/qnotables21/ - ===Q Notables 2021===

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15499029 (300916ZJAN22) Notable: Hillsong founder Brian Houston steps down as global leader of the Pentecostal church as he prepares to defend court charges that he covered up allegations of his father’s child sexual abuse, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Brian_Houston_flanked_by_his_wife_Bobbie_tells_the_church_s_faithful_that_he_was_stepping_down_to_prepare_to_defend_court_charges_that_he_concealed_information_about_allegations_of_his_father_s_sexual_abuse.jpg, Frank_Houston_died_in_2004_before_the_allegations_became_public.jpg

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Hillsong founder Brian Houston steps down as global leader ahead of court action

Michael Evans - January 30, 2022

Hillsong founder Brian Houston has stepped down as the global leader of the Pentecostal church as he prepares to defend court charges that he covered up allegations of his father’s child sexual abuse.

In a video address to the faithful on Sunday, Mr Houston, flanked by his wife Bobbie, admitted his “shock” that last year he “received unexpected news of charges against me that allege the concealing of information that may have been material to prosecute” his father Frank Houston.

Mr Houston was served with a court attendance notice over the allegations last August. He was charged with concealing a serious indictable offence of another person. He will plead not guilty and defend the charge.

The charge relates to alleged concealment of information relating to an indecent assault of a male allegedly committed by his late father, Frank Houston, in 1970, according to court documents. Frank Houston died in 2004.

While Mr Houston stepped aside as a Hillsong director last year, he said the board had since received external legal advice that it would be “best practice for him to step aside completely from church leadership during the court proceedings”.

Mr Houston said the proceedings “are likely to be drawn out and take up most of 2022” and had impacted him “emotionally”. He expects to be absent from his roles this year.

“Along with this, the board and I have had detailed discussion around the requirements for leadership,” he said.

“We have talked about the effects of the situation with my father, which go back many years up to the current legal case, and the impact this has had on me emotionally.

“The result is that the Hillsong global board feel it is in my and the church’s best interest for this to happen, so I have agreed to step aside from all ministry responsibilities until the end of the year.”

Mr Houston said he needed to be “fully committed to preparation and engagement with the case and work closely with my lawyers in defending this charge.

“I have said, including in a prior statement, that I intend to fight the charge and welcome the opportunity to set the record straight,” he said.

Mr Houston said his wife will remain fully engaged in church activities.

Frank Houston retired from the church before the abuse became public.

Mr Houston said he had asked Pastors Phil and Lucinda Dooley to take on the role of acting global senior pastors. “The Dooleys are well-loved by many in our church, having successfully served as our youth pastors in Australia for many years,” he said. He said the Dooleys have lived in South Africa for the past 13 years “and have raised up a phenomenal multi-campus Hillsong Church”.

The church was founded in 1983 in Sydney’s Baulkham Hills and has grown into a worldwide powerhouse, claiming a global weekly attendance of more than 150,000 worshippers, with nearly 50,000 in Australia.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/hillsong-founder-brian-houston-steps-down-as-global-leader-ahead-of-court-action-20220130-p59sd8.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15507783 (310642ZJAN22) Notable: Australia reports fewer COVID-19 deaths, infections as students return to schools, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_person_wearing_a_face_mask_walks_along_the_harbour_waterfront_across_from_the_Sydney_Opera_House_during_a_lockdown_to_curb_the_spread_of_coronavirus_disease_COVID_19_in_Sydney_Australia_October_6_2021.jpg

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>>130407

Australia reports fewer COVID-19 deaths, infections as students return to schools

Renju Jose - January 31, 2022

SYDNEY, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Australia reported its lowest daily COVID-19 deaths in two weeks on Monday while cases continued to trend lower as authorities braced for staff shortages in schools due to likely outbreaks as thousands of students return after their summer break.

Most states will go through a staggered school reopening exercise this week as Australia battles the worst outbreak of the pandemic, with the fast-moving Omicron coronavirus variant spiralling cases to record levels.

"There will be challenges and there will be bumps over these first few weeks," Victoria state Deputy Premier James Merlino said during a media briefing on Monday. Merlino said a pool of about 350 retired teachers have been set up to support schools when they have to furlough staff.

Masks are mandatory indoors for older children and millions of at-home antigen tests, still not readily available in many stores, are being rolled out to families free of cost, with children asked to undergo COVID-19 tests twice a week.

About 40% of children aged 5-11 years have been administered their first vaccine dose, while around two-thirds of eligible Australians have received their boosters.

Though Omicron appears to be less virulent than earlier variants, the sheer number of cases has overwhelmed hospitals and testing facilities. Supply chains have been also disrupted resulting in bare supermarket shelves, angering Australians and denting Prime Minister Scott Morrison's approval rating, just months out from a federal election. read more

Nearly 34,000 new infections were reported on Monday, the lowest tally in a month, while 44 deaths were registered.

Hospitalisations have remained steady at around 5,000 for the last few days, peaking at just under 5,400 last Tuesday. The number was at 4,869 on Monday after falling over the past five days.

Of the 2.5 million infections detected since the pandemic began, some 2.3 million have been reported since the first Omicron case was found in the country late November. Total deaths are at 3,754, far lower than many developed countries.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/australia-reports-fewer-covid-19-deaths-infections-students-return-schools-2022-01-31/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15507808 (310649ZJAN22) Notable: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heading to Melbourne for meeting of Quad Foreign Ministers, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: US_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_will_hold_talks_in_Australia_with_Marise_Payne_and_their_Indian_and_Japanese_counterparts.jpg, Marise_Payne.jpg

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heading to Melbourne for meeting of Quad Foreign Ministers

GREG SHERIDAN - JANUARY 31, 2022

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Australia in mid-February for a meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue foreign ministers, with China’s threat to stability in the Indo-Pacific a major focus of the talks.

The foreign ministers of India and Japan will join their US and Australian counterparts in Melbourne for the two-day summit, which will also discuss the crisis in Ukraine, and threats to national and regional security.

Maritime security, territorial integrity and cyber threats will also be discussed, as well as issues raised by working groups.

These working groups have ­focused on vaccine distribution, countering disinformation (mainly from China and Russia), cyber and critical technology, infrastructure and space.

The highest level visit yet to Australia by a member of the Biden administration underlines the importance the US places on the Australian relationship and sends a clear message that even with the Ukraine crisis, concern over China and the maintenance of stability in the Indo-Pacific ­remains one of the most important challenges Washington faces.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne, who will host the Melbourne meeting, said the talks were a strategic coup for Australia. “I look forward to welcoming Quad foreign minister counterparts to Australia,” she said.

“We are a vital network of liberal democracies co-operating to give our region strategic choices, with a focus on practical steps to build the resilience and sovereignty of all states.

“This is a further demonstration of the Morrison gov­ernment’s efforts to actively shape and influence our region and world by deepening partnerships at a time of strategic competition, threats to liberal international order and increasing uncertainty.”

India’s Foreign Minister, ­Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, is scheduled to attend, as is Japan’s Foreign Minister, Yoshimasa Hay­ashi. Given all the difficulties Covid places on international travel and the many issues running hot in the international system, the summit is a sign of the importance that all four nations place on the Quad and on the strategic challenge of China. The ministers will also have separate meetings with Scott Morrison.

As The Australian revealed last year, the Quad has also established a formal intelligence ­dialogue at the top of each ­nation’s intelligence establishment, called the Quadrilateral Strategic Intelligence Forum.

The timing of the meeting is complicated by Mr Jaishankar testing positive for Covid some days ago.

It is hoped he will have recovered in time and be able to record a negative Covid test result, which would enable him to travel to Australia for the meeting.

Senator Payne has developed a close working personal relationship with Mr Jaishankar, which was crucial in getting the Quad re-established as a formal group in 2019.

Senator Payne and Mr Blinken will talk to their counterparts about the evolving AUKUS agreement involving the US, Australia and Britain and the ambition for this group to see Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

Japan and India have been supportive of AUKUS. Both want technology co-operation to be at the beating heart of the Quad.

Tokyo has been especially supportive of AUKUS and helped Canberra neutralise early suspicion of the new body among Southeast Asian nations. This suspicion was exaggerated by ­intense Chinese and Russian disinformation campaigns against AUKUS.

“Quad partners champion ASEAN centrality and the ASEAN-led architecture in the Indo-Pacific,” Senator Payne said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15507876 (310709ZJAN22) Notable: Anti-vaccination protesters flock to Parliament House, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Convoy_to_Canberra_protest_on_the_lawns_in_front_of_Parliament_House.jpg, Convoy_to_Canberra_protest.jpg

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Anti-vaccination protesters flock to Parliament House

Angus Thompson - January 31, 2022

Crowds of anti-vaccination protesters are expected to swell outside Parliament House in Canberra over the coming days after hordes of people confronted police at the building’s entrance on Monday.

The Convoy to Canberra rally, sparked by a West Australian truck driver, saw thousands of people from various parts of the country, including truck drivers, and participants of the so-called freedom rallies and ‘sovereign citizens’ movement, converge on the Parliament House lawn from Monday morning.

The crowd chanted “what do we want? Freedom”, and also heard a rendition of the Last Post before chants of “lest we forget”.

A direction from ACT Policing acting superintendent Rod Anderson to move away from the building’s locked-down entry about 3.30pm spurred jeering from the crowd, some who donned United Australia Party t-shirts, caps, and placards, as well as Donald Trump flags and caps.

Members of the rally urged others to retreat from the entrance, with one man warning police had “machine guns”, which also prompted jeers, however, the crowd eventually dispersed.

Organisers have said multiple waves of convoys are likely to arrive in the coming days.

Harrison McLean, an organiser of Melbourne’s freedom rallies and of the Victorian contingent of protesters, said the protest would “evolve over time”.

“This event is going to continue until our demands are met,” Mr McLean said.

The key demand is to end vaccine mandates, however, some members of the crowd were also calling for an end to human trafficking.

One woman held up a sign in front of the police blockade reading “Reveal the paedophiles. All 28 ‘VIPs’.”

A sit-in also occurred in which protesters began to meditate.

Earlier on Monday several vehicles, including trucks, drove onto the lawn between Old Parliament House and Parliament House after police blocked off Federation Mall to prevent convoys from approaching the newer building.

A large group of people surrounded a police vehicle trying to intervene, with the crowd chanting “you serve us” as the 4WD eventually reversed.

Tents and marquees have also been pitched next to vehicles on the lawn, as well as in and around an adjacent car park, with several groups expected to camp in the area overnight.

One of the campers, former Queensland truck driver Dale Beikoff, said he quit his job at a trucking company after vaccine mandates were imposed last year.

“Many people have lost their jobs,” Mr Beikoff said.

“We have nurses here who have been fired.”

An ACT Policing spokesman said no arrests were made during the day but some people who tried to set up unauthorised campsites in the area were moved on by police throughout the day.

“The community is reminded camping or parking vehicles is prohibited in the Parliamentary Triangle and on [National Capital Authority] managed land without a permit,” the spokesman said.

The confrontation comes weeks after protesters physically clashed with police at the entrance to Parliament House, an incident that followed a fire at the front of Old Parliament House, which resulted in a man being charged.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/protesters-gather-at-front-entrance-of-parliament-house-20220131-p59smz.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15517010 (010630ZFEB22) Notable: Australian PM says his government was too optimistic before Omicron surge, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australia_s_Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_speaks_as_National_Statements_are_delivered_as_a_part_of_the_World_Leaders_Summit_at_the_UN_Climate_Change_Conference_COP26_in_Glasgow_Scotland_Britain_November_1_2021.jpg

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>>130407

Australian PM says his government was too optimistic before Omicron surge

Kirsty Needham - February 1, 2022

SYDNEY, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Australia's prime minister faced up to criticism of his leadership on Tuesday, saying his government had been too optimistic about the impact of coronavirus vaccinations leading to disappointment and exhaustion when the Omicron variant hit.

Scott Morrison faces an approval rating falling to its lowest level in two years with an election due in four months and public confidence battered by widespread shortages of rapid antigen tests as Omicron cases surged past 1 million over the summer.

In an address to the National Press Club in Canberra, Morrison said he would take the criticism that came with the leader's job.

"I haven't got everything right," he said.

Morrison said his focus had been on balancing health objectives with the economy, and Omicron had changed the rules, disrupting supply chains and causing a shortage of tests.

In early January, Morrison had said his government was adopting a "push through" approach to the pandemic instead of returning to lockdowns.

"As we went into the summer we were too optimistic perhaps," he said, adding this had heightened the disappointment people felt when vaccinations did not stop Omicron's spread.

Responding to criticism that his government had not anticipated the need for more tests, Morrison said it had been the responsibility of the states, in Australia's federal system, to supply COVID tests through most of the pandemic.

He acknowledged public frustration and, in an election pitch, said the country needed a leader with experience to persevere.

Australia's pandemic death rate was among the lowest in the world and it had a high vaccination rate despite a delayed rollout, he said.

Authorities reported 77 deaths on Tuesday, down from a record 98 hit last Friday, and just over 35,000 new cases.

Hospitalisations have remained steady at about 5,000 for the last few days after peaking at just under 5,400 a week ago. Throughout the pandemic, just over 3,800 people have died of COVID-19 in Australia.

Morrison highlighted the strength of the economy, with Australia maintaining a AAA credit rating, and said more people were in work than before the pandemic, with an unemployment rate of 4.2%.

The federal government will offer extra payments worth up to A$800 to staff of carehomes for the elderly, he announced, as more than 1,200 nursing homes deal with COVID-19 outbreaks that killed hundreds of people in January and led to staff shortages.

He also announced a A$2billion plan to boost manufacturing by commercializing research.

"We need to find and develop a new breed of researcher entrepreneurs in Australia," Morrison said.

The government will fund a A$2.2 billion plan to commercialize research, including A$1.6 billion for a programme for early-stage research that is vulnerable to higher levels of uncertainty about commercial returns.

The science agency CSIRO will get A$150 million to expand a venture capital programme backing start-ups. Another A$296 million will be allocated over the next decade to universities to fund 1,800 PhDs and 800 fellowships with an industry focus.

An election is due in May or earlier.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/funds/australian-pm-outline-a2-billion-research-boost-2022-01-31/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15517134 (010716ZFEB22) Notable: Child sex tourist sentenced in Brisbane Supreme Court - John Joseph Power - Brisbane man who groomed young girls and committed “depraved” sexual acts against them while on a trip to the Philippines, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: John_Joseph_Power_leaving_Brisbane_Magistrates_Court_after_an_earlier_mention_on_the_charges.jpg

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John Joseph Power: Child sex tourist sentenced in Brisbane Supreme Court

A Brisbane man who groomed young girls and committed “depraved” sexual acts against them while on a trip to the Philippines has been dealt with in the Brisbane Supreme Court.

Maddie Manwaring - January 31, 2022

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Four young girls have been left traumatised after a Brisbane man groomed and committed “depraved” sexual offences against them while he was on a trip to the Philippines in 2019.

John Joseph Power, 57, was on Monday jailed for making child pornography and committing sexual offences against the victims, the youngest being a 10-year-old girl.

For four weeks before leaving Australia, Power used WhatsApp to groom a 16-year-old girl in the Philippines and arranged to meet her when he arrived in the country in August 2019, the Brisbane Supreme Court heard.

The girl was “significantly corrupted” by Power to the point that she “recruited” other young girls including her cousin to talk to and meet with Power.

Power would have sexually explicit conversations with the girls online and would request “pornographic material” from them, the court heard.

Power invited the 16-year-old and two girls aged 13 and 14 to an apartment in the Philippines to engage in sexual activities several times over four weeks and took photos and videos of them in various positions, some sexual and some depicting him groping or hugging the girls.

On one occasion, Power told the 16 and 14-year-old girls to “skip school” to meet with him.

The court heard Power saved the photos and videos and categorised the child exploitation material into folders on his laptop, each folder named after one of the victims.

The full extent of the sexual activity between Power and the three teenagers was unknown but did not involve sexual intercourse.

The 16-year-old girl also connected him with a 10-year-old girl, and Power began grooming her after buying her a mobile phone to communicate with him.

Upon arriving back in Brisbane on September 29, 2019, Power was subject to baggage checks and was intercepted by Australia Border Force officers who examined his phone, laptop and camera.

Forensic examinations found 115 photos and videos of child exploitation material and evidence he had used Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp to communicate with the children.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15517192 (010737ZFEB22) Notable: US judge seeks statement from Robert Olney, former equerry of Prince Andrew, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Prince_Andrew_Virginia_Roberts_and_Ghislaine_Maxwell_in_2001.jpg, Virginia_Giuffre_now_38_and_living_in_Australia_seen_with_her_lawyer_David_Boies_in_2019.jpg

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>>130667

Prince Andrew: US judge seeks statement from former assistant

Dominic Casciani & Becky Morton - 1 February 2022

Prince Andrew's former assistant could give a sworn statement as part of the civil sexual assault case against the duke, after a formal request from a New York judge.

Lawyers for Virginia Giuffre - Prince Andrew's accuser in the case - had requested help to obtain testimony from Robert Olney.

Mr Olney previously worked for the prince as his equerry.

Prince Andrew, 61, has consistently denied Ms Giuffre's allegations.

She says the duke sexually assaulted her on three occasions when she was 17 and being trafficked by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in prison in 2019 while awaiting a sex trafficking trial.

Ms Giuffre's lawyers say Mr Olney's name and phone number were in the contacts book of Epstein and that the former assistant would have knowledge of his relationship with Prince Andrew.

US judge Lewis A Kaplan released his correspondence sent to London's High Court, formally asking for assistance in the civil case brought by Ms Giuffre, on Monday evening,

The request, under an international legal convention between co-operating courts, means that the British court must now decide whether to become involved in Prince Andrew's battle.

In the letter to Senior Master Elizbeth Fontaine, the official who manages requests from foreign courts for assistance, Judge Kaplan said any evidence obtained from Mr Olney would be used in Ms Giuffre's civil damages claim against the prince.

As Prince Andrew's former equerry, Judge Kaplan said Mr Olney was likely to have "relevant information" about travel to and from Epstein's properties and about the duke's relationship with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was found guilty last month of grooming underage girls.

The judge said that if his request was accepted, Mr Olney should be questioned about any communications that touch on Ms Giuffre, given that Prince Andrew claims he has never met her or sexually abused her.

He has also sent a request asking for a statement to be taken from Shukri Walker, who has said she saw Prince Andrew at Tramps night club in London in March 2001 with a young woman who may have been Ms Giuffre.

Two more requests have been sent to the Australian attorney general, fulfilling applications from Prince Andrew's team.

The first is a request for Australian authorities to take a statement from Robert Giuffre, Ms Giuffre's husband, concerning what she may have told him in the past. The second is a request to obtain the co-operation of Ms Giuffre's therapist Dr Judith Lightfoot.

The judge asked for Mr Giuffre's testimony to include how he met his wife, his discussions with her about Andrew, her alleged childhood trauma and abuse, and her relationship with Epstein and Maxwell.

The letter also asks for his testimony to include all claims Ms Giuffre has made against the duke, her alleged emotional and psychological harm and damages, her role in trafficking and recruiting young girls for Epstein and the Giuffre household's finances.

A separate letter to Dr Lightfoot has asked her evidence to include Ms Giuffre's medical treatment and diagnosis, as well as issues discussed during their sessions and claims made about Prince Andrew.

It also seeks testimony on Dr Lightfoot's opinions of the alleged psychological harm suffered by Ms Giuffre, a theory of false memories and the consequences of her childhood trauma.

Judge Kaplan has requested that the testimony of all four witnesses be completed by 29 April.

Earlier this month, Buckingham Palace stripped Prince Andrew of his military titles and patronages, and said he would contest the case as a private individual.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60208231

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/60119368/giuffre-v-prince-andrew/?order_by=desc

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15525440 (020743ZFEB22) Notable: ‘Zero tolerance’: Australia will pour more than $60 million into countering violent extremism amid an increase in conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Home_Affairs_Minister_Karen_Andrews_says_some_Australians_are_trying_to_use_violence_to_achieve_political_religious_and_ideological_goals.jpg

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‘Zero tolerance’: More than $60m to combat violent extremism

Anthony Galloway - February 2, 2022

Australia will pour more than $60 million into countering violent extremism amid an increase in conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns from MPs about their safety following last year’s murder of British MP Sir David Amess.

The nation’s security agencies have been raising the alarm about an upturn in “single-issue” violent extremism, citing anti-lockdown protests as an example.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews will on Wednesday announce an additional $61.7 million for Australia’s counter-extremism programs, doubling the funding they’ve received since 2013.

Ms Andrews said Australia was a “peaceful, tolerant, and harmonious country, but we cannot be blind to the fact that there are those among us who seek to sow hate, fear, and discord”.

“Violent extremists may have a range of ideologies and motivations, but none of them are welcome in this country,” Ms Andrews said. “This government has zero tolerance for anyone threatening the peace and cohesion of our society by trying to use violence to achieve a political, religious, or ideological goal.”

Security agencies are concerned the pandemic has supercharged a number of groups and individuals spreading conspiracy theories. While Australia has so far largely avoided violence, a heavily armed man was arrested in December in the United States after police discovered a “hit list” including the names of President Joe Biden and his chief medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci.

Government sources also said the murders of British MPs Jo Cox in 2016 and Sir David in October demonstrated there was a range of people prepared to use violence to strike at the heart of democratic processes and institutions.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said last October many violent extremists were focusing on individual issues rather than broad ideologies such as right-wing extremism or white supremacy, which gave authorities less warning time. He cited protests in Melbourne in September against vaccine mandates and COVID-19 lockdowns in which police officers were injured.

“The most likely attack in Australia will be that of a lone actor, one who mobilises to violence with little or no warning,” Mr Burgess said at the time.

ASIO has been concerned about people spending more time online during the pandemic, as well as growing anger over policies such as lockdowns and vaccine mandates.

The new funding will include $24.5 million to expand intervention programs into rural and regional areas in a strong sign that ideological extremism such as white supremacy and far-right groups are dispersed throughout the country.

There will also be a $13.8 million national program to rehabilitate and reintegrate violent extremists in custody and $8 million to create an international centre of excellence for countering violent extremism.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/zero-tolerance-more-than-60m-to-combat-violent-extremism-20220201-p59sw9.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15525465 (020755ZFEB22) Notable: Anti-vaxxers jump ship to the sovereign citizen movement - Jack the Insider (Peter Hoysted) - theaustralian.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Protesters_yell_abuse_at_Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_as_he_departs_the_National_Press_Club_in_Canberra_on_Tuesday.jpg, A_man_yells_abuse_at_Scott_Morrison_through_his_car_window.jpg

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Anti-vaxxers jump ship to the sovereign citizen movement

JACK THE INSIDER (Peter Hoysted) - FEBRUARY 2, 2022

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Numbers were down, ratings were poor. Rather than shift the battlelines to Covid vaccinations for children, which seemed the logical next step, anti-vaxxers have jumped the shark, embracing the sovereign citizen movement on the basis that if you don’t like the laws of the state, you can simply make up your own.

A mob assembled outside the National Press Club on Tuesday, briefly blocking the Prime Minister’s access to the venue. The PM’s speech went ahead and afterwards, the crowd was kept away with a strident few charging Comm Car One and giving the PM a gob full through the passenger window.

The mob in Canberra who tried to block the Prime Minister’s access to the National Press Club on Tuesday have been invariably called anti-vaxxers in the media but this is only half true. It’s a human potpourri of grievance based on the gamut of conspiracy theories, Woodstock for Q-cooked middle-aged saddos who spent much of Monday afternoon in the nation’s capital, shouting at an empty building.

If this was a protest about vaccine mandates it would make sense, but nothing makes sense about this mob. Take a look at any one of their interminable ‘lives’ and it will not take long before the word ‘paedophile’ is not just uttered but shrieked, along with gnarled accusatory fingers pointed at the windows of the parliament.

Stay watching the footage for long enough and you’ll hear blubbering about satanic rituals, and the torture of children which only they can see. Police preventing them from storming public buildings are labelled with spit-speckled vehemence, “paedophile protectors.”

This is not Q-Anon although it retains the cult’s broad bizarre claims. It is Q-Anon Australian-style, replete with the red ensign waving while the blue ensign appears alongside it, upside down, the international semaphoric symbol of distress. Q-Australia’s adherents don’t babble about the Clintons or the Obamas. Rather they impute Scott Morrison, Greg Hunt, and Dan Andrews.

The organiser of what’s become known as the Canberra freedom convoy calls himself Ironbark Thunderbolt. Not content with the admittedly impressive sobriquet, Mr Thunderbolt was running around last year serving fake legal documents on Prime Minister Scott Morrison, signing them as “Post-Master General-Commander-in-Chief, Terra Australis-New Holland-and Surrounding Waters, known commonly as Australia.”

His real name is the not-quite-so-exciting James Edward Greer.

Those who have become used to sov-cit legal mumbo jumbo which turns out to be just about everyone from the Governor-General to a 16-year-old girl working a shift at the local pharmacy accused of treason, will recognise the gibberish:

“Notice to agent is notice to principal. Notice to principal is notice to agent.”

The Canberra assembly began as a lazy pinch of Canada’s truck convoy to Ottawa. For a little while the Australian protest even appropriated the Canadian moniker for protesters – “Yellow Vests” which in turn had been swiped from the French – but the colour coding doesn’t quite cut it in Australia where the preferred nomenclature is fluoro.

While the Canadian truck convoy blocked streets and briefly caused mayhem in the Canadian capital last weekend, in Australia, the parliamentary lawns have become home to just a handful of trucks and at least one of those went only for a sneaky peek and then took off to Melbourne. It turns out truck drivers have jobs, things to do, better places to be. This forced a quick rebranding of the Truck Convoy to Canberra to now become the Convoy for Freedom.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15525504 (020810ZFEB22) Notable: PDF: Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers say juror ‘violated’ her right to fair trial, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: 0001.jpg, 0002.jpg, 0003.jpg, 0004.jpg, 0005.jpg

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>>130686

Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers say juror ‘violated’ her right to fair trial

Ben Feuerherd and Kenneth Garger - February 1, 2022

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Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal team claimed Tuesday the juror at the center of their retrial request “violated” the convicted madam’s right to a fair trial with his jury questionnaire responses.

Maxwell’s lawyers also said the juror “corrupted the voir dire” — the process during jury selection when the judge and attorneys question potential jurors to determine if they can be impartial in the case.

The claims were included in a Tuesday letter from Maxwell’s attorneys to Judge Alison Nathan arguing why their motion for a new trial should remain sealed.

Maxwell’s attorneys called for a new trial last month after the juror revealed he had been sexually abused as a child in a number of press interviews after the trial.

The juror, identified by his first and middle names, Scotty David, said he couldn’t recall how he answered questions about past sex abuse that were posed to potential panelists in a questionnaire before the trial.

David told Reuters that he “flew through” the questionnaire, but was sure that he answered the question truthfully.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15534240 (030735ZFEB22) Notable: COVID-19 hospitalisations fall in NSW and Victoria as nation records 84 further deaths, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_health_staff_member_is_seen_administering_a_COVID_19_test_in_Melbourne.jpg

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>>130407

COVID-19 hospitalisations fall in NSW and Victoria as nation records 84 further deaths

SBS News - 3 February 2022

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Another 72 people have died from COVID-19 across New South Wales and Victoria, while hospitalisations continue to fall.

Victoria recorded 34 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, while NSW reported 38. There were also nine deaths recorded in Queensland, and one in each of the Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania.

There are currently 2,578 patients with COVID-19 in NSW hospitals, with the number having fallen for the third straight day.

Some 160 people with COVID-19 are in intensive care units, down from 170 on Wednesday.

In Victoria, there are 752 people in hospital — a number that has dropped each day for the past week. The state has 82 people in intensive care - 17 fewer than on Wednesday.

NSW recorded 12,632 new cases of COVID-19, while Victoria reported 12,157 new infections.

The NSW government has warned that cases could rise as children return to school.

Premier Dominic Perrottet has challenged those questioning the return of students to classrooms.

Many students had lost one-quarter of their face-to-face learning during the pandemic, he said on Wednesday.

"We cannot ruin our children's future," he said.

While the school year will have "bumps along the way" it was the "right thing to do".

"We have a duty as a government, we have a duty as a people, to ensure our kids are given better opportunities than we had," he said.

Meanwhile, most Queenslanders who have had COVID-19 don't know they were positive and haven't been tested, a state government study shows.

The survey was revealed as the state recorded another nine virus deaths, including four people in aged care, and 8643 new cases on Thursday.

"There will be families out there grieving today and tonight," Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said on Thursday.

The survey involved health workers visiting random homes on the Gold Coast over consecutive weekends in January, and testing the occupants.

On 22 January, when the virus wave was at its peak in the region, 20 out of 117 people came back positive from PCR tests.

Only four of those 20 were showing symptoms, Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said.

"There were people walking around the Gold Coast who had no idea they have COVID-19 ... hence the importance of masks even when you feel well," he said.

The survey was repeated the following weekend, when 11 out of 143 people tested positive.

Of those, six reported having symptoms.

Dr Gerard said the first-of-its-kind survey was important to gauge the how the pandemic would continue to affect communities on Australian shores.

"This feeds into data that will be collected nationally to try and work out where we are going with this pandemic," he said.

"So we're trying to work out how many, what proportion of the population has actually been infected and what degree of immunity that has created in the community and what will happen in the future in terms of whether there will be further waves in the community."

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15534448 (030829ZFEB22) Notable: SAS soldier accused of ‘lying’ after telling court Ben Roberts-Smith involved in two war crime killings, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Victoria_Cross_recipient_Ben_Roberts_Smith_arrives_at_the_Federal_Court_in_Sydney_for_his_defamation_hearing_against_Nine_newspapers.jpg, Ben_Roberts_Smith_lawyers_including_Arthur_Moses_pictured_centre_as_they_arrive_at_Federal_court_in_Sydney.jpg, Photographs_taken_by_the_SAS_during_the_raid_on_Whiskey_108.jpg

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>>130713

SAS soldier accused of ‘lying’ after telling court Ben Roberts-Smith involved in two war crime killings

PERRY DUFFIN - FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Ben Roberts-Smith’s lawyers have accused his former SAS squadmate of “lying” and asked whether he “enjoys killing people” after the top-secret witness accused Mr Roberts-Smith of involvement in two alleged war crime murders.

The unnamed SAS soldier, who remains in active service, told the court Mr Roberts-Smith had shot one Afghan prisoner with a short burst of machine gun fire during a raid on a Taliban compound known as Whiskey 108.

The SAS witness, known in court as Person 41, claimed Mr Roberts-Smith had ordered a junior soldier shoot another detained Afghan at point blank range in a courtyard just a few minutes earlier in the 2009 raid.

Mr Roberts-Smith denies those accusations and is suing Nine newspapers for defamation saying they falsely portrayed him as a war criminal.

His lawyers had a chance to cross-examine Nine’s first SAS witness in the Federal Court trial on Thursday morning.

Barrister Arthur Moses SC spent the day questioning Person 41’s recollections, memories and claims of the Whiskey 108 raid.

He accused the SAS soldier of lying about details including when Person 41 claimed another soldier had called out in English as they searched for Taliban in Whiskey 108.

“You’re just making this up aren’t you? You’re lying,” Mr Moses said.

“I’m not lying,” Person 41 said.

Person 41 said he never reported the Whiskey 108 killings because he wanted to “tow the line” and has claimed speaking out in the SAS could unravel a soldier’s career.

“The reason you didn’t report (the killings) to your patrol commander is that it didn’t happen,” Mr Moses said.

“That’s incorrect - I know what I saw,” The SAS witness replied.

The SAS witness agreed with Mr Moses that he felt guilt and shame following the events of Whiskey 108.

But he disagreed he felt like a “coward” because he didn’t stop the alleged murders.

“I was happy to put it in the back of my memory and carry on with the rest of my life,” the SAS witness said.

The SAS witness agreed he’d have flashbacks or memories just a few times a year until newspapers and the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force began investigating and reporting on the allegations of SAS war crimes.

Then the memories increased - he is now diagnosed with anxiety in part because of the court case, the SAS soldier told Justice Anthony Besanko.

Mr Moses has highlighted contradictions between the versions of the events put forward by the SAS witness and Nine’s court documents.

Specifically, Nine does not claim Mr Roberts-Smith ordered the killing of the detained Afghan - rather the newspapers claim he did not intervene to stop the alleged murder.

The SAS witness claimed Mr Roberts-Smith had marched the detainee over to a soldier known as Person 4, kicked the elderly Afghan in the legs to make him kneel and then instructed his squadmate to “shoot him”.

The SAS witness told the court Person 4 had borrowed his suppressor to shoot the Afghan in the head and he had stepped out of the room while the detainee was killed.

Nine alleges a soldier known as Person 5 ordered the killing - but the SAS witness did not identify Person 5 as being present in the courtyard.

Mr Roberts-Smith has totally denied he ordered the shooting which has come to be known as the “blooding of the rookie”.

It’s not disputed Mr Roberts-Smith shot the second man at Whiskey 108 but the Victoria Cross recipient said the man was armed and moving quickly outside the compound.

He flatly denies machine gunning the man while he lay on the ground unarmed, as alleged by both Nine and the SAS witness.

The man had a prosthetic leg which was taken back to the SAS base and displayed in a make-shift pub known as the Fat Ladies Arms.

Many of the SAS soldiers, including Person 41, drank from the leg which became a trophy, the court has heard.

The SAS witness said he began to feel shame about drinking from the leg once it emerged in the press because it wasn’t the right thing to do.

Mr Moses asked Person 41 about whether the media reports had brought back “bad memories” but the SAS witness said he had only good memories of his time in Afghanistan.

“You enjoyed killing people?” Mr Moses asked.

“I wouldn’t say I enjoy it - but it’s part of my job,” Person 41 replied.

The trial continues.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/sas-soldier-accused-of-lying-after-telling-court-ben-robertssmith-involved-in-two-war-crime-killings/news-story/fd1c90e7be058f6b2a4e7499e6e7907c

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15534496 (030842ZFEB22) Notable: Trying to get your head around QAnon and Lizard People? This book will help - QAnon and On: A Short and Shocking History of Internet Conspiracy Cults by Van Badham - Cameron Woodhead - theage.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_supporter_of_Q_Anon_conspiracy_theorists_holds_a_sign_during_protests_in_the_US.jpg, QAnon_and_On_A_Short_and_Shocking_History_of_Internet_Conspiracy_Cults_Van_Badham.jpg

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>>130633

Trying to get your head around QAnon and Lizard People? This book will help

Cameron Woodhead - February 3, 2022

QAnon and On: A Short and Shocking History of Internet Conspiracy Cults, Van Badham, Hardie Grant, $32.99

Sitting at a vaccination centre this summer, the man next to me opened the same book I was reading. We were both halfway through Van Badham’s QAnon and On – a lurid and distressing account of internet conspiracy cults – and couldn’t resist a curious side-eye. A half-smile. A brief conspiracy of anti-conspiracists, acknowledging we were on the same page.

Even for we the sheeple, it seems, there’s solidarity to be found in like-minded strangers, and a coincidence is less interesting than a story.

These two verities may be shockingly mundane, but taken to extremes they can sustain bizarre beliefs, and they’re crucial to Badham’s argument that those who succumb to conspiracist thinking promulgated online are seeking, first and foremost, to satisfy basic human needs – that “what appears to be an intellectual … problem is actually one of socialisation”.

But surely, you might think, only the totally wacko could subscribe to the central tenets of QAnon? After all, adherents believe the world’s cultural and political elites have been infiltrated by a shadowy network of Satan-worshipping paedophiles, hell-bent on raping children and drinking their blood. And that’s before we get to the Lizard People walking among us.

Well, they can’t all be mad. QAnon now has chapters in more than 70 countries and, as Badham points out, pandemic lockdowns have brought – at a time of social crisis – a much broader swathe of the population into proximity with internet rabbit holes and uncensored image boards such as 4chan (and its successor 8kun) where the conspiracy first spawned.

Its influence has spilled over into mainstream politics, from the outrageous invasion of the Capitol building in Washington on January 6, 2021 – Donald Trump is regarded by believers as something of a champion – to the perplexing insertion of the phrase “ritual sexual abuse” into Scott Morrison’s national apology to survivors and victims of institutional child abuse in 2018. (To be clear, the Prime Minister has explicitly rejected the assertion that his language was influenced by QAnonner friends, and indeed any association with the conspiracy and its beliefs.)

Badham’s book has two cardinal virtues for readers looking to get their heads around this mess. The first is in tracing QAnon’s origins – not simply from the first posts of the cult’s mysterious prophet Q, but through predecessor conspiracies such as Gamergate and Pizzagate.

She is careful to include the pre-internet existence of conspiracist thinking – the witch panics of the early modern period, or the medieval “blood libel” against the Jews – and shows how their ideas have been recycled into a hyper-conspiracy for the 21st century.

Contemporary gaming culture plays a disturbingly prominent role, too. The misogynist Gamergate harassment campaign from 2014 turned female games critics into “feminist folk villains” and was an early demonstration of the vile power of social media to whip up hateful mobs targeting individuals.

Badham claims Trump’s media svengali Steve Bannon learnt the power of online communities early and first-hand when disgruntled World of Warcraft players banded together to sink an investment he’d made.

And the playful, ironic embrace of conspiracy memes by gamer nerds provided a rich source of material for those with less innocuous intentions. It is not clear – and probably never will be – whether QAnon arose as a form of live-action role-playing, a collaborative hoax between bored strangers online that the credulous and the vulnerable took seriously.

The second strength of the book is the way it humanises those who fall victim to internet conspiracies. Badham goes to great lengths to get into the minds of, say, the QAnonners who died during the riot at the Capitol in 2021, or Edgar Maddison Welch, who shot up a pizza restaurant in 2016, believing Hillary Clinton had kidnapped children and was torturing them in the basement.

If there are weaknesses, they lie primarily in the fact that outlandish narrative history can sometimes overwhelm the analysis and, relatedly, that Badham has chosen to reproduce verbatim (sometimes without justification) a slew of the most outrageous and unhinged posts the internet has to offer.

That tactic will sell more copies – sensationalism always sells more copies – but it seems ethically dubious when the author has taken an otherwise high-minded approach to a dangerous modern phenomenon that should concern us all.

https://www.theage.com.au/culture/books/trying-to-get-your-head-around-qanon-and-lizard-people-this-book-will-help-20220131-p59sms.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15534519 (030848ZFEB22) Notable: Australian Jewish communal leaders urge Israeli Court to reject Yaakov Litzman plea deal, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Yaakov_Litzman_last_July.jpg

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>>130731

>>130732

Court urged to reject Litzman deal

ZEDDY LAWRENCE - February 3, 2022

Communal leaders are fuming following reports that Israel’s former deputy health minister Yaakov Litzman has signed a plea deal after being charged with using his position to thwart the extradition of accused child sex offender Malka Leifer.

It was revealed last Thursday that the obstruction of justice charge would be dropped in favour of an admission of breach of trust and, avoiding a jail term, he would simply be sentenced to probation, as well as a fine of NIS 3000 (approximately $1300).

Litzman had been accused of pressuring those evaluating Leifer’s fitness to face extradition proceedings to change their reports.

President of the Zionist Federation of Australia Jeremy Leibler said, “If Yaakov Litzman has pled guilty to a charge of breach of trust … it is difficult to comprehend how a small fine and suspended sentence delivers justice to the survivors of Leifer’s alleged abuse.

“While we respect the Israeli judicial process, we urge the court which must approve the deal to have regard to the impact that Litzman’s alleged conduct has had and continues to have on the public’s confidence in the integrity of Israel’s elected officials.”

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry was equally disheartened with co-CEO Peter Wertheim lamenting, “We are thankful that Israel finally extradited Leifer to Australia after seven years of extradition proceedings. But for how many years were those proceedings wrongfully prolonged, to the added distress and anxiety of the survivors of Leifer’s alleged abuse, as a consequence of Yaakov Litzman misusing his former position … to thwart the extradition?

“Any interference in the course of justice by a government minister is an abuse of power of the utmost gravity. For the sake of Israel’s good name and the high reputation of its system of justice, such abuse needs to be punished with appropriate severity. A fine and a suspended sentence … fall well short of the mark … No judge should approve it.”

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein concurred, stating, “It is a truth in both secular and Jewish jurisprudence that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done, and neither of these requirements would seem to be fulfilled here.

“This result can only add to the trauma of Malka Leifer’s alleged victims … Their distress will be shared by the Australian Jewish community as a whole, which has followed and admired their inspirational fight for justice.”

Leifer, who was extradited to Australia last year, has pleaded not guilty to at least 70 charges relating to child sexual abuse allegedly occurring at Melbourne’s Adass Israel School between 2004 and 2008.

https://www.australianjewishnews.com/court-urged-to-reject-litzman-deal/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15534535 (030855ZFEB22) Notable: Sex offender and former Hey Dad! actor Robert Hughes to be considered for parole, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Sex_offender_Robert_Hughes_will_be_considered_for_parole_next_week.jpg, Former_Hey_Dad_actor_Robert_Hughes_will_be_considered_for_parole.jpg

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Sex offender and former actor Robert Hughes to be considered for parole

ANTON NILSSON - FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Sex offender Robert Hughes will be considered for parole next week.

February 10 will be the third time the disgraced former Hey Dad! star’s case is heard by parole authorities.

His release has been denied twice since his non-parole period expired in 2020.

Hughes was sentenced to ten years and nine months in prison for ten sexual offences against four victims who were all aged under 16.

The crimes were committed in the 1980s and 90s.

The former sitcom actor has renounced his Australian citizenship and would be deported to the UK if he was granted parole, the NSW State Parole Authority said.

In 2020, Hughes withdrew an application for an international prisoner transfer to the UK.

If that application had been granted he would have had to “serve a further period of his head sentence in the UK before release to parole, with supervision and monitoring by UK authorities”, the NSW SPA said.

When his parole was denied last year, the NSW SPA said releasing him would “not meet the community safety test”.

Prisoners in NSW do not have to apply for parole; instead their cases are automatically considered once a year after their non-parole periods have expired.

Hughes’ sentence expires on January 6, 2025.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/sex-offender-and-former-actor-robert-hughes-to-be-considered-for-parole/news-story/f37e809cd21ece6fcc9a2005bbaac7b1

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15534577 (030906ZFEB22) Notable: Grant Harden: Child sex offender to be sentenced as part of Operation Arkstone - Paedophile Grant Harden drugged kids as young as five before abusing them and even boasted he assaulted a child while they were in hospital for surgery, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Grant_Harden_faced_Downing_Centre_on_Thursday_for_sentence.jpg, Grant_Harden_was_29_when_he_was_arrested.jpg, Harden_with_his_head_in_his_hands_after_being_arrested.jpg

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Grant Harden: Child sex offender to be sentenced as part of Operation Arkstone

Paedophile Grant Harden drugged kids as young as five before abusing them and even boasted he assaulted a child while they were in hospital for surgery.

Clare Sibthorpe - February 3, 2022

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A court has heard how paedophile Grant Harden invited children as young as five over to his home for “sex party” sleepovers and often drugged them before the abuse.

The sickening details were revealed in court as the former soccer coached faced sentence for more than 150 child sex offences against seven victims.

The St Clair man was arrested in 2020 and last July pleaded guilty to 179 charges of child sex abuse.

This included 16 counts of having sex with a child under the age of 10 and sharing videos of the abuse with fellow paedophiles online.

He was due to be sentenced at the Downing Centre Court on Thursday but Judge Sarah Huggett decided she needed more time.

He will next appear on Monday.

At the sentencing hearing the prosecution repeated agreed facts tendered by police, which Harden did not dispute.

Among his despicable acts included inviting children as young as five over to his home for what he called “sex party” sleepovers, drugging them with sleeping tablets before abusing them and on one occasion telling someone in a group chat that he had assaulted a child while they were in hospital for surgery.

On several occasions, he would bribe children with gifts and rewards in video games to groom them into engaging in the abuse.

The prosecutor explained how he used several chat platforms including Snapchat to lure in fellow paedophiles and trade child sex abuse material, which sometimes involved torture. Through these chats, he exchanged hundreds of videos and other types of abusive content with several people. In the four days before Harden was arrested alone, he exchanged child abuse material with 148 snapchat users.

When asked how he felt about receiving videos of a violent nature, he said it “made him feel better” about what he was doing with his victims because he claimed his abuse was less severe.

Some of the material exchanged was so explicit and revolting that the prosecutor warned the court anyone attending may want to leave or those attending virtually may want to mute proceedings as she detailed them.

Earlier in the day a mum of one of his victims spoke of the devastating impact his offending has had on her son.

She struggled to hold back tears throughout reading the victim impact statement, which detailed that her son did not understand why his mother was always upset.

“After initially processing that you’ve been arrested and the realisation he could be one of your victims, he had to watch me crying every day, hear secret conversations on the phone.. and me just telling him I was having a sad day,” she said.

“Because of what you did, I have no trust left for anyone.

“He doesn’t go to play dates, sleepovers, birthday parties.

“He will not have the childhood he deserves because you annihilated my trust.

“His relationship with me is strained and different because I won’t let him do the things that normal nine-year-old can do. He gets angry at me for saying no to things and he doesn’t understand why.”

The woman said she will not allow her son to be at risk again and therefore he is a “very lonely boy”.

“He won’t have the childhood and memories that he should be able to have because of what you did to him. Because of you.”

In contrast to the victim’s mother, Harden did not become emotional when answering questions from the judge.

Judge Huggett asked Harden why one of the children he abused was taking melatonin, and asked: “Did you utilise melatonin to facilitate your offending?”

Harden claimed he and the child’s mother “got it from the doctor because he was having trouble sleeping”.

Judge Huggett asked why he had mentioned another sleep-inducing drug, phenergan, in group chats, to which he responded: “I said lots of things in chats… sometimes it was to make the people I was talking to more favourable.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15542085 (040807ZFEB22) Notable: Australia may use defence forces to help COVID-hit aged-care sector, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: An_Australian_Defence_Force_member_watches_over_a_coronavirus_disease_COVID_19_vaccination_clinic_at_the_Bankstown_Sports_Club_as_the_city_experiences_an_extended_lockdown_in_Sydney_Australia_August_3_2021.jpg

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>>130407

Australia may use defence forces to help COVID-hit aged-care sector

Sam McKeith - February 4, 2022

SYDNEY, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Australia could use its defence forces to help manage a COVID-19 outbreak in the aged-care sector that has stretched staffing and forced many homes into lockdowns, the prime minister said on Friday as national infection numbers remained on a downtrend.

The government has come under pressure over the spread of the Omicron variant in aged-care homes, with Richard Colbeck, minister for senior Australians and aged care services, drawing criticism after he attended a cricket match instead of appearing before a parliamentary committee looking into the outbreaks.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he had asked the ministers of defence and health to see how defence forces could support care homes, where many staff have had to isolate because of infections.

Morrison said about 560 aged-care residents had died since Omicron hit in late 2021.

He told reporters the defence force was not a "shadow workforce" for the sector and cautioned against "simple solutions to complex problems" but said they had to consider options.

"When you're the prime minister, and the minister for health and aged care, and the minister for defence, you have to deal with practical options that work," he said.

The Australian Defence Force has been involved in managing the pandemic response, with a lieutenant general put in charge of the vaccine rollout and troops made part of the monitoring of lockdowns in big cities.

Total daily COVID-19 infections dipped across Australia on Friday and were on track to be the lowest in more than a month, with about 30,000 new cases logged in the biggest states.

With some states still to report figures, a total of 81 deaths had been reported on Friday.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-may-use-defence-forces-help-covid-hit-aged-care-sector-2022-02-04/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15542095 (040811ZFEB22) Notable: Second SAS soldier claims captured one-legged Afghan shot by Australian soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ben_Roberts_Smith_arrives_in_court_on_Friday.jpg, SAS_photographs_of_the_raid_on_Whiskey_108.png

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>>130713

Second SAS soldier claims captured one-legged Afghan shot by Australian soldier

PERRY DUFFIN - FEBRUARY 4, 2022

A second SAS soldier has told a court he watched a captured Afghan thrown to the ground and killed with a burst of machine gun fire - and claimed the man later spotted carrying the weapon was decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith.

The SAS soldier, known only as Person 14, is the second member of the elite unit to testify against the Victoria Cross recipient in the defamation trial of the century in the Federal Court.

Mr Roberts-Smith has denied allegations by Nine newspapers that he either killed or was involved in the murders of six unarmed, captured Afghans during various missions while deployed.

He is suing the newspapers saying they falsely portrayed him as a war criminal and Nine, this week, has begun calling witnesses it says support the allegations.

Person 14 told the court he was the first soldier to advance on a series of suspected Taliban compounds known as Whiskey 108 and Whiskey 109 in April 2009.

He recounted trudging through water, over rickety bridges and through poppy fields under grey skies toward Whiskey 108 when “fighting age male” Afghans appeared.

The first Afghan male did not spot Person 14’s SAS troupe and disappeared into the poppy fields - the second was not so fortunate and Person 14 shot him twice.

A bomb was dropped on the roof of Whiskey 108 before SAS assault teams stormed in to clear out the remaining combatants, the court has heard.

Person 14 said the last light was fading when he heard heavy footsteps stomping to his right.

“As I turned my head to my right, there were three Australian soldiers and a black object, which was similar to a human, that was thrown to the ground,” Person 14 told the court on Friday.

Person 14 said the person thudded as they hit the ground and they made an “expulsion of air” noise that sounded as though they were winded.

“Then a soldier raised their Minimi F89 Para and fired an extended burst,” Person 14 said, naming the “distinctive” machine gun carried by only some SAS troops.

“It was loud like BRRRRRT for one second.”

“I was like okay, and that person turned and walked away out of sight back into Whiskey 108.”

Person 14 told the court he couldn’t tell who had just unloaded the machine gun into the Afghan as everyone was wet, in military uniform and with painted faces.

But, he told the court, he recognised the distinctive camouflage face paint of one particular SAS patrol.

“Later I saw who had the Para Minimi (machine gun),” Person 14 told the court.

“It was Ben Roberts-Smith.”

Person 14 said he had put on his night vision goggles and looked down at the Afghan - he was older with short hair, gunshot wounds in the centre of his body and with perhaps blood coming out his mouth and nose.

The dead man also had a prosthetic leg, Person 14 said.

Person 14 has become the second SAS witness in as many days to accuse Mr Roberts-Smith of machine gunning that Afghan outside Whiskey 108 in similar terms.

Person 41, on Thursday, doubled down on his accusations that Mr Roberts-Smith pushed the man onto the ground, flipped him onto his stomach and fired the Minmi machine gun into his back.

Mr Roberts-Smith has strenuously and repeatedly denied that is how the Afghan died - the SAS veteran says he shot and killed the man who was hurrying outside the compound armed with a rifle.

Mr Roberts-Smith has told the court every single person he killed in Afghanistan was shot within the lawful rules of engagement.

His lawyers questioned Person 41 and accused him of lying and being unable to distinguish fact from fiction in his account of the Afghan killing.

Both Person 14 and Person 41 have given evidence in the defamation trial after Justice Anthony Besanko issued them “immunity” certificates that prevent the evidence being used to prosecute them in Australian courts.

Person 14’s lawyer, on Friday, said his client objected to giving evidence on the shooting because it could implicate him as an accessory to murder.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/second-sas-soldier-claims-captured-onelegged-afghan-shot-by-australian-soldier/news-story/fb227abcb8626e8d9b3509b80ad54660

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15542120 (040819ZFEB22) Notable: Cardinal George Pell blesses former PM Tony Abbott’s new CBD offices, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Cardinal_George_Pell_offered_words_of_wisdom_a_bible_reading_and_a_prayer.jpg, NSW_Premier_Dominic_Perrottet_was_present_at_the_blessing_of_Tony_Abbott_s_new_office.jpg

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Cardinal George Pell blesses former PM Tony Abbott’s new CBD offices

Liberal luminaries including John Howard and Dominic Perrottet joined together in prayer as Cardinal George Pell blessed Tony Abbott’s new digs.

James Morrow - February 3, 2022

Alright, so it wasn’t quite American fire and brimstone preacher Billy Graham sitting down for a deep and meaningful with Roman Catholic pontiff Pope John Paul II.

But a blessing by Cardinal George Pell upon the new CBD digs of former prime minister Tony Abbott and all who work within its walls did perhaps more to bridge the old Catholic-Protestant divide in Australian public life since James Scullin was sent to the Lodge.

Midway through the evening, a jovial affair that saw fellow former PM John Howard pop in as well as current NSW Premier Dom Perrottet and a number of other Liberal luminaries, His Eminence asked those assembled to pause and bow their heads.

After a few words of wisdom and a reading from St Paul essentially urging everyone to get to work and stick to their knitting – good advice for people of all faiths, or none, really – guests were asked to join in saying those familiar words, “Our Father, who art in heaven …”.

But while the room’s Catholic faction stopped at “and deliver us from evil”, the Anglicans continued, as is their tradition: “ … for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever …”.

Predictable ecumenical hilarity ensued, with both camps having such a laugh at the old tribal divide rearing its head that the Cardinal had to settle the crowd like an unruly classroom before getting a unanimous “Amen”.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/cardinal-george-pell-blesses-former-pm-tony-abbotts-new-cbd-offices/news-story/bfa58a1ea5e63e8cc0f02d0b265cb999

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15542271 (040932ZFEB22) Notable: Sex in the bathroom: What allegedly happened moments after infamous Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre photo, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: This_photograph_of_Virginia_Giuffre_then_Roberts_with_Prince_Andrew_and_Ghislaine_Maxwell_set_the_wheels_in_motion_for_allegations_that_the_Prince_sexually_assaulted_her_to_be_made_public.jpg, Prince_Andrew_salutes_military_personnel_in_2015_before_being_stripped_of_his_titles_last_month_as_the_civil_case_brought_against_him_by_Virginia_Giuffre_for_sexual_assault_advanced.jpg, Jeffrey_Epstein_and_Ghislaine_Maxwell_pictured_at_a_benefit_concert_in_2005_lured_girls_as_young_as_14_into_a_sex_trafficking_ring_for_the_rich_and_powerful.jpg

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>>130639

Sex in the bathroom: What allegedly happened moments after infamous prince photo

Prince Andrew smiles, his arm wrapped around Virginia Giuffre’s tiny teenage waist as Ghislaine Maxwell beams in the background. Here is what is alleged to have happened in the moments after that now infamous photo was taken.

Leisa Scott - February 4, 2022

1/6

She handed her “little yellow Kodak camera” to her boss and he took that photograph.

The one with Prince Andrew, Duke of York, smiling, his arm wrapped around her tiny teenage waist. The one with society gal, Ghislaine Maxwell, tanned and relaxed, beaming in the background. The one with her, Virginia Roberts, now Giuffre, at the centre of it all.

And the Floridian teenage “sex slave” turned Australian mum has been smack-bang in the middle of one of the biggest sex-trafficking scandals to hit the globe ever since releasing that photograph 11 years ago.

Something beastly lurked behind those smiles, says Giuffre, now 38.

Moments after the photo was taken in March 2001, the then 17-year-old did what her boss and Maxwell expected of her, what she had been trained to do. She escorted the third child of Queen Elizabeth into a bathroom, took her clothes off, then his, and after foreplay in the bath, had sex with him.

Prince Andrew, 61, denies that, claims to have no memory of meeting her and has suggested the photograph was faked.

Last week, the Prince requested a jury trial in a civil claim brought by Giuffre, elevating the prospect of the world seeing the royal in a US court.

She alleges he “committed sexual assault and battery” against her and is seeking punitive damages for the “physical and psychological injuries” caused after three alleged liaisons with him.

It’s alleged he knew she was trafficked.

Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, is behind bars. On December 29 last year, the daughter of one-time media mogul, the late Robert Maxwell, was convicted in the US federal court on five sex trafficking-related counts. She is set to receive her sentence in June but has requested a retrial.

And the man behind the camera? That was Jeffrey Epstein, the former hedge fund manager and billionaire who, after already striking a controversial sentencing deal in 2008 after pleading guilty to procuring a child for prostitution, was arrested on July 6, 2019, on sex-trafficking charges.

A month later, the 66-year-old was found dead in his cell, the cause of death recorded as suicide. Many suspect he was murdered.

As the years of lies and manipulation caught up with Epstein and Maxwell in the US, as Prince Andrew limps along in the UK as a royal in disgrace, Virginia Giuffre has been living, for the most part, in Australia; first Sydney and the NSW Central Coast, then Cairns, and now Perth.

Her two years of being passed around by Epstein and Maxwell to their high-society friends like a trinket ended in late 2002, after a whirlwind romance in Thailand with Australian Robert Giuffre.

She followed him home and Australia, wrote Giuffre in an unpublished, semi-fictionalised memoir titled The Billionaire’s Playboy Club, became her haven. She put her jetsetting, drug and orgy-filled life behind her and started again.

For more than eight years, while living in Sydney and then the NSW hamlet of Glenning Valley, she hid her past from all but Robert.

She worked for about a year at recruitment firm ET Australia on the NSW Central Coast before becoming a mum to Christian in 2006, then another boy, then a daughter in 2010. Her old world was behind her.

But after Epstein’s guilty plea in 2008 and Giuffre being advised by the US Attorney’s Office that she’d been identified as a potential victim, she began legal action anonymously.

Then, after photographs of Epstein and Prince Andrew together in New York’s Central Park in 2010 emerged, Giuffre spoke out about Epstein.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15542333 (041000ZFEB22) Notable: realghislaine.com - Website maintained by Ghislaine Maxwell's family disappears - "Looks Like This Domain Isn't Connected To A Website Yet!" - 4 February 2022, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: realghislaine_com.jpg

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>>130548

>>130686

realghislaine.com

(4 February 2022)

Looks Like This Domain Isn't Connected To A Website Yet!

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Connect it to your Wix website in just a few easy steps:

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https://www.realghislaine.com/

https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.realghislaine.com/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15550954 (050740ZFEB22) Notable: Queensland has deadliest day of pandemic, Victoria records 41 deaths while NSW reports drop in COVID-19 cases, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Drive_through_COVID_19_testing_clinic_at_Bondi_Beach_in_Sydney.jpg

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>>130407

Queensland has deadliest day of pandemic, Victoria records 41 deaths while NSW reports drop in COVID-19 cases

The 21 deaths in Queensland are the highest reported in the state on a single day throughout the pandemic.

SBS News - 5 February 2022

Victoria has reported 41 further COVID-19-related deaths on Saturday, as the daily number of cases fell to four figures for the first time in a month.

Authorities in the state recorded 7,810 new cases in the most recent reporting period, down from 11,240 on Friday.

The number of people in hospital dropped from 707 to 687 over the past 24 hours, but intensive care admissions increased by one to 80.

Queensland's health department said 21 deaths had been recorded, the highest daily tally throughout the pandemic.

There are 727 people in hospital - a decline from the 798 on Friday - while the number of people in ICU dropped by six to 46.

New South Wales reported 18 deaths and 8,389 new COVID-19 cases, down from 10,698 on Friday.

There are currently 2,337 patients in hospitals across the state, down from 2,494 on Friday, and 152 in ICU.

The last time NSW recorded a daily case rate of less than 10,000 was 28 December.

Surgery to resume

The new numbers come as the NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced elective surgery will return ahead of schedule in NSW after hospitalisations fell in the past few days.

Hospitals are operating "well within capacity", opening the door for those surgeries to resume in private hospitals and non-metropolitan public hospitals next week, Mr Perrottet said on Friday.

The decision to cancel elective surgery was made in the second week of January, as the number of daily COVID-19 cases reached more than 38,000.

A review into how hospitals were functioning had previously been slated for mid-February, but advice from NSW Health now says private, regional and rural public hospitals can return to up to 75 per cent of pre-pandemic activity on Monday.

Waiting times for elective surgery can stretch as long as seven weeks, with hospitals backlogged with bookings from previous cancellations over 2020.

What's happening elsewhere?

The ACT recorded one death, the 28th of the pandemic in the territory, and 372 new cases.

It is the lowest daily case number since 31 December, and 63 people are in hospital and one in ICU.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-records-81-more-covid-19-deaths-case-numbers-fall-in-nsw-and-victoria/e7109490-53b8-47aa-83bf-052aace89ffb

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15550983 (050752ZFEB22) Notable: Convoy to Canberra marches on Old Parliament House to protest against vaccine mandates, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Protesters_from_the_Convoy_to_Canberra_march_towards_the_Parliamentary_Triangle.jpg, Crowds_at_the_Convoy_to_Canberra_rally_at_Old_Parliament_House.jpg

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Convoy to Canberra marches on Old Parliament House to protest against vaccine mandates

Cameron Gooley - February 5, 2022

Thousands of people marched from Canberra’s CBD to Old Parliament House on Saturday as part of a convoy protesting against government COVID-19 restrictions such as vaccination mandates.

The marchers, many carrying Australian and Eureka Stockade flags, were joined by trucks on roads as they marched through the city.

Victorian man Mark Anania said he’d joined the Convoy to Canberra protests to fight vaccination mandates.

“We’re here for our freedoms,” he said. “We’re from Victoria, we’ve been through just about every rally in Victoria and we’ve come down yesterday just in the spur of the moment.”

“Stayed in our car overnight and like most people here we’ve been out of work since October, and just fighting for our rights as human beings to be able to choose whether or not we want to take a vaccine,” he said.

The Convoy to Canberra rally originally arrived in Canberra on Monday morning, when thousands of people gathered at Parliament House.

Participants had spent the last week camping on the Patrick White lawns out the front of the National Library, but were evicted from the site by ACT Police and the Australian Federal Police on Friday.

Many protesters moved peacefully to the Canberra showgrounds afterwards.

Police also arrested a 44-year-old man after allegedly finding a loaded modified rifle in his vehicle. ACT Police say he is expected to be charged with possession of an illegal firearm.

Authorities have warned that there may be traffic disruptions around Canberra’s CBD and the Parliamentary Triangle in the coming days due to a number of both planned and unplanned protests.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/act/convoy-to-canberra-marches-on-old-parliament-house-to-protest-vaccine-mandates-20220205-p59u1l.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15551303 (051029ZFEB22) Notable: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to meet with Australia, Japan and India in bid to counter China during Olympics, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: US_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_will_travel_to_Australia_next_week.jpg, Australia_s_Foreign_Minister_Marise_Payne_will_host_the_talks.jpg, International_Olympic_Committee_IOC_President_Thomas_Bach_L_greets_China_s_President_Xi_Jinping_R_during_the_opening_ceremony_of_the_Beijing_2022_Winter_Olympic_Games.jpg

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>>130741

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to meet with Australia, Japan and India in bid to counter China during Olympics

Pacific nations including India, Japan and Australia are moving to counter China’s swelling economic, diplomatic and military presence and its emboldened ally.

Megan Palin - February 5, 2022

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has confirmed he will travel to Australia next week for a Quad group ministerial meeting to discuss maritime security and Covid, the State Department announced on Friday.

Starting on Wednesday, Mr Blinken will meet his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan to discuss multiple bilateral and global priorities, as tensions with Russia over Ukraine ratchet up in Europe.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne will host the talks in Melbourne with India’s Foreign Minister, ­Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Japan’s Foreign Minister, Yoshimasa Hay­ashi also scheduled to attend.

China’s threat to stability in the Indo-Pacific is expected to be a major focus of discussion during the two-day meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) foreign ministers.

China has previously denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct and a clique “targeting other countries”.

“With our Quad partners, we are delivering results for our populations and the region, including by advancing co-operation on Covid-19 vaccination delivery, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, maritime security, counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, countering disinformation, climate change, and critical and emerging technologies,” according to the State Department.

Joe Biden held an in-person summit at the White House last September with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan as they highlighted the Quad’s role in safeguarding a stable, democratic Asia-Pacific.

Mr Blinken – who is the US President’s top diplomat – will also head to Fiji, in the first visit by a US secretary of state to the island nation since 1985, to discuss what the department called “ways to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific,” using the administration’s term for the Asia-Pacific region.

After Fiji, Mr Blinken will go to Honolulu, Hawaii on February 12 to host a trilateral meeting with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea to “deepen our co-operation in addressing threats from the DPRK’s (North Korea’s) nuclear and missile programs” and other current global “challenges.” China was not mentioned in the statement announcing Blinken’s trip, but the Quad grouping is focused on countering a rising Beijing.

And while the phrase “free and open” was mentioned in the context of the Fiji visit, the wording has become code for expressing the big regional powers’ worry about swelling Chinese economic, diplomatic and military presence – including threats to vital international sea lanes.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/us-secretary-of-state-antony-blinken-to-travel-to-australia-next-week/news-story/5cd901272442bf26a970789a3c09e3d4

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15557996 (060352ZFEB22) Notable: Prince Andrew in bid to cast Virginia Giuffre as sex trafficker - Prince Andrew plans to obtain sworn testimony from Carolyn Andriano, a victim of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein in a high-risk gamble to cast his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, as a key member of the couple’s child sex-trafficking ring, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Virginia_Giuffre_showed_her_friend_Carolyn_Andriano_the_now_infamous_picture_of_her_with_Prince_Andrew_with_Ghislaine_Maxwell_in_the_background.jpg

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>>130639

Prince Andrew in bid to cast Virginia Giuffre as sex trafficker

DIPESH GADHER - FEBRUARY 6, 2022

1/2

Prince Andrew plans to obtain sworn testimony from a victim of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein in a high-risk gamble to cast his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, as a key member of the couple’s child sex-trafficking ring.

Lawyers for the Duke of York are seeking evidence from Carolyn Andriano, who says she was recruited by Giuffre at 14 and trained to give sexual massages.

The proposal to question Andriano under oath could, however, backfire badly because she recently corroborated claims that Giuffre had sex with Andrew at Maxwell’s London home when she was 17. “It’s potentially a double-edged sword,” said a source familiar with the duke’s strategy.

Andrew’s lawyers are searching for other women who may have been recruited by Giuffre while they were under age. “We are interested in speaking with and interviewing anyone and everyone who has information relevant to these allegations,” the source said.

This weekend it emerged that Andrew, 61, has agreed to be questioned by Giuffre’s lawyers in London on March 10.

However, Giuffre, who lives in Australia, has yet to agree to a date when she can be interviewed under oath by the duke’s defence team. Giuffre, now 38, who is also known by her maiden name, Virginia Roberts, is seeking millions of pounds in damages from Andrew after accusing him of teenage rape and sexual assault in a civil lawsuit filed in New York.

She claims that he abused her on three occasions in 2001: the incident at Maxwell’s mews house in Belgravia, central London; at Epstein’s mansion in New York; and on the late paedophile financier’s private Caribbean island.

The duke denies the allegations and has sought to get Giuffre’s case thrown out of court on a string of technicalities.

If it ends up going to a jury trial later this year, his lawyers will try to argue that Giuffre does not deserve damages because she was complicit in a “criminal enterprise”, the so-called “unclean hands” defence.

In court papers filed at the end of last month, they stated: “Giuffre’s alleged causes of action are barred in whole or in part by her own wrongful conduct and the doctrine of unclean hands.”

The decision to seek a deposition from Andriano is likely to form a key plank of this strategy. If she refuses to co-operate, she could be held in contempt of court and fined or even jailed.

Now aged 35 and living in Florida, Andriano was one of four accusers who helped to convict Maxwell on five charges linked to child sex trafficking at a trial in New York in December. The British socialite faces up to 65 years in prison, but has demanded a retrial following claims a juror failed to declare in advance that he had been abused.

The jury believed Andriano’s moving evidence despite a history of drug and alcohol addiction and mental health problems. Testifying under her first name, “Carolyn”, she revealed in court that she first met Maxwell and Epstein at their Palm Beach villa in 2001 after Giuffre, then her friend, asked if she would like to “go and make some money”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15559152 (060829ZFEB22) Notable: Australian PM signals reopening borders to tourists 'not far away', MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Travelers_sit_in_the_international_terminal_of_Kingsford_Smith_International_Airport.jpg

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>>130407

Australian PM signals reopening borders to tourists 'not far away'

Lidia Kelly - February 6, 2022

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday that the reopening of the country's borders to international tourists may not be far away, adding that the parliament will debate the matter this week.

Australia, which shut its borders in March of 2020, has been going through a staggered reopening in recent months, allowing in only its citizens and residents, skilled migrants, international students and certain seasonal workers.

In January, Morrison said he hoped international borders could fully reopen before Easter.

His popularity has been sliding in recent months, however, in part reflecting questions about his handling of the Omicron outbreak, and he faces pressure from a federal election that must be called by May.

While the highly transmissible Omicron variant keeps spreading, hospitalisations and deaths have been stabilising, with News Corp newspapers over the weekend quoting unnamed sources as saying that Australia may reopen its borders within two or three weeks.

"We are looking forward to be able to make that decision to open up our borders and welcome visitors back to Australia again as soon as we safely and possibly can," Morrison said on Sunday. "But I really do not believe that that is far away."

The first 2022 sitting of the Australian parliament is to start on Monday and Morrison said that reopening borders to tourists will be addressed "very early on".

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said in an interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Insiders programme on Sunday that the government is "very close" to deciding.

Australia, which has nearly 95% of the eligible population aged 16 and over double-vaccinated against the coronavirus and nearly nine million people with more than two doses, requires all international travellers to be vaccinated or provide evidence of a medical vaccination exemption to enter the country.

As of midday on Sunday, the country's latest daily reports showed 43 coronavirus-related deaths: 28 in New South Wales state, nine in Queensland and six in Victoria.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australian-pm-signals-reopening-borders-tourists-not-far-away-2022-02-06/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15559170 (060842ZFEB22) Notable: PDF: Ghislaine Maxwell retrial arguments must be public, prosecutors tell judge, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ghislaine_Maxwell_in_court_The_British_former_girlfriend_of_Jeffrey_Epstein_was_convicted_of_sex_trafficking.jpg, 0001.jpg, 0002.jpg

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>>130686

Ghislaine Maxwell retrial arguments must be public, prosecutors tell judge

Materials must be ‘publicly docketed’, judge told, after Maxwell’s lawyers filed detailed arguments for a new trial under seal

Victoria Bekiempis - 6 Feb 2022

1/2

Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal arguments involving the juror who might not have disclosed childhood sexual abuse during jury selection should be public, prosecutors said in a letter Friday.

“The government respectfully submits that the defendant has not justified her sealing request and, accordingly, the defense motion and its exhibits should be publicly docketed,” they told Manhattan federal court judge Alison Nathan.

A jury on 29 December found Maxwell guilty of sex trafficking and related counts for facilitating the late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of minor girls, some as young as 14.

Epstein, himself a convicted sex offender, was apprehended in July 2019 for sex trafficking teen girls; he killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell about one month later, while awaiting trial.

Days after Maxwell was convicted, Juror 50, later identified as Scotty David, gave interviews where he publicly claimed to have been sexually abused as a child. David reportedly stated that he told other panelists about this abuse – helping them see things from a victim’s point of view.

David’s statements about prior abuse spurred questions because potential jurors completed questionnaires as part of the selection process – which directly enquired about sexual abuse. One of these questions was: “Have you or a friend or family member ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault?”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15559256 (060914ZFEB22) Notable: U.S. Department of Defense - Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's Call With Australian Minister of Defence Peter Dutton, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: PD_15.jpg, LJA_5.jpg, FK3aVl8X0AgeDSK.jpg

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Defence Minister Peter Dutton Tweet

An important discussion yesterday with @Secdef to discuss continued progress in the #AUKUS partnership, our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and mutual assistance to Tonga. #UnbreakableAlliance

https://twitter.com/PeterDutton_MP/status/1490112211821293568

—

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Tweet

Good phone call yesterday with @PeterDutton_MP on issues facing our #UnbreakableAlliance. We discussed our strong cooperation to enhance a #FreeandOpenIndoPacific, forward momentum on implementing AUKUS, and our steadfast support for Ukraine against Russian aggression.

https://twitter.com/SecDef/status/1490087253795905546

—

Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's Call With Australian Minister of Defence Peter Dutton

FEB. 4, 2022

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III had a productive phone call with Australian Minister of Defence, Peter Dutton, to discuss a wide range of issues facing the U.S.-Australian Alliance.

The two leaders discussed security challenges and cooperation to enhance a free and open Indo-Pacific region. They also reviewed progress made by the AUKUS partnership since the historic announcement last September. They emphasized the importance of trilateral cooperation with Japan and looked forward to AUSMIN later this year.

The Secretary thanked Australia for its enduring support to Operation Inherent Resolve. He and Minister Dutton affirmed strong support to Ukraine against Russian aggression and the importance of defending the rules-based international order.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2924793/readout-of-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iiis-call-with-australian-minist/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15566287 (070723ZFEB22) Notable: After two years of closed borders, Australia welcomes the world back, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Visitors_spend_their_afternoon_in_front_of_the_Sydney_Opera_House_on_August_21_2021_Starting_February_21_2022_Australia_will_reopen_its_borders_to_vaccinated_travelers.jpg

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>>130407

After two years of closed borders, Australia welcomes the world back

Renju Jose and Jamie Freed - February 7, 2022

SYDNEY, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Australia said on Monday it will reopen its borders to vaccinated travellers this month, ending two years of misery for the tourism sector, reviving migration and injecting billions of dollars into the world No. 13 economy.

The move effectively calls time on the last main component of Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which it has attributed to relatively low death and infection rates. The other core strategy, stop-start lockdowns, was shelved for good in December.

The country had taken steps in recent months to relax border controls, like allowing in skilled migrants and quarantine-free travel arrangements - "travel bubbles" - with select countries like New Zealand.

But the reopening, which takes effect on Feb. 21, represents the first time since March 2020 that people can travel to Australia from anywhere in the world as long as they are vaccinated.

"If you're double-vaccinated, we look forward to welcoming you back to Australia," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a media briefing in Canberra.

The tourism industry, which has relied on the domestic market that has itself been heavily impacted by movement restrictions, welcomed the decision which comes three months before Morrison is due to face an election.

"Over the two years since the borders have been closed the industry has been on its knees," said Australian Tourism Export Council Managing Director Peter Shelley by phone.

"Now we can turn our collective efforts towards rebuilding an industry that is in disrepair," he added.

Tourism and Transport Forum CEO Margy Osmond said the industry was "thrilled" by the reopening, but would need coordination to ensure Australia was competitive as a destination.

"It's not as simple as just turning on the tap and we see numbers of international tourists back where they were pre-COVID," she told reporters.

International and domestic tourism losses since the start of the pandemic totalled A$101.7 billion ($72 billion), according to government body Tourism Research Australia. International travel spending in Australia plunged from A$44.6 billion in the 2018-19 financial year to A$1.3 billion in 2020-21, TRA said.

Shares of tourism-related stocks soared as investors cheered the prospect of a return to profit growth. Shares of the country's main airline Qantas Airways Ltd jumped 5% while shares of travel agent Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd surged 8%.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement the company was looking at flight schedules to determine ways to restart flights from more international locations soon.

As elsewhere in the world, Australian COVID cases have soared in recent weeks due to the Omicron variant which medical experts say may be more transmissable but less virulent than previous strains.

But with more than nine in 10 Australians aged over 16 fully vaccinated, new cases and hospitalisations appear to have slowed, the authorities say.

The country reported just over 23,000 new infections on Monday, its lowest for 2022 and far from a peak of 150,000 around a month ago.

Morrison meanwhile said the government would send up to 1,700 Australian Defence Force personnel to fill staffing shortages in the aged care sector, following complaints of understaffing and fatigue due to increased pressures brought by the pandemic.

Around 2.4 million cases have been recorded in Australia since the first Omicron case was detected in Australia in November. Until then, Australia had counted only around 200,000 cases. Total deaths stand at 4,248 since the pandemic began.

($1 = 1.4106 Australian dollars)

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-fully-reopen-borders-vaccinated-travellers-feb-21-2022-02-07/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15566332 (070738ZFEB22) Notable: Australia will ‘lose next decade’ unless it stands up to China: Defence Minister Peter Dutton, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Defence_Minister_Peter_Dutton_says_Australia_could_lose_the_next_decade_unless_it_stands_up_to_China_in_the_South_China_Sea.jpg

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Australia will ‘lose next decade’ unless it stands up to China: Dutton

Anthony Galloway - February 7, 2022

1/2

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has warned that Australia and its allies will “lose the next decade” unless it stands up to China in the South China Sea, and revealed he is extremely confident the first Australian nuclear submarine will arrive before 2038.

Mr Dutton said the United States and its allies had previously “acquiesced” to Beijing in the disputed waterway, allowing it to build artificial islands and defence bases out of coral reefs.

He said he believed it was important to speak out about China for two main reasons: to educate the Australian public and to ensure the past decade was not repeated in which Beijing had militarised the South China Sea.

“I think we’ve lost a considerable period of time where China gave assurances about their activity in the South China Sea,” Mr Dutton told this masthead.

“And the United States and others acquiesced and allowed the militarisation now to the point where China has 20 points of presence in the South China Sea, which does not help stability in the region.

“If we continue on that trajectory, then I think we’ll lose the next decade. And my sense is that we’re better off being honest about that.”

The Defence Minister’s comments come before the arrival in Australia of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who will take part in a meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’s foreign ministers in Melbourne this week, before travelling to Fiji and Hawaii.

The four nations which make up the Quad – Australia, the US, India and Japan – will look to intensify co-operation on security and development assistance in a bid to stand up to China.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age has launched a four-part series assessing whether Australian forces could defend the nation from an attack, and whether Australia has the necessary military capabilities to meaningfully project power deep into the region alongside allies as tensions in the Indo-Pacific ratchet up.

Mr Dutton has been criticised by some national security experts and the Opposition for antagonising China since he took over the portfolio, most notably over his comments that it would be “inconceivable” for Australia not to join the US in any defence of Taiwan.

He said his focus was on “prevailing peace” in the region, and it was important to realise that Australia wasn’t the only country experiencing significant tensions with Beijing.

Mr Dutton revealed he was extremely confident that Australia would have its first nuclear-powered submarine before 2038, saying recent discussions with American and British officials under the AUKUS agreement had reassured him that the submarines would be built years earlier than many defence experts expected.

Asked whether the submarines would arrive before 2038, Mr Dutton said: “I have no doubt we’ll have a nuclear-propelled submarine before that date.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15566339 (070745ZFEB22) Notable: Grant Harden: Paedophile busted in Operation Arkstone wants treatment, court told, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Grant_Harden_abused_seven_children_and_amassed_thousands_of_child_abuse_images.jpg, Grant_Harden_was_arrested_as_part_of_Operation_Arkstone.jpg

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>>130759

Grant Harden: Paedophile busted in Operation Arkstone wants treatment, court told

RYAN YOUNG - FEBRUARY 7, 2022

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WARNING: Graphic content

A pedophile who “couldn’t stop” sexually abusing and filming young boys at sleepovers before he shared thousands of their images with members of an online child sex ring has made his final bid to avoid spending life behind bars.

After pleading guilty to more than 170 child abuse charges, former junior soccer coach Grant Harden appeared in the Downing Centre District Court via video link from Long Bay jail for a final sentencing hearing on Monday.

The 31-year-old from St Clair in western Sydney faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for 26 of the offences he was charged with, including multiple counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10 years.

Harden targeted seven children and the court was previously told that in most cases after he sexually abused them he would upload images of the abuse for other paedophiles to view on social media applications like Snapchat and Kik.

The court was previously told Harden gave two young boys melatonin before abusing them, filming it and sharing the images with other paedophiles on social media.

In summing up Harden’s case, defence barrister Pauline David said her client suffered from a “terrible disorder” and wanted treatment.

“He has a pedophilic disorder, he has a sickness, it needs to be treated,” Ms David told the court.

“He accepts it’s not normal and he wants to be a normal man.”

Harden never sought to excuse his behaviour and was “heartbroken” over what he had done, Ms David said.

“He has answered every question … he has said sorry, he has taken every opportunity to accept responsibility for what he has done” she said.

“He has never once come before this court and suggested or asked Your Honour for sympathy or not to be punished … he has never once sought to deflect from what happened to those children.”

While Ms David was at pains to stress she was not suggesting Harden protected the children he abused, she said the court had to consider the circumstances in which the crimes were committed.

“He sought to minimise any impact upon the child, in most cases, not all,” Ms David said as she explained most of Harden’s victims were asleep or unwittingly involved.

“These were not situations where the offender blatantly and obviously and was arranging this situation without any regard.

“He was responding to his own urges … but there was some level of … protection of the children from the excesses of his behaviour.”

Ms David said Harden “couldn’t stop” and didn’t know how to get help to deal with his attraction to children.

“He has a desire to have treatment, he is prepared to take whatever treatment is necessary,” she said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15566381 (070800ZFEB22) Notable: SAS soldier denies ‘rehearsing’ damaging evidence about Roberts-Smith, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ben_Roberts_Smith_outside_the_Federal_Court_in_Sydney_on_Monday.jpg

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>>130713

SAS soldier denies ‘rehearsing’ damaging evidence about Roberts-Smith

Michaela Whitbourn - February 7, 2022

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A serving Special Air Service soldier has denied “rehearsing” damaging evidence about Ben Roberts-Smith before appearing in the Federal Court witness box in the war veteran’s defamation case.

The soldier, known as Person 14 because he cannot be identified for national security reasons, was present on tours of Afghanistan with Mr Roberts-Smith in 2009 and 2012. He told the court on Friday he witnessed Mr Roberts-Smith tell an interpreter in 2012 to direct a member of the Afghan Partner Force to shoot an Afghan man they had been questioning, “or I will”.

Person 14 said the interpreter “stumbled” verbally and “didn’t relay” the order at first, before saying something in an “Afghan dialect”. A member of the partner force then shot the Afghan man dead, he said.

Mr Roberts-Smith has previously given evidence that he gave no such direction.

Person 14 said he also witnessed a separate incident in 2009 in which an Australian soldier shot an Afghan man at close range with a “distinctive” machine gun, known as the F89 Para Minimi, that he later saw in the possession of Mr Roberts-Smith. “Not many” soldiers carried this light weapon, he said.

The SAS soldier said there were three Australian soldiers around the Afghan man, who appeared from his vantage point like “a black object which was ... similar to a human” that was thrown to the ground. It was only on closer inspection that he realised it was an Afghan man with a prosthetic leg, he said.

Person 14 told the court he could not identify any of the three soldiers, although one of them had camouflage paint or “campaint” on his face that was “the same, or similar, campaint style as Ben Roberts-Smith”.

He said on Friday he “saw who had the Minimi” after the mission was completed, and it was “Ben Roberts-Smith”.

Mr Roberts-Smith has told the court that he did kill an Afghan man in 2009 who had a prosthetic leg, but he was an armed combatant who posed a threat.

Under cross-examination by Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Arthur Moses, SC, Person 14 denied on Monday that he had “rehearsed” his evidence last week.

Person 14 agreed there was “potentially” more than one Para Minimi machine gun carried by soldiers on the mission in 2009, and said there was usually “at least” one.

“You weren’t meaning to suggest that the Para Minimi that you say [Mr Roberts-Smith] was carrying was the one that you say you heard made the noise in relation to the dark object?” Mr Moses said.

“No, I’m not suggesting that,” Person 14 said.

“You don’t know, do you?” Mr Moses said. “No,” Person 14 replied. “I know he was carrying an F89 Para.”

Asked if the human-like object he saw in 2009 was black or dark, he said on Monday it was “dark”.

“Not black?” Mr Moses said. “You said black on Friday to His Honour.” Person 14 said it was a dark object. He denied making up or lying about parts of his evidence.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15575052 (080746ZFEB22) Notable: Members of US Congress consider creating an “AUKUS caucus” to sharpen Washington’s focus on the strategic military pact to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Submarines_are_potentially_just_the_beginning_for_AUKUS.jpg, US_Congressman_Joe_Courtney_meeting_Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison.jpg

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AUKUS caucus: Republicans and Democrats find a topic they can agree on

Farrah Tomazin - February 8, 2022

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Washington: Members of the US Congress are considering creating an “AUKUS caucus” to sharpen Washington’s focus on the strategic military pact announced last year to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

As US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken prepares to travel to Australia this week, Democrats and Republicans are in talks to create a special group on Capitol Hill solely dedicated to AUKUS – the three-way alliance between America, Britain and Australia designed to deter China in the Indo-Pacific.

In an interview with The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, Democratic congressman Joe Courtney – a co-chair of the bipartisan Friends of Australia Caucus – said he believed AUKUS would be one of the most important strategic moves the US undertakes in decades.

While it was going to take time for Americans to grasp its significance, he said there was high interest across both sides of politics in Washington to ensure that “support is there on the Hill to make sure it succeeds”.

“We were actually talking about forming a new caucus called the AUKUS caucus,” said Courtney, who is also the chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee in the House of Representatives.

“We’ve currently got separate caucuses that members belong to, but it makes sense to have a group of us focused on this particular arrangement.”

The AUKUS agreement was announced in September last year, controversially ending the contract given to France in 2016 to build 12 diesel electric-powered submarines to replace Australia’s Collins submarine fleet.

Instead, all three countries involved will work together to build a class of nuclear-propelled submarines and associated technologies, starting with an 18-month study to work out what is achievable.

In announcing the policy in September, US President Joe Biden spoke of the need to maintain a “free and open Indo-Pacific”. China and Russia, meanwhile, condemned the alliance in a statement over the weekend, saying it increased the danger of an arms race in the region.

The Friends of Australia Caucus that Courtney co-chairs – which also includes, among others, Republican representatives Mike Gallagher and Roy Blunt, and Democrat representative Dick Durbin – was launched in 2017 to bolster the alliance between the US and Australia, and is one of dozens of bipartisan caucus groups in Washington.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15575208 (080826ZFEB22) Notable: Soldier harboured doubts about Roberts-Smith’s VC honour, court told, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ben_Roberts_Smith_outside_the_Federal_Court_on_Monday.jpg

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>>130713

Soldier harboured doubts about Roberts-Smith’s VC honour, court told

Michaela Whitbourn - February 8, 2022

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A Special Air Service soldier who has given damaging evidence about war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has told the Federal Court he had doubts about the circumstances in which his former comrade received the Victoria Cross, but denied he was seeking to smear his reputation in court.

The serving soldier, dubbed Person 14, told the court on Tuesday he did not doubt Mr Roberts-Smith put his life in danger during a 2010 battle in Tizak, Afghanistan, for which he was awarded Australia’s highest military honour in 2011, but he did have doubts about the award.

Person 14, whose identity cannot be revealed for national security reasons, was not in Afghanistan in 2010, but served alongside Mr Roberts-Smith in 2009 and 2012.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing for defamation over a series of news reports in 2018 he says portray him as a war criminal. Person 14 is the second member of the SAS to give evidence in the Federal Court in Sydney for The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times, as the news outlets seek to establish a defence of truth.

“Did the awarding of the Victoria Cross to Mr Roberts-Smith create division within the SAS?” Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Arthur Moses, SC, asked Person 14 on Tuesday.

“No. I was there for the investiture and it was a good day, actually,” Person 14 said.

Person 14 has previously admitted he missed out on a deployment to Afghanistan in 2010, when the battle in Tizak took place, because of a disciplinary issue involving him losing possession of a hard drive containing work-related images. He told the court he self-reported the incident to the Defence Force.

Bruce McClintock, SC, one of a team of barristers acting for Mr Roberts-Smith, said during his opening address to the court last year that the soldier’s reputation had been destroyed by a campaign led by “bitter people” in the SAS who were “aided by credulous journalists”.

Asked on Tuesday if he had told Mr Roberts-Smith himself that he had his doubts about his Victoria Cross, Person 14 said: “No.”

“You don’t doubt that he put his life in danger?” Mr Moses asked. “No way,” Person 14 replied.

“You’re not here to second guess those who determined to award that Victoria Cross to Mr Roberts-Smith, are you?” Mr Moses said. “No,” Person 14 replied.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15583763 (090745ZFEB22) Notable: Another 70 people die from COVID-19 as Queensland records highest daily death toll, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Victorian_health_workers_distribute_rapid_antigen_tests_to_residents.jpg

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>>130407

Another 70 people die from COVID-19 as Queensland records highest daily death toll

NSW, Victoria, Queensland, ACT, South Australia and Tasmania reported a total of 70 deaths on Wednesday.

SBS News - 9 February 2022

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Another 24 people have died from COVID-19 in Queensland, 20 in New South Wales, 21 in Victoria, two in Tasmania, two in South Australia and one in the ACT.

The number of patients in NSW hospitals fell from 2,068 to 1,906. Of those, 132 are in ICU, the same as Tuesday and slightly down from Monday's 137.

NSW reported 10,312 new cases of COVID-19. These case numbers are up from 9,690 on Tuesday and 7,347 on Monday. Last month, the state recorded an average of 30,000 cases a day.

While the number of COVID-19 infections recorded across the state has peaked and fallen, the number of people dying with the virus remains stubbornly high.

Meanwhile, visiting rules in public hospitals are under review after a backlash from families who have been unable to spend time with dying relatives.

Health Minister Brad Hazzard has been under pressure after several people told heartbreaking stories about their loved ones dying alone because of strict visiting rules in public hospitals.

Mr Hazzard says it's difficult to strike a balance between showing compassion to families and protecting other patients from COVID-19.

"I am working with NSW Health and with the doctors and with the nurses to develop a set of guidelines which hopefully strike the balance and making sure there is compassion and care," he told 2GB Radio on Wednesday.

"What I have said to [NSW] Health is surely, surely compassion, concern and common sense should be at the centre of what's happening."

About 2.5 million people come into the state's hospital system every year and the welfare of all patients had to be taken into consideration, he said.

"It is a really difficult situation," he said.

More than 1,600 people have died in NSW from COVID-19 and more than a million have contracted the virus.

In some hospitals, there had been major breakouts of the virus which led to more deaths.

"So it's a constant balancing act," he said.

Victoria doubles down on boosters

In Victoria, 542 people are in hospital after contracting COVID-19, down from 575 on Tuesday, with 71 in ICU and 27 on ventilators.

On Wednesday the state recorded 9,908 infections, up from 9,785 cases on Tuesday and 8,275 cases on Monday.

The new cases include 6,281 from rapid antigen tests (RATs) and 3,627 from PCR tests, the health department confirmed on Wednesday.

These figures come following Prime Minister Scott Morrison's announcement on Monday that travellers who have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccination would be welcomed back to Australia - more than 700 days after the pandemic halted most international travel.

But Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday flagged international visitors coming to Victoria could have to fall into line with rules applying to state residents.

These rules require people going to hospitality venues and major events to have had their two doses, plus a booster shot.

"It'll apply here, in the state of Victoria," he told reporters when asked if the same rules would apply.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15583796 (090752ZFEB22) Notable: Abuse campaigner Brittany Higgins says Australia's prime minister apology not enough, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: 2021_Australian_of_the_Year_Grace_Tame_and_advocate_for_survivors_of_sexual_assault_Brittany_Higgins_attend_the_National_Press_Club_in_Canberra_Australia_February_9_2022.jpg

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>>130777

Abuse campaigner says Australia's prime minister apology not enough

Kirsty Needham - February 9, 2022

SYDNEY, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A day after Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologised in parliament for the treatment of women who had suffered sexual abuse there, a prominent campaigner said she wanted to see action more than words.

Former political staffer Brittany Higgins, who says she was raped in a parliament office by a fellow staffer, said she was concerned workplace sexual abuse was in danger of becoming a "political perception problem neutralised and turned into a net positive".

"Actions are what matter," Higgins said in a speech at the National Press Club in Canberra. "Task forces are great. Codes of conduct are important. But only if it's paired with institutional change."

The apology by Morrison, who must hold an election by mid-May, came after he struggled last year to placate public anger amid several allegations of sexual abuse, discrimination against women and misconduct in parliament.

A review sparked by Higgins going public with details of her alleged sexual assault in a ministerial office found half of parliamentary staff had experienced harassment, bullying or sexual assault.

As parliament sat for the first time in 2022 on Tuesday, the speaker read a statement apologising for "an unacceptable history of workplace bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault in parliamentary workplaces".

In his address to the parliament, Morrison apologised to all who had suffered, and directly to Higgins for what happened to her.

Higgins said on Wednesday she recognised the significance of the moment but was concerned the government had only learnt how to be better at talking about the issue.

Last year, police charged a 26-year-old man after an investigation into Higgins' case. He is due to face court later this year.

The parliamentary apology marked a rocky start to an election year for Morrison as anti-vaccination protesters gathered outside parliament and his conservative party faced ructions over a religious freedom bill.

His personal integrity has also come under attack from damaging leaks, including by Higgins, of historical text messages from state and Coalition partner leaders, including some labelling him a "liar".

Higgins spoke at the press club alongside another prominent campaigner for the rights of abuse victims, former Australian of the Year Grace Tame.

Tame was asked how opposition Labor leader Anthony Albanese could do better on the issue of workplace abuse if elected.

"All that Anthony would have to do is none of the things Scott's done," Tame said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/abuse-campaigner-says-australias-prime-minister-apology-not-enough-2022-02-09/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15583815 (090757ZFEB22) Notable: Australia's hasty nuclear submarine plan to be outpaced by China's development: experts - Liu Xuanzun and Leng Shumei - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Ohio_class_ballistic_missile_submarine_USS_Tennessee_returns_to_Naval_Submarine_Base_Kings_Bay_Georgia_US.jpg

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>>130774

Australia's hasty nuclear submarine plan to be outpaced by China's development: experts

Liu Xuanzun and Leng Shumei - Feb 08, 2022

In an attempt to contain China, Australian Defense Minister recently said that Australia could get the first nuclear submarine under the framework of AUKUS before 2038. However, Chinese military experts said on Tuesday that this delivery schedule is too hasty and China's rapid development during this period will outpace the Australian one.

Australian Defense Minister, Peter Dutton, recently said that he was extremely confident that Australia would have its first nuclear-powered submarine before 2038, adding that recent discussions with the US and UK officials under the AUKUS agreement had reassured him that the submarines would be built years earlier than many defense experts expected, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday.

One of the key projects of AUKUS, a new alliance by Australia, the UK and the US announced in September 2021, is to equip Australia with nuclear submarines in an attempt to contain China.

When the AUKUS agreement was announced, an 18-month process was launched by all members to figure out the best way to deliver Australia nuclear submarines, according to the report by the Sydney Morning Herald.

"From a technological perspective, it is possible that Australia could get its first nuclear submarine by 2038 since the US and the UK are indeed capable of building this kind of submarine," Zhang Junshe, a senior research fellow at the Naval Research Academy of the People's Liberation Army, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

However, the question remains on exactly what kind of nuclear submarine Australia will get.

If, for example, the US is willing to sell its off-the-rack Virginia-class submarine or transfer its technology and production lines to Australia, then, 2038 is possible. But, if the three countries are thinking about a customized or a completely new submarine, which is more likely in this case due to the high sensitivity of this kind of military hardware, it will likely take longer, analysts said.

"2038 sounds hasty to design and build a new nuclear submarine for a country with no experience, even with technology transfer," a Chinese military expert who requested to remain anonymous told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Australia is not a nuclear power and the plan by the US and the UK to grant Australia nuclear-powered submarines increases the risks of nuclear proliferation and an arms race, experts said.

"From a political point of view, the three countries would also have to face the pressure from the international community to meet that schedule," Zhang said, adding that "even if Australia does get the nuclear submarine, it will not be such a big threat to China, since war cannot be won with just one or two types of weapons."

"China's national defense development has been on a fast track and is expected to continue advancing. By 2038, China will likely have sufficient means to safeguard its security interests from Australia's nuclear submarine," the anonymous source told the Global Times.

Dutton also said that "Australia and its allies will "lose the next decade" unless they stand up to China in the South China Sea, as the US and others "acquiesced and allowed the militarization to the point where China has 20 points of presence in the South China Sea."

China did not militarize the South China Sea, as all Chinese presence in the region serves only to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the expert said, noting that countries from outside of the region like the US, which have been sending warships and warplanes, are the real ones responsible for the militarization in the South China Sea.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1251779.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15583858 (090809ZFEB22) Notable: US, Australia to add more tensions in Pacific while China holds Olympics to promote world peace - Yang Sheng and Xu Yelu - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: US_Australia_to_add_more_tensions_in_Pacific_while_China_holds_Olympics_to_promote_world_peace.jpg

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>>130767

US, Australia to add more tensions in Pacific while China holds Olympics to promote world peace

Yang Sheng and Xu Yelu - Feb 08, 2022

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When China is holding the Olympic Winter Games in its capital city Beijing to bring more certainty to world peace, the US and its ally Australia are still ramping up tension in the Asia-Pacific by tightening alliances to serve military confrontation, as the top US diplomat visits Australia for the Quad foreign ministers' meeting and Australia's defense chief tries to push Washington to be more hostile and radical against China.

Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton urged the US and its allies to be tougher on China after they "acquiesced and allowed" China's "expansion" in the South China Sea over the past decade.

"If we continue on that trajectory, then I think we'll lose the next decade," Dutton said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald published on Monday. "And my sense is that we're better off being honest about that."

Dutton made the comment ahead of a planned Quad foreign ministers meeting in Australia which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to attend.

According to the website of the US State Department, in Australia on February 9-12, Blinken will attend the ministerial meeting, and will meet with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, as well as his counterparts from Japan, India and Australia.

Chinese analysts said on Tuesday that Australia is no different from those US allies which act as nothing but US pawns on the geopolitical chessboard to provoke China. Since Canberra has bet too much on China-US confrontation, Australian politicians want the US to keep or even be more aggressive toward China rather than easing tension or seeking de-escalation, so their die-hard anti-China policy could remain useful for the US.

But this is truly irresponsible and stupid because such moves would harm regional peace and could result in an arms race. The US will never take its "pawns" into consideration if it decides to change its policy or quit a game it finds it cannot win, experts said, noting that selfish Australian politicians like Dutton are just trying to gain more political capital by risking Australia's national security and interests.

Anxious gamblers

By complaining about the US, Dutton is trying to attract political attention by spreading fear by making nonsensical points, as he wants to challenge Morrison for the Liberal Party leadership, Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Centre, East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"The South China Sea has never been a core concern for Australia, and most Australian cargo ships that navigate the region are transporting goods between China and Australia, so how could China's construction and presence in the region affect Australia's interests and security?" Chen said.

Dutton is trying to set a hawkish tone for the Quad foreign ministers' meeting even though he is a defense minister rather than a diplomat, Chen said. He noted that there are voices in Australia saying that Dutton should mind his own business and let more professional officials handle diplomacy.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis will also visit Australia during the Quad ministerial meeting and will meet Dutton, and according to reports from Lithuanian media, his trip is to seek more trade cooperation to "diversify its supply chain."

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15583919 (090830ZFEB22) Notable: Alexander Downer called Timor-Leste an ‘open book’ for Australia in 2000, tribunal hears - Former foreign affairs department officer says Downer made comment in private conversation years before bugging scandal, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Philip_Dorling_has_given_evidence_he_heard_concerns_from_Timor_Leste_s_Jos_Ramos_Horta_left_about_surveillance_and_saw_Downer_s_remarks_as_a_measure_of_confirmation_of_those_concerns.jpg

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Alexander Downer called Timor-Leste an ‘open book’ for Australia in 2000, tribunal hears

Former foreign affairs department officer says Downer made comment in private conversation years before bugging scandal

Christopher Knaus - 9 Feb 2022

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Former foreign minister Alexander Downer privately boasted that Timor-Leste was an “open book” to the Australian government in the year 2000, well before the infamous bugging scandal revealed by Witness K, a tribunal has heard.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal is hearing an application by independent senator Rex Patrick, who is seeking the release of previously secret cabinet documents about Australia’s dealings with Timor-Leste following its 1999 independence vote.

As part of the case, Philip Dorling, a then foreign affairs department officer and adviser to shadow foreign affairs minister Laurie Brereton, has filed an affidavit recalling a private conversation he had with Downer on 31 August 2000 during an RAAF flight from Dili to Maroochydore.

Dorling recalls Downer speaking of the second world war, describing Winston Churchill’s mistakes and suggesting the war “could have been brought to a more rapid and victorious conclusion” if he had been in Churchill’s position.

According to Dorling, Downer spoke of the importance of signals intelligence to the allied war effort and remarked that “clandestine intelligence gathering” remained vital for diplomacy.

He then recalls Downer saying: “You know. There’s not much back there [in Dili] we don’t know. We know what they’re saying about Laurie. They’re an open book to us.”

Dorling, who went on to become a journalist and now works in Patrick’s office, made a contemporaneous handwritten note about the conversation, which has also been filed to the tribunal.

He told the tribunal he had heard concerns from Timorese leaders José Ramos-Horta and Joao Carrascalao prior to his conversation with Downer. Dorling said they had expressed concerns that they were the subject of an extensive electronic surveillance campaign, mounted by Australia.

“I interpreted Mr Downer’s remarks, in the context of a discussion of the value of signals intelligence to diplomatic operations, as a measure of confirmation of the concerns expressed by Mr Ramos-Horta and Mr Carrascalao,” Dorling told the tribunal.

At the time, Timor-Leste was not yet formally an independent nation. It was being governed by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor after a successful independence ballot in 1999.

Downer told Guardian Australia he had no recollection of any conversation with Dorling 22 years ago.

But he said it was “particularly thick” for people to think Australia would send thousands of peacekeeping troops to Timor-Leste without learning as much as possible about the environment into which they were being deployed.

“What I do recall is we had thousands of troops in East Timor at that time and obviously we did our best to understand the environment in that country,” he said.

“Your questions are just extraordinary and there must be something in the water in Australia that makes it hard for some people to understand why, when you deploy thousands of troops to a neighbouring country, you need to have extensive information on that country.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15584022 (090858ZFEB22) Notable: New Zealand Royal Commission hears from survivors abused by Brother Bernard McGrath ahead of Australian transfer, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Brother_Bernard_McGrath_was_described_as_one_of_Australiasia_s_worst_child_sex_offenders.jpg, McGrath_was_handed_concurrent_sentences_after_his_two_most_recent_trials_in_2018_and_2019_He_is_likely_to_die_in_jail.jpg, The_commission_heard_distressing_evidence_from_a_number_of_survivors.jpg

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NZ royal commission hears from survivors abused by Bernard McGrath ahead of Australian transfer

Giselle Wakatama - 9 February 2022

Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of abuse that readers may find distressing.

A New Zealand royal commission into abuse in care has heard horrific evidence about a member of a Catholic order who was transferred from his homeland to a boys' home near Newcastle.

The commission comes four years after Australian victims of the St John of God order called on New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden to set up a special inquiry to investigate brothers there.

An Australian royal commission into child abuse heard 40 per cent of St John of God brothers were abusers, the most of any order.

Today the inquiry heard the percentage of brothers who abused children in New Zealand was closer to 60 per cent, but could be more.

"The evidence you are about to hear can only be described as chilling," Counsel Assisting Katherine Anderson said.

"That is in relation to what happened to these individuals, but also in relation to the lifelong impacts they carry with them.

"Commissioners, I say to you that there is much more about this dark chapter of New Zealand's history that is to be known than that that was revealed through criminal justice processes."

'Geographic solution'

The royal commission heard from church officials and survivors that Brother Bernard McGrath was the common thread in the order's so-called "geographic solution".

It involved shifting known abusers between Oceania Province countries, including Australia.

The commission's hearing is focused on abuse at three Christchurch Catholic institutions, including Marylands School, the nearby St Joseph's orphanage and the Hebron Trust.

The trust was set up for street kids in 1986, when McGrath, a known abuser, returned to Christchurch after eight years at the Kendall Grange boys home near Newcastle in New South Wales.

McGrath is serving 33 years jail in Australia for abusing 30 boys at Kendall Grange.

Boy shown corpse

Survivors have given evidence detailing how St John of God brothers ruled by fear.

Marylands was co-located with a hospital and survivor Donald Ku said told the commission McGrath took him to there to scare him.

"Once he took me to the hospital morgue and showed me a corpse as a way of silencing me," Mr Ku said.

Survivor Steven Long said he too was abused and threatened.

"Once Brother McGrath made me strip naked and clean out one of the coffins," Mr Long said.

"He then flipped me up, slammed the coffin lid down on me … I was crying, scared and defenceless.

"He lifted the lid, grabbed me around the throat and said, 'This is where you're going to end up' if I said anything about his abuse."

Mr Ku said one boy was a constant target.

"McGrath would make him eat his own shit because he messed his bed and he had to do this in front of the other boys," he said.

'Sick' and 'evil'

Advocate Ken Clearwater fought back tears when he said McGrath's crimes as a St John of God brother were heinous.

"It is deceitful and evil at its best," Mr Clearwater said.

"This is betrayal, this is sick, this is evil.

"Anybody who continues to support the molesters, the soul stealers, the child rapists — shame on you."

Sally McKechnie, who is representing the Bishops and Congregational Leaders of the Catholic Church in Aotearoa at the commission, said the crimes were "deeply shameful to the Catholic Church".

"It should never have happened," she said.

"The church and the brothers absolutely acknowledge that Bernard McGrath is one of Australasia's worst child sex offenders."

The commission will also examine the abuse of former Brother Roger Maloney, who was transferred from New Zealand to Rome after his abuse came to light.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-09/nz-royal-commission-hears-from-survivors-of-bernard-mcgrath/100817302