilly customers, had also been affected.

“As our review deepens to include non-customer originating platforms and historical customer information, we are likely to uncover more stolen information affecting both current and past Latitude customers and applicants,” a company statement read.

The Australian newspaper in January revealed corporate customers who had inquired but did not purchase Medibank private had similarly been caught up in the breach.

Customers have started receiving correspondence from the company which will confirm which of their details were stolen.

Not-for-profit IDCARE has also been engaged to provide assistance to customers and an in-house contact centre was set up to provide customer support.

Once the investigation has been completed, Latitude said it would commence a review of the incident.

The company said it was still assessing associated costs of the breach and that it “maintains” insurance policies which cover incidents including cyber risks.

This comes after Citi analysts Thomas Strong last week estimated that Latitude could wear as much anywhere between $10 to $15m in costs, based on Medibank’s own expected breach costs.

“While it is obviously difficult to compare on a comparable basis, short-term costs of $10m to $15m could be a reasonable estimate based on the respective size of the businesses and customer bases, but could be mitigated by cyber insurance,” he said.

Latitude shares last traded at $1.20 prior to the trading halt and suspension, a value less than half of when they first listed for $2.60 in April, 2021.

Meanwhile on Monday, the FBI announced it had arrested the person allegedly behind the BreachForums dark web forum, that hosted stolen personal data from millions of Medibank and Optus customers.

Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, known by his BreachForums online handle “Pompompurin” was arrested at his New York home last week, according to court filings reported first by cyber security blog KrebsonSecurity.

BreachForums hosted data from the mass Medibank and Optus data breaches, which each impacted millions of Australian customers late last year. Culprits have yet to be identified in either of those incidents, but the AFP has said a Russian hacking group was responsible for the Medibank hack.

The high-profile data breaches led to a change in Australia’s cyber security strategy, including ambitions for Australia to be the most “cyber secure nation by 2030”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/latitude-cyber-attack-passport-copies-stolen-historical-customers-affected-trading-suspended/news-story/e02f1cefdca3d39fbfa7583beb587a29

https://latitudefs.zendesk.com/hc/en-au/articles/13777669694225-Latitude-Cyber-Incident-Update

https://www.latitudefinancial.com.au/about-us/media-releases/cybercrime-update.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18550892 (210750ZMAR23) Notable: In the aftermath of a bitter protest, only one group is happy - What most people saw when they watched the chaotic events on the steps of Parliament House was a group of neo-Nazis engaging in an act of self-promotion by spreading hate on the highest profile stage they could find. But on the channels of the National Socialist Network, the group of about 20 black-clad and mostly masked Hitler saluting neo-Nazis imagined themselves as a “vanguard”, forming a “wall” on Spring Street to protect a group of women who were protesting against transgender rights.

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>>42723

>>42728

In the aftermath of a bitter protest, only one group is happy

Michael Bachelard - March 20, 2023

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What most people saw when they watched the chaotic events on the steps of Parliament House on Saturday was a group of neo-Nazis engaging in an act of self-promotion by spreading hate on the highest profile stage they could find.

But on the channels of the National Socialist Network, the group of about 20 black-clad and mostly masked Hitler saluting neo-Nazis imagined themselves as a “vanguard”, forming a “wall” on Spring Street to protect a group of women who were protesting against transgender rights.

Never mind the women say they were almost unaware of their presence, as police were already doing the job.

From the stance of the left-wing protesters across the road, everyone was against them: the women protesters; the Nazis, of course; but most particularly police, who in their view were protecting the bad guys while arresting some of their number.

The confusing events that unfolded on Spring Street on Saturday have resulted in 48 hours of claim, counter-claim and conspiracy.

The result could be that Moira Deeming, an MP elected only last November to the upper house for the Liberals, loses her party endorsement; the Nazi salute is banned from being performed in Victoria; and, if threats become reality, a number of defamation suits are launched.

The protest started when a diminutive British woman – known variously as Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, KJK and Posie Parker – organised an Australian and New Zealand tour entitled “Let Women Speak”. She has held rallies in other cities to assert that the transgender lobby is silencing, disparaging and discriminating against women.

She’s appealing to an increasingly angry cohort of women who believe that the push for trans rights has gone too far and is risking the rights and safety of women by allowing “men” (transgender women) into women’s sports, change rooms and other female-only activities.

The speakers at Saturday’s rally ranged from young feminists who said they were once trans allies but had flipped, to older (often lesbian) women worried about losing female-only spaces and claiming people who would otherwise be lesbians were being hoodwinked into transitioning.

One woman, wearing a Greens T-shirt told a story of being punished by her former party for insisting on the rights of “real women”. The audience numbered about 400 mostly middle-aged women.

These activists were once dismissed by their opponents as TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists), but many now embrace the title. The movement has brought together elements from the right, including the religious right, and the old left. The principal organiser of the Melbourne rally, Angie Jones, describes herself on Twitter as “Gender Heretic. Woman … Leftie. Women’s Rights Activist. Radfem”.

At the extremes, some anti-trans rights activists claim, without any evidence, that increasing the rights of trans people licenses paedophilia.

Deeming, for now a Liberal upper-house MP, accompanied Keen-Minshull from the members’ car park at Parliament House to her post at the start of the rally. Later, Deeming sipped champagne in a live conversation with Keen-Minshull, Jones and the former Liberal candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves. They then prepared for dinner and karaoke.

This, according to Pesutto, was enough to expel Deeming from the party.

“I know Moira is not a Nazi. But my point is that she’s associating with people who are and that brings them into a place where it’s unacceptable for me as a leader,” Pesutto told 3AW.

One problem, Pesutto says, was that Deeming did not leave the rally when the 20-odd neo-Nazis turned up to perform their salutes. But the accusation goes further.

Keen to stamp his ideological mark on the party early, Pesutto says Deeming was closely associated with Keen-Minshull, who, he alleged, had a “long rap sheet” of associating with Nazi sympathisers.

This, Pesutto claims, is based on interviews Keen-Minshull has done with Jean-François Gariépy, a prominent far-right YouTuber who calls for a “white ethno-state”, and whose other guests have included former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. She was also once interviewed by a channel called SOCO, or “Soldiers of Christ Online”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18550923 (210804ZMAR23) Notable: Deeming vows to fight move to expel her from party room - Deeming last year won preselection for a safe spot on the Western Metropolitan Region upper house ticket, with the backing of the “Moderate” faction of the Liberal Party. Her views on transgender rights have been well canvassed since her preselection, but Deeming insists that the values espoused at the Let Women Speak event were mainstream and global. She said she was horrified to see masked men inside the buffer zone, and thought they were going to attack her, adding she “completely rejected” the beliefs of the National Socialist Network.

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>>42723

>>42728

Deeming vows to fight move to expel her from party room

Sumeyya Ilanbey, Rachel Eddie and Annika Smethurst - March 20, 2023

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Liberal MP Moira Deeming has vowed to fight her expulsion from the party room in a vote that MPs are billing as a major test for leader John Pesutto.

Pesutto, who was elected state Liberal leader in December by a margin of one vote, said he was confident his expulsion motion would receive majority support in the party room following Deeming’s attendance at an anti-trans rights rally that was crashed by neo-Nazis.

The Age spoke to a dozen Liberal MPs on Monday, most of whom expected Deeming to be expelled when the 31 members of the parliamentary party consider the motion, but some said they were undecided on how to vote.

The party’s leadership team has compiled a dossier on Deeming that they believe will convince the undecided Liberals to expel the upper house MP when the vote takes place next Monday.

Pesutto said the party needed to “take these strong, decisive steps to show that we will never support and that we will always oppose anything that is hateful or liable to incite”.

One Liberal MP, commenting on the condition of anonymity, described the situation as a “proxy leadership vote” for Pesutto, while another said they would be supporting the motion because they did not want to “hang the leader out to dry” just three months into the job.

Deeming said she was blindsided by the party leadership’s move to expel her and was attempting to unite supporters behind her on a freedom-of-speech platform.

She condemned the men who performed Nazi salutes on the steps of the state parliament at the Let Women Speak rally on Saturday that was organised by British anti-trans rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull.

“I intend to fight the unjust motion to expel me from the parliamentary Liberal Party,” she said in a statement. “I condemn the actions of the masked men in black who were later identified as neo-Nazis, who gate-crashed the Let Women Speak event.”

Pesutto moved against Deeming for promoting the event and attending a post-rally karaoke night with the organiser, who, he argues, has shared platforms with white supremacists. In an interview with a far-right media outlet on Sunday, Keen-Minshull threatened Pesutto with a defamation claim.

About 20 people from neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network attended to support Keen-Minshull, held up a sign with offensive anti-trans language and repeatedly performed Nazi salutes, prompting the government to strengthen its anti-vilification laws.

On Monday, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes condemned the behaviour at the protest as “disgraceful and cowardly”, and confirmed the government would expand its legislation banning Nazi symbols to include the Nazi salute. Symes said this would probably take months.

The Liberal Party has been at a crossroads over social issues as it struggles to bridge the internal divide between its socially liberal and conservative members, and bring the party back to the centre of mainstream Australia.

After wresting the leadership late last year by one vote, Pesutto vowed to appeal to modern Victoria and lead an inclusive Liberal Party that, “no matter what your background, the Liberal Party I lead will always be a voice for you”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18550954 (210819ZMAR23) Notable: The case against anti-trans Liberal MP Moira Deeming - Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto has released a 15-page letter on why he believes rebel MP Moira Deeming should be dumped from the party, alleging she has associated with people who have expressed far right views, including sharing a platform with an activist who he claims advocated for a “white ethno state”.

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>>42723

>>42728

The case against anti-trans Liberal MP Moira Deeming

JOHN FERGUSON - MARCH 21, 2023

Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto has released a 15-page letter on why he believes rebel MP Moira Deeming should be dumped from the party, alleging she has associated with people who have expressed far right views, including sharing a platform with an activist who he claims advocated for a “white ethno state”.

The document has been sent to state Liberal MPs to support his push to have Ms Deeming banned from the parliamentary party.

Mr Pesutto says that Ms Deeming shared a platform with British anti-trans rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull even though he says Ms Keen-Minshull “was known to be publicly associated with far-right extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists”.

This claim is contested by Ms Keen-Minshull.

Ms Deeming, an upper house MP, openly attended and helped organise the protest led by Ms Keen-Minshull on the steps of parliament. It was later attended by about 30 neo-Nazis but Ms Deeming says she had no idea they were turning up.

Mr Pesutto also alleges that on March 19 Ms Deeming met with and published a video with Ms Keen-Minshull, former NSW political candidate Katherine Deeves and activist Angie Jones.

He alleges that Ms Jones posted on Twitter on the same day the words: “Nazis and women want to get rid of paedo filth. Why don’t you.’’

Mr Pesutto’s document reproduces a copy of the alleged tweet.

The allegations are contained in a letter to Ms Deeming where it says she will be given the opportunity to explain her conduct.

Part of the case is that Ms Deeming organised the rally on the steps of parliament without taking into consideration Ms Keen-Minshull’s background.

The rally was ambushed by neo-Nazis and Ms Deeming is accused by colleagues of failing to attack the presence of the fascists.

In the recorded interview after the gathering, Ms Deeming expressed surprise that the neo-Nazis had turned up.

The neo-Nazi presence has sparked a push for a national ban on the Nazi salute.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said on Monday that he was open to banning the Nazi salute, just hours after the Victorian government said it would outlaw the gesture after neo-Nazis protested in front of the state’s parliament at the weekend.

“We banned symbols in NSW and led the way on that reform and ultimately there’s no place for that in society.”

Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff said his government would also consider banning the Nazi salute in public, and Western Australia is also examining the option.

“Nazi salutes and the message they send have no place in ­society, and the images coming out of Victoria in recent days are both abhorrent and shocking,” Mr Rockliff said.

“While our legislation is intended to target the display of ­offensive symbols, further work will be proactively undertaken to examine whether it can be ­extended to banning Nazi salutes.”

A West Australian government spokesman said it had committed to banning the public display and possession of Nazi symbols in certain circumstances.

About 30 men dressed in black used the Nazi salute on the steps of parliament.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/the-case-against-antitrans-liberal-mp-moira-deeming/news-story/0d7b62c3756b48d94887367bea0baa70

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Letter-of-Motion-regarding-Moira-Deeming-20-March-2023.pdf

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18550964 (210827ZMAR23) Notable: ‘I’m no Nazi; just public enemy No. 1’, says transgender law critic - British transgender laws critic Kellie-Jay Keen has denied any links with “sad, pathetic” neo-Nazis, defended “courageous” Victorian MP Moira Deeming and blamed police and trans activists for ugly scenes at her rallies. Mrs Keen, speaking to The Australian after her Hobart rally was overrun by hostile transgender rights activists, said it was “bonkers” she had become “public enemy No. 1” in Australia and New Zealand.

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>>42723

‘I’m no Nazi; just public enemy No. 1’, says transgender law critic

MATTHEW DENHOLM - MARCH 21, 2023

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British transgender laws critic Kellie-Jay Keen has denied any links with “sad, pathetic” neo-Nazis, defended “courageous” Victorian MP Moira Deeming and blamed police and trans activists for ugly scenes at her rallies.

Mrs Keen, speaking to The Australian on Tuesday after her Hobart rally was overrun by hostile transgender rights activists, said it was “bonkers” she had become “public enemy No. 1” in Australia and New Zealand.

Accusations she was associated with neo-Nazis were “preposterous”, and she had no time for the men in black who disrupted her Melbourne rally on Saturday.

“Men have tried to silence me since I started talking and the latest silencing weapon is to accuse me of being a Nazi to distract me,” said Mrs Keen, also known as Posie Parker.

“Once you accuse someone of being a Nazi that’s it, you forever have to address the question. It’s not true. Nazis are predominantly sad, pathetic men who aren’t going very far in their lives.

“I cannot let it stop me talking about little girls in this country having their breasts removed and children being sterilised and women having their rights completely decimated.”

The Tasmanian parliament allowed two competing rallies to proceed on its lawns, organised by Mrs Keen’s Standing For Women group and a far larger counter gathering held by transgender activists and supporters.

Mrs Keen’s rally was quickly besieged by the larger, younger crowd, which chanted “Go home Posie, go home” and “You’ve got Nazis on your side”, drowning out the Brit and other speakers.

When Mrs Keen moved her group closer to the steps of parliament in response, her opponents – in their hundreds – soon followed, with only 10 police officers on the scene initially.

While the number of officers doubled, it was not enough to keep the groups apart and there were several violent scuffles. The smaller group was effectively surrounded, with police breaking up several altercations.

Mrs Keen said police had failed to enforce permit conditions designed to keep the two groups apart and to ensure her supporters were safe.

She was concerned for the safety of the women supporting her and said a person lunged at her as she was trying to leave.

“Once I start thinking about how surrounded we are, I do worry about being able to leave and as I was leaving a man … tried to get me,” she said. “He pushed in front of my security and tried to get to me.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18550996 (210846ZMAR23) Notable: AFP freezing assets as hunt for dirty money goes global - The Australian Federal Police has succeeded in freezing assets of drug-smugglers, money-launderers and gangsters in 11 countries as the hunt for dirty money goes global. Houses, apartments, cash, bank accounts and expensive cars have been restrained across Asia, ­Europe, the Middle East and North America, as the AFP works with law enforcement partners to target crime profits hidden overseas.

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>>42300 (pb)

>>42304 (pb)

AFP freezing assets as hunt for dirty money goes global

ELLEN WHINNETT - MARCH 17, 2023

The Australian Federal Police has succeeded in freezing assets of drug-smugglers, money-launderers and gangsters in 11 countries as the hunt for dirty money goes global.

Houses, apartments, cash, bank accounts and expensive cars have been restrained across Asia, ­Europe, the Middle East and North America, as the AFP works with law enforcement partners to target crime profits hidden overseas.

Thailand and Vietnam are believed to be two of the countries where assets have been taken from organised crime figures. And further enforcement activity is believed to be under way in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, where a number of gangsters are hiding out after being identified through the police Trojan horse app AN0M.

About $200m in assets have been restrained, with most now the subject of legal proceedings to have them forfeited permanently to the Australian government, or the government of the countries where the assets were acquired.

The AFP is able to take action in countries that have similar or reciprocal proceeds-of-crime legis­lation through the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act.

The AFP has been secretly ­operating a taskforce known as Avarus, targeting the money-launderers who facilitate organised crime by washing their dirty money clean.

Fugitive drug-trafficker Hakan Ayik, who has been living a life of luxury in Istanbul, is being targeted by the AFP’s money-laundering specialists and the Criminal Asset Confiscation Team.

The lavish lifestyle being ­enjoyed in Dubai by the wife of Duax Ngakuru, the New Zealand-born Australian Comanchero supreme leader who is currently in detention in Turkey, is also under scrutiny.

Alleged gangsters revealed a number of their assets on AN0M, the app that was touted as a ­secure way to communicate to avoid law enforcement, but was actually a Trojan horse being run by the FBI and monitored by the AFP, which intercepted more than 28 million messages.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Kirsty Schofield would not name any individual targets, but said: “Global asset and financial tracing actions are ongoing in relation to a range of AFP high-value targets.

“The AFP works closely with Australia’s international law enforcement partners to actively target organised crime wealth wherever it may be.

“The days of these targets thinking they are financially ­secure if they invest in certain countries where they can gain residency through investment or expensive real estate are long gone.

“As many recent so-called high-level Australian criminals have found, the AFP is relentless in pursuing these people when they are a threat to the Australian community and national security.

“Seizing their money is only one aspect of what the AFP will do with its global partners to ensure these people are no longer threats in the countries where they hide, where they invest and where they mistakenly think they can exploit those offshore countries.

“This is where the current crop of targets are less than sophisticated – we are well aware of their attempts to hide funds and methodology. There is no if – just when.’’

Last year, the AFP seized $1m from two Thai bank accounts, after investigating the activities of a West Australian man and his family and associates in Perth and Bangkok.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/afp-freezing-assets-as-hunt-for-dirty-money-goes-global/news-story/065a0de2ef53c8ffa30c2c45c2526e60

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18558169 (221019ZMAR23) Notable: ‘Incorrect interpretation’: AFL says fans welcome to wave Israeli flag - The AFL has clarified that fans are entitled to display national flags at matches, and apologised for the confusion that followed after an Israeli flag was flown at Marvel Stadium. The clarification came after the national flag was flown last weekend in celebration of North Melbourne player Harry Sheezel’s stunning debut at Saturday’s clash against West Coast. It resulted in confusion about what is permitted to be shown at venues under conditions of entry. “For clarity, the AFL has no issue with the flag and signs supporting North Melbourne’s Harry Sheezel on the weekend,” a statement released by the AFL said. “We want fans to celebrate their clubs and players, and if that includes displaying national flags that amplify any of their team’s player heritage then the AFL is fully supportive.”

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‘Incorrect interpretation’: AFL says fans welcome to wave Israeli flag

Carla Jaeger - March 22, 2023

The AFL has clarified that fans are entitled to display national flags at matches, and apologised for the confusion that followed after an Israeli flag was flown at Marvel Stadium.

The clarification came after the national flag was flown last weekend in celebration of North Melbourne player Harry Sheezel’s stunning debut at Saturday’s clash against West Coast.

It resulted in confusion about what is permitted to be shown at venues under conditions of entry.

“For clarity, the AFL has no issue with the flag and signs supporting North Melbourne’s Harry Sheezel on the weekend,” a statement released by the AFL said.

“We want fans to celebrate their clubs and players, and if that includes displaying national flags that amplify any of their team’s player heritage then the AFL is fully supportive.”

The clarification follows an email sent by an AFL employee on Tuesday in response to a fan’s complaint.

The league said the response was a misinterpretation of the league’s conditions of entry.

The email seen by The Age was sent by a patron to the AFL’s inclusion manager, Tanya Hosch on Monday, complaining that flying the flag undermined the game.

The AFL’s security lead, Alistair Meldrum, responded to that email, agreeing the flag breached the league’s conditions of entry and should not have been allowed into the venue.

“Once identified, it should then have been requested to be seized/confiscated or the patron in possession requested to leave if they refused to surrender the flag,” Meldrum wrote in response.

It is banned for fans to wear or display commercial, political, religious or offensive signage or logos of any kind. However, it is not banned to display national signage or logos.

The AFL later clarified: “Correspondence sent to a patron that had an issue with the flag being displayed was an incorrect interpretation of our conditions of match day entry policy and we apologise for any confusion.”

Players have posed with other national flags over the years, including Geelong player Zach Tuohy, who posed with the Irish flag after the Cats won last year’s grand final.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/incorrect-interpretation-afl-says-fans-welcome-to-wave-israeli-flag-20230322-p5cubq.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18558276 (221053ZMAR23) Notable: Marine Rotational Force – Darwin 2023 begins - The advance party for this year’s rotation of United States Marines have arrived in the Northern Territory. This is the 12th iteration of Marine Rotational Force – Darwin (MRF-D). Over the next seven months, up to 2500 Marines will conduct combined training exercises with their Australian Defence Force counterparts, as well as with regional partner nations. The rotation will enhance the capabilities, interoperability and readiness of the ADF and the United States Marine Corps and is a significant part of the United States Force Posture Initiatives, a hallmark of Australia’s Alliance with the US.

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Marine Rotational Force – Darwin 2023 begins

Brian Hartigan - 22/03/2023

The advance party for this year’s rotation of United States Marines have arrived in the Northern Territory.

This is the 12th iteration of Marine Rotational Force – Darwin (MRF-D).

Over the next seven months, up to 2500 Marines will conduct combined training exercises with their Australian Defence Force counterparts, as well as with regional partner nations.

The rotation will enhance the capabilities, interoperability and readiness of the ADF and the United States Marine Corps and is a significant part of the United States Force Posture Initiatives, a hallmark of Australia’s Alliance with the US.

For more than a decade, cooperation under the Force Posture Initiatives has enhanced ADF capacity.

Since its establishment in 2011, the MRF-D has expanded from an initial 200 Marines to more than 10 times that size each year.

The Force Posture Initiatives have also since expanded to include cooperation across the air, maritime, land and logistics domains.

Government last week announced an expansion of the Force Posture Initiatives in the submarine domain as well, with the commencement of the Submarine Rotational Force – West, which will see US nuclear-powered submarines rotate through HMAS Stirling beginning from 2027.

The current MRF-D will remain in Australia until October 2023.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the US was our most vital security partner and the strength of our alliance highlights our joint commitment to promoting a secure, stable and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

“Our cooperation with the US has been instrumental to enhancing the capability and interoperability of both nations through joint exercises and activities,” Mr Marles said.

“Australia/US force-posture cooperation will continue to offer significant investment into Australia, including opportunities for Australian industry.”

Commanding Officer Marine Rotational Force – Darwin 2023 Colonel Brendan Sullivan said the visitors were honoured to extend the legacy of the US-Australian Alliance, working side-by-side with the ADF to provide support for contingencies and crises in the region.

“Our team is postured and ready to advance shared goals, demonstrate the strength and endurance of our alliance, and contribute to regional security and partnerships,” Colonel Sullivan said.

Commanding Officer Headquarters Northern Command Captain Mitchell Livingstone said having the Marine rotation in the Top End not only helped build interoperability between the ADF and the US, but also served to increase regional cooperation with partner nations in the Indo-Pacific.

“Over the next six months, the ADF and USMC will conduct a comprehensive range of training activities including humanitarian assistance, security operations and high-end live-fire exercises, all of which better prepare our forces to respond effectively to contingencies that may arise.”

https://www.contactairlandandsea.com/2023/03/22/marine-rotational-force-darwin-2023-begins/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18558303 (221104ZMAR23) Notable: Defence Australia Tweet: Welcome back! US Marines have begun arriving in the NT for this year’s Marine Rotational Force – Darwin. Working with #YourADF, they will conduct training activities to deepen interoperability and better position our forces to respond to contingencies in the region. @MrfDarwin

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>>42736

Defence Australia Tweet

Welcome back! US Marines have begun arriving in the NT for this year’s Marine Rotational Force – Darwin. Working with #YourADF, they will conduct training activities to deepen interoperability and better position our forces to respond to contingencies in the region.

@MrfDarwin

https://twitter.com/DefenceAust/status/1638118308988825601

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18564973 (231042ZMAR23) Notable: Video: Senator Lidia Thorpe thrown to the ground while trying to interrupt anti-trans rally - The incident happened as Senator Thorpe tried to interrupt a rally by Kellie-Jay “Posy” Keen on Thursday afternoon, following similar demonstrations in Melbourne and Tasmania. In footage shared online, the independent senator – draped in an Aboriginal flag – was pushed to the ground by police as she attempted to crawl away.

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>>42723

>>42733

Senator Lidia Thorpe thrown to the ground while trying to interrupt anti-trans rally

MATTHEW DENHOLM, SARAH ISON and TRICIA RIVERA - MARCH 23, 2023

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has been pushed to the ground by police after she attempted to take the stage at a protest on the lawn of Parliament House.

The incident happened as Senator Thorpe tried to interrupt a rally by Kellie-Jay “Posy” Keen on Thursday afternoon, following similar demonstrations in Melbourne and Tasmania.

Less than 30 protesters had gathered to Ms Keen speak, while a short distance away, hundreds of trans-right activists were gathered.

In footage shared online, the independent senator – draped in an Aboriginal flag – was pushed to the ground by police as she attempted to crawl away, before standing back up and walking over to the larger group.

Speaking to media after, Senator Thorpe people in this country “should be ashamed that they even let people like this in this country

“I went to tell her one thing – that they are not welcome here,” she said.

“And I got pulverised by the police

“I’ve been assaulted by the police today, as an (Indigenous) woman and the police need to answer for the assault, and also this government needs to answer why these people are allowed into this country.”

Speakers shun Kellie-Jay Keen Canberra rally over safety fear

High-profile speakers had earlier withdrawn from the rally, citing fears for their safety, with organisers blaming police for refusing to keep them separated from transgender ­activists.

Former Liberal candidate Katherine Deves and Liberal Tasmanian senator Claire Chandler were among those to flag a withdrawal from the rally, hosted by Ms Keen, the British transgender rights critic.

Both blamed fears for their safety, after Tuesday’s Keen rally in Hobart was besieged by hundreds of transgender rights supporters, and her event in Melbourne on Saturday was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

Senator Chandler posted her speech on Facebook, suggesting it was unsafe and pointless to try to deliver it in person.

“I haven’t seen a single word of a speech given at the last two events reported by Australian media, with the entire focus consumed by those there to disrupt and scream over the top of women trying to speak about their rights or, in the case of the Melbourne event, to hijack the event,” Senator Chandler said.

“There is no assurance that it is even going to be safe for women to attend Thursday’s event.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18564992 (231052ZMAR23) Notable: Video: Senator Lidia Thorpe clashes with police at anti-trans rally - Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said he is seeking urgent advice from the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police after independent senator Lidia Thorpe was tackled by an officer after trying to confront an anti-trans rally outside Parliament House. Dreyfus said the footage of Thorpe going to the ground after being grabbed by a police officer on the parliament lawn was “concerning”, while Thorpe’s former Greens’ colleagues have also sought a briefing from police as soon as possible about the clash.

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>>42738

Senator Lidia Thorpe clashes with police at anti-trans rally

Angus Thompson - March 23, 2023

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said he is seeking urgent advice from the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police after independent senator Lidia Thorpe was tackled by an officer after trying to confront an anti-trans rally outside Parliament House.

Dreyfus said the footage of Thorpe going to the ground after being grabbed by a police officer on the parliament lawn was “concerning”, while Thorpe’s former Greens’ colleagues have also sought a briefing from police as soon as possible about the clash.

“I have sought urgent advice from the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police. The AFP has announced it has referred the incident to the AFP’s professional standards command for investigation,” Dreyfus said.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said, “this is very concerning to see. The AFP needs to explain how this occurred.”

The party’s justice spokesman David Shoebridge said they had sought an urgent briefing from police “about the use of force towards Senator Thorpe that saw her thrown to the ground”.

“We need to ensure police are de-escalating violence at rallies and never add to the potential for physical confrontation,” Shoebridge said in a statement.

Thorpe, clad in an Aboriginal flag, chanted “you are not welcome here” as she tried to intervene in the small rally as controversial anti-trans campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull spoke.

One Nation senators Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts were in attendance and spoke at the rally, while United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet also attended. Greens senators Janet Rice and David Shoebridge were seen at a counter-protest alongside trans rights demonstrators.

Liberal senator Claire Chandler said she was due to attend Keen-Minshull’s rally this week but pulled out due to safety fears.

Babet, who was close by when the incident unfolded, said Thorpe “is a valued member of the crossbench and she has the right to have her voice heard”.

“She was after all elected by the people of Victoria to represent them,” he said, but declined to comment on the actions of police given the incident was under review.

However, a spokesperson for Hanson said it was the senator’s observation that Thorpe deliberately went to ground, “a common protest tactic”.

Keen-Minshull, who also goes by the name Posie Parker, headlined a rally in Melbourne on Saturday gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

Keen-Minshull denied associating with neo-Nazis and criticised those men who attended and performed the Hitler salute outside Victoria’s state parliament. They prompted fierce condemnation in federal parliament this week, and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton attempted to ban Nazi symbols in a private member’s bill on Wednesday.

The attempt was shut down by the government, which is already considering a ban on Nazi symbols.

Thorpe was tackled by a security guard and a police officer as she strode towards Keen-Minshull. The guard blocked her passage while the officer is seen to grab the Senator and forcefully pulled her backwards.

Footage shot by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age also appears to show one of Keen-Minshull’s supporters, wearing a red “Let Women Speak” vest, grabbing and pulling Thorpe just before the senator fell heavily to the ground. Comment has been sought via Keen-Minshull’s website.

Thorpe then crawled out of the fray and joined a large counter-protest of trans-rights activists.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18565002 (231057ZMAR23) Notable: Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer a no-show in defamation case - A judge has questioned why Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer will not give evidence in his defamation case against media outlets as previously foreshadowed, suggesting he could draw an inference that the lawyer’s evidence would not assist Mr Lehrmann.

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>>42627

Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer a no-show in defamation case

STEPHEN RICE - MARCH 23, 2023

A judge has questioned why Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer will not give evidence in his defamation case against media outlets as previously foreshadowed, suggesting he could draw an inference that the lawyer’s evidence would not assist Mr Lehrmann.

Last week Mr Lehrmann told the Federal Court that he had sat with his lawyer, Warwick Korn, watching Brittany Higgins air her rape allegations on Ten’s The Project.

He denied that Mr Korn had told him that evening that he was “up for millions” from a potential defamation payout, saying he had lied in texts he was sending his then-girlfriend because she was distraught and was “putting on a brave face”.

Mr Lehrmann also said he was lying when he texted his girlfriend that Mr Korn had told him there was no possibility of criminal charges against him, and that he had only sent the message to placate her.

Mr Lehrmann’s counsel last week said Mr Korn would give evidence about the conversations, but at a hearing on Thursday the court heard the lawyer would not take the stand.

Justice Michael Lee asked Mr Lehrmann’s current barrister Matthew Richardson SC if agreed it was possible to infer that the lawyer’s testimony “would not assist” his case.

“In circumstances where senior counsel made it clear he was going to call Mr Korn, and he’s not called – do you accept in those circumstances it would be appropriate to draw an inference that his evidence would not have assisted?” Justice Lee asked.

“Yes, but I want to make some submissions about where that goes, but I would accept that”, Mr Richardson replied.

Mr Richardson argued that it was “simply not plausible that any criminal lawyer, competent or otherwise – and I have no reason to believe Mr Korn is anything other than competent – would have said it was impossible that he would be charged.”

“Of course he was trying to say to his girlfriend and friends that it would be okay, that he wasn’t going to jail, that he wouldn’t be prosecuted – so what?”

Lawyers for the Ten Network and News Corp are fighting to strike out the lawsuit because Mr Lehrmann failed to launch proceedings within the required 12-month time limit. They say the texts contradict one of the reasons he has given for the delay in bringing the action – that he was advised by Mr Korn against pursuing defamation proceedings.

Matt Collins, for the Ten Network, said it was unbelievable that the entire basis of the legal advice on which Mr Lehrmann said he acted “turns upon oral statements made in the solicitor’s office over the course of a meeting that lasts more than six hours in which, on his evidence, not a single note is taken by the lawyer while they sit around drinking scotch.

“He says – ‘don’t worry about defamation until later’ – and Mr Lehrmann just accepts that hypothesis and does nothing further about it for a year. That is not objectively reasonable.”

Mr Lehrmann, who has consistently denied raping Ms Higgins, launched defamation proceedings against Ten and News Life Media Pty Ltd – an arm of News Corp Australia – in the Federal Court a month ago.

Ms Wilkinson, former co-host of The Project, and Samantha Maiden, political editor for news.com.au, are second respondents in the proceedings.

The hearing continues.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/bruce-lehrmanns-lawyer-a-noshow-in-defamation-case/news-story/46e11bf889f596d1902594d55e2b622f

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18565084 (231132ZMAR23) Notable: Talisman Sabre - MAGIC SWORD - https://qanon.pub/?q=Operation%20Specialists - https://qanon.pub/?q=magic

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Australian troops undergo live-fire exercise with new Boxer vehicle at Wide Bay Training Area

Jake Kearnan - 23 March 2023

Weighing in at 36 tonnes, with a top speed of 105 kilometres per hour and equipped with a 30-millimetre automatic cannon – the Australian Army's latest asset, the Boxer, has been put to the test at a military exercise north of Brisbane.

The army's 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (LHR) is testing the capabilities of the combat reconnaissance vehicle (CRV) at a live fire exercise at the Wide Bay Training Area at Tin Can Bay.

The vehicle is designed to protect soldiers in high-threat environments as they seek information about an adversary and can deliver significant firepower.

Although a welcome upgrade from its predecessor the ASLAV (Australian Light Armoured Vehicle), switching over comes with its challenges.

Cavalry Troop Leader Lieutenant Aaron Ivers said the staged training approach was crucial to making sure soldiers understood how to handle the new vehicle.

"We have a progression of training we need to meet," he said.

"We start small and work our way up to larger manoeuvre exercises and we make sure everyone in the troop is comfortable in that progression of training to meet that high standard."

Lieutenant Ivers said the transition has been going well.

"There is definitely things we need to learn and operate with converting from an ASLAV to a Boxer CRV," he said.

"The obvious change is the size … the Boxer is larger than the ASLAV and also the array of weapons systems that they have.

"We have a 30mm Mark II which is an upgrade from the ASLAV 25mm."

'As smart as a human'

The new eight-wheel-drive Boxer CRV is expected to enhance the safety, security and protection of Australian troops for the next 30 years.

The vehicle will play an essential role in combined arms fighting, which is when a suite of vehicles and systems work together in land combat.

Twenty-five Boxers built in Germany have already been supplied to the army, with a total of 211 due to be delivered.

The remaining vehicles will be manufactured in Queensland by Rheinmetall Australia as part of a $5.2-billion deal.

Squadron 2nd in Command Lieutenant Dane Brooks said the exercise at Tin Can Bay has been running smoothly.

"The vehicle is exceptionally capable in what it can do and we are learning to manipulate that every single day," he said.

"This vehicle contains two principal weapons systems: A 30mm automatic cannon and a 7.62mm machine gun.

"This vehicle provides us with a multitude of capabilities such as increased lethality, increased survivability and manoeuvrability around the battle space.

"It's basically just as smart as a human at times, so we are learning to evolve with that every single day."

Exercise Talisman Sabre

This week's exercise has been held in preparation for the ADF's largest bilateral training exercise with the US military, Exercise Talisman Sabre, which will begin in July.

"The 2nd/14th LHR Queensland Mounted infantry's role within the 7th Brigade is to conduct formation reconnaissance to identify any potential or known threat within the battle space," Lieutenant Brooks said.

"And answer any information requirements that may be required of our formation commander.

"We're currently in the preparation stage for Talisman 2023.

"That will see us certify the 7th Combat Brigade for any short-notice government tasks."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-23/army-unveils-new-boxer-vehicle-at-wide-bay-training-area/102130472

>Talisman Sabre

>MAGIC SWORD

https://qanon.pub/?q=Operation%20Specialists

https://qanon.pub/?q=magic

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18572111 (241354ZMAR23) Notable: Senior neo-Nazi slips out of Australia to fight Russian army - A senior Australian neo-Nazi linked to an international terror group has gone to fight in Ukraine amid efforts by security services to stop domestic extremists gaining overseas military training. Daniel Newman, a violent criminal with deep links to neo-Nazi leaders in NSW and Victoria and overseas terror outfit Combat 18, flew to Asia this month before then travelling to Ukraine, after telling associates he intended to take up arms with anti-Russian fighters.

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>>42724

Senior neo-Nazi slips out of Australia to fight Russian army

Nick McKenzie and Anthony Galloway - March 23, 2023

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A senior Australian neo-Nazi linked to an international terror group has gone to fight in Ukraine amid efforts by security services to stop domestic extremists gaining overseas military training.

Daniel Newman, a violent criminal with deep links to neo-Nazi leaders in NSW and Victoria and overseas terror outfit Combat 18, flew to Asia this month before then travelling to Ukraine, after telling associates he intended to take up arms with anti-Russian fighters.

A source aware of his movements, who was granted anonymity to discuss private information, said Newman had initially flown to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before travelling to Europe some time in the last month.

The Department of Home Affairs and ASIO have engaged in extensive efforts to stop Australian white supremacists travelling to Ukraine to fight, with authorities launching a dedicated operation, codenamed Project Backencourt, to block neo-Nazis from leaving Australia to gain military training.

The source said it was the second time Newman had attempted to travel to Ukraine from Australia in the past year.

Asked whether the government was aware Newman had travelled to Ukraine, a spokesperson for Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said: “The government does not comment on matters of national security.”

NSW neo-Nazi leader Des Liddington last year wrote in an online forum under the name David Liddington: “Just heard my mate here Danny has gone to fight in Ukraine. Don’t die brother. Respect.”

Newman is a member of violent UK-founded extremist group Combat 18. The group has members across Europe and has been charged with murders and serious acts of political violence. In 2019, the group was designated a terror organisation in Canada.

Another neo-Nazi extremist, former Australian Army soldier Conor Sretenovic, has been banned by ASIO from flying to Europe because of security agency concerns he also wishes to fight in Ukraine.

Sretenovic has been unable to leave Australia since former foreign minister Marise Payne cancelled his passport in 2020.

Sretenovic has told associates he was interrogated by ASIO in late 2020 over the agency’s concern he planned to build on his previous military training in Australia by joining fighting forces in Ukraine.

Right-wing extremists from Western nations are among foreign fighters who have joined Ukraine’s defence forces to fight the Russian army, which invaded last year.

Since Russian-backed separatists started a war in the country’s east in 2014, far-right vigilantes have travelled to Ukraine to fight on both sides.

The ultranationalist Azov Battalion previously had neo-Nazi links, but Ukraine’s armed forces have sought to expel far-right adherents in the unit after all private militias were integrated into the country’s military in recent years.

Sretenovic dismissed claims by ASIO and NSW and Victorian counter-terror authorities that he was a member of secretive neo-Nazi group Antipodean Resistance, which believes in stoking a race war in Australia.

In September 2019, Sretenovic discussed his stint in the Australian Army and how it set him on the path to extremism on a far-right online forum.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18572187 (241411ZMAR23) Notable: Marine Rotational Force – Darwin Tweet: #OurMarines and sailors with @MRFDarwin arrive in the NT welcomed by our ADF #AlliesandPartners

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>>42736

>>42737

US Marines arrive in Darwin for ‘high-end live fire’ exercises

More than 2000 US Marines have landed in the Top End for seven months of training with Australian troops. Find out how it will benefit both nations.

Jason Walls - March 23, 2023

The latest rotation of US Marines has touched down in Darwin as they prepare to join Australian soldiers in training in “humanitarian assistance, security operations, and high-end live fire exercises”.

The 2500 member strong Marine Rotational Force-Darwin will spend the next seven months working closely with their Australian counterparts as well as other partner nations from around the region.

It comes on the back of last week’s announcement of the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the US continued to be Australia’s “most vital security partner”.

“The strength of our alliance highlights our joint commitment to promoting a secure, stable, and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” he said.

“Our co-operation with the US has been instrumental to enhance the capability and interoperability of both nations through joint exercises and activities.

“Australia-US force posture co-operation will continue to offer significant investment into Australia, including opportunities for Australian industry.”

MRF-D commanding officer Colonel Brendan Sullivan said his team was “postured and ready to advance shared goals, demonstrate the strength and endurance of our alliance and contribute to regional security and partnerships”.

“We are honoured to extend the legacy of the US-Australian Alliance, working side-by-side with our ADF partners to provide support for contingencies and crises in the region,” he said.

Northern command headquarters commanding officer Captain Mitchell Livingstone said having the marine rotation in the Top End would “help build interoperability between the ADF and the US”.

“(It) also serves to increase regional co-operation with partner nations in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

“Over the next six months, the Australian Defence Force and US Marine Corps will conduct a comprehensive range of training activities including humanitarian assistance, security operations, and high-end live fire exercises, all of which better prepare our forces to respond effectively to contingencies that may arise,” he said.

https://www.ntnews.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-nt/us-marines-arrive-in-darwin-for-highend-live-fire-exercises/news-story/28071d9984e3c19d63d26a9a3d9c1cdb

—

Marine Rotational Force – Darwin Tweet

#OurMarines and sailors with @MRFDarwin arrive in the NT welcomed by our ADF #AlliesandPartners

https://twitter.com/MRFDarwin/status/1638324222450716675

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18582928 (260827ZMAR23) Notable: Labor rules from shore to shore as Liberals brace for by-elections - Chris Minns’s thumping NSW election victory is the final nail in the coffin of the Liberals and Nationals on the mainland, and puts an exclamation mark on Labor’s political dominance over the Coalition. A devastating and predicted collapse in support for Dominic Perrottet’s government after 12-years of Coalition rule means Labor now controls eight of nine federal, state and territory governments.

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Labor rules from shore to shore as Liberals brace for by-elections

Liberal strategists optimistically hoped the bloodbath wouldn’t be as bad as their worst nightmares. Instead, Labor’s thumping NSW election victory put the final nail in the coffin of the Liberals on mainland Australia.

GEOFF CHAMBERS - March 25, 2023

Chris Minns’s thumping election victory is the final nail in the coffin of the Liberals and Nationals on the mainland, and puts an exclamation mark on Labor’s political dominance over the Coalition.

A devastating and predicted collapse in support for Dominic Perrottet’s government after 12-years of Coalition rule means Labor now controls eight of nine federal, state and territory governments.

The scale of last year’s federal election rout had removed the rose-coloured glasses of Liberal strategists, who knew what was coming. They were optimistically hoping the bloodbath wouldn’t be as bad as their worst nightmares. Coming only 10-months after Scott Morrison’s Liberals were trounced by the teals and Labor, the road back for the Coalition will be long and arduous.

Peter Dutton had nothing to gain from involving himself in the NSW campaign. If he had turned up, left-wing commentators and Labor would’ve blamed him. Dutton was also desperate to avoid any potential of contagion spreading to next Saturday’s crucial by-election in the Liberal-held Melbourne seat of Aston.

The Liberal Party’s federal election review, led by Brian Loughnane and Jane Hume, laid bare the toxic nature of the party’s state divisions, which are gripped by ugly internal battles, ageing and dwindling membership bases and systemic failures to modernise and democratise preselection processes.

The scale of last year’s federal election rout had removed the rose-coloured glasses of Liberal strategists, who knew what was coming. They were optimistically hoping the bloodbath wouldn’t be as bad as their worst nightmares. Coming only 10-months after Scott Morrison’s Liberals were trounced by the teals and Labor, the road back for the Coalition will be long and arduous.

Peter Dutton had nothing to gain from involving himself in the NSW campaign. If he had turned up, left-wing commentators and Labor would’ve blamed him. Dutton was also desperate to avoid any potential of contagion spreading to next Saturday’s crucial by-election in the Liberal-held Melbourne seat of Aston.

The Liberal Party’s federal election review, led by Brian Loughnane and Jane Hume, laid bare the toxic nature of the party’s state divisions, which are gripped by ugly internal battles, ageing and dwindling membership bases and systemic failures to modernise and democratise preselection processes.

Between August and October next year, voters in the Northern Territory, ACT and Queensland will head to the polls. In 2025, there will be federal, WA and Tasmanian elections. Elections in Victoria and South Australia are not due until 2026.

But Australian election tragics only have to wait seven days for their next political fix, with the Aston by-election looming as an important leadership test for Dutton.

When Albanese and ALP national secretary Paul Erickson defended the southern NSW seat of Eden-Monaro in 2020, both understood the stakes. Labor poured cash and manpower into the seat to ensure victory and avoid leadership murmurs.

Dutton and Liberal Party federal director Andrew Hirst are facing a similar risk. While they expect to win Aston, there is nervousness inside the ranks.

A second by-election looms in the southern Sydney seat of Cook amid informed rumours Morrison will pull the pin in coming months. There are growing expectations other veteran Coalition MPs of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison era are planning their exodus from key seats ahead of the 2025 election.

Federal Liberals and Nationals will pore over every issue, voting trend and policy success from the NSW election.

The rise of independents and minor parties, coupled with the federal preferential system, is now an existential headache for the Coalition. If they can’t find a united way to respond, they’ll be stranded in the political wilderness.

Wall-to-wall mainland Labor governments present a different concern for ALP strategists. With the federal and NSW elections reeking of an “it’s time” factor, the ALP’s dominance will gradually erode from the pitfalls of incumbency, external factors, scandals and mistakes.

The Coalition’s winning formula must focus on growing its membership base, sharpening its political messaging, attracting better candidates including more women, and developing policies that appeal to inner-city, outer suburban and regional voters. No easy feat. Failure to modernise will see the Coalition languish.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/chris-minnss-victory-gives-labor-control-of-the-mainland-and-libs-are-now-preparing-for-aston/news-story/57f3a54665b4389a03743d3c253363d1

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18587912 (270540ZMAR23) Notable: Video: Barack and Michelle Obama tour Sydney ahead of speaking tour - Former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle met with prime minister Anthony Albanese to talk about the global economy before the pair toured Sydney. Albanese said he and Obama had a "very positive meeting" where they discussed the invasion of Ukraine and the global supply constraints.

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Barack and Michelle Obama tour Sydney ahead of speaking tour

Joe Attanasio and Savannah Meacham - Mar 27, 2023

Former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle met with prime minister Anthony Albanese to talk about the global economy before the pair toured Sydney.

Albanese said he and Obama had a "very positive meeting" where they discussed the invasion of Ukraine and the global supply constraints.

"I had a very positive meeting with President Obama this morning in Sydney, talking about the global economy and what was occurring," Albanese said.

"The Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as the supply side constraints when it comes to the pandemic, have meant that there is upward pressure on energy prices."

Obama and his wife flew into Sydney on a private jet last night and were seen at disembarking at 7.30pm yesterday before being quickly moved by security into a hire car.

The pair attended Kirribilli house to meet with Albanese where locals were happy to see them.

"We were just trying to get home for a cup of coffee when we were stopped by the federal police because we had a visitor in town," one local said.

"I'd invited the lad over for some Anzac biscuits but he'd given me the go-by.

"Good to see the man here, he's a bit of a hero I suppose nationwide and internationally."

The Obamas then headed to Collins Flat Beach before checking out Balmoral where they had lunch at Bather's Pavilion.

The Obamas are in the country for Barack's "An Evening with President Obama" tour.

Aussies with tickets to the hotly-anticipated event have forked out almost $200 for a standard seat, with tickets priced at a whopping $895 for a "platinum" spot.

Barack's first event will be held in Sydney on Tuesday before the former president jets off to Melbourne for a second night.

It's a rare public appearance for the couple, who have seldom been photographed together in recent months.

The former politician served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/barack-and-michelle-obama-touch-down-in-sydney/8316c9d0-659a-43b2-9422-15d7e1e4091e

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18587918 (270542ZMAR23) Notable: Anthony Albanese Tweet: Honoured to welcome President @BarackObama to Sydney.

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>>42745

Anthony Albanese Tweet

Honoured to welcome President @BarackObama to Sydney.

https://twitter.com/AlboMP/status/1640134648323006464

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18587932 (270546ZMAR23) Notable: video: Barack Obama in line for $1 million payday on speaking tour - Barack Obama is potentially in line for a $1 million payday as he kicks off a whirlwind tour of Australia that has already included an off-the-record audience with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Kirribilli House. Mr Obama has been sighted being whisked around town in what one witness called a “20 vehicle motorcade” complete with “helicopter hovering overhead” during his first visit to Australia since 2018. While here, he will deliver two speeches in conversation with former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to sold out audiences paying as much as $495 for the privilege.

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>>42745

Barack Obama in line for $1 million payday on speaking tour

Barack and Michelle Obama have jetted into Sydney for two days of events in Australia, with punters paying up to $500 a head to see the former US president speak.

James Morrow and Elliott Stewart - March 27, 2023

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Barack Obama is potentially in line for a $1 million payday as he kicks off a whirlwind tour of Australia that has already included an off-the-record audience with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Kirribilli House.

Mr Obama has been sighted being whisked around town in what one witness called a “20 vehicle motorcade” complete with “helicopter hovering overhead” during his first visit to Australia since 2018.

While here, he will deliver two speeches in conversation with former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to sold out audiences paying as much as $495 for the privilege.

On Tuesday night he will speak in Sydney to what organisers described as a “sold out” 9,000 seat auditorium at the International Convention Centre, with punters paying a minimum $195 to see the former leader in person.

Extra keen Obama fans have also been offered a “platinum” package by organisers which includes priority seating, a one-hour drinks function “with welcome cocktail”, and a commemorative lanyard and signed copy of Obama’s book, A Promised Land – though tour managers stressed that the former president himself would not be mingling at the event.

Obama fans can also dial in to the speech, though organisers would not disclose the number of virtual tickets sold.

On Wednesday Mr Obama will jet to Melbourne for an event at the 10,500 capacity John Cain Arena, where a few tickets were still available as of Monday evening according to Ticketek.

Before fees and expenses are taken into account that leaves organisers with a minimum take of upwards of $1.8 million for Obama’s Sydney speech alone – more than enough to cover speaking fees that are expected to exceed $500,000 per talk.

Since leaving the White House at the start of 2017, Mr Obama has been a sought after lecturer, something that has helped him and his wife grow their net worth to somewhere between $70 million and $135 million, depending on the analysis.

Within months of retiring from politics Mr Obama was earning US$400,000 per speech, or more than $600,000.

Mr Obama is accompanied by his wife, Michelle, marking the first time the pair had been seen together for five months.

While Mrs Obama is spoken about in some circles as a potential future presidential candidate speculation has swirled around the state of their marriage since she admitted last December that she “couldn’t stand” her husband for at least a decade.

On Monday morning, the prime minister’s press team released photos of the pair posing with umbrellas on the lawn of Kirribilli House but refused to be drawn on what the pair might have discussed, saying it was a “private” meeting.

Mr Obama is expected to be protected by NSW Police as well as Australian Federal Police, working in conjunction with his Secret Service detail.

Former presidents are entitled to Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives, though Richard Nixon famously dropped his detail in 1985, 11 years after he left office, saying he did not want his security to be a burden on the taxpayer.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18587950 (270605ZMAR23) Notable: Q Post #4645 - What happens if 44 is actively running a shadow command and control [shadow presidency] operation against the current duly elected POTUS?…Importance of controlled MSM [propaganda][what you see is not true _ what we say is true not what you see]? Importance of controlling the narrative? All assets deployed. Nothing to lose. Treason. Sedition. Conspiracy. Information warfare. Irregular warfare. Insurgency. Infiltration not invasion. Clear and present danger to the United States of America. THE SHADOW PRESIDENCY OF 44 - PREVENTION OF POWER RETURNING TO THE PEOPLE. POWER. CONTROL. PREVENTION OF ACCOUNTABILITY. PREVENTION OF TRANSPARANCY. WAR. A CRITICAL MOMENT IN TIME. Q - https://qanon.pub/#4645

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>>42745

>>42746

>>42747

Q Post #4645

Sep 10 2020 14:59:17 (EST)

What happens if 44 is actively running a shadow command and control [shadow presidency] operation against the current duly elected POTUS?

What former mid-senior admin officials would need to be involved?

What current mid-senior admin officials would need to be involved?

What key positions of power would be critical to the operation?

How do you finance the operation?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/24/trump-international-trip-barack-obama-europe-return

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/obama-china-india-world-leaders-meetings-summit-foundation-latest-a8080951.html

https://www.politifact.com/article/2018/may/22/john-kerry-was-paris-did-he-meet-iranians-he-says-/

FBI mid-senior officials terminated to-date?

DOJ mid-senior officials terminated to-date?

Pentagon mid-senior officials terminated to-date?

NATSEC mid-senior officials terminated to-date?

State dept mid-senior officials terminated to-date?

Exec office of the President?

Office of the Vice President?

Dir of Nat Intel?

Sec of Defense?

Sec of State?

Dept of Homeland Sec?

Dept of Treasury?

US Attorney D of Columbia?

Assistant US Attorney D of Columbia?

US Attorney SDNY?

Inspector gen intel comm?

State dept inspector gen?

Special rep for Ukraine negotiations?

AMB to Ukraine?

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?

CLAS 1-99 Defense

CLAS 1-99 Intel

Importance of controlled MSM [propaganda][what you see is not true _ what we say is true not what you see]?

Importance of controlling the narrative?

All assets deployed.

Nothing to lose.

Treason.

Sedition.

Conspiracy.

Information warfare.

Irregular warfare.

Insurgency.

Infiltration not invasion.

Clear and present danger to the United States of America.

THE SHADOW PRESIDENCY OF 44

PREVENTION OF POWER RETURNING TO THE PEOPLE.

POWER.

CONTROL.

PREVENTION OF ACCOUNTABILITY.

PREVENTION OF TRANSPARANCY.

WAR.

A CRITICAL MOMENT IN TIME.

Q

https://qanon.pub/#4645

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18588366 (270928ZMAR23) Notable: Latitude Financial hack: 14 million customer documents stolen - Latitude Financial has revealed that more than 14 million customer records have been stolen in a cyber breach, with legacy customers dating back as far as 2005 caught up in the attack. The ASX-listed credit card and loan provider on Monday reported that 7.9 million Australian and New Zealand driver’s licence numbers had been stolen, as well as 6.1 million records, 53,000 passport numbers and under 100 customer financial statements. Latitude chief executive Ahmed Fahour said the update was “hugely disappointing” and that his staff were still working around the clock to mitigate risks.

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>>42719

>>42729

Latitude Financial hack: 14 million customer documents stolen

JOSEPH LAM - MARCH 27, 2023

Latitude Financial has revealed that more than 14 million customer records have been stolen in a cyber breach, with legacy customers dating back as far as 2005 caught up in the attack.

The ASX-listed credit card and loan provider on Monday reported that 7.9 million Australian and New Zealand driver’s licence numbers had been stolen, as well as 6.1 million records, 53,000 passport numbers and under 100 customer financial statements.

Latitude chief executive Ahmed Fahour said the update was “hugely disappointing” and that his staff were still working around the clock to mitigate risks.

“It is hugely disappointing that such a significant number of additional customers and applicants have been affected by this incident. We apologise unreservedly,” he said.

The 6.1 million stolen records, 94 per cent – or 5.7 million – of which were provided before 2013, included names, addresses, telephone numbers and dates of birth.

The company has promised to reimburse customers the cost of replacing stolen ID documents.

“We are committed to working closely with impacted customers and applicants to minimise the risk and disruption to them, including reimbursing the cost if they choose to replace their ID document,” Mr Fahour said.

The update on Monday comes after Latitude had previously signalled about 330,000 documents had been stolen by a hacker.

The company has not confirmed the total number of customers impacted, but has now confirmed customers who had accessed Latitude’s products up to 18 years ago have been affected.

In a statement to the ASX, Latitude said that no suspicious activity had taken place over the weekend, with no signs of malice detected since the last update on Thursday, March 23. Last Monday, Latitude reported the cyber attack was still “active”.

Mr Fahour urged customers to be extra vigilant and to use the company’s customer care program.

“We urge all our customers to be vigilant and on the lookout for suspicious behaviour relating to their accounts. We will never contact customers requesting their passwords,” he said.

“We continue to work around the clock to safely restore our operations. We are rectifying platforms impacted in the attack and have implemented additional security monitoring as we return to operations in the coming days.”

While the company worked to get platforms online, Latitude credit cards could still be used to make transactions, he said.

Latitude flagged that hardship support was available from its contact centres for customers.

Affected customers could request a credit ban and obtain a credit report to see if their identity had been used.

The company last week engaged IDCARE to provide complimentary confidential cyber information and assistance.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/latitude-financial-hack-14-million-customer-documents-stolen/news-story/56ea8c72d3a2ac20235ca5ec22414170

https://latitudefs.zendesk.com/hc/en-au/articles/13777669694225-Latitude-Cyber-Incident-Update

https://www.latitudefinancial.com.au/about-us/media-releases/cybercrime-update-27-03-2023.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18588370 (270933ZMAR23) Notable: Victorian Liberals agree to suspend controversial MP Moira Deeming - The Victorian Liberal Party has reportedly suspended MP Moira Deeming for nine months. In a sharp blow to leader John Pesutto’s authority, his colleagues did not back the expulsion of Ms Deeming. A marathon two hour-plus party room meeting failed to back their leader and instead imposed a qualified sanction, sources said. Ms Deeming, who represents the Western Metropolitan region, faced the party room axe after appearing at a Let Women Speak rally which was also attended by neo-Nazis.

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>>42731

>>42732

Victorian Liberals agree to suspend controversial MP Moira Deeming

JOHN FERGUSON - MARCH 27, 2023

The Victorian Liberal Party has reportedly suspended MP Moira Deeming for nine months.

In a sharp blow to leader John Pesutto’s authority, his colleagues did not back the expulsion of Ms Deeming.

A marathon two hour-plus party room meeting failed to back their leader and instead imposed a qualified sanction, sources said.

Ms Deeming appeared upset when she left the party room meeting after about two hours.

However, scrutiny will now turn to Mr Pesutto, who gambled his authority in expulsion after she failed to swiftly denounce neo-Nazis who gate crashed a rally nine days ago with women’s rights and anti transgender reform protesters.

Eighteen people spoke and Mr Pesutto moved a compromise motion after the debate.

It is understood Ms Deeming sent an email to MPs this morning condemning the neo-Nazis and the British activist Kellie-Jay Keen.

She also spoke passionately at the party room meeting.

Mr Pesutto left the room with his leadership team and speculation has already begun about his ability to survive.

He refused to say whether the nine month suspension had been imposed.

Mr Pesutto said he had moved an amended motion because Ms Deeming has backed down from her position.

“She accepts that there must be a consequence,” he said.

“We want people to learn from these experiences.

“I’m giving her the chance.”

He did not believe his leadership would be impacted.

“She knows she has got a pathway back,” Mr Pesutto said.

“But she has to earn it too.”

The result has rocked the party just months after the latest election rout as it attempts to fight the Aston by-election this weekend.

Forces loyal to leadership aspirant Brad Battin at the weekend said he was not urgently agitating for the leadership.

However, today’s outcome will provoke discussions about whether or not Mr Pesutto can survive.

“It’s a total mess,” an MP said.

Ms Deeming, who represents the Western Metropolitan region, faced the party room axe after appearing at a Let Women Speak rally which was also attended by neo-Nazis.

In an email sent to colleagues on Sunday night, Ms Deeming cited the “many painful lessons” she had learned over the past week after her name became associated with neo-Nazi supporters who gatecrashed the Let Women Speak rally she attended on March 18 alongside British anti-trans rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen.

The upper house MP said she had been a victim of “guilt by various degrees of association”, and reiterated her offer to publicly back the party leadership, led by Opposition Leader John Pesutto.

“I respectfully write to ask that you vote against the motion to expel me from the Liberal Party parliamentary team because I am innocent of these charges, I am a brand new MP and deserve the chance to learn from this, and because guilt by various degrees of association is not a standard that any one of us can avoid transgressing,” Ms Deeming said.

“I want you all to know that I have learned many painful lessons from this experience, and that I deeply regret the trouble this has caused my state and federal colleagues and the wider party membership.

“And also, that my offer to publicly back the current leadership team if the vote to expel me fails, still stands,” she said.

Mr Pesutto was pushing for Ms Deeming’s expulsion from the parliamentary Liberal Party on the basis that she had acted “in a manner likely to bring discredit on the parliament or the parliamentary party” in her association with Ms Keen, who he said was “known to be publicly associated with far right-wing extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists”.

Ms Keen denies any such an association, and Ms Deeming ­vehemently denies any links to Nazism or to far-right extremist groups. She has said she was unaware of the presence of the far-right group at the rally outside Victoria’s Parliament House.

Monday’s vote was anticipated to be closer than a similar vote last week to delay the expulsion motion, which was lost 18-11.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/victorian-liberals-deciding-moira-deemings-future/news-story/7ba0202592baec88f8cb0ff61edf9995

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18588375 (270938ZMAR23) Notable: ‘A huge result’: Legalise Cannabis likely to win NSW upper house seat - Legalise Cannabis is confident of winning its first seat in the NSW upper house, after early counting suggests it outpolled the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers and rivalled One Nation in its popularity among voters.

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>>42744

‘A huge result’: Legalise Cannabis likely to win upper house seat

Jordan Baker - March 27, 2023

Legalise Cannabis is confident of winning its first seat in the NSW upper house, after early counting suggests it outpolled the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers and rivalled One Nation in its popularity among voters.

Almost 25 per cent of the Legislative Council vote had been counted by late Monday, but the make-up of the chamber will not be confirmed for several weeks, until preferences are counted and votes are exhausted.

Early numbers suggested Labor could pick up eight spots, the Coalition six, and the Greens two, although the parties remained hopeful of more.

One Nation attracted just over 5 per cent of the vote in a slight swing against the party, suggesting it would pick up at least one spot. That would give the party three upper house seats, one more than in the last parliament.

Legalise Cannabis was the fifth most popular, and leader Jeremy Buckingham, a former Greens MLA, was confident of picking up a spot. He said the vote was “a massive breakthrough” for the party, which also has representatives in other states.

His campaign was supported by high-profile donors including philanthropist Nick Fairfax, teal backer Rob Keldoulis, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s son Alex and environmental philanthropists, the Susan McKinnon Foundation.

The party also did well in some lower house seats and has surged in popularity since it changed its name from the Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) party in 2021. “One in eight people voted for the Legalise Cannabis party in Cessnock,” Buckingham said.

“On the Mid North Coast, one in 10 people [voted for the party]. That’s a huge result for any political party, especially one that’s only a year old.” One of his priorities would be pushing for people who use medicinal cannabis to legally drive.

Buckingham said the party picked up votes from the left and the right of the political spectrum. “It’s got broad geographic and demographic support,” he said. “You’ve only got to look to America, where you’ve got [Bible belt] states like Missouri legalising cannabis.”

The Liberal Democrats, a small-government, civil liberties party, had 3 per cent of the vote late on Monday. The Shooters are likely to scrape over the line for 20th spot.

The last spot, the 21st, is expected to be a contest between the Coalition and the Animal Justice Party, but the fact that the other major parties did not preference the Coalition could give the edge to the AJP.

A spokesman said that while it was “confident” of a seat, it was reluctant to predict a victory given the party’s experience in the 2019 election, when candidate David Leyonhjelm was on track for an upper house berth until late in the count, when a strong flow of preferences rewarded the Animal Justice Party’s Emma Hurst.

In 2011, One Nation’s Pauline Hanson looked likely to scrape into the NSW upper house in 20th place before preferences from one of the last candidates to be eliminated, Family First’s Gordon Moyes, helped the Coalition and Greens overtake her.

Greens drug reform spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann said the party was confident of two spots, and “there’s fingers crossed for a third”, she said. The upper house count takes weeks, and the outcome can change as final preferences are distributed.

Faehrmann said: “I don’t think we’re going to know the balance of the upper house [for a while], whether it’s controlled by the Coalition with a handful of right-wing parties, or whether we’ve got progressive parties in the balance of power.”

The formal result will not be known until late April, when keen observers will gather at the Electoral Commission and watch officials press a button, which will reveal the names of those who have been elected to the 21 seats.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/a-huge-result-legalise-cannabis-likely-to-win-upper-house-seat-20230327-p5cvll.html?js-chunk-not-found-refresh=true

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18594089 (280856ZMAR23) Notable: Adelaide man arrested for allegedly sharing Christchurch massacre footage online - Police allege the 53-year-old from Edwardstown posted an online link to footage "related to the Christchurch shooting". The man has since been charged with distributing extremist material and has been bailed to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on June 2.

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Adelaide man arrested for allegedly sharing Christchurch massacre footage online

abc.net.au - 28 March 2023

An Adelaide man who allegedly shared extremist material relating to the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack, in which 51 people were murdered, has been arrested and will face court later this year.

Police allege the 53-year-old from Edwardstown posted an online link to footage "related to the Christchurch shooting".

The arrest, which occurred yesterday, was carried out by SA Police's State Protective Security Branch.

"Acting on information received earlier this month, police arrested a 53-year-old man from Edwardstown," police said in a statement.

The man has since been charged with distributing extremist material and has been bailed to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on June 2.

On March 15, 2019, Australian man Brenton Tarrant opened fire in two mosques in the New Zealand city, murdering 51 people and wounding dozens more in what is the single worst terrorist attack carried out by an Australian.

Armed with several high-powered weapons, Tarrant live-streamed the attack online.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-28/man-accused-of-sharing-christchurch-massacre-footage-online/102128472

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18600058 (290910ZMAR23) Notable: Obama warns about dangers of AI, polarisation and Murdoch at Sydney event - Former US president Barack Obama warned of the truth-warping dangers of artificial intelligence and polarised media, and took a swipe at News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, in a wide-ranging discussion before a Sydney audience that also canvassed China, Russian President Vladimir Putin and economic justice.

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>>42745

>>42748

Obama warns about dangers of AI, polarisation and Murdoch at Sydney event

Michael Koziol - March 29, 2023

1/2

Former US president Barack Obama warned of the truth-warping dangers of artificial intelligence and polarised media, and took a swipe at News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, in a wide-ranging discussion before a Sydney audience that also canvassed China, Russian President Vladimir Putin and economic justice.

He also praised Sydney as “one of the world’s great cities” but said he didn't swim in the ocean at Manly this week as the water looked a little cold, especially compared to his native Hawaii where he'd just been.

The 61-year-old, who served two terms in the Oval Office from 2009 to 2017, said he was the first president to serve entirely in the digital age, making him at that point the most recorded person in human history and the guinea pig for deepfakes and other AI mischief.

“Today you can have me in just about any setting on a video, and certainly on a recording, say anything. And unless you’re [my wife] Michelle, you’re pretty confident it’s me,” Obama said.

“It sounds funny, and it’s a boon for filmmakers and special effects. But we’re already in a place now where verifying what’s true [is difficult] and the ability to manipulate reality is advancing very quickly and in malevolent hands that contributes to all kinds of polarisation.

“To preserve democracies we are going to have to spend a lot more time figuring out how are we educating our kids to sort out the differences between fact, opinion, falsehood, what looks real but isn’t. We’re going to have to train our brains to catch up to these new technologies.”

Obama noted it was always challenging for individuals and society to adapt to significant leaps in communication technology, such as the printing press, radio and film.

“It’s a dangerous period because so much of who we are and how we understand the world is related to the stories we receive, and if we are vulnerable to bad stories we can do horrendous things.”

The 44th president, who is in Australia on a speaking tour, was warm and entertaining in discussion with former foreign minister Julie Bishop before an audience of thousands at the Aware Super Theatre in Sydney’s Darling Harbour on Tuesday night.

While maintaining that 65 to 70 per cent of America “does occupy a reality-based world”, he said media distortion also played a role in polarising the community.

“There’s a guy you may be familiar with, first name Rupert, who was responsible for a lot of this,” he said, referring to Murdoch, the Australian-born media mogul.

“He perfected what is a broader trend … it’s now a Wild West and a splintering of media. In America, it’s Fox News, here I guess it’s Sky. If all you are doing is watching one source of news – and by the way, in America you’re seeing that progressives say ‘Well, we’re going to have our own news and our own perspective’ – you no longer have a joint conversation and a shared story.

“The easiest way to attract attention without having a lot of imagination, thought or interesting things to say, is just to make people angry and resentful and to make them feel as if somebody’s trying to mess with them and take what’s rightfully theirs.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18600089 (290928ZMAR23) Notable: Video: Former US President Barack Obama arrives in Melbourne ahead of speaking tour - The 44th president of the United States is continuing his whirlwind trip to Australia as part of his sold-out speaking tour. Tickets for the Melbourne event have sold out, with prices ranging from $195 for a standard seat to a whopping $895 for “platinum” bookings. For the biggest Obama fans, purchasing a “platinum package” gets the ticket holder a welcome cocktail at a one-hour drinks function, a commemorative lanyard and a signed copy of Mr Obama’s book.

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>>42745

>>42748

Former US President Barack Obama arrives in Melbourne ahead of speaking tour

The 44th president of the United States is continuing his whirlwind trip to Australia as part of his sold-out speaking tour.

Aisling Brennan - March 29, 2023

Former US president Barack Obama has touched down in Melbourne ahead of the second night of his sold-out Australian speaking tour.

The former president has been in the country since Sunday after arriving ahead of his highly anticipated series of talks with former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop.

Obama first arrived in Sydney and met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese before joining wife Michelle for lunch at Bathers Pavilion in Balmoral, a tour of the Opera House and dinner at Grana in Circular Quay on Monday.

The 44th US president was welcomed by about 9000 people at the Sydney “Evening With President Obama” event on Tuesday night in Darling Harbour.

The speaking tour with Ms Bishop aims to offer ticket holders an intimate discussion about leadership and the world’s future, including the political climate with China, Russia and Ukraine.

Tickets for the Melbourne event have sold out, with prices ranging from $195 for a standard seat to a whopping $895 for “platinum” bookings.

For the biggest Obama fans, purchasing a “platinum package” gets the ticket holder a welcome cocktail at a one-hour drinks function, a commemorative lanyard and a signed copy of Mr Obama’s book.

There are 10,500 people expected to see him speak at John Cain Arena on Wednesday night, plus those who were able to buy a link to the online stream selling for about $400.

It’s understood the former president could be up for a payday upwards of $1m after his tour is complete.

The Growth Faculty, which organised the tour, said on its website Mr Obama and Ms Bishop, will discuss “strength in leadership” and “explore techniques for navigating an unpredictable future”.

“President Barack Obama’s path to success is unlike any other. As a global leader, pioneer and 44th president of the United States, his journey is one of resilience, perseverance and triumph, the result of exceptional determination and true tenacity,” the website read.

“In times of great challenge and change, President Obama’s leadership ushered in a stronger economy, a more equal society, a nation more secure at home and more respected around the world.

“Attendees will hear President Obama discuss strength in leadership and explore techniques for navigating an unpredictable future.”

It marks his first official visit to Australia since 2014 when the former president, then in office, visited Queensland for the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brisbane.

He’d also previously visited the country in 2018 to speak at a private event at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Mr Obama was also spotted on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with his wife and entourage hours before boarding the flight to Melbourne.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/former-us-president-barack-obama-arrives-in-melbourne-ahead-of-speaking-tour/news-story/d836331302c19634c4e2e7282a1f15c7

https://www.theage.com.au/national/barack-obama-arrives-in-melbourne-20230329-p5cwf4.html

https://www.thegrowthfaculty.com/event.php?eventId=a1J9g0000004pImEAI

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18600098 (290935ZMAR23) Notable: ‘Nation first’ laws ban Nazi salute -unless you are an artist, teacher or actor behaving ‘reasonably’ - Artists including comedians and actors, as well as educators, may still be able to display Nazi symbols and perform Nazi salutes under new Tasmanian laws, if acting in “good faith”. A Tasmanian Liberal government bill to ban displays of Nazi symbols introduced on Wednesday was extended to include the salute, after neo-Nazis used the gesture at a recent Melbourne rally against transgender reforms.

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>>42727

>>42720

‘Nation first’ laws ban Nazi salute -unless you are an artist, teacher or actor behaving ‘reasonably’

MATTHEW DENHOLM and LYDIA LYNCH - MARCH 29, 2023

Artists including comedians and actors, as well as educators, may still be able to display Nazi symbols and perform Nazi salutes under new Tasmanian laws, if acting in “good faith”.

A Tasmanian Liberal government bill to ban displays of Nazi symbols introduced on Wednesday was extended to include the salute, after neo-Nazis used the gesture at a recent Melbourne rally against transgender reforms.

However, the “nation leading” legislation, expected to pass both houses of state parliament with Labor support, creates a number of defences.

These include for anyone giving a Nazi salute or displaying a Nazi symbol if the act was “reasonable” and performed in “good faith … for a genuine academic, artistic, religious, scientific, cultural, educational, legal or law enforcement purpose”.

Slightly greyer is what happens to naughty teenagers caught giving a Nazi salute behind a teacher or policeman’s back.

Younger children, at least, may avoid prosecution, with the legislation providing that the ban on Nazi salutes only applies to those who “know or ought to know” what the gesture means.

Anyone else faces a fine of up to $3620 or three months jail for a first offence, under the new Police Offences Amendment (Nazi Symbol and Gesture Prohibition) Act.

“Our government wants everyone in our community to feel safe from these disturbing displays, whether it be the display of Nazi symbols or the use of the Nazi salute, as we know they can cause hate and fear,” said Attorney-General Elise Archer.

Labor indicated strong support. “The scenes that unfolded on the steps of the Victorian Parliament this month were deeply worrying and should never be allowed to happen in our state, or anywhere,” said Labor justice spokeswoman Ella Haddad.

The legislation’s ban on Nazi symbols brings it into line with Victoria and NSW, while Western Australia has pledged to follow suit and Queensland introduced legislation to state parliament on Wednesday.

Victoria has flagged extending its laws, like Tasmania, to include the Nazi salute. Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton last week unsuccessfully tried to introduce a private member’s bill banning Nazi swastikas, uniforms and salutes.

Under Queensland’s changes, the state criminal code will ban the display of hate symbols with a maximum penalty of 6 months’ imprisonment, while penalties will be increased for serious racial, religious, sexuality or gender identity vilification.

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman said the Nazi salute would not be explicitly banned, but “could be captured by these laws and particularly with harsher penalties for public nuisance motivated by hatred”.

“I can’t think of another motivation for a Nazi salute on the stairs of parliament other than hatred so I think we would be able to successfully prosecute that with these laws,” she said.

Queensland’s proposed laws differed from those interstate. “Unlike other states, we will not be prescribing in legislation the hate symbols that are prohibited,“ she said.

“We will do that by regulation, which means that we can have a broader range of symbols and respond if we need to in the unfortunate event that there is further hateful ideology that is spread.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/nation-first-laws-ban-nazi-salute-unless-you-are-an-artist-teacher-or-actor-behaving-reasonably/news-story/06256444754787d301a5be753a73baec

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18600185 (291025ZMAR23) Notable: Hillsong founder Brian Houston charged with drink-driving prior to resignation from megachurch - Former Hillsong pastor Brian Houston was busted drink-driving in the United States in the weeks before his resignation last year from the global megachurch he founded. Court records obtained by News Corp show Mr Houston was charged in Orange County, California for driving over the legal blood alcohol limit of 0.08 per cent. He was also hit with a further charge for failing to display both front and rear number plates on his vehicle.

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Hillsong founder Brian Houston charged with drink-driving prior to resignation from megachurch

Former Hillsong pastor Brian Houston has confessed to being charged with drink driving in the US. Read what he says led to the incident.

Tom Minear - March 29, 2023

Former Hillsong pastor Brian Houston was busted drink-driving in the United States in the weeks before his resignation last year from the global megachurch he founded.

Court records obtained by News Corp show Mr Houston was charged in Orange County, California for driving over the legal blood alcohol limit of 0.08 per cent.

He was also hit with a further charge for failing to display both front and rear number plates on his vehicle.

The incident allegedly occurred on February 26 last year, about a month before Mr Houston resigned after an internal investigation questioned his behaviour towards two women.

In a statement posted on Instagram on Wednesday, Mr Houston blamed the stress of the investigation for his actions, as he claimed he was only driving a short distance to park his car.

“In February 2022, and in the lead up to my departure from the role of Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church, I was unfortunately charged with Driving Under The Influence of alcohol in the USA,” he wrote.

“I made the foolish decision to drive just 2 or 3 hundred metres (yards) to park the car and I am grateful to God that no damage or injury occurred.”

“At the time it seemed like all hell had broken loose within Hillsong Church and I was under immense pressure and emotional strain. Clearly that is not an excuse, and I take full responsibility for my actions.”

The statement was posted just hours after Mr Houston’s lawyers were contacted by News Corp’s Faith on Trial podcast.

The drink-driving case is the latest twist in drama surrounding Hillsong detailed in the podcast.

At the time of his resignation, the Hillsong board said Mr Houston had been under the influence of alcohol, anti-anxiety medication and sleeping pills when he entered a woman’s hotel room during Hillsong’s annual conference in NSW in 2019.

It was one of two incidents involving Mr Houston in which the internal probe concluded he had engaged in conduct of “serious concern”.

He later denied he was an alcoholic but said alcohol had “not proven itself to be my friend”.

In his statement on Wednesday, Mr Houston said he was “now in a much stronger place within my spirit and soul” since the drink-driving incident.

“I am grateful to God for His sustenance and grace, and I am grateful for trusted ministry friends who, along with Bobbie and our family, have offered their constant love and support in a very difficult and disruptive season,” he said.

“We are looking forward together to a fruitful season ahead.”

Mr Houston is yet to be sentenced in the Superior Court of Orange County. Several hearings have already taken place, with the next hearing scheduled for next week.

In a statement, a Hillsong spokesman said the church’s board and leadership was not aware that Mr Houston had been charged in the US until after he resigned as Hillsong’s pastor.

“As he was no longer on staff, this was a personal matter for Pastor Brian to deal with,” the spokesman said.

However, Hillsong confirmed that Houston’s drink driving charge was discussed at a board meeting on March 23, 2022.

A note of the minutes detailed the “inappropriate actions of a former staff member”.

“Legal advice was sought, and no further action is required,” the minutes read.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/faith-on-trial/hillsong-founder-brian-houston-charged-with-drinkdriving-prior-to-resignation-from-megachurch/news-story/ad4b6f708a3f2a8a4c136688e8772e6f

https://www.instagram.com/p/CqTx3OBsYu8/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CqWJp_CP7o_/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18606695 (300821ZMAR23) Notable: Queensland is set to have 'the strongest hate crime laws in the country' - The public display of hate symbols, like Nazi flags, will be banned in Queensland under proposed legislation introduced into parliament by the state government today. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there was no room for hateful ideologies, after several recent anti-Semitic incidents in Brisbane.

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Queensland is set to have 'the strongest hate crime laws in the country'.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-29/queensland-parliament-hate-symbols-crime/102158002

Guess this means the hundreds of little yellow nazi saluting cunts that i drive past on my way to work will have to go.

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18606748 (300858ZMAR23) Notable: Video: Obama tour organisers apologise for dumping Indigenous elder - The organisers of former US president Barack Obama’s speaking tour have apologised to Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy after she was dropped from his speaking event in Melbourne on Wednesday evening. Murphy, who worked with business events provider Growth Faculty for weeks to give a Welcome to Country for Wednesday’s event, was told she couldn’t bring a support person with her and that she was “too difficult” before being removed from proceedings, her representatives said.

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>>42745

>>42748

Obama tour organisers apologise for dumping Indigenous elder

Najma Sambul - March 30, 2023

The organisers of former US president Barack Obama’s speaking tour have apologised to Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy after she was dropped from his speaking event in Melbourne on Wednesday evening.

Murphy performed the Welcome to Country at a business lunch with Obama at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition centre on Thursday.

Murphy, who worked with business events provider Growth Faculty for weeks to give a Welcome to Country for Wednesday’s event, was told she couldn’t bring a support person with her and that she was “too difficult” before being removed from proceedings, her representatives said.

“Growth Faculty has apologised to Aunty Joy that last night’s ceremony could not be changed,” the organisers said in a statement on Thursday morning.

“Aunty Joy has accepted Growth Faculty’s invitation to perform Welcome to Country at a business lunch taking place in Melbourne today.

“Due to security requirements, the organisation was unable to accommodate last-minute changes to the agreed upon ceremony [on Wednesday].”

The 78-year-old elder accepted the apology, but said she was still saddened by the organisers’ conduct.

“The organisers rang and apologised and re-invited me to perform a Welcome today. I have accepted their apology and will receive President Obama on behalf of my people,” Murphy said.

“Although it saddens me to think that I had to go through the events of yesterday, I’m happy that Aboriginal culture has been given appropriate recognition. It will be my great pleasure to welcome the first Black American president to Wurundjeri Country on behalf of my community and ancestors.”

Obama’s second engagement in Melbourne is a lunch for business leaders. Tickets to the event cost up to $1650.

Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Donald Betts said on Thursday that Indigenous elders “shouldn’t be treated as tokenism”.

“For her [Murphy] to then be rejected, to say that she was too difficult for asking for, you know, minimum accommodations, I think that was a little culturally insensitive,” Betts told ABC radio.

Betts also said the changes to the schedule of Wednesday’s event could have been accommodated if the organisers had a cultural protocol.

“They’ve [Growth Faculty] expressed their apologies, and then they invited her back, so they’ve made accommodations at the last minute.”

The corporation earlier said the organisers had caused “deep offence to the Wurundjeri people and to all First Nations people” by dropping Murphy from Wednesday’s event.

Wurundjeri-Willam woman Mandy Nicholson delivered the Welcome to Country, alongside a performance by the Djirri-Djirri dancers on Wednesday.

In a speech in Sydney on Tuesday, Obama warned of the truth-warping dangers of artificial intelligence and a polarised media.

In a wide-ranging discussion with former foreign minister Julie Bishop, he also took a swipe at News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch and canvassed China, Russian President Vladimir Putin and economic justice.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/obama-tour-organisers-apologise-for-dumping-indigenous-elder-20230330-p5cwjy.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18606751 (300903ZMAR23) Notable: Video: Former US President Barack Obama says gun laws biggest regret at Melbourne event - Days after the latest US school shooting, former president Barack Obama has lamented his inability to overhaul gun laws. Speaking in Melbourne, Mr Obama said his failure to overcome the United States’ powerful gun lobby was the lowest point in his presidency.

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>>42745

>>42748

Former US President Barack Obama says gun laws biggest regret at Melbourne event

Former President Barack Obama has told a Melbourne audience about the “futility” he felt in trying to change US gun laws.

Shannon Deery - March 30, 2023

Days after the latest US school shooting, former president Barack Obama has lamented his inability to overhaul gun laws.

Speaking in Melbourne on Wednesday night, Mr Obama said his failure to overcome the United States’ powerful gun lobby was the lowest point in his presidency.

The comments come after the latest US shooting claimed the lives of three children and three adults who were gunned down at an elementary school in Nashville on Monday.

Mr Obama, who served as president between 2009 and 2017, said he was desperate to overhaul gun laws in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre.

“My biggest regret and disappointment in my presidency was that I could not overcome the clout of arms manufacturers, the paranoia and suspicion of certain gun owners, I couldn’t break this strange fixation on guns and weaponry in the United States that is unique among at least economically advanced nations,” he said.

“We tolerate kids routinely being killed. Certainly poor kids, black kids. Latino kids, everything.

“What I realised after Sandy Hook, these were six year olds in a wealthy, white suburb, and it didn’t matter, we couldn’t budge congress.

“There was a deep despair and a sense of maybe there’s a futility here.”

Mr Obama said the only time he ever saw a Secret Service Agent weep while standing on guard was when he met with the families of children killed in Sandy Hook.

“I had just been re-elected, I had enormous political capital, having just won re-election, and I could not budge Congress to get something done.”

Acting Premier Jacinta Allan and Treasurer Tim Pallas were among a crowd of 10,500 who turned out to John Cain Arena for Mr Obama’s one-night speaking event.

During his 70 minutes on stage Mr Obama also spoke of the rise of China, climate change, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the world economy.

He described the high point of his career as passing the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare.

“After we passed it, I invited the staff up to the residence, we looked out at Jefferson Monument to the Washington Monument and I said ‘this is why we do what we do’, you don’t get elected to hold office, you get elected to do this, to help people,” he said.

“And then we got drunk! Within limits. I mean, they were with the President, in his house, nobody was on the tables.”

The event was marred by controversy even before Mr Obama took to the stage after senior Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy was dumped from the program.

Aunty Joy said she was removed from the proceedings for being “too difficult” after she asked for a support person and wanted to give Mr Obama a gift.

Wurundjeri woman and Melbourne artist Mandy Nicholson performed the welcome to country in Aunty Joy’s place.

She was accompanied by six other women who performed three ceremonial dances before Mr Obama took the stage.

Mr Obama was interviewed on stage by former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/former-us-president-barack-obama-says-gun-laws-biggest-regret-at-melbourne-event/news-story/457cb7f2b68804fe15b5d7de17a2bc74

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18606755 (300908ZMAR23) Notable: AFP, DPP told to produce material for Board of Inquiry into Lehrmann rape case - The Australian Federal Police has been reprimanded for failing to hand over “crucial” material to the board of inquiry into the handling of Bruce Lehrmann’s dropped rape charge. Just weeks out from the first public hearing, Walter Sofronoff KC, who is conducting the inquiry, has directed the AFP and the ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions to produce material requested in subpoenas or explain their legal basis for withholding it.

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>>42716

AFP, DPP told to produce material for Board of Inquiry into Lehrmann rape case

KRISTIN SHORTEN - MARCH 30, 2023

The Australian Federal Police has been reprimanded for failing to hand over “crucial” material to the board of inquiry into the handling of Bruce Lehrmann’s dropped rape charge.

Just weeks out from the first public hearing, Walter Sofronoff KC, who is conducting the ­inquiry, has directed the AFP and the ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions to produce material ­requested in subpoenas or explain their legal basis for withholding it.

“I have to complete this ­inquiry by June 30 and I can’t if I don’t know when crucial documents are coming,” he said.

At an urgent directions hearing in the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday, Mr Sofronoff said the AFP had made only partial production of documents and he was yet to receive the full brief of evidence provided to DPP Shane Drumgold and Mr Lehrmann’s lawyers in relation to Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation. “You’d expect they would contain similar documents but there might be differences and the differences could be significant,” he said.

Counsel assisting Erin Longbottom KC said there was “no ­detail as to what issues they’re grappling with” or what statutes the AFP is concerned about.

But the AFP’s barrister, Katherine Richardson KC, said the agency was working through “large volumes of sensitive ­material” which legislation might prohibit it from producing. “It’s a very complex task that AFP is undertaking,” she said,

The court heard the AFP wants to review its material – ­including more than 100GB of ­unedited video footage and more than 100,000 pages of phone records – before producing it.

“The approach taken by the AFP is … somebody is going to ­review the video recordings that were included in the brief and ­decide whether any part of it is useful to me or not and withhold what is considered not useful to me,” Mr Sofronoff said. “Have I read that correctly?”

Ms Richardson said the video footage “would swamp the ­inquiry”.

Mr Sofronoff said he needed the full brief that the AFP provided Mr Drumgold and Mr Lehrmann’s lawyers.

“AFP produced their brief pretty quickly to (Mr Lehrmann’s original defence lawyer) Mr Korn and they produced it promptly to Mr Drumgold, and now it’s been two months and I still don’t have the documents,” he said.

Ms Richardson said there were “some constraints to producing the entire amount”, including that the brief contained material ­obtained with warrants.

The court earlier heard that the AFP, as a commonwealth ­entity, was not legally obligated to comply with the inquiry’s subpoenas but was willing to co-operate fully. Ms Richardson said the agency was committed to “voluntarily” assisting the inquiry and would produce the material sought in “the next short period”.

Mr Sofronoff set a deadline of April 11 for the AFP to “identify in writing any basis on which it contends that documents requested cannot lawfully be produced”.

The inquiry also intends to ­resolve claims of privilege by that date after lawyer Ian Denham “flagged” that his client, Mr Drumgold, was considering claiming legal professional privilege over some of the 137,000 documents captured by his subpoena.

“A large number of documents have been brought into existence for the purpose of criminal proceedings,” he said. “My client wishes to, and will, participate in this inquiry in the fullest way possible, and if that involves ­waiver of privilege he wants to consider that.”

Mr Sofronoff asked when Mr Drumgold ­intended to make those decisions. “When the focus on this ­inquiry becomes clearer,” Mr Denham said. Mr Sofronoff replied: “It doesn’t work that way. I’m going to create a deadline.

“I’m not for a moment saying he doesn’t have a proper claim, but I need to know what it is so we can engage on it and deal with it one way or another.”

The inquiry is also seeking audio recordings or transcripts of phone calls between Mr Lehrmann’s defence barrister, Steven Whybrow SC, and Detective Superintendent Scott Moller who reportedly believed there was ­insufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Lehrmann.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/afp-dpp-told-to-produce-material-for-board-of-inquiry-into-lehrmann-rape-case/news-story/e2578a2230d9fac4463eb19f70be0373

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18613189 (311102ZMAR23) Notable: Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post: Welcome Back! Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin, NT, Australia (Mar. 26, 2023) - Col. Brendan Sullivan, Commanding Officer of Marine Rotational Force Darwin, is welcomed to Australia by Captain Mitchell Livingstone, Commanding Officer Headquarters Northern Command, to commence the 12th iteration of the rotation. MRF-D is focused on increasing interoperability with Allies and partners in the region to promote a stable and secure Indo-Pacific. #usmc #YourADF #AlliesandPartners

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>>42736

>>42737

Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post

30 March 2023

Welcome Back!

Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin, NT, Australia (Mar. 26, 2023) - Col. Brendan Sullivan, Commanding Officer of Marine Rotational Force Darwin, is welcomed to Australia by Captain Mitchell Livingstone, Commanding Officer Headquarters Northern Command, to commence the 12th iteration of the rotation.

MRF-D is focused on increasing interoperability with Allies and partners in the region to promote a stable and secure Indo-Pacific.

#usmc #YourADF #AlliesandPartners

(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Gabriel Antwiler and courtesty photos by Defence Australia )

https://www.facebook.com/MRFDarwin/posts/587830000046154

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18621910 (011801ZAPR23) Notable: Labor's Mary Doyle snatches historic victory in Aston by-election in Melbourne's outer east - It is the first time in more than a century that a government has won a seat from the opposition at a by-election. Liberal candidate Roshena Campbell called Ms Doyle on Saturday evening to concede defeat, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Ms Doyle to congratulate her. The result is considered a devastating blow for the federal Liberal Party, which now only holds three suburban Melbourne seats. Former Liberal strategist Tony Barry called the result "cataclysmically bad" for the Liberal Party.

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Labor's Mary Doyle snatches historic victory in Aston by-election in Melbourne's outer east

Andi Yu - 1 April 2023

Labor candidate Mary Doyle has won a by-election in the federal seat of Aston in Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs.

It is the first time in more than a century that a government has won a seat from the opposition at a by-election.

Liberal candidate Roshena Campbell called Ms Doyle on Saturday evening to concede defeat, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Ms Doyle to congratulate her.

The vote count is still going ahead, but the ABC is projecting a swing towards Labor of about 6 per cent.

The result is considered a devastating blow for the federal Liberal Party, which now only holds three suburban Melbourne seats.

Former Liberal strategist Tony Barry called the result "cataclysmically bad" for the Liberal Party.

Of the 26 federal seats across Melbourne, the Liberals now hold just three, counting Casey as peri-urban, he said.

Mr Barry added the by-election had come at a time of peak popularity for the Labor prime minister, while the Victorian Liberal Party's unpopularity had hurt its federal counterpart.

Former Labor strategist Kos Samaras said the Chinese community in Aston may have ditched the Liberals because of how unwelcome the Coalition government had made many of them feel in recent years.

Aston has long been safe Liberal territory. The last time Labor held the seat was in 1990.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of former Liberal frontbencher Alan Tudge.

He has held the seat since 2010 but suffered a 7.6 per cent swing against him at last year's federal election to retain the seat by 2.8 per cent.

Two hours into vote counting, the ABC's chief election analyst Antony Green said Labor's Mary Doyle appeared to have a clear lead over Liberal candidate Roshena Campbell.

"This is a devastating swing," Green said.

Labor celebrates, the Liberals concede

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles told Labor's post-by-election party that the election result "speaks to Mary Doyle's values, her decency, her hard work".

Ms Doyle then took the stage to raucous applause, describing herself as a suburban mum who's lived in the outer east for 35 years.

"We were the underdog, but boy have we shown that we have a big bite," Ms Doyle said.

"This is an extraordinary endorsement of the Albanese government's positive plans for the country."

The by-election was her second attempt at winning Aston for Labor, having vied for the seat at the general election last year.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton attended the Liberals' campaign headquarters on Saturday evening, and thanked Roshena Campbell for her efforts.

“I promise you, we never give in," he said.

Addressing reporters, he said Victoria was a very "difficult market" for the Liberals and the party needed to respectfully listen to the electorate.

"I will make sure we build this party into an election-winning machine by 2025," he said.

Ms Campbell told her deflated supporters: "We will fight on."

Both major parties were surprised by the by-election result, ABC political journalist Patricia Karvelas said.

Aston has a higher proportion of families with children than other seats, and a higher percentage of mortgage holders.

The seat also has a large Chinese-ancestry population of 14 per cent, compared to a nationwide figure of 5.5 per cent, and an internal post-election review of the Liberal Party's performance revealed that the government suffered heavy swings against it in seats with large numbers of Chinese voters.

The by-election had been billed as the first opportunity for voters to deliver a verdict on the Albanese government's performance, particularly in the context of the cost of living crisis gripping Australia.

It was also seen as a referendum on Peter Dutton's leadership of the Liberal Party.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-01/byelection-result-aston-melbourne-labor-win/102157990

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18625372 (020610ZAPR23) Notable: NSW Labor unable to form majority as Liberals retain Terrigal, Holsworthy - Labor will lead NSW with a minority government after the tallying of thousands of postal votes on Saturday confirmed two key seats had been retained by the Liberals. The counting of ballots received by mail in Terrigal, on the Central Coast, and Holsworthy, in Sydney’s south-west, confirmed both seats would remain Liberal held, meaning Premier Chris Minns’ government cannot win the 47 seats required for a majority.

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Turns out the corporate media's breathless bleats of landslide Labor victory were fake news. Predictable.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/labor-unable-to-form-majority-as-liberals-retain-terrigal-holsworthy-20230401-p5cx8y.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18625638 (020923ZAPR23) Notable: NT Government has asked Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker to resign - The Territory government has asked Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker to resign ahead of the top cop’s planned Easter leave. Sky News revealed the government contacted the NT Police chief executive on Friday and indicated it had lost confidence in him. Mr Chalker has taken about two weeks’ leave but he is not expected to return to his position.

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>>42311 (pb)

NT Government has asked Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker to resign

Matt Cunningham - April 2, 2023

The Territory government has asked Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker to resign ahead of the top cop’s planned Easter leave.

But a spokeswoman for police said they had not been told about the plans for change at the top.

Sky News revealed on Saturday the government contacted the NT Police chief executive on Friday and indicated it had lost confidence in him.

Mr Chalker has taken about two weeks’ leave but he is not expected to return to his position.

Deputy Commissioner Michael Murphy has taken on the role of Acting Commissioner while it is expected a recruitment process will follow to find a new commissioner.

NT Police head of media and communications Margaret McKeown said Mr Chalker was on planned leave that was approved weeks ago.

“Commissioner Chalker is on approved leave and Deputy Commissioner Murphy is Acting Police Commissioner in his absence,” she said.

“That was as planned. We’ve had no official notification from government that that’s changed.

“Speculation is hard for our officers on the ground because they’re working in a difficult environment.”

Ms McKeown said Mr Chalker was due to return from leave on April 19.

An NT government spokeswoman did not comment on the resignation, saying Mr Chalker was on leave.

“It is common practice for the Deputy Commissioner to act in the role while the Commissioner is on leave,” she said.

“Michael Murphy has acted in the role previously.”

Mr Chalker’s time in the role has been plagued by controversy.

He officially began in the job on November 11, 2019, just two days after Constable Zachary Rolfe fatally shot Kumanjayi Walker during a botched arrest attempt at Yuendumu.

Constable Rolfe was charged with Walker’s murder on November 13, but found not guilty by a jury in early 2022.

The decision to charge Constable Rolfe so quickly angered many members of the NT Police Force.

Labor’s Blain MLA Mark Turner, a former NT police officer, has thrown his support behind the decision.

“If it is as reported, I stand in support of the Minister for Police’s decision to call for the resignation of the Commissioner of Police,” he said.

“It is a critical first step in addressing the issues within the force and rebuilding the public’s trust in the institution.”

A Northern Territory Police Association survey released in February showed more than 80 per cent of officers rated police morale as low or very low.

More than 97 per cent of respondents said there were not enough police to do the work being asked of them.

Mr Turner also said there was an “ongoing mental health crisis” in NT Police and systemic issues that allowed a “catastrophic failure of leadership”.

“There is a long list of broken police officers and their families who deserve better,” he said.

“Our communities deserve better. We all deserve better.”

The Northern Territory government has been dealing with escalating levels of crime, particularly in Alice Springs.

Sources told Sky News during any one pay period between 400 and 600 officers were calling in sick.

Mr Chalker also headed the Northern Territory Government’s response to Covid-19 as the Territory Controller.

There’s been a mixed reaction to the news he has been asked to resign.

One close supporter said Mr Chalker had never had the chance to thrive in the role.

“He walked straight into Rolfe and then into Covid, now he’s gone,” the source said.

https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/nt-government-has-asked-police-commissioner-jamie-chalker/news-story/38a7c34a429a1febb84b69986ae425f7

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18625673 (020949ZAPR23) Notable: Turnbull takes on Murdoch's Australian media empire - Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused Murdoch's media empire of undermining democracy, and says a rigorous inquiry into Murdoch's News Corp is needed in the wake of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in the U.S.

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>>42631

>>42675

>>>/qresearch/18511493

>>42755

Turnbull takes on Murdoch's Australian media empire

Former prime minister is calling for rigorous inquiry into News Corp

MITCH RYAN - April 2, 2023

1/2

MELBOURNE - Politicians of all stripes are desperate for Rupert Murdoch's support when they are in power, but one former Australian leader is taking on the media baron in a bid to curb his vast empire of influence around the world.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused Murdoch's media empire of undermining democracy, and says a rigorous inquiry into Murdoch's News Corp is needed in the wake of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in the U.S.

The scathing criticism of the billionaire magnate follows the appointment of Turnbull as the head of a campaign that calls for a royal commission - Australia's highest form of public inquiry - into Murdoch's media dominance.

Murdoch's hold over politics and the media is most extensive in Australia, where News Corp owns close to 60% of the country's newspapers; pay TV company Foxtel and a conservative 24-hour channel, Sky News Australia, which has amassed more than 3 million subscribers on YouTube alone. Former U.S. President Barack Obama said the channel was fuelling the polarization of society at a sold-out address in Sydney on Tuesday.

"There is a public interest in asking the question: 'What are the consequences of this type of media operation?' because there is no doubt it is undermining our democracy," Turnbull said in an interview with Nikkei Asia. "There is an ability to really examine how News Corp is operating as a propaganda vehicle."

Pressure is mounting on Murdoch after the 91-year-old conceded that some of his Fox News commentators knowingly spread falsehoods about the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Dominion Voting Systems claims the TV channel amplified lies that their voting machines rigged the election against Donald Trump in favor of Joe Biden, who won the election. Debunked allegations of voter fraud, spread by Trump, helped spark a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Turnbull said Fox News "was the single largest platform on which that lie was spread. If you are spreading falsehoods about the legitimacy of the government, you are creating the environment on which this sort of thing can happen."

"Jan. 6 was a catastrophe for the United States," he added. "It was a near coup that weakened America's standing all around the world, and was one of the most shocking events in American political history."

Turnbull believes Rupert Murdoch's bombshell deposition in the Dominion lawsuit case strengthens the case for a royal commission in his native Australia, which also has the power to subpoena documents and compel people to give evidence under oath.

"If Murdoch had nothing to hide, he would be saying, 'Bring it on,'" Turnbull said. "But [News Corp] knows if they were subjected to this type of rigorous inquiry … they would find that very discomforting."

Turnbull will take over the campaign from another former prime minister, Kevin Rudd, who stepped down after he became Australia's next U.S. ambassador. Rudd has called Murdoch "an arrogant cancer" on Australian democracy and launched a petition calling for a royal commission into his empire in 2020, which attracted half a million signatures and triggered a parliamentary inquiry into media concentration in the country.

Turnbull will use his role as co-chair of the Australians for a Murdoch Royal Commission lobby group to urge advertisers to boycott the mogul's media outlets.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18644367 (050918ZAPR23) Notable: 'Operation Cookie Monster': AFP joins FBI in seizure of online cybercrime forum - The FBI has seized a popular cybercrime online forum accused of facilitating large-scale identity theft, and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) may already be swooping on criminals in Australia. According to an FBI notice posted to the site today, the bureau seized the web domains of Genesis Market, an invitation-only crime forum that sells login information stolen from hundreds of thousands of computers. An AFP spokesperson told 9news.com.au "the AFP and partners are conducting operational activity today as part of an ongoing global cybercrime operation".

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'Operation Cookie Monster': AFP joins FBI in seizure of online cybercrime forum

Mark Saunokonoko - Apr 5, 2023

The FBI has seized a popular cybercrime online forum accused of facilitating large-scale identity theft, and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) may already be swooping on criminals in Australia.

According to an FBI notice posted to the site today, the bureau seized the web domains of Genesis Market, an invitation-only crime forum that sells login information stolen from hundreds of thousands of computers.

The FBI dubbed the takedown as "Operation Cookie Monster," a play on the forum's sale of web browser information known as "cookies", per the seizure notice.

Active for about five years, Genesis Market has played a key role in giving cybercriminals access to hacked computers for carrying out other forms of fraud such as identity theft and ransomware attacks.

The seizure appears to be part of a broader law enforcement operation aimed at Genesis Market, according to the FBI notice, which bears the logos of the AFP and numerous European law enforcement agencies.

An AFP spokesperson told 9news.com.au "the AFP and partners are conducting operational activity today as part of an ongoing global cybercrime operation".

It said more information about the action would be provided at an appropriate time.

The crime forum, which has advertised login details for personal bank accounts, grew out of research that hackers did on anti-fraud technologies used by hundreds of banks and payment systems, according to cybersecurity researchers.

Genesis Market also sells "digital fingerprints" - the set of data collected from computers that identifies individual users online.

Advertisements on Genesis Market have claimed that as long as someone has access to a hacked computer, the computer's fingerprints will be kept up to date, according to researchers at cybersecurity firm Sophos.

"In other words, Genesis customers aren't making a one-time buy of stolen information of unknown vintage; they're paying for a de facto subscription to the victim's information, even if that information changes," Sophos said in an analysis of Genesis Market last year.

The FBI's seizure is the latest in a series of international law enforcement stings that increasingly involve coordinated arrests and raids on multiple continents.

The FBI and Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, in January 2022 seized computer servers after identifying "more than 100 businesses" that were at risk of being hacked by cybercriminals.

The law enforcement operation against Genesis Market comes on the heels of the FBI's raid of another popular criminal forum, BreachForums, that had touted data stolen in a hack affecting members of Congress and thousands of other people.

The FBI arrested a 20-year-old New York man accused of being the founder of BreachForums.

While arrests take some alleged cybercriminals offline, the acute demand for stolen personal data means that other alleged hackers often quickly spring up to take their place.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/fbi-seizes-popular-cybercrime-forum-genesis-market-used-for-large-scale-identity-theft/0e7d2fab-5491-4ece-8520-3232aa43f0c0

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18644395 (050929ZAPR23) Notable: Justice Adam Kimber rules AN0M app was not ‘intercepting’ messages, but enabled legal police surveillance - The encrypted communication platform at the heart of an international police operation that led to hundreds of arrests and the dismantling of alleged organised crime syndicates was legally run by police, a court has ruled. Phones with the AN0M app installed were used by thousands of people in Australia who police allege were using the devices to further criminal activities. The devices were secretly being monitored by the FBI and Australian Federal Police who, on June 8, 2021, disabled the app and moved to arrest hundreds of people across the globe. In Australia the crackdown was known as Operation Ironside, in the US as Trojan Shield and in Europe as Greenlight. On Wednesday April 5, Justice Adam Kimber, who has heard months of evidence as part of the nation leading Ironside test case, found the phones did not allow the AFP to illegally intercept phone communications.

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>>42673

>>42734

Justice Adam Kimber rules AN0M app was not ‘intercepting’ messages, but enabled legal police surveillance

After hearing months of evidence as part of a case challenging the validity of the encrypted AN0M app at the heart of Operation Ironside, the Supreme Court has ruled on its legality.

Mitch Mott - April 5, 2023

The encrypted communication platform at the heart of an international police operation that led to hundreds of arrests and the dismantling of alleged organised crime syndicates was legally run by police, a court has ruled.

Phones with the AN0M app installed were used by thousands of people in Australia who police allege were using the devices to further criminal activities.

The devices were secretly being monitored by the FBI and Australian Federal Police who, on June 8, 2021, disabled the app and moved to arrest hundreds of people across the globe.

In Australia the crackdown was known as Operation Ironside, in the US as Trojan Shield and in Europe as Greenlight.

On Wednesday, Justice Adam Kimber, who has heard months of evidence as part of the nation leading Ironside test case, found the phones did not allow the AFP to illegally intercept phone communications.

Before a court crowded with detectives, prosecutors and defence lawyers, he dismissed what has come to be known as the “Chapter One” challenge to the validity of every message sent over the AN0M platform.

Lawyers for two men have sought to challenge the evidence gathered as part of Operation Ironside on a number of fronts.

Arguably the most important was whether the AN0M app enabled police to “surveil” the messages sent between users, or was an “interception” of the messages.

AFP officers had electronic surveillance device warrants for two servers – code named Rick and Morty – in Sydney where a blind carbon copy of all messages would eventually be sent.

However, barristers for the two accused argued police had been “intercepting” the messages and needed a warrant for each phone to make the operation legal.

Director of Public Prosecutions Martin Hinton KC, prosecuting, argued the messages sent over the AN0M platform were not interfered with while they were in the telecommunications network.

The devices were programmed to send a copy of each message sent to a server out of Australia automatically once a message was sent.

Those messages would be de-encrypted and then re-encrypted before being sent to a second server and then finally to “Rick and Morty” in Sydney.

The men’s legal team, which included leading Adelaide lawyers Craig Caldicott and Domenic Agresta, as well as silks Michael Abbott KC, David Edwardson KC and Damian O’Leary SC, argued the messages had been intercepted during transmission.

They argued the AN0M phones were connected to a telecommunications network and any transfer of information began before the message copy had been created.

While the judgment is likely to be appealed, it is a blow to the defence of the hundreds of Ironside-accused across Australia.

A finding that the messages had been intercepted illegally would have made them all inadmissable in court and undermined most high-profile prosecutions.

Further judgments are expected in the coming weeks as Justice Kimber makes rulings on other legal arguments.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/justice-adam-kimber-rules-an0m-app-was-not-intercepting-messages-but-enabled-legal-police-surveillance/news-story/e6577a2bae9290e8fe87e4481071cb03

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18653903 (070849ZAPR23) Notable: Bruce Lehrmann targets ABC over Higgins and Tame’s Press Club address - Former federal Liberal political staffer Bruce Lehrmann is suing the ABC for defamation for broadcasting a National Press Club address last year by Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins, in a case expected to test the defences available for live broadcasts. Lehrmann filed Federal Court defamation proceedings against the ABC on Wednesday. Documents released by the court on Thursday reveal he is suing over the National Press Club address on February 9 last year, which was televised by the national broadcaster, and a related YouTube video. He says the broadcasts conveyed the defamatory meaning that he “raped Brittany Higgins on a couch in Parliament House”. He denies the rape allegation.

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>>42627

Bruce Lehrmann targets ABC over Higgins and Tame’s Press Club address

Michaela Whitbourn - April 6, 2023

Former federal Liberal political staffer Bruce Lehrmann is suing the ABC for defamation for broadcasting a National Press Club address last year by Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins, in a case expected to test the defences available for live broadcasts.

Lehrmann filed Federal Court defamation proceedings against the ABC on Wednesday. Documents released by the court on Thursday reveal he is suing over the National Press Club address on February 9 last year, which was televised by the national broadcaster, and a related YouTube video.

He says the broadcasts conveyed the defamatory meaning that he “raped Brittany Higgins on a couch in Parliament House”. He denies the rape allegation.

The lawsuit is the third filed by Lehrmann, who is also suing Network Ten and News Life Media, the News Corp company behind News.com.au, over interviews with Higgins broadcast and published on February 15, 2021.

Higgins, also a former political staffer, did not name Lehrmann during her address in Canberra but said: “I was raped on a couch in what I thought was the safest and most secure building in Australia. In a workplace that has a police and security presence 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“The parliament of Australia is safe – it is secure – except if you’re a woman. If what happened to me can happen there, it can happen anywhere. And it does. It happens to women everywhere.”

Lehrmann’s lawyers argue he was readily identifiable as the person accused of raping Higgins.

He had been named in the media in August 2021 after he was charged with sexual intercourse without consent.

Lehrmann pleaded not guilty to the charge. His trial was aborted in October last year due to juror misconduct. The charge was later dropped altogether amid concerns about Higgins’ mental health. Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence.

If the defamation case proceeds to trial, the court may be asked to examine the defence of innocent dissemination in the NSW Defamation Act.

University of Sydney Professor David Rolph, an expert in defamation law, said innocent dissemination is a defence that can be relied upon by a secondary publisher.

“In order to rely on the defence, any media outlet would have to be able to characterise themselves as a secondary rather than a primary publisher,” he said.

“Under the statutory defence, whether the media outlet has any capacity to exercise any editorial control over the matter before it is first published is a crucial element of the defence.”

Federal Court Justice Michael Lee has yet to decide whether he will extend a one-year limitation period to allow Lehrmann to sue over the Ten and News Corp interviews, which are now two years old.

Lee reserved his decision on that issue on March 23 and will deliver a judgment at a later date.

Lehrmann’s suit against the ABC, which involves a broadcast in February last year, falls within the one-year time limit because his lawyers sent a concerns notice to the national broadcaster in February this year.

Should Lee refuse to extend the limitation period in the Ten and News Corp proceedings, the case against the ABC could still proceed.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/bruce-lehrmann-targets-abc-over-higgins-and-tame-s-press-club-address-20230406-p5cykj.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18653925 (070923ZAPR23) Notable: ‘Operation Cookie Monster’: Australians arrested in international cybercrime sting - A sprawling stolen ID marketplace selling some 80 million credentials and popular with cybercriminals has been shut down by a multinational police operation that arrested 120 people, among them 10 Australians. “Operation Cookie Monster” spanned 17 countries, conducted more than 200 searches and culminated with police defacing the Genesis Market website, plastering the logos of European, Canadian and Australian police forces, and that of cybersecurity firm Qintel, across the page. Britain’s National Crime Agency said it was “one of the most significant access marketplaces anywhere in the world”. The US Treasury Department called it “one of the most prominent brokers of stolen credentials and other sensitive information”. AFP Assistant Commissioner Scott Lee warned police action would continue around the country as AFP and State and Territory investigators had identified additional alleged offenders. “Don’t think that because we haven’t knocked on your door yet, we won’t be at all. If you have used this website to purchase stolen data to commit cybercrime or fraud offences then we will find you and we will be paying you a visit.”

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>>42788

‘Operation Cookie Monster’: Australians arrested in international cybercrime sting

Lia Timson - April 7, 2023

A sprawling stolen ID marketplace selling some 80 million credentials and popular with cybercriminals has been shut down by a multinational police operation that arrested 120 people, among them 10 Australians.

“Operation Cookie Monster” spanned 17 countries, conducted more than 200 searches and culminated with police defacing the Genesis Market website, plastering the logos of European, Canadian and Australian police forces, and that of cybersecurity firm Qintel, across the page.

Britain’s National Crime Agency said it was “one of the most significant access marketplaces anywhere in the world”. The US Treasury Department called it “one of the most prominent brokers of stolen credentials and other sensitive information”.

The NCA estimated that the service hosted about 80 million credentials and device fingerprints stolen from more than 2 million people.

The Australian Federal Police said on Thursday it had executed 24 arrest warrants in three states, arresting 10 people, including a Victorian man it alleged was the most prolific buyer of compromised information in the country.

At the time of takedown, the site offered access to more than 1.5 million compromised computers – each containing security credentials for dozens of accounts.

“For a small cost, individuals with nefarious intentions could purchase a packaged dataset that would allow them to gain access to a victim’s government services and online banking,” AFP Assistant Commissioner Scott Lee said.

Genesis specialised in the sale of digital products, especially “browser fingerprints” harvested from computers infected with malicious software, said Louise Ferrett, an analyst at British cybersecurity firm Searchlight Cyber.

Because those fingerprints often include credentials, cookies, internet protocol addresses and other browser or operating system details, they could be used by criminals to bypass anti-fraud solutions such as multifactor authentication or device fingerprinting, she said.

The site had been active since 2018.

Lee said the site had the potential to cause $46 million in harm to the Australian community through the sale of stolen Australian credentials and access to compromised Australian devices.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18653940 (070934ZAPR23) Notable: Bruce Lehrmann lawyer asked cops to investigate Brittany Higgins over ‘falsified evidence’ - Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer wrote to police during his rape trial last year seeking that Brittany Higgins be investigated over matters arising from the trial, including allegations that she falsified and destroyed evidence, fabricated a photo of a bruise on her leg and publicly called into question the evidence of a witness while the trial was still under way.

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>>42716

>>42762

Bruce Lehrmann lawyer asked cops to investigate Brittany Higgins over ‘falsified evidence’

JANET ALBRECHTSEN and STEPHEN RICE - APRIL 7, 2023

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Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer wrote to police during his rape trial last year seeking that Brittany Higgins be investigated over matters arising from the trial, including allegations that she falsified and destroyed evidence, fabricated a photo of a bruise on her leg and publicly called into question the evidence of a witness while the trial was still under way.

The letter, from barrister ­Steven Whybrow to the Australian Federal Police, requests that if an investigation indicates Ms Higgins committed any offences, “any decision whether to prosecute NOT be undertaken by the DPP Shane Drumgold SC or any other member of his office who had any involvement in his prosecution”.

In the letter, sent on October 24, three days before the trial was aborted due to juror misconduct, Mr Whybrow referred to “a substantial body of evidence” relating to the ACT Criminal Code, the Listening Devices Act and the Statutory Declarations Act.

My Whybrow said the evidence, including Ms Higgins’ own sworn evidence, suggested that she had deleted and/or concealed communications with people likely to be relevant witnesses in the case including former cabinet minister Linda Reynolds and her then chief of staff Fiona Brown, and several others, “with the ­intention of influencing the outcome of a legal proceeding”.

The lawyer said Ms Higgins had asserted in a statutory declaration that a photo she provided to The Project TV show in February 2021 was of a bruise taken by her in April 2019 and caused by Bruce Lehrmann on March 22-23, 2019.

However, the evidence suggested Ms Higgins had fabricated the photo “with the intention of influencing a decision to commence a legal proceeding or influencing the outcome of a legal proceeding”, he alleged.

In cross examination at the trial, Mr Whybrow asked Ms Higgins: “I suggest that the photograph of the bruise and your assertion that it was an injury sustained during this assault is a fabrication?”

Higgins responded: “OK sure, I reject you completely.”

Mr Whybrow put it to Ms Higgins that she had not mentioned the bruise to the police when she first spoke to them on April 1, 2019, two days before she says the photo was taken.

“You didn’t say anything about having a big bruise on your leg, did you?’’ he asked.

“Not that I recall to the police. Not at that point, no,’’ Ms Higgins replied.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18654271 (071212ZAPR23) Notable: Australian Federal Police under investigation over forwarding of protected information about Brittany Higgins - Australia’s national anti-corruption watchdog has launched a probe into whether police “attempted to pervert the course of justice” by forwarding protected information about Brittany Higgins to the defence team during the aborted rape trial and pressuring her not to proceed with the matter.

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>>42762

>>42792

Australian Federal Police under investigation over forwarding of protected information about Brittany Higgins

A probe has been launched to examine whether police tried to “pervert the course of justice” by pressuring Brittany Higgins not to proceed with a complaint.

Samantha Maiden - April 7, 2023

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Australia’s national anti-corruption watchdog has launched a probe into whether police “attempted to pervert the course of justice” by forwarding protected information about Brittany Higgins to the defence team during the aborted rape trial and pressuring her not to proceed with the matter.

The prohibited material disclosed to the defence, which included private psychological counselling notes and Ms Higgins’ videotaped record of interview with police, was never opened by the defence according to the barrister it was sent to in 2021.

News.com.au has confirmed however that the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI) probe will consider whether or not Australian Federal Police members attempted to pervert the course of justice by forwarding protected information contained in a brief of evidence.

Secondly, the anti-corruption watchdog is investigating whether AFP members attempted to pervert the course of justice by pressuring Ms Higgins not to proceed with the matter.

The third referral to the agency was by Ms Higgins’ lawyer, Leon Zwier. This relates to the potential leaking of documents and photographs by AFP members to the media.

This is also now under formal investigation and is being handled by a separate investigation team.

Mr Lehrmann, a former Liberal staffer, was charged in relation to the sexual assault allegation but the trial collapsed following juror misconduct and the charge was dropped by the DPP.

Since he was charged in August 2021, Mr Lehrmann has maintained his innocence.

A separate investigation into the decision to prosecute and the conduct of police is being led by Walter Sofronoff KC.

AFP union slams ‘smears’

The Australian Federal Police Association, which represents ACT police officers, has described the allegations under investigation as “smears”.

Contacted by news.com.au, the AFP said: “This is a matter for ACLEI. It would not be appropriate for the AFP to comment further.”

The ACLEI works to provide independent assurance about the integrity of Australian government law enforcement agencies.

It can investigate allegations of corruption, gather and analyse intelligence and data, provide corruption prevention advice and support.

The ACLEI is currently transitioning to become part of the new anti-corruption watchdog, the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18660041 (081218ZAPR23) Notable: New Batch of Classified Documents Appears on Social Media Sites - A new batch of classified documents that appear to detail American national security secrets from Ukraine to the Middle East to China surfaced on social media sites on Friday, alarming the Pentagon and adding turmoil to a situation that seemed to have caught the Biden administration off guard. A senior intelligence official called the leak “a nightmare for the Five Eyes,” in a reference to the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the so-called Five Eyes nations that broadly share intelligence.

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New Batch of Classified Documents Appears on Social Media Sites

Helene Cooper, Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt and Thomas Gibbons-Neff - April 7, 2023

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WASHINGTON — A new batch of classified documents that appear to detail American national security secrets from Ukraine to the Middle East to China surfaced on social media sites on Friday, alarming the Pentagon and adding turmoil to a situation that seemed to have caught the Biden administration off guard.

The scale of the leak — analysts say more than 100 documents may have been obtained — along with the sensitivity of the documents themselves, could be hugely damaging, U.S. officials said. A senior intelligence official called the leak “a nightmare for the Five Eyes,” in a reference to the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the so-called Five Eyes nations that broadly share intelligence.

The latest documents were found on Twitter and other sites on Friday, a day after senior Biden administration officials said they were investigating a potential leak of classified Ukrainian war plans, include an alarming assessment of Ukraine’s faltering air defense capabilities. One slide, dated Feb. 23, is labeled “Secret/NoForn,” meaning it was not meant to be shared with foreign countries.

The Justice Department said it had opened an investigation into the leaks and was in communication with the Defense Department but declined to comment further.

Mick Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official, said the leak of the classified documents represents “a significant breach in security” that could hinder Ukrainian military planning. “As many of these were pictures of documents, it appears that it was a deliberate leak done by someone that wished to damage the Ukraine, U.S., and NATO efforts,” he said.

One analyst described what has emerged so far as the “tip of the iceberg.”

Early Friday, senior national security officials dealing with the initial leak, which was first reported by The New York Times, said a new worry had arisen: Was that information the only intelligence that was leaked?

By Friday afternoon, they had their answer. Even as officials at the Pentagon and national security agencies were investigating the source of documents that had appeared on Twitter and on Telegram, another surfaced on 4chan, an anonymous, fringe message board. The 4chan document is a map that purports to show the status of the war in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the scene of a fierce, monthslong battle.

But the leaked documents appear to go well beyond highly classified material on Ukraine war plans. Security analysts who have reviewed the documents tumbling onto social media sites say the increasing trove also includes sensitive briefing slides on China, the Indo-Pacific military theater, the Middle East and terrorism.

The Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday that the Defense Department was looking into the matter. On Friday, as the disclosures widened, department officials said they had nothing to add. But privately, officials in several national security agencies acknowledged both a rush to find the source of the leaks and a potential for what one official said could be a steady drip of classified information posted on sites.

The documents on Ukraine’s military appear as photographs of charts of anticipated weapons deliveries, troop and battalion strengths, and other plans. Pentagon officials acknowledge that they are legitimate Defense Department documents, but the copies appear to have been altered in certain parts from their original format. The modified versions, for example, overstate American estimates of Ukrainian war dead and underestimate estimates of Russian troops killed.

On Friday, Ukrainian officials and pro-war Russian bloggers suggested the leak was part of a disinformation effort by the other side, timed to influence Ukraine’s possible spring offensive to reclaim territory in the east and the south of the country.

A senior Ukrainian official said that the leak appeared to be a Russian ploy to discredit a counteroffensive. And the Russian bloggers warned against trusting any of the information, which one blogger said could be the work of “Western intelligence in order to mislead our command.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18660098 (081233ZAPR23) Notable: Army readies for record-setting logistics exercise in Pacific - The U.S. Army is preparing to put its logistics tail to the test in the Indo-Pacific, considered the most challenging operational theater in the world by service officials. This summer, the service will hold a large-scale exercise in Australia dubbed Talisman Sabre. As part of the two-week training event that starts in late July, the Army will deliver massive amounts of equipment across challenging terrain and large distances, Brig. Gen. Jered Helwig, the Army’s 8th Theater Sustainment Command commander, told Defense News.

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>>42741

Army readies for record-setting logistics exercise in Pacific

Jen Judson - Apr 8, 2023

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The U.S. Army is preparing to put its logistics tail to the test in the Indo-Pacific, considered the most challenging operational theater in the world by service officials.

This summer, the service will hold a large-scale exercise in Australia dubbed Talisman Sabre. As part of the two-week training event that starts in late July, the Army will deliver massive amounts of equipment across challenging terrain and large distances, Brig. Gen. Jered Helwig, the Army’s 8th Theater Sustainment Command commander, told Defense News last week.

“The scale is an order of magnitude higher than anything that has ever been done before,” he said during an interview at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium here. “It’s been a huge undertaking. Just for one example, Australia’s got very strict agricultural requirements, and we have quadrupled the amount of equipment that we’re bringing … one of the contested things is ensuring that we can [keep] the leopard snail from getting into Australia.”

That has meant months cleaning equipment in Oahu, Hawaii, to prevent the tiny hitchhikers from waging the slowest of invasions, according to Helwig.

Logistics and sustainment are central to carving out a key role for the Army in the Pacific as the U.S. seeks to deter China and prepares to protect allies and partners.

Top military officials have said the region will require the Army to adapt its approach to logistics, and the service is standing up a team focused on enabling the deployment of troops and large amounts of equipment even in constantly contested environments.

But Helwig said the most valuable way to bolster logistics in a contested environment is to exercise it.

“We have to rehearse sustainment at scale and treat logistics as a warfighting function as we rehearse it as part of our campaigning,” he said.

Talisman Sabre, an exercise between Australia and the U.S. that occurs every other year, will prioritize the logistics tail with a smaller emphasis on other operations, he added. Joining the U.S. and Australian armies are South Korea, Indonesia and Japan.

Helwig’s command will set up its main post in Brisbane, Australia, which it has not done outside of Hawaii before, Helwig said. Additionally, the post will consist of a joint, coalition command. “We’ll have a beautiful mix of Australian, Army and joint forces contributions; it won’t look like our standard [Tactical Operations Center],” he added.

The I Corps’ Expeditionary Sustainment Command will set up in Townsville on the northeast coast and the 25th Division Sustainment Brigade will be in Darwin. The distance between Brisbane and Darwin is roughly the same as the distance between Fort Stewart, Georgia, and Fort Carson, Colorado — about 1,617 miles.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18670474 (100527ZAPR23) Notable: Donald Trump winning 2024 US election will not change Aukus plans, Australia’s Albanese says - Australia is confident its agreement with the US to purchase a fleet of nuclear submarines for delivery in the early 2030s will go ahead no matter who wins the 2024 election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

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Donald Trump winning 2024 US election will not change Aukus plans, Australia’s Albanese says

Bloomberg - 9 Apr, 2023

Australia is confident its agreement with the US to purchase a fleet of nuclear submarines for delivery in the early 2030s will go ahead no matter who wins the 2024 election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

In an interview broadcast on Sky News on Sunday, Albanese was asked about growing political division in the US following the indictment of former President Donald Trump, who is currently campaigning for another shot at the country’s top job.

The relationship between Australia and the US was between nations, “not just between leaders,” Albanese said, adding he wasn’t concerned about any impact on the Aukus agreement should Trump return to the presidency.

“Australia and the US share common values,” Albanese said. US President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Australia for the first time in May for a meeting of the Quad strategic partnership, alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Under the Aukus security agreement signed in 2021, the US and the UK will assist Australia in obtaining a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, with the first US Virginia-class vessels expected to arrive by the early 2030s.

However the deal has been criticised in Australia for tying it more closely to the US. Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating described the Aukus agreement as the “worst deal in history” in a speech in March, saying Australia would be tied to the “whim and caprice” of Washington.

China has also voiced opposition to the Aukus deal, with Beijing claiming that the military alliance weakens nuclear non-proliferation efforts, as well as jeopardising peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Washington insists the submarines are nuclear-powered, not nuclear-armed.

Canberra has said that it does not intend to use the US technology to develop its own nuclear weapons.

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3216453/donald-trump-winning-2024-us-election-will-not-change-aukus-plans-australias-albanese-says

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18670521 (100536ZAPR23) Notable: Anthony Albanese dismisses fears Australia-US ties will suffer if Trump reclaims White House - The AUKUS security pact will remain strong regardless of who ends up in the White House after the 2024 US election, the Prime Minister says. Anthony Albanese said he isn’t concerned for the future of the alliance with the US and the UK, despite the possibility of Donald Trump returning as president following next year’s election.

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>>42873

Anthony Albanese dismisses fears Australia-US ties will suffer if Trump reclaims White House

AAP - Apr 9, 2023

The AUKUS security pact will remain strong regardless of who ends up in the White House after the 2024 US election, the Prime Minister says.

Anthony Albanese said he isn’t concerned for the future of the alliance with the US and the UK, despite the possibility of Donald Trump returning as president following next year’s election.

Mr Trump, who is the current front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, pleaded not guilty last week to 34 counts of falsifying business records, following an investigation into hush money payments.

Mr Trump, the first current or former US president to face criminal charges, says the allegations are politically motivated.

Mr Albanese said AUKUS would remain strong regardless of who was leading nations involved in the security pact.

“Our relationship with the United States is a relationship between nations, between peoples, not just between leaders,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

“Australia and the United States share common values, I work very closely with President (Joe) Biden.”

Mr Biden is set to travel to Australia next month for the Quad Leaders’ Summit, where he will also address federal parliament.

“He will be an honoured guest in our country,” Mr Albanese said.

The AUKUS pact will see Australia acquire eight nuclear-powered submarines by the 2050s, with the vessels set to cost up to $368 billion.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/trump-news/2023/04/09/albanese-trump-aukus-alliance/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18670549 (100551ZAPR23) Notable: Video: (7 January 2021) Anthony Albanese blames Donald Trump for US Capitol violence - sbs.com.au

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>>42873

>>42874

Anthony Albanese Tweet

Democracy is precious and cannot be taken for granted - the violent insurrection in Washington is an assault on the rule of law and democracy. Donald Trump has encouraged this response and must now call on his supporters to stand down.

https://twitter.com/AlboMP/status/1346929529198055424

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Joe Biden Tweet

Let me be very clear: the scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not represent who we are. What we are seeing is a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness. This is not dissent, it's disorder. It borders on sedition, and it must end. Now.

https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1346928275470299142

—

Anthony Albanese blames Donald Trump for US Capitol violence

sbs.com.au - 7 January 2021

https://www.sbs.com.au/programs/video/1841137219993/Anthony-Albanese-blames-Donald-Trump-for-US-Capito

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18670782 (100813ZAPR23) Notable: NATO calls Albanese to Lithuania summit - Anthony Albanese has been invited to attend NATO’s upcoming summit in Lithuania amid fears over China’s growing alignment with Russia and the authoritarian powers’ systemic threat to the international order.

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NATO calls Albanese to Lithuania summit

BEN PACKHAM - APRIL 9, 2023

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Anthony Albanese has been invited to attend NATO’s upcoming summit in Lithuania amid fears over China’s growing alignment with Russia and the authoritarian powers’ systemic threat to the international order.

The invitation to the Prime Minister and his Japanese, South Korean and New Zealand counterparts comes as the world’s most powerful military alliance – bolstered by the admission of Finland – works to strengthen ties with its Asia-Pacific partners.

Lithuania’s top national security adviser, Kestutis Budrys, revealed the invitation to The Australian just days after talks in Brussels between NATO officials and representatives of the four Asia-Pacific countries, dubbed by the alliance as the AP4.

It’s unclear whether Mr ­Albanese will attend the July 11-12 summit but Australia’s status as a major donor to Ukraine’s war ­effort and a staunch defender of global rules suggest he is likely to make the trip. “We still don’t have the answer yet but yes, that's what we expect,” Mr Budrys said.

The senior adviser to Lithu­anian President Gitanas Nauseda met officials from the Prime Minister’s office and the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Defence during a visit to Australia last week.

The invitation, which is informal until the AP4 leaders confirm their attendance, comes as the US scrambles to investigate a devastating intelligence leak detailing Russian and Ukrainian war plans, and sensitive assessments of Chinese threats in the Indo-­Pacific.

A senior US national security official told The New York Times the leak was “a nightmare for the Five Eyes” – the Anglophone ­intelligence-sharing network that includes Australia.

Tensions were also high in the Pacific at the weekend as China deployed dozens of fighter jets and warships around Taiwan following a meeting between the island’s president and US house Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

Mr Albanese and other AP4 leaders attended last year’s NATO summit in Madrid, where the alliance declared for the first time that China’s “ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values”.

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said after meeting AP4 officials last week that any decision by China to provide ­lethal aid for Russia in its war against Ukraine would be “a ­historic mistake with profound implications”.

Mr Stoltenberg said as Beijing and Moscow pushed back against the rules-based international order, it was vital for NATO allies and its ­like-minded partners to stand together.

Like Australia, Lithuania has been subjected by Beijing to a campaign of economic coercion that saw its exports blocked and pressure piled on countries to strip Lithuanian inputs from their supply chains. The Baltic state of just 2.7 million people sparked Chinese fury in 2021 when it allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in Vilnius named the “Taiwanese Representative Office”.

Lithuania is also leading a push to admit Ukraine to NATO, with its parliament unanimously passing a resolution last week to ­officially invite Kyiv to join the ­alliance at the upcoming summit in Vilnius.

The proposal is considered a radical one by many NATO allies, which fear the move would dangerously escalate the conflict.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18670815 (100830ZAPR23) Notable: US government facing compensation claim over Navy officer’s $150 sex with Melbourne teen - A former Melbourne sex worker has launched legal action against the US government over allegations a senior officer in the US Navy had sex with her in the 1990s - when she was just 15 and addicted to heroin. Lisa Harris, 39, will pursue compensation under an agreement between the US and Australia, which provides recourse for local victims of alleged misconduct by American military personnel.

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US government facing compensation claim over Navy officer’s $150 sex with Melbourne teen

Cameron Houston - April 10, 2023

A former Melbourne sex worker has launched legal action against the US government over allegations a senior officer in the US Navy had sex with her in the 1990s - when she was just 15 and addicted to heroin.

Lisa Harris, 39, will pursue compensation under an agreement between the US and Australia, which provides recourse for local victims of alleged misconduct by American military personnel.

Harris, who now lives in Darwin, said she met the lieutenant commander, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in St Kilda in 1996 or 1997, before having sex at a CBD hotel and receiving about $150.

“He was wearing a dark green uniform. It identified to me straight away that he was in the military, and he was American. He handed me a business card at the end of our time together,” Harris told The Age.

She insists that officer was aware of her age when he solicited her on Fitzroy Street.

“He absolutely knew how old I was. Because he was in a uniform, I told him. I said: ‘you know I’m only 15, right?’ And he said it didn’t bother him,” Harris said.

Correspondence obtained by The Age reveals Victoria Police and the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigated the incident in 1999, but the probe was stymied by Harris’ refusal to implicate the American officer.

The lieutenant commander has never denied the encounter. However, his lawyers told the US District Court of Columbia in 2006 that he thought Harris was 19.

“Plaintiff provided a statement that detailed how he met her during a trip to Australia, that she told him she was 19 years old, that they engaged in a consensual sexual encounter, and thus... Plaintiff did not engage in a sexual relationship with a known, teenage prostitute,” according to US court documents.

The officer made the statement as part of a legal bid to overturn a decision by the US Navy in 1999 that ended his 17-year career.

The appeal was successful, with the District Court of Columbia ruling in 2008 that his records would be changed to show that he was not discharged, but continued to serve until eligible for retirement.

Harris found the judgement during an online search, and said she was disgusted by the court’s decision.

“The thing that really annoys me is finding out that his government allowed his testimony to go through court without any challenge. This guy has lied and lied and claimed he didn’t know how old I was. And now he gets his record changed,” Harris said.

Lawyer Cameron Doig from Arnold Thomas & Becker accused the officer of preying on a vulnerable young woman.

“By demanding that the United States government compensate her for the devastating impact on her life, Ms Harris has shown exceptional bravery,” he said.

“Our client is one of many women in countries including Australia, Japan and Korea who have been subjected to sexual violence by visiting US military personnel.”

On February 6, Doig sent correspondence to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, KC, alleging that: “a US Navy officer, committed the tort of battery by sexually abusing our client.”

“In or around 1996 or 1997 [He] solicited our client for sex in St Kilda before sexually abusing her in a Melbourne hotel room. [He] exploited our client’s youth, homelessness and heroin addiction in order to sexually abuse her,” according to the letter sent to Dreyfus in February.

Under the agreement with the US, the Australian government is required to assess the claim for compensation and prepare a report on the case.

The report would then be delivered to the US government, which would decide whether an ex gratia payment was warranted.

Harris’ lawyers have asked for Dreyfus to consider the claim pursuant to the “Agreement Concerning the Status of United States Forces in Australia.”

Under a similar agreement with South Korea, the US government made ex gratia payments of almost $US300,000 in 2002 to the families of two teenaged girls killed by a US army vehicle.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/us-government-facing-compensation-claim-over-navy-officer-s-150-sex-with-melbourne-teen-20230404-p5cy4i.html

https://www.info.dfat.gov.au/Info/Treaties/Treaties.nsf/AllDocIDs/005D3E39D4BF9757CA256B59000DD46F

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18676786 (110939ZAPR23) Notable: Latitude refuses to pay hackers’ ransom demand - Consumer lender Latitude Financial Group has refused to pay a ransom demand from hackers who stole the details of 14 million consumers last month, but would not say if the criminals have threatened to release the data, which includes driver’s licence details.

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Latitude refuses to pay hackers’ ransom demand

Colin Kruger - April 11, 2023

Consumer lender Latitude Financial Group has refused to pay a ransom demand from hackers who stole the details of 14 million consumers last month, but would not say if the criminals have threatened to release the data, which includes driver’s licence details.

Latitude new chief executive Bob Belan yesterday declined to specify how much was demanded.

“Latitude will not pay a ransom to criminals,” he said.

“Based on the evidence and advice, there is simply no guarantee that doing so would result in any customer data being destroyed, and it would only encourage further extortion attempts on Australian and New Zealand businesses in the future.

“Our priority remains on contacting every customer whose personal information was compromised and to support them through this process.”

Belan took over as CEO this month from Ahmed Fahour, who took the company public less than two years ago at $2.60 a share. The stock was closed the trading day flat at $1.26 a share.

The stolen information includes the driver’s licence numbers of 7.9 million Australian and New Zealand customers and covers most current and former Latitude customers.

Latitude provides consumer finance services to Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and Apple, and recently signed up David Jones. The victims include current and former Latitude customers stretching back more than 10 years as well as applicants for its consumer credit services that include Harvey Norman’s interest-free loans.

Latitude’s latest announcement came the same day that Cybersecurity Minister Clare O’Neil said the government has begun a series of cybersecurity exercises with the banking and finance sector because of its importance to the functioning of the economy.

“The groups that are conducting cyberattacks are becoming more professionalised, industrialised, powerful and effective,” she said.

“We’re conducting exercises where we play through what it would look like to have a major bank, for example, come down in a cyberattack.”

Latitude said it has not detected any hacker activity on its systems since March 16. It is still in the process of restoring some of its operating systems following the attack but said its primary customer contact centre was back online and operating at full capacity. The company can also sign up new customers again.

The group is working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the incident is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police.

Elliot Dellys, founder and chief executive of Phronesis Security, said the rejection of ransom payments, and government support, were welcome developments.

“Historically, the trend has been for businesses to try and make the problem go away as quickly as possible, regardless of the long-term consequences,” he said.

He cited research by McGrathNicol last year which found that around 80 per cent of Australian businesses hit by a cyber-attack pay the ransom, with an average payment of just over $1 million.

The Latitude hack follows a number of recent major incidents. Optus was the victim of a major cyber breach in September, with hackers obtaining the data of 10 million of its customers.

But Latitude’s attack is starting to resemble Medibank’s incident in October, which was more serious.

In Medibank’s case, criminals were accessing basic account details of 9.7 million current and former customers, as well as health claims data for about 160,000 Medibank customers, 300,000 customers of its budget arm ahm and 20,000 international customers.

The hackers leaked all stolen data onto the dark web after Medibank refused to pay a $15 million ransom.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/latitude-refuses-to-pay-hackers-ransom-demand-20230411-p5czhi.html?btis=

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18676802 (110951ZAPR23) Notable: Hiding in the Russian consulate for months, ‘Aussie Cossack’ demands a prisoner swap - “The Aussie Cossack”, Simeon Boikov, was on parole for breaching a suppression order when he was told by police he was wanted after the alleged assault of a pro-Ukrainian protester. Rather than face arrest on the eve of a planned trip to Moscow in December, he drove straight to the Russian consulate. The Herald understands diplomatic discussions are under way about how to get Boikov out of Australia.

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Hiding in the Russian consulate for months, ‘Aussie Cossack’ demands a prisoner swap

Perry Duffin - April 11, 2023

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Vladimir Putin’s man in Australia gunned his 4WD through the tunnels under Sydney, determined to reach the Russian consulate in Woollahra where he could remain out of prison and continue broadcasting pro-Moscow propaganda.

“The Aussie Cossack”, Simeon Boikov, was on parole for breaching a suppression order when he was told by police he was wanted after the alleged assault of a pro-Ukrainian protester. Rather than face arrest on the eve of a planned trip to Moscow in December, he drove straight to the Russian consulate.

Now Boikov has had his main channel silenced and has urged the fearsome Wagner Group to capture Australians fighting for Ukraine so he can be traded in a prisoner swap.

“The Russians don’t plan to surrender me, to give me up, this is not the Ecuadorians,” Boikov told the Herald from the consulate, referring to the years-long extradition fight of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

“I’m not living out of a suitcase.”

The 33-year-old Australian has been holed up since December in a modest apartment in the blonde-bricked Russian consulate overlooking the finessed lawns of wealthy Woollahra.

The anti-vaccination Boikov leant out of the window to update the Herald last week after YouTube permanently terminated his channel. He claims it was because he shared comments by South Australian senator Alex Antic about COVID-19 vaccines and excess deaths.

“Well there’s good news,” Boikov said.

“I was in shackles. I couldn’t say vaccine, Pfizer, Moderna whatever, I had to go soft on Russia-Ukraine.”

Boikov said being banned from YouTube was not a disaster, but three months ago he fled his comfortable life in Breakfast Point hoping to keep his broadcast alive.

“I was driving on the Anzac Bridge, I rang Day Street [police], they connected me to the inspector he said ‘come in, hand yourself in, you’re going back inside, parole wants ya’,” Boikov said.

“I said ‘yeah nah’. I gunned it to the consulate hoping I wouldn’t get picked up.”

Boikov had been given 10 months in prison for breaching a suppression order and naming an alleged paedophile at an anti-lockdown rally in May 2022. He was paroled and booked a ticket to Russia.

Then he spotted a pro-Ukraine protest at Town Hall and decided to start filming.

An older man confronted Australia’s most vocal pro-Putinist, and Boikov pushed him away. The older man was injured tumbling down the steps.

Police charged Boikov with assault and causing actual bodily harm. His passport and parole were revoked on the eve of the flight to Moscow.

“The government want me, want me badly. I can be of no use if I’m in prison bail denied or parole or whatever. I can’t broadcast,” he said.

“They call me Putin’s patriot, Putin’s main man in Australia, do we trust the Australian police to give me a fair go after what they did to me last time?”

A magistrate convicted Boikov in absentia in February and issued a second arrest warrant.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18676820 (111002ZAPR23) Notable: Video: ‘Our soldiers’ new crush’: Ukraine enlists AC/DC in plea for Australian Hawkei military vehicles - The Ukrainian government has taken to social media to plead with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to donate protected mobility vehicles to help beat back invading Russian forces, describing the Australian-made four-wheel drives as its new military “crush”. In a Twitter message, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said: “Our soldiers absolutely love Australian Bushmasters. But now they have a new crush: the Hawkei. These two would be a perfect match on the battlefield. We would truly appreciate their reunion in Ukraine, @AlboMP!” The post was accompanied by a minute-long video, set to a soundtrack of AC/DC’s Back in Black, showing Hawkeis in action and describing them as a “perfect reconnaissance vehicle”.

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‘Our soldiers’ new crush’: Ukraine enlists AC/DC in plea for Australian Hawkei military vehicles

Matthew Knott - April 11, 2023

The Ukrainian government has taken to social media to plead with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to donate protected mobility vehicles to help beat back invading Russian forces, describing the Australian-made four-wheel drives as its new military “crush”.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed in September that Ukraine was lobbying for Australia to send a fleet of Hawkei vehicles to test them in a war zone, but the government has declined to provide any despite repeated requests.

The patrol vehicles, which have never been used on a battlefield, were specially designed and manufactured for the Australian Defence Force at defence contractor Thales’ facility in Bendigo, Victoria.

In a Twitter message posted on Tuesday, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said: “Our soldiers absolutely love Australian Bushmasters. But now they have a new crush: the Hawkei. These two would be a perfect match on the battlefield.

“We would truly appreciate their reunion in Ukraine, @AlboMP!”

The post was accompanied by a minute-long video, set to a soundtrack of AC/DC’s Back in Black, showing Hawkeis in action and describing them as a “perfect reconnaissance vehicle”.

Hawkeis, which can carry up to six soldiers, have removable armour and optional mounts for weapons including automatic grenade launchers.

Importantly, they are light enough to be transported by helicopter, allowing them to be airlifted directly onto the battlefield.

The vehicles are named after Acanthophis hawkei, a species of the death adder snake named in honour of former prime minister Bob Hawke.

During a visit to Australia last month, Yuriy Sak, an adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister, urged Australia to use Ukraine as a testing lab for the Hawkei vehicles, which were plagued by braking problems during the construction phase.

Sak said the vehicles would help Ukraine in a planned counter-offensive over the European summer.

He said Australia would send an important message to the world by providing brand new, rather than second-hand, equipment to Ukraine and could spur similar pledges from other nations.

“This will send a signal across the international community that the Ukrainian army will be supported with the best weaponry that the civilised world has at the moment,” he said.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, said his nation was deeply grateful for the support from Canberra, but that Australia was beginning to fall behind other nations in terms of military aid.

Japan and Sweden had overtaken Australia as the largest non-NATO providers of military aid to Ukraine, he said.

“Everywhere I go, Australians tell me Australia can and should do more to help Ukraine,” he said.

Australia has provided an estimated $510 million in military assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion last February, including 90 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles plus armoured vehicles and ammunition.

A spokeswoman for Defence Minister Richard Marles said the government was committed to delivering on its current contribution to Ukraine.

“As the deputy prime minister has said, Australia will stand with Ukraine for the duration of this conflict so that Ukraine is in a position to determine the outcome of this conflict on its terms,” she said.

“The government will continue to review its response options in relation to the evolving situation in Ukraine.”

Speaking at a Lowy Institute event on Tuesday, Australian Defence Force Chief General Angus Campbell said: “Our government has made it clear that we continue and we will continue to support Ukraine. The form of that support is a matter for government.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/our-soldiers-new-crush-ukraine-enlists-acdc-in-plea-for-australian-hawkei-military-vehicles-20230411-p5czkt.html

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1645547205158408193

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18676841 (111023ZAPR23) Notable: Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post: Leaders of Marine Rotational Force Darwin meet with Ambassador Caroline Kennedy at the U.S. Embassy Australia. The annual rotation of Marines underpins the illustrious history shared between the United States and Australia. #AlliesandPartners #marines

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Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post

10 April 2023

Leaders of Marine Rotational Force Darwin meet with Ambassador Caroline Kennedy at the U.S. Embassy Australia. The annual rotation of Marines underpins the illustrious history shared between the United States and Australia.

#AlliesandPartners #marines

(courtesy photo by U.S. Embassy Australia)

https://www.facebook.com/MRFDarwin/posts/593606036135217

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18682169 (120919ZAPR23) Notable: Quarter of Tasmania’s population hacked by Russians, says Premier Jeremy Rockliff - Up to a quarter of Tasmanians may have had personal data stolen by Russian-linked hackers, the Premier has suggested. Jeremy Rockliff on Tuesday said the scale of the hack of Education Department data handled by third-party transfer system GoAnywhere MFT had emerged after a “very complex analysis”.

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Quarter of Tasmania’s population hacked by Russians, says Premier Jeremy Rockliff

MATTHEW DENHOLM - APRIL 11, 2023

Up to a quarter of Tasmanians may have had personal data stolen by Russian-linked hackers, the Premier has suggested.

Jeremy Rockliff on Tuesday said the scale of the hack of Education Department data handled by third-party transfer system GoAnywhere MFT had emerged after a “very complex analysis”.

Asked how many Tasmanians were affected by the data breach – which includes names and addresses, including of schoolchildren, as well as some bank details – Mr Rockliff said this was being “worked through”.

“My information is 145,683 emails have been sent to people that have had a potential breach (of their data),” Mr Rockliff said.

An additional 2500 people had been informed via mail of the ­potential theft of data, and a further 377 told by telephone.

Mr Rockliff said about 16,000 documents had been released ­online by the hackers.

Cybersecurity expert CyberCX has been hired to assist the government in understanding and responding to the attack.

The data was collected by various agencies controlled by the Department of Education, Children and Young People and was stolen in March by Russian-linked cyber criminals.

Agencies affected include the Teachers Registration Board, ­Office of the Education Registrar, Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification, Commissioner for Children and Young People, Government Education and Training International and Libraries Tasmania.

The department has said the data could include bank accounts, and children’s names, addresses, school name, reference numbers, homeroom and year group, and TAFE students’ dates of birth. Mr Rockliff said “no stone would be left unturned” in investigating and responding to the breach.

While no further data had been released in recent days, Tasmanians potentially affected “need to be vigilant”.

“I am not aware of any demand for a ransom,” Mr Rockliff said, adding that he was also unaware of anyone having money taken from bank accounts.

He promised a “very thorough review” of the government’s cyber security protections.

The government is also under fire over a letter sent by Police Commissioner Donna Adams and chief bureaucrat Jenny Gale to news organisations and MPs urging them to curtail coverage of the massive data breach.

Labor has accused the government of “serious mismanagement” of the data breach. Opposition technology spokeswoman Jen Butler questioned why the information was not encrypted or password-protected.

“Labor has asked on numerous occasions how widespread the government’s use of Go­Anywhere MFT was, but all we’ve received is radio silence,” Ms ­Butler said.

“Why wasn’t this information end-to-end encrypted and where is the Education Minister Roger Jaensch to provide guidance and leadership to those families impacted?” she said.

“Every day the Liberals seem to find a new way to mismanage this crisis. Premier Rockliff is responsible for his ministers and right now they’re failing Tasmanians,” she said.

Those affected have been advised to be watchful for any “suspicious financial activity or attempted scams”.

Mr Rockliff said anyone who believed they might have been ­affected by the cyber attack should call 1800 567 567.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/quarter-of-tasmanias-population-hacked-by-russians-says-premier-jeremy-rockliff/news-story/7b4287609e7045e2931efcb261a958b5

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18682176 (120927ZAPR23) Notable: Crikey alleges Lachlan Murdoch morally culpable for Capitol riots - Online news outlet Crikey has alleged Lachlan Murdoch was “morally and ethically” culpable for the deadly 2021 US Capitol riots in its amended defence to the defamation suit filed by the elder son of Rupert Murdoch, in an escalation of the dispute between the parties. Murdoch junior, chief executive of Fox Corporation and co-chairman of News Corp, filed Federal Court defamation proceedings in August against Crikey over a June 29, 2022 article naming his family as “unindicted co-conspirators” of Donald Trump following the US Capitol riots in 2021.

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Crikey alleges Lachlan Murdoch morally culpable for Capitol riots

Zoe Samios and Michaela Whitbourn - April 12, 2023

Online news outlet Crikey has alleged Lachlan Murdoch was “morally and ethically” culpable for the deadly 2021 US Capitol riots in its amended defence to the defamation suit filed by the elder son of Rupert Murdoch, in an escalation of the dispute between the parties.

Crikey’s publisher Private Media will also attempt to use testimony by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch in a US lawsuit about Fox News’ coverage of the 2020 presidential election as part of its amended defence, which adds a new defence known as contextual truth.

The contextual truth defence requires Crikey to prove that the article at the centre of the lawsuit conveys additional defamatory meanings to those alleged by Lachlan Murdoch, and that those meanings are both true and of sufficient seriousness that no further harm was caused to his reputation by any other meanings.

Murdoch junior, chief executive of Fox Corporation and co-chairman of News Corp, filed Federal Court defamation proceedings in August against Crikey over a June 29, 2022 article naming his family as “unindicted co-conspirators” of Trump following the US Capitol riots in 2021.

Lachlan Murdoch claims the article conveys up to 14 false and defamatory meanings including that he “illegally conspired with Donald Trump to incite an armed mob to march on the Capitol” following the 2020 presidential election.

Crikey denies that those meanings were conveyed. However, if the court finds any of the meanings are conveyed and a serious harm test is satisfied, the news outlet will seek to rely on a new public interest defence.

The Crikey article was deleted on June 30, 2022, a day after it was published, before being reposted on August 15 that year. The amended defence, released publicly by the court on Wednesday, adds a contextual truth defence for the reposted article.

Crikey argues that – in addition to any of the meanings alleged by Murdoch junior – the reposted article says he is “morally and ethically culpable for the illegal January 6 attack because Fox News, under his control and management, promoted and peddled Trump’s lie of the stolen election despite Lachlan Murdoch knowing it was false”.

Crikey argues the reposted article also says that “Lachlan Murdoch’s unethical and reprehensible conduct in allowing Fox News to promote and peddle Trump’s lie of the stolen election, despite Lachlan Murdoch knowing it was false, makes him morally and ethically culpable for the illegal January 6 attack”.

Crikey says it can prove both of those meanings are true, and that no further harm was caused to Lachlan Murdoch’s reputation by publishing any of the meanings alleged by him that the court finds were conveyed by the article.

For this defence to succeed, the court would need to be satisfied that a finding of moral or ethical culpability for the riots was as damaging to Murdoch’s reputation as any of the other meanings it found the article conveyed, such as alleged criminality.

Sue Chrysanthou, SC, who is acting for Lachlan Murdoch, foreshadowed earlier this month that there would be an application to strike out the contextual truth defence.

Barrister Michael Hodge, KC, acting for Crikey, said in court earlier this month that the news outlet would seek to rely in part on material that has emerged in voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems’ US defamation suit against Fox News.

Dominion is suing Fox for $US1.6 billion ($2.3 billion) for allegedly knowingly airing false allegations that Dominion was involved in rigging the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump. The US trial is expected to proceed in April.

Private Media’s amended defence extensively references the Dominion proceedings and a deposition given by Rupert Murdoch before the US trial.

It alleges Lachlan Murdoch knew the claim that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen from Trump was being promoted by presenters and guests of Fox News because he was watching the coverage, was directly involved in the news programming and was providing feedback on tone to Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott.

“Between on or about 5 November 2020 and 6 January 2021, [Murdoch junior] ... chose not to stop Fox News Channel from promoting the claim that the 2020 US Presidential Election was fraudulently stolen from Donald Trump because he considered it to be for the financial and commercial benefit of Fox Corporation, for Fox News Channel to promote the lie,” the defence alleges.

Murdoch is expected to argue Fox News also broadcast commentary rejecting claims the election had been stolen.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/crikey-alleges-lachlan-murdoch-morally-culpable-for-us-capitol-riot-20230411-p5czol.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18687374 (130958ZAPR23) Notable: Peter Dutton clashes with reporter after grim Alice Springs warning - Liberal leader Peter Dutton has warned “somebody is going to get killed” in Alice Springs and unleashed on an ABC reporter during a shocking account of the violence and sexual abuse in the town.

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Peter Dutton clashes with reporter after grim Alice Springs warning

Liberal leader Peter Dutton has unleashed on a reporter after offering a grim warning on the ongoing issues plaguing Alice Springs.

Samantha Maiden - April 13, 2023

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Warning: Disturbing content

Liberal leader Peter Dutton has warned “somebody is going to get killed” in Alice Springs and unleashed on an ABC reporter during a shocking account of the violence and sexual abuse in the town.

Urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to “step up and step in”, the Liberal leader has warned it was time for action to protect children from endemic sexual abuse by restoring law and order.

“You’ve got kids here tonight, who are going to be sexually abused or families where domestic violence has now become a current occurrence and we are told nothing can be done about it,’’ he said.

“I just find it completely and utterly deplorable.”

Speaking in Alice Springs, CLP Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price delivered a shocking account of sexual abuse in the Northern Territory.

She said surgeons were being left to operate on children who were raped.

“They’re experiencing seeing the damage that’s been done to those children,’’ she said.

She claimed she had heard from surgeons who had spoken about operating on “babies” after being sexually abused.

“That’s what I am concerned with and I’m not concerned with ideology,” she said.

Mr Dutton is considering appointing Senator Price to the vacancy sparked by Liberal MP Julian Leeser’s resignation from the frontbench over the Voice.

Senator Price is one of the Indigenous leaders campaigning for the No vote. Mr Dutton said the time for action was now.

The Liberal leader said the community was at breaking point and there was a real risk that someone would die.

“The video of kids running rampant in, you know, the local CBD, somebody’s going to be killed here,’’ he said.

“And somebody was killed here in 2021. Somebody obviously has lost their life, tragically, equally tragic in Darwin. But we’re going to see further tragedy here.”

Dutton clashes with ABC reporter

Mr Dutton unleashed on one reporter after he asked about a local Indigenous group that questioned whether or not sex abuse was rampant.

“I mean with respect, that is such an ABC question. Do you live locally?,’’ Mr Dutton said.

“I mean, do you speak to people on the street? Do you hear what it is they’re saying to you?”

The reporter said he did live locally, with Mr Dutton responding: “You live locally and you don’t believe there’s any problem here?”.

ABC then ended the press conference.

“OK, we’ve got to leave that there because we’re going to our break,’’ the ABC host told viewers.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18687384 (131003ZAPR23) Notable: Pressure on Anthony Albanese to attend NATO summit - Anthony Albanese is under pressure to attend the upcoming NATO summit in Lithuania amid signs of European reluctance to take a firm stand against China’s growing assertiveness and disregard for international norms.

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>>42876

Pressure on Anthony Albanese to attend NATO summit

BEN PACKHAM - APRIL 12, 2023

Anthony Albanese is under pressure to attend the upcoming NATO summit in Lithuania amid signs of European reluctance to take a firm stand against China’s growing assertiveness and disregard for international norms.

The government is hedging on whether the Prime Minister will be present at the alliance’s July 11-12 summit in Vilnius, which he has been invited to attend along with his Japanese, South ­Korean and New Zealand counterparts.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong equivocated on Wednesday when asked whether Mr Albanese, who is on leave, would attend the summit. “Obviously, it will be a matter for the Prime Minister whether … he can attend,” she said.

Her comments came as French President Emmanuel Macron returned from a trip to China, saying Europe should not follow the US into a conflict with Beijing over Taiwan. “The question we need to answer, as Europeans, is the following: is it in our interest to accelerate (a crisis) on Taiwan? No,” he told French newspaper Les Echos and Politico Europe.

“The worst thing would be to think we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a ­Chinese over-reaction.”

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Mr Albanese should be at the summit “to demonstrate Australia’s 100 per cent commitment to the rules-based order, our democratic partners, and the defence of Ukraine”.

He said NATO had shown it wanted to strengthen ties with the “Asia-Pacific Four”, and it was “unquestionably in Australia’s interests” to reciprocate the alliance’s outreach. The passing of the 12-month anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ensured it was “no time to be a no-show”.

Australia has fallen from its past position as the largest non-NATO donor to Ukraine’s war effort, with the under-siege country now pleading for the Albanese government to provide advanced Hawkei protected vehicles to the country’s defending forces.

Senator Wong said great powers should not be allowed to dominate smaller ones, and the government would consider all Ukrainian requests for support but she cautioned: “The point about Ukraine … is it is a long way away.”

The Prime Minister’s office did not respond when asked whether Mr Albanese planned to travel to Vilnius for the summit.

Lithuania’s top national security adviser, Kestutis Budrys, revealed the NATO invitation to The Australian days after talks in Brussels between NATO officials and AP4 representatives.

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting that any decision by China to provide ­lethal aid for Russia in its war against Ukraine would be “a ­historic mistake with profound implications”.

There are fears, compounded by the Macron visit to Beijing, that the EU underestimates the threat posed by Beijing to the global rules-based order.

Strategic Analysis Australia director Peter Jennings said Mr Macron’s visit demonstrated the need for a “coalition” approach to standing up to authoritarian ­regimes.

“When Macron goes to China and says, ‘Oh, well, we don't have to follow the Americans’,” he said. “I think there’s a weakness there; that there’s a temptation for countries to … split apart and do their own thing,” he said.

“(We need to) stay strong and stick together. Security is indivisible. That’s true in Europe but it’s also true in the Indo Pacific.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/pressure-on-anthony-albanese-to-attend-nato-summit/news-story/9ff0cdb925e7dfcc90f27aa3eeabef2f

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18687407 (131018ZAPR23) Notable: Video: ‘The worst of American politics’: Premier backs drag performers after cafe threats - Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says the targeting of drag events is the worst of American politics creeping into the state after a Melbourne cafe cancelled a children’s craft and games event hosted by drag queens.

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‘The worst of American politics’: Premier backs drag performers after cafe threats

Rachael Dexter - April 13, 2023

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The Victorian premier says the targeting of drag events is the worst of American politics creeping into the state after a Melbourne cafe cancelled a children’s craft and games event hosted by drag queens.

It comes as the founder of the community group where threats of “staking out” the cafe and tracking down performers distanced himself from the comments, labelling them “a major concern”.

Police visited Alice Rebel’s Cafe and Bar in Chelsea in Melbourne’s south-east on Thursday morning after messages emerged on encrypted chat app Telegram.

The Age obtained screenshots of messages between those who objected to the event suggesting they could track down the drag performers at their homes by using their licence plate numbers and paying a contact inside VicRoads for home addresses. The Age is unable to verify the legitimacy of the poster’s claims.

Cafe owner Meg Anderson cancelled the “Colour me Egg-cited” Easter event where parents could have brought their children to a craft and games workshop led by two drag queen performers.

After the event was advertised, she received a deluge of messages and calls she described as bigoted.

On Wednesday, the day the event had originally been scheduled, she contacted police fearing for her staff and patrons’ safety after being alerted to the threatening messages from individuals who mistakenly believed the event was still going ahead.

The messages appeared on Tuesday night in a chat forum for ‘My Place Australia’, which is a growing network of fringe social media groups that have protested against local councils over 5G and 15-minute city conspiracy theories. The groups aim to set up “parallel communities” – shadow local governments and alternative institutions to avoid mainstream society.

My Place founder Darren Bergwerf said he had “major concerns” about the messages and described the incident as “infiltration of our communities”.

“I’ve just blocked that person this morning and blocked and removed two people yesterday when I was made aware of who they were,” he said.

Premier Daniel Andrews offered support to the cafe and the drag performers, saying “equality is not negotiable in this state”.

“I think it’s pretty sad day when the worst of American politics is creeping into our state. And there’s no place for that,” he said.

“Trying to disrupt events that are peaceful, lawful. They’re not compulsory, if you don’t want to go don’t go.

“We see this sort of stuff in Florida and all sorts of other places. We don’t need that here, we just don’t. We are a harmonious, respectful, inclusive place where being different [is] not a bad thing.

“It’s what makes us such a vibrant, interesting, thoughtful place, and it shouldn’t be too much to ask to simply expect that you’d be treated fairly and equally. That’s the way it should be.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18693432 (141244ZAPR23) Notable: ‘Heads in sand’: Labor lashed over NT child sex abuse claims - The Coalition has dug in behind Peter Dutton’s assertion of widespread child sexual violence in central Australia, with Liberal senator Simon Birmingham and opposition deputy leader Sussan Ley calling on the federal government to stop playing politics and take action.

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>>42885

‘Heads in sand’: Labor lashed over NT child sex abuse claims

NOAH YIM - APRIL 14, 2023

The Coalition has dug in behind Peter Dutton’s assertion of widespread child sexual violence in central Australia, with Liberal senator Simon Birmingham and opposition deputy leader Sussan Ley calling on the federal government to stop playing politics and take action.

Senator Birmingham on Friday criticised the government’s “shameful” reaction to Mr Dutton’s claims and called on Anthony Albanese to show “leadership” over the issue.

A political storm erupted on Thursday during Mr Dutton’s visit to Alice Springs, as the ABC came under fire for abruptly ending the live broadcast of a fiery ­exchange between the ­Opposition Leader and an ABC journalist over the claims.

NT Police Minister Kate Worden attacked Mr Dutton for ­“absolutely opportunistic political game-­playing” in alleging widespread child sexual abuse in the territory.

“It’s quite frankly a dog act,” Ms Worden said, calling on Mr Dutton to report any evidence he had to police.

Labor senator for the NT, ­Malarndirri McCarthy, also called for the allegations to be referred to police. “I would ask Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, if you are aware of this, then you need to mandatorily report it to police so that there can be an investigation immediately, and if you have not done that, I would urge you to do so as soon as possible,” she said.

Senator Birmingham told Sky News the “shameful” reaction of the Labor Party suggested

they “somehow had their heads buried in the sand when it comes to this far too tragic issue.”

“People can focus on the issue, which is the extent to which there is sexual abuse, assault, violence – the type of activities in Indigenous communities across the Northern Territory that have been going on for far too long … are driven by a range of different abuses of alcohol, of drugs, of gambling, of different gambling technologies … but these are a known scourge and shame on our nation,” he said.

Ms Ley said she “could not fathom” why the Northern Territory and federal governments had not taken “more urgent” action over the “national tragedy” in the NT.

“Instead of demonstrating leadership, we are seeing political accusations levelled at Peter Dutton that are quite frankly, disgusting,” she told reporters.

“To accuse Peter Dutton of playing politics with children is so offensive and wrong.

“Peter Dutton started his working life out as a cop. It was his job to go into broken and dangerous homes and save children. That is what he did, day in, day out he was there to protect kids who had no one to protect them.

So to accuse Peter Dutton of playing politics with children is offensive and it is wrong.

To see the NT Government seek to attack him for going to Alice Springs and listening to local communities is ridiculous.”

Ms Ley said her “great fear” was that, given the increase in alcohol fuelled violence in Alice Springs, the numbers could “very well be a floor and not a ceiling”.

“The devastation being wrought on children in Alice Springs and across the Northern Territory demands action. Because this is not about politics, it is about leadership,” she said.

“There is a national tragedy unfolding in Alice Springs with women and children at risk of violence and sexual assault and there’s a crisis spiralling in aged care across this nation and the Prime Minister needs to get off the beach and back to work.

“It can’t be right that Australia’s national leader is kicking back on holidays while some of Australia’s most vulnerable are being kicked out of their homes”.

Senator Birmingham called on Labor to “put the politics aside”.

“I’m not pretending this is an overnight problem that’s only arisen under the Albanese government,” he said. “Yes it got worse when the alcohol restrictions were lifted … but this is an enduring problem. And indeed, it’s an intergenerational problem.”

“(The Prime Minister) ought to show far more leadership on these issues than has been the case. Yes he visited Alice Springs but all too briefly.”

Senator Birmingham also said his position against the Indigenous voice to parliament – which appears less bullish than some of his colleagues – has not come up as a concern in conversations with the Opposition Leader.

“No concerns have been raised with me about expectations that somehow I’m out there addressing rallies,” he said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/heads-in-sand-labor-lashed-over-nt-child-sex-abuse-claims/news-story/d14ec062381a6a27e2b7e16df7b90f53

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18693485 (141300ZAPR23) Notable: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese named in Time's 100 most influential people list - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2023, alongside King Charles III, Ukraine's First Lady, Olena Zelenska, and model Bella Hadid. Mr Albanese joins former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and John Howard as the only other Australian leaders to have made the list, while Julia Gillard was shortlisted in 2013.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese named in Time's 100 most influential people list

abc.net.au - 14 April 2023

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2023, alongside King Charles III, Ukraine's First Lady, Olena Zelenska, and model Bella Hadid.

Mr Albanese joins former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and John Howard as the only other Australian leaders to have made the list, while Julia Gillard was shortlisted in 2013.

The annual list — which first appeared in 1999 — compiles leaders, innovators, humanitarians and those in arts and entertainment who had an impact on the world, either in a positive or negative light.

Time's final 100 are picked by its editors from a larger pool of nominations chosen by previous entrants on the list and the US news magazine's international writing staff.

Mr Albanese, a career politician, led the Labor Party to victory in the May 2022 federal election, becoming Australia's 31st prime minister.

Since then, he has sought to lead the country out of the coronavirus pandemic during fractious economic times and spearheaded the push for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Other political figures to make the 2023 list were US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Cindy McCain, the wife of late US senator John McCain.

Also on the list was Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested and charged with espionage in Russia earlier this month.

'A symbol of hope and inspiration'

Each entry on the Time 100 list is accompanied with a foreword by a contemporary, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau penning a glowing tribute for Mr Albanese, describing him as "a symbol of hope and inspiration":

"He works to lift up and amplify the voices of those who need to be heard from, particularly Indigenous peoples," Mr Trudeau wrote.

"His government supports those who need it most, believes that we need to take ambitious climate action, and unwaveringly supports democracy in the face of unprecedented threat.

"In a world where people are increasingly uncertain about what the future holds for them and their families, it's easy for politicians to sow fear and division.

"To choose the path of hope and opportunity takes immense courage, and that courage lives within Anthony Albanese."

Mr Trudeau — himself the son of a former Canadian prime minister — also wrote about Mr Albanese's humble origins.

"Progressives around the world are united in the idea that we should leave no one behind," he wrote.

"The idea that no matter who you are or where you come from, you should have every chance to succeed in life.

"Few politicians embody that journey as Anthony Albanese does."

Mr Rudd made the fifth annual Time 100 list in 2008, with Academy Award-winning actor Cate Blanchett praising him for the apology to the Stolen Generation and for ratifying the Kyoto Protocol climate change treaty.

A year later, Mr Rudd was also shortlisted.

On the other hand, Mr Howard was on the Time 100 list for 2005, with the late newspaper editor Frank Devine drawing comparisons between the then-PM and the post-war US president, Harry S Truman.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-14/anthony-albanese-named-in-time-s-100-most-influential-people-lis/102225650

https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269839/anthony-albanese/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18693513 (141308ZAPR23) Notable: Ringleader of the ‘tinnie terrorists’ Robert Musa Cerantonio to be freed from jail in May - The leader of the so-called “tinnie terrorists”, self-styled preacher Robert Musa Cerantonio, will be back on the streets in May after completing a seven-year jail term for planning to overthrow The Philippines government. He is one of seven high-risk terrorist offenders due for release into the community this year, as the government and police prepare to abandon the continued detention orders that have allowed authorities to jail dangerous ­people beyond the end of their prison terms.

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Ringleader of the ‘tinnie terrorists’ Robert Musa Cerantonio to be freed from jail in May

ELLEN WHINNETT - APRIL 13, 2023

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The leader of the so-called “tinnie terrorists”, self-styled preacher Robert Musa Cerantonio, will be back on the streets in May after completing a seven-year jail term for planning to overthrow The Philippines government.

He is one of seven high-risk terrorist offenders due for release into the community this year, as the government and police prepare to abandon the continued detention orders that have allowed authorities to jail dangerous ­people beyond the end of their prison terms.

Future high-risk terrorism offenders released into the community look set to be monitored under extended supervision orders, new powers introduced in 2021 that allow even tighter surveillance and monitoring than the CDOs in place since 2005.

The expected widespread use of extended supervision orders heralds a new era in the management of Australia’s cohort of terrorism offenders who have completed their jail terms but may still pose risks to the community.

The supervision orders will allow police to control and monitor the movements, associations and communications of offenders 24 hours a day, ban them from contacting certain people, accessing prohibited material or using specific social media or encrypted communications.

It will likely provide a heavy burden on federal and state police and ASIO resources, with dozens of police sometimes required to monitor one high-risk offender.

Cerantonio, 38, will be set free in Melbourne on May 9 after completing his sentence for preparing for an incursion into a foreign country for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities.

He will be the first high-risk terrorism offender released since the report in March by the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor, Grant Donaldson SC, who criticised continued detention orders as disproportionate, and urged the government to scrap them.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has not indicated whether he will accept Mr Donaldson’s recommendation, saying he was considering the report findings.

The Australian Federal Police seem to have moved away from seeking CDOs, and is expected to apply for extended supervision orders for two high-profile offenders due for release shortly: Blake Pender, in NSW, and Abdul Nacer Benbrika, in Victoria.

Pender’s case is complicated, involving terrorism convictions and other crimes of violence. He has served a one-year CDO at the conclusion of his jail term and is due for release in September.

Benbrika, the ringleader of an al-Qa’ida-inspired plot to attack Australian landmarks in the early 2000s, has served three years of a CDO beyond the end of his 15-year jail term.

Police are not expected to seek a continuation of his order but will apply for an extended supervision order in the community.

Benbrika remains in prison until December, and has several legal disputes under way, including an appeal against a government’s decision to strip his Australian citizenship.

Cerantonio led a group of men who towed a small boat from Melbourne to Cape York in May 2016, intending to sail to The Philippines with the intention of joining a push to oust the government and install sharia law.

The improbable scheme, which saw police surreptitiously follow the men as they slowly drove the boat across Australia, was doomed from the start – the boat was just 7m long and none of the men had experience at sea.

Five other men were later jailed over the plot. All have since been released.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18698609 (151159ZAPR23) Notable: Video: Kids return to the streets in Alice Springs to run amok - "The girl looks about 14. “I’m drunk, f_ck you,” she yells as we pass on the street. It’s 11.20pm on Thursday in Alice Springs, and the group of a dozen or so Indigenous children and early teens heads on towards the main drag of town. Most of the kids are around 15, with some closer to 10 or 11. Three months on from our first reports revealing the extent of kids running wild in Alice Springs and it’s clear little has changed. Perhaps nothing." - Liam Mendes - theaustralian.com.au

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>>42885

Kids return to the streets in Alice Springs to run amok

LIAM MENDES - APRIL 15, 2023

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The girl looks about 14. “I’m drunk, f_ck you,” she yells as we pass on the street.

Her mates laugh.

It’s 11.20pm on Thursday in Alice Springs, and the group of a dozen or so Indigenous children and early teens heads on towards the main drag of town.

“Yeah, we drunk,” her friend calls back. “What the f_ck for, bra,” she says as her friends continue laughing. “We’ll beat you, we’ll smash your car,” she adds as the gang cross the road.

Most of the kids are around 15, with some closer to 10 or 11. Three months on from our first reports revealing the extent of kids running wild in Alice Springs and it’s clear little has changed. Perhaps nothing.

Despite the promise of almost $300m in extra funding and new restrictions on alcohol sales, children are still on the streets late at night, on their own, playing cat and mouse with the cops – on the same day Peter Dutton flew out of town after kicking over a hornet’s nest of accusations and counter-accusations over rampant child sexual abuse.

The issue no one seemed to want to talk about was neglect.

Where are the parents?

Tonight, the gang comes across three wheelie bins that had already been upturned by another mob and started throwing shredding paper in the air like confetti. They soon get bored. As two kids saunter across the street, a car is forced to slam on its brakes to avoid hitting them. They barely notice. Neither would be older than 10.

A police paddy wagon pulls up. “Oi, are you mob going home?” an officer asks. “If I see you again in town, I’m going to drop you home.”

“I’m with my big sister,” the younger child says. Maybe.

They say they’re going to the bus. “Alright, go sit in the bus, I’m not going to see you in town,” the officer says, and drives on.

People in NT government-branded Toyota Landcruisers and not-for-profit branded minivans work hard but ineffectually to ferry kids home, using walkie-talkies to co-ordinate pickups and drop-offs.

Often, the service ends well before midnight; other times, it’s non-existent. When they do take children home, it’s often not long before the kids return.

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Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18698622 (151204ZAPR23) Notable: Linda Burney just metres from fatal stabbing of woman - Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney has expressed her heartfelt condolences to the family of a woman who died after being stabbed metres away from the federal cabinet minister in Darwin on Friday. Burney and her staff were in the foyer of the Doubletree Hilton just before 6pm when the woman ran into the hotel bleeding heavily. Police allege she was stabbed directly outside the hotel on the Esplanade. Some of Burney’s staff helped attend to the woman along with hotel staff, while the minister comforted members of the woman’s family. The woman was taken to the Royal Darwin Hospital but died a short time later.

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>>42885

Linda Burney just metres from fatal stabbing of woman

Anthony Galloway - April 15, 2023

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney has expressed her heartfelt condolences to the family of a woman who died after being stabbed metres away from the federal cabinet minister in Darwin on Friday.

Burney and her staff were in the foyer of the Doubletree Hilton just before 6pm when the woman ran into the hotel bleeding heavily. Police allege she was stabbed directly outside the hotel on the Esplanade.

Some of Burney’s staff helped attend to the woman along with hotel staff, while the minister comforted members of the woman’s family.

The woman was taken to the Royal Darwin Hospital but died a short time later.

A man was arrested at the scene and remains in custody.

Burney said the woman “tragically died after allegedly being stabbed outside a hotel where I was staying”.

“The woman came into the hotel to seek help,” she said in a statement. “Together with staff from the hotel members of my staff provided assistance to the woman, and I comforted members of her family.

“My heartfelt condolences go out to the woman’s family and her loved ones. I want to thank the hotel staff, the Northern Territory Police and the paramedics who attended.”

With the matter now being investigated by the police, Burney said it would be inappropriate for her to provide any further comment at this stage.

Burney and her staff had been staying in the Northern Territory since Thursday.

NT Police said the woman died after being fatally stabbed by a man outside the hotel.

“Police and paramedics were called to the scene just before 6pm after receiving information that an injured woman had entered the hotel seeking help,” police said.

“A crime scene has been declared, and a section of the Esplanade remains closed while police investigate.”

Police have appealed for anyone with information to phone them on 131 444.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/linda-burney-just-metres-away-from-stabbing-that-allegedly-killed-woman-20230415-p5d0pl.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18698686 (151226ZAPR23) Notable: Video: Wild night of violent crime in Darwin: Woman stabbed to death in CBD, man and woman stabbed at city's busiest shopping centre - A woman has died after being stabbed outside a CBD hotel in a wild night of crime in Darwin, while two others were allegedly set upon by knife-wielding attacker at Casuarina Square shopping centre. Sky News has also been sent video footage of a brawl at the shopping centre’s bus exchange earlier the same evening. A group of men can be seen chasing a man who then appears to be hit by a passing bus. The incidents come less than a month after 20-year-old Declan Laverty was stabbed to death while working at a Darwin bottle shop.

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>>42885

>>42893

Wild night of violent crime in Darwin: Woman stabbed to death in CBD, man and woman stabbed at city's busiest shopping centre

A woman has died after being stabbed outside a CBD hotel in a wild night of crime in Darwin, while two others were allegedly set upon by knife-wielding attacker at Casuarina Square shopping centre.

Matt Cunningham - April 15, 2023

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A woman is dead and two others were injured after a wild night of violent crime in Darwin.

Police say they were called to a hotel on The Esplanade in the Darwin CBD just before 6pm on Friday.

They say a woman had entered the hotel’s lobby seeking help after suffering stab wounds.

It’s understood Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney was staying at the hotel.

Her office has confirmed that a member of her staff performed CPR on the woman and called triple-0.

Paramedics were called and the woman was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital but died a short time later.

A man was arrested at the scene and remains in hospital.

Sky News spoke to the victim’s brother at the scene on Saturday morning.

He said his sister, from the community of Maningrida about 500km east of Darwin, had come to the city to visit her son who was in prison.

In a separate incident a man and woman were stabbed at Darwin’s biggest shopping centre.

Police said a 22-year-old woman was in custody after allegedly stabbing a man and a woman in the underground car park at the Casuarina Square shopping centre.

“Paramedics treated a 41-year-old man at the scene for injuries to his leg, and a 29-year-old woman was taken to Royal Darwin Hospital suffering non-life threatening injuries to her back,” police said in a statement.

“Additionally, Police have arrested a man after he allegedly slashed the tyres of a police vehicle.

“The man was consuming alcohol in a public place when Police approached him, and the alcohol was subsequently destroyed.

“Members continued their patrols when the man came to the police vehicle and slashed both rear tyres rendering the vehicle unusable.”

Sky News has also been sent video footage of a brawl at the shopping centre’s bus exchange earlier the same evening.

A group of men can be seen chasing a man who then appears to be hit by a passing bus.

The incidents come less than a month after 20-year-old Declan Laverty was stabbed to death while working at a Darwin bottle shop.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18698736 (151243ZAPR23) Notable: Labor under pressure for minimising sexual assault cases - The Fyles Labor government is facing claims it tried to minimise and even deny alarmingly high rates of child sex abuse in the Northern Territory when its Treasurer, Eva Lawler, told a radio station: “Children have been sexually abused in Australia since, bloody, the place was probably settled”.

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>>42885

Labor under pressure for minimising sexual assault cases

PAIGE TAYLOR and LIAM MENDES - APRIL 15, 2023

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The Fyles Labor government is facing claims it tried to minimise and even deny alarmingly high rates of child sex abuse in the Northern Territory when its Treasurer, Eva Lawler, told a radio station: “Children have been sexually abused in Australia since, bloody, the place was probably settled”.

Ms Lawler made the remarks in a panel discussion on commercial Darwin radio on Friday about Peter Dutton’s visit this week to Alice Springs, where the withdrawal of alcohol restrictions last July caused havoc.

The reintroduction of some ­restrictions in January coincided with an immediate fall in overall crime and hospital admissions, but the Opposition Leader claims lawlessness has returned and there were children being regularly sexually abused.

He told the distressing story of a frontline worker taking a six-year-old back to the house where the child had been sexually abused while the child was “grabbing on to their legs, screaming not to be left there”.

Ms Lawler claimed Mr Dutton had used Alice Springs – and the issue of child sexual abuse – to ­deflect from the fact that the Liberal Party was in disarray over the Indigenous voice. The panel discussed the latest data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showing child protection notifications in the NT were five times the national average, before a fellow panellist pointed to the 2018 rape of a two-year-old in Tennant Creek, saying it was later revealed that child protection ­notifications made that assault “a forseeable risk”.

Ms Lawler then said: “That’s right. But, you know, children have been sexually abused in Australia. Let’s you know, we can talk about the Catholic Church. Children have been sexually abused in Australia since bloody, the place was probably settled.”

On Friday night, Ms Lawler’s office issued a statement about her child sex abuse remark on radio.

“This is an issue that impacts every community around the world, not just the Territory and it’s not just something that developed overnight,” she said.

“It is incredibly frustrating when southern politicians who have never cared about the Territory fly in, throw around these criticisms and fly out.

“As a government, the care and protection of children is our absolute priority.

“If only Peter Dutton cared about Alice Springs when he was in power”.

The number of Indigenous children removed from their families and placed by case workers in out-of-home care is considered an important measure of child abuse. In Central Australia – which takes in Alice Springs – the number of Indigenous children in care has fallen over the past nine months. Data from the child welfare ­department, Territory Families, shows 143 Indigenous children were in care in Central Australia in July and August last year and climbed to 155 in November. After alcohol restrictions were reintroduced in January, the number of kids in care in the region fell to 136, to 129 in February and in March the figure was 131.

By contrast, the number of non-Indigenous children in care in Central Australia has increased from seven in July to 13 last month.

Those figures are useful only as an indicator of abuse – including neglect – that has been reported and substantiated. However this week Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the Country Liberal Party senator from Alice Springs, suggested ­official data was not a good indication of child abuse because Territory Families was not removing enough Indigenous children from their families.

She told The Weekend Australian she believed there were “high levels” of unreported abuse.

“People are scared to report or ashamed,” Senator Price said. “I had a cousin in my family who ­refused to get her daughter checked because she felt embarrassed.

“I’ve made reports in situations where I believe nothing has been done because I believe in the rights of our children to be protected.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18698843 (151321ZAPR23) Notable: Ignore the AUKUS hand-wringers, we need these subs for sea-bed battles: Navy chief - The nation’s navy chief has urged Australians to ignore “hand-wringing” doubters of the AUKUS pact, arguing a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines is necessary to fortify Australia against a potential attack on vital undersea cables. In his first interview since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled the details of the submarine plan last month, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond forcefully rejected claims the vessels could draw Australia into a war over Taiwan or that technological advances will render them obsolete before they arrive.

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>>42873

Ignore the AUKUS hand-wringers, we need these subs for sea-bed battles: Navy chief

Matthew Knott - April 15, 2023

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The nation’s navy chief has urged Australians to ignore “hand-wringing” doubters of the AUKUS pact, arguing a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines is necessary to fortify Australia against a potential attack on vital undersea cables.

In his first interview since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled the details of the submarine plan last month, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond forcefully rejected claims the vessels could draw Australia into a war over Taiwan or that technological advances will render them obsolete before they arrive.

Rather than focus on the submarine program’s possible pitfalls or imposing price tag – between $268 billion and $368 billion over three decades, according to the government – Hammond implored Australians to see it as a nation-building endeavour on par with the original creation of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric scheme.

Given Australia is a “three-ocean trading nation”, he said it was vital to remember that “we derive our economic wellbeing, and therefore our economic prosperity and national security from the maritime domain”.

“As the historian T. B. Millar said last century: you don’t need to invade Australia to defeat Australia,” Hammond said in an interview at his office at Defence headquarters in Canberra.

“We are vulnerable to the interruption and disruption of sea lines of communication and seabed infrastructure, and we’ve seen both of those play out in the Ukraine conflict.

“That should bring it home to all of us that in the current deteriorating strategic environment, we need to take appropriate measures to mitigate against risks in the maritime domain in particular.”

Australia is connected by at least a dozen undersea internet cables, many of which land in Sydney and Perth.

Having spent much of his naval career as a submariner, including extended periods aboard both nuclear-powered and conventional diesel vessels, Hammond said he had “lived and breathed” submarines for most of his adult life.

“The net sum of my experience and analysis of the contemporary and future operating environment leads me to the conclusion that only the nuclear-powered submarine capability of the type we’re about to invest in is the appropriate investment for this nation going forward,” Hammond said.

Hammond, who was appointed head of the navy last June, said submarines served a broader purpose than simply defending the Australian coastline from possible invasion, a scenario emphasised by former prime minister Paul Keating in his criticisms of the plan.

“Our maritime domain is significant; we’re not parked at the edge of an international waterway,” Hammond said. “Our interests lie across the Indian Ocean and throughout the Pacific Ocean.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18698909 (151339ZAPR23) Notable: Talisman Sabre - MAGIC SWORD - https://qanon.pub/?q=Operation%20Specialists - https://qanon.pub/?q=magic

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Talisman Sabre 2023: Australian Defence Force leads largest ever military drill

Australia will host one of the largest military drills in the world with more than 30,000 personnel and dozens of ships, aircraft and armoured vehicles mobilising.

Charles Miranda - April 15, 2023

Exclusive: Australia will host one of the largest military drills in the world with more than 30,000 personnel and dozens of ships, aircraft and armoured vehicles mobilising from across the region.

Such is the size of the Talisman Sabre 2023 exercise, the “battlefield” has been extended from across the top of Australia to swathes of the Coral Sea down as far south to Jervis Bay in NSW and will even involve Norfolk Island.

The biennial two-week exercise has long been one of the largest Australian Defence Force hosted exercises, run largely with the United States military and involving 17,000 troops.

But with the backdrop of Russia’s mass troop assault on Ukraine and China’s coercive posturing and recent show of force about Taiwan, personnel numbers have doubled with more than 12 allied nations including Germany, France and the UK to participate.

Many of the fictional scenarios to be rehearsed are based about Russia and China’s posturing, notably the Kremlin’s land and air war strategy that spectacularly failed to capture the Ukrainian capital.

Talisman Sabre will involve an airborne drop, mass amphibious landings, live missile firing and submarine hunting; the battle field stretching from Western Australia, across the NT and Queensland and as far south as Jervis Bay in NSW.

Curiously India has yet to commit to joining Talisman Sabre 2023, despite signalling interest two years ago and early last month Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announcing the “top tier security partner” would participate for the first time.

In details to be released by the government today, confirmed participants include Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, France, UK, Canada and Germany.

The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand will attend as observers. China was not invited but expected to send its spy ships to shadow operations.

“Talisman Sabre reflects a shared commitment to enduring relationships between trusted partners, and a stable Indo-Pacific through an upholding of the rules-based Order,” Defence Minister Richard Marles said.

TS23 Exercise Director, Brigadier Damian Hill said it was the largest iteration of the exercise in terms of both geographic span and also partner nation involvement.

“This year’s exercise will demonstrate our ability to receive large volumes of personnel and equipment into Australia from across the Indo-Pacific and stage, integrate and move them forward into the large exercise area,” he said.

According to planning, locations were chosen to provide “a realistic test of how a large military force would flow into a broad area of operations”.

The ADF will make up one third of the 30,000 personnel involved in the two week exercise.

Quick breakdown of Talisman Sabre 2023

• More than 30,000 personnel to participate from at least 12 nations.

• Designed to test multinational and joint (multi-service) Task Force operations, improve combat readiness and interoperability between Australian, US forces and other partner nations.

• Held between 22 July and 4 August.

• QLD:

– An airborne drop of troops near Charters Towers and amphibious landings at various locations along the north and central Queensland coast.

– Maritime mine-hunting off the coast of Gladstone.

– RAAF Base Scherger at Cape York Peninsula will play central role.

• NSW:

– Long-range fire exercises in Jervis Bay with Japan Self-Defense Forces.

– Air, ground and maritime exercises in Norfolk Island.

• NT:

– Force projection and logistic exercises in the vicinity of Darwin.

– Larger warships will participate in naval gunnery and submarine hunting exercises.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/talisman-sabre-details-revealed-ahead-australian-defence-forces-largest-ever-military-drill/news-story/dd5d00981f27bffc26878820236a56f6

>Talisman Sabre

>MAGIC SWORD

https://qanon.pub/?q=Operation%20Specialists

https://qanon.pub/?q=magic

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18703552 (161029ZAPR23) Notable: Inside the Firm: How an international drug cartel plotted a ‘line to Australia’ - The inner workings of Swedish kingpin Maximilian Rivkin’s crime empire have leaked onto the internet, revealing a plan to target Australia’s insatiable drug market to make them rich beyond measure. The unprecedented glimpse inside transnational drug crime and the AN0M network comes on the eve of a court case that could decide dozens of AN0M-related prosecutions in NSW.

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>>42673 (pb)

>>42789 (pb)

Inside the Firm: How an international drug cartel plotted a ‘line to Australia’

Perry Duffin - April 16, 2023

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The inner workings of a Swedish kingpin’s crime empire have leaked onto the internet, revealing a plan to target Australia’s insatiable drug market to make them rich beyond measure.

The unprecedented glimpse inside transnational drug crime and the AN0M network comes on the eve of a court case that could decide dozens of prosecutions in NSW.

“I have a line to Australia,” Sweden’s Maximilian Rivkin allegedly wrote in an encrypted chat in mid-2020.

“I am now with the biggest people in the world.”

Earlier this year Rivkin was accused, alongside multiple Australians, of being one of the driving forces behind the spread of the encrypted app of choice for serious criminals - the AN0M network.

A US indictment, released by a California court, alleges AN0M’s purpose was to facilitate and protect the global drug trade.

But it was all a trojan horse designed by the FBI and monitored by agencies including the Australian Federal Police.

At about the time Rivkin and the Australians were accused in the US court, Swedish police files were dumped online containing thousands of pages of AN0M chats.

The files, verified by The Herald, allege Rivkin was one of four directors of a Swedish amphetamine cartel called the Firm.

The documents also suggest Rivkin intended to use his connections to expand the Firm’s territory to take advantage of Australia’s sky-high drug prices.

The Firm

“Through conversations on the encrypted platform AN0M, it appears that people in the report form the core of a group that, for a long time, conducted extensive drug crime,” one of the Swedish translated police files begins.

The precise origin of the Firm is not made out in the court files but, in just a few months, it allegedly produced more than half a tonne of amphetamine.

To accomplish their goal, the court documents allege, the Firm transformed a cosy Swedish home into an industrial lab and began shipping drugs around Europe from July 2020.

Pictures shared on AN0M appear to show trays upon trays of amphetamines drying in the lab, drugs in car boots and maps used by drug couriers.

“(The Firm’s leaders) organised extensive amphetamine trafficking in Sweden and also the rest of the world,” the translated documents read.

Staying off the grid

From the beginning, in mid-2020, the Firm was highly secretive.

The house chosen as a drug lab was small and unremarkable, in the lakeside village of Olshammar more than three hours from the capital Stockholm.

Meanwhile, Rivkin allegedly pushed directors and subordinates to message using AN0M.

Before any drugs left Olshammar, according to one series of messages, Rivkin organised for 10 phones to be sent to the Firm in July 2020.

He maintained his enthusiasm for AN0M until the final kilo left the lab in December 2020, police allege.

That month a WhatsApp user called “Anom Goteborg” sent a selfie from his dimly lit office.

The bearded man in the picture smiles confidently, flashing a gold watch and a thumbs-up.

Behind him is a giant AN0M logo, illuminated on the wall with the words “enforce your right to privacy” below.

Another image of a Swedish licence, sent in the chat, suggests Anom Gothenburg was Rivkin.

“Hold AN0M tight, it will be the next big thing,” Rivkin told his contact.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18708612 (171004ZAPR23) Notable: ‘He diminished his legacy’: Penny Wong, Paul Keating escalate feud - The feud between two of Labor’s most beloved figures has escalated, with Foreign Minister Penny Wong accusing Paul Keating of diminishing his legacy and the former prime minister attacking Wong for speaking in platitudes and lacking policy ambition. In an appearance at the National Press Club, Wong hit out at critics who take “self-satisfied potshots” at the United States, arguing America continues to play an indispensable role in promoting peace and security in the Asia-Pacific as it jostles with rival superpower China for influence. Wong said: “On Mr Keating, what I would say is this: I think in tone and substance he diminished both his legacy and the subject matter.” Keating responded to Wong’s speech by doubling down on his criticisms of both her and the government, saying in a statement: “Never before has a Labor government been so bereft of policy or policy ambition … I never expected more than platitudes from Penny Wong’s press club speech and as it turned out, I was not disappointed.”

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>>42713 (pb)

>>>/qresearch/18516925 (pb)

‘He diminished his legacy’: Penny Wong, Paul Keating escalate feud

Matthew Knott - April 17, 2023

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The feud between two of Labor’s most beloved figures has escalated, with Foreign Minister Penny Wong accusing Paul Keating of diminishing his legacy and the former prime minister attacking Wong for speaking in platitudes and lacking policy ambition.

In an appearance at the National Press Club on Monday, Wong hit out at critics who take “self-satisfied potshots” at the United States, arguing America continues to play an indispensable role in promoting peace and security in the Asia-Pacific as it jostles with rival superpower China for influence.

At a heated appearance at the press club last month, Keating was particularly personal in his criticisms of Wong, saying: “Running around the Pacific Islands with a lei around your neck handing out money, which is what Penny does, is not foreign policy. It’s a consular task. Foreign policy is what you do with the great powers: what you do with China, what you do with the United States.”

Asked about his comments, Wong said: “On Mr Keating, what I would say is this: I think in tone and substance he diminished both his legacy and the subject matter.”

Keating responded to Wong’s speech by doubling down on his criticisms of both her and the government, saying in a statement: “Never before has a Labor government been so bereft of policy or policy ambition ... I never expected more than platitudes from Penny Wong’s press club speech and as it turned out, I was not disappointed.”

In her speech, Wong said a war fought over the self-governing island of Taiwan would be “catastrophic” for everyone involved, arguing it is “our job is to lower the heat on any potential conflict, increasing pressure on others to do the same”.

Beijing last week launched a three-day series of military exercises around Taiwan, which it considers an integral part of its territory, to express anger at Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with the US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

“We call for the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues through dialogue without the threat or use of force or coercion,” Wong said.

“Because, let me be absolutely clear – a war over Taiwan would be catastrophic for all. We know that there would be no real winners.”

Wong declined to say whether she welcomed US President Joe Biden’s repeated statements that America would intervene to defend Taiwan if it came under attack by China, saying it was important “to do all that we can to press for the maintenance of the status quo through both deterrence and reassurance”.

Wong said she felt it important to deliver a “reality check” that nations in the Indo-Pacific would not have enjoyed their “long, uninterrupted period of stability and prosperity” without the US.

“America has often been talked of as the indispensable power,” she said. “It remains so, but the nature of that indispensability has changed.

“As we seek a strategic equilibrium, with all countries exercising their agency to achieve peace and prosperity, America is central to balancing a multipolar region.

“Many who take self-satisfied potshots at America’s imperfections would find the world a lot less satisfactory if America ceased to play its role.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18708667 (171027ZAPR23) Notable: Relations between ACT Police and DPP ‘beset by tension’ over Brittany Higgins’ rape claim - An explosive complaint from the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions about police conduct before and during Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial lit the match that sparked the Board of Inquiry into the capital’s criminal justice systems. Walter Sofronoff KC, who is conducting the inquiry, held the Board’s first public hearing in Canberra this morning where it was revealed that the inquiry was established after DPP Shane Drumgold wrote to ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan on November 1, 2022 alleging his officers had conducted 18 months of “inappropriate interference” in Bruce Lehrmann’s prosecution.

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Relations between ACT Police and DPP ‘beset by tension’ over Brittany Higgins’ rape claim

KRISTIN SHORTEN - APRIL 17, 2023

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An explosive complaint from the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions about police conduct before and during Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial lit the match that sparked the Board of Inquiry into the capital’s criminal justice systems.

Walter Sofronoff KC, who is conducting the inquiry, held the Board’s first public hearing in Canberra this morning where it was revealed that the inquiry was established after DPP Shane Drumgold wrote to ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan on November 1, 2022 alleging his officers had conducted 18 months of “inappropriate interference” in Bruce Lehrmann’s prosecution.

Former liberal staffer Brittany Higgins alleged Mr Lehrmann raped her in Senator Linda Reynolds’ ministerial office in the early hours of March 23, 2019 after a night out drinking with colleagues in Canberra.

Mr Lehrmann was later charged with sexual intercourse without consent and pleaded not guilty.

Mr Drumgold’s November 1 letter was sent just days after the 28-year-old’s trial was sensationally aborted in October due to juror misconduct and immediately listed for retrial in February.

Counsel assisting Erin Longbottom KC told the inquiry this morning that Mr Drumgold alleged police had “cherry picked” elements of potential evidence in the case and “provided blatant misrepresentations of evidence” to him.

Mr Drumgold claimed that during the trial a number of “disturbing events occurred” including police “constantly and exclusively” engaging directly with Mr Lehrmann’s defence team rather than the prosecution, causing him to distrust the AFP.

In his letter Mr Drumgold called upon Commissioner Gaughan to prohibit any further contact between officers involved in the investigation and the defence team, prosecution witnesses and Ms Higgins.

He also sought to prohibit their attendance at court during the planned retrial.

But in December Mr Drumgold announced he would not prosecute the case again due to the impact it would have on Ms Higgins’ mental health.

Commissioner Gaughan, who attended this morning’s hearing, last year welcomed the inquiry but asked that it look at the conduct of all parties involved including the DPP and explore issues including delays in the trial, the mistrial and the decision of the DPP not to proceed with the retrial.

The inquiry this morning heard that Ms Higgins first reported her alleged rape during a “meet and greet” with AFP officers stationed at Parliament House in early April 2019.

That first stage of the investigation ended when Ms Higgins emailed them on April 13, 2019 advising that she did not wish to proceed with her complaint.

The second stage of the investigation began on February 5, 2021 when Ms Higgins contacted ACT Police and asked for her complaint to be reactivated.

The next day, on February 6, 2021 she met with police who told her they could not recommence the investigation until she provided a record of interview.

Ms Higgins participated in the police interview on February 24, 2021 after sharing her story in the media.

Ms Longbottom emphasised the Board was not conducting an investigation of Ms Higgins’ allegations about Mr Lehrmann but an inquiry into “the way in which each criminal justice agency involved fulfilled their duties”.

She said the inquiry will hear evidence about conflict between the ACT Police and the DPP over their perceptions of what had occurred between Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann.

“You will hear evidence that, from the outset, engagement between ACT Police and the DPP were beset by tensions,” she said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18708691 (171039ZAPR23) Notable: Twitter labels ABC and SBS ‘government-funded media’ - ABC and SBS will not quit Twitter, after the social media platforms labelled the public broadcasters’ news services “government-funded media”, lumping the two into a category previously used for government mouthpieces. Twitter moved on Monday to label ABC News’ account on its platform “government funded media”, in the wake of similar moves in recent weeks that earned the ire of users, leading some media groups to quit the site. SBS, which was also hit with the “government-funded media” label on Monday, told The Australian the broadcaster would push back on the move.

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Twitter labels ABC and SBS ‘government-funded media’

DAVID ROSS - APRIL 17, 2023

ABC and SBS will not quit Twitter, after the social media platforms labelled the public broadcasters’ news services “government-funded media”, lumping the two into a category previously used for government mouthpieces.

Twitter moved on Monday to label ABC News’ account on its platform “government funded media”, in the wake of similar moves in recent weeks that earned the ire of users, leading some media groups to quit the site.

SBS, which was also hit with the “government-funded media” label on Monday, told The Australian the broadcaster would push back on the move.

An SBS spokesman said the broadcaster disagreed with the label applied by Twitter, arguing it did not reflect the nature of the media group’s funding.

Twitter has applied three different labels to media groups in recent weeks, including “government-funded media”, “state-affiliated media”, or “publicly-funded media”.

“While we appreciate Twitter’s motivations with regard to transparency on its platform, we believe a “Publicly funded media” label better reflects the hybrid public-commercial nature of our funding model and the fact that SBS retains full independence from Government in our news editorial and content decision-making,” an SBS spokesman said.

The Special Broadcasting Service is understood to be concerned about the potential for the label to mislead its multicultural viewers, who may see it as government controlled or affiliated.

SBS is partially funded from ad revenues, unlike the ABC.

A spokesman for the ABC said it would contact Twitter in response to the labelling, but said the broadcaster would not stop using the social media platform.

“The ABC doesn’t currently have any plans to shut down all its Twitter accounts,” he said. “The ABC is liaising with Twitter regarding changes to account verification and labels.”

In a statement posted on Twitter, the ABC said it was “a publicly funded broadcaster, governed by the ABC Charter which is enshrined in legislation”.

“For more than 90 years, the ABC has always been and remains an independent media organisation, free from political and commercial interests,” the ABC said.

Twitter claims it brands accounts government funded if they are funded in part or wholly by governments, which “may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content”.

Twitter categorises “publicly funded media accounts” as media groups “that receive funding from license fees, individual contributions, public financing, and commercial financing”.

Twitter has been pushing media sites to sign on to its verified organisations service, as the social media group seeks to raise funds in the wake of Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform.

The BBC objected to Twitter’s branding last week, which saw it labelled government funded media, claiming this ignored the broadcasters’ licensing fees funding source.

Twitter chief executive Elon Musk, responding to a tweet about the move, questioned the label asking “Is the Twitter label accurate?”.

America’s National Public Radio forced Twitter to walk back its decision to brand the platform “state-funded media” last week, changing the service’s label.

But the radio network said it would “de-emphasise” Twitter and cease tweeting from the labelled accounts in response.

NPR CEO John Lansing said Twitter’s decision was “unacceptable”.

“After great consideration, we will not put our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of editorial independence,” Mr Lansing said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/twitter-labels-abc-and-sbs-governmentfunded-media/news-story/7faafc22cab133f65bce452425d5ddae

https://twitter.com/abcnews

https://twitter.com/SBS

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18708709 (171046ZAPR23) Notable: Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post - MRF-D Marines and Army soldiers with 103 Battery, 8/12 Regiment, 1st Brigade - Australian Army conduct dry fire drills on the M777A2 lightweight 155mm howitzers at Robertson Barracks, Darwin, Northern Territory, April 6, 2023. Through increased training and exercises, MRF-D and Defence Australia are expanding our range of interoperability, further strengthening the historic Alliance. #MRFD #YourADF #AlliesandPartners #trainhard

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>>42881

Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post

16 April 2023

MRF-D Marines and Army soldiers with 103 Battery, 8/12 Regiment, 1st Brigade - Australian Army conduct dry fire drills on the M777A2 lightweight 155mm howitzers at Robertson Barracks, Darwin, Northern Territory, April 6, 2023. Through increased training and exercises, MRF-D and Defence Australia are expanding our range of interoperability, further strengthening the historic Alliance.

#MRFD #YourADF #AlliesandPartners #trainhard

(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Lance Cpl. Brayden Daniel)

https://www.facebook.com/MRFDarwin/posts/596965789132575

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/18714027 (181028ZAPR23) Notable: Defence blames braking fault in Hawkei armoured vehicles for reluctance to supply Ukraine - Defence is blaming a braking fault affecting the army’s fleet of 1100 Hawkei armoured vehicles for its reluctance to supply war-torn Ukraine with the Australian-made four-wheel drives. The anti-lock braking system fault can undermine the vehicle’s stopping power at high speeds but does not affect its off-road performance. Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, said his country hoped to acquire an initial 30-60 Hawkeis to support the country’s coming counteroffensive against Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces.

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>>42880

Defence blames braking fault in Hawkei armoured vehicles for reluctance to supply Ukraine

BEN PACKHAM - APRIL 17, 2023

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Defence is blaming a braking fault affecting the army’s fleet of 1100 Hawkei armoured vehicles for its reluctance to supply war-torn Ukraine with the Australian-made four-wheel drives.

The anti-lock braking system fault can undermine the vehicle’s stopping power at high speeds but does not affect its off-road performance.

After extensive checks, ­Defence believes the entire fleet of the army’s Hawkeis will need to be recalled to fix the problem, which is linked to a faulty component. The move comes five months after The Australian revealed the issue, which led Defence to ban the vehicles from civilian roads and slap them with a fleet-wide 40km/h speed limit.

The fault is holding up the army’s formal acceptance of the $2bn fleet from manufacturer Thales Australia.

But Ukraine is undeterred by the braking issue, releasing a video last week declaring it has a “crush” on the Bendigo-built vehicles, which it describes as “seven tonnes of trouble for temporary occupiers”.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, said his country hoped to acquire an initial 30-60 Hawkeis to support the country’s coming counteroffensive against Vladimir Putin’s Russian forces.

“If that’s the only issue, it’s not an issue, to be frank,” he told The Australian.

“They will not be used on highways; they will be used off-road where they will never be able to get to the speed where this is an issue.”

Retired major-general Gus McLachlan, a former commander of the army’s 1st Armoured Regiment, said Defence was being “quite risk averse” over the “relatively minor issue”.

“Given that Ukrainians are at war, I think they would probably happily take the risk with something like that,” he said.

“If you're driving on an Australian public road and you put your foot on the brake you want every bit of technology working. But for off-road driving under operational conditions, it’s not something that would be particularly important.”

Major-General McLachlan said the Hawkei was “a great little ­vehicle” that was highly mobile, provided protection for its occupants, and could be equipped with Javelin anti-tank missiles and ­remotely operated machine guns.

He said providing some of the vehicles to Ukraine would also showcase their capabilities to ­potential foreign buyers.

Anti-lock braking systems help prevent skidding and loss of steering on slippery surfaces, but are typically turned off on loose or uneven terrain.