/qresearch/ - Q Research

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CURRENT DOUGH

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Australia's Sydney to welcome overseas arrivals without quarantine

Renju Jose and Colin Packham - October 15, 2021

SYDNEY, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The Australian city of Sydney will allow the entry of fully vaccinated travellers from overseas from Nov. 1 without the need for quarantine, authorities said on Friday, although the easing of strict entry controls will initially benefit only citizens.

The decision comes as New South Wales state, of which Sydney is capital, is expected to reach an 80% first-vaccination dose rate on Saturday, well ahead of the rest of Australia, which will enable it to bring forward the entry of overseas arrivals by several weeks.

"We need to rejoin the world. We can't live here in a hermit kingdom. We've got to open up," New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet said.

Australia closed its borders in March 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic, allowing entry almost exclusively only to citizens and permanent residents, who have to spend two weeks in hotel quarantine at their expense.

As well as ditching plans for home quarantine, which had been expected to replace hotel stays, Perrottet said New South Wales would welcome all overseas arrivals.

But he was quickly overruled by Prime Minister Scott Morrison who said the government would stick with plans to first open the border to citizens and permanent residents.

"This is about Australian residents and citizens first," Morrison told reporters in Sydney.

"The (federal) government has made no decision to allow other visa holders … to come into Australia under these arrangements," he said.

New South Wales will allow 210 unvaccinated people to enter the state each week, Perrottet said, but they would have to enter hotel quarantine upon arrival.

ECONOMIC REVIVAL

Australians have been unable to travel internationally for more than 18 months without a government waiver, and thousands of citizens and permanent residents in other countries have been unable to return after Canberra imposed a strict cap on arrivals to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Many of these are now expected to return via Sydney, even though some COVID-19 free states in Australia have closed their borders to New South Wales.

Qantas Airways said it would bring forward the restart of international flights from Sydney to London and Los Angeles by two weeks to Nov. 1 and would consider bringing forward the resumption of flights from some other places that had been expected in December.

Major airlines like Singapore Airlines, Emirates and United Airlines have continued to fly to Sydney throughout the pandemic but due to strict passenger caps, most of their revenue has been from cargo. The announcement should allow them to begin selling more seats on those flights and possibly adding more services.

New South Wales, meanwhile, reported 399 COVID-19 cases on Friday, well down from the state's pandemic high of 1,599 in early September.

Neighbouring Victoria state, where vaccination rates are lower, reported 2,179 new locally acquired cases, down from a record 2,297 a day earlier.

The capital Canberra on Friday exited a more than two-month lockdown, allowing cafes, pubs and gyms to reopen with strict social distancing rules.

Australia's overall coronavirus numbers are relatively low, with some 139,000 cases and 1,506 deaths.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/covid-19-infections-linger-near-record-levels-australias-victoria-2021-10-14/

AUKUS needed to counter Xi Jinping’s aggression: Condoleezza Rice

JACQUELIN MAGNAY - OCTOBER 15, 2021

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Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned that Chinese Premier Xi Jinping has “outsized ambitions’’ but will have been unnerved by the strengthening of Australia’s ties in the region, with the Quad alliance and the AUKUS submarine deal.

In a forthright discussion on Friday morning at a London conservative think tank with the Policy Exchange chairman and Australia’s longest serving foreign minister Alexander Downer, Ms Rice said AUKUS was a natural coming together of Australia, the US and UK to counter China’s aggression.

She added that while Mr Xi wanted to be one China’s great leaders “right there after Mao,” authoritarian leaders were prone to “big mistakes” because there was no one alongside them to counter bad decisions.

“Sometimes authoritarians make really bad policy,” she said. “And when there‘s only one person in Xi Jinping, who really matters, they have a single point of failure, and they make big mistakes”.

Ms Rice, who served under then US President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2009, pointed out the way China dealt with Australia in recent times would prove to be a bad mistake. “It had to cause a backlash and I don’t really know what they thought they were doing,” she said.

She pointed to Beijing’s aggression on the border with India as another misstep. “Who decides to stir up trouble on the Sino-Indian border that‘s been quiet for 40 years?” she said. “But the Chinese decided to do that. And you can go on and on and on.”

Ms Rice warned China might “double down’’ on its strategy of aggressive nationalism, but said the west was getting into a better position to resist.

She said China had been “unnerved” by the alliances in the region: the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between Australia, India, Japan and the United States as well as the strengthening of the Australia, UK and US co-operation.

“I welcome the AUKUS because, first of all it‘s it’s a terrific grouping of three. Now I love the idea of the Quad, I think that the Chinese don’t particularly: they were actually unnerved by the notion of Australia, India, Japan and the United States. I think they will be equally unnerved by Australia, Great Britain and the United States, because you bring real weight, militarily, technologically in terms of intelligence and the UK is really quite a powerhouse in those areas, whether it’s military, technology or intelligence.

“And so, those assets are now brought into the Indo-Pacific, with an alliance and it‘s also of course, an alliance of values, not just of interest. I think it has the potential to really shape the Indo-Pacific, along with Japan and Korea and India in ways that make it difficult for China to reach some of its ambitions. I’m hoping that it really doesn’t just find footing, but that it reaches its full potential, which I think is significant.”

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Mr Downer said AUKUS showed that Great Britain decided it was going to play a more global role.

“But there‘s another way of looking at this and that is that Chinese foreign policy has been so unsuccessful, that it has led these traditional allies to rally together in ways that we haven’t seen for quite some time,’’ he said.

Ms Rice said about Mr Xi: “I think that this is a leader who has outsizes ambitions, personally, to the point that he has also torn up the script about collective leadership, torn up the script about term limits, which used to be two terms and an age limit. Somebody who, at home, now has all children thinking the thoughts of Xi Jinping and who seems to want to see himself in the Pantheon as one of the great Chinese leaders right there after (Chairman) Mao. And if that is the case, then we‘re also dealing with not just national ambitions but leadership ambitions that I think could be actually quite, quite complicated.’’

Both Ms Rice and Mr Downer agreed that China would take a nuanced approach to Taiwan, by destabilising the country through cyber warfare and social media discord.

Ms Rice said there was currently enough ambiguity in the minds of the Chinese about the US response that she wouldn’t expect an amphibious landing against Taiwan.

She said: “For one thing we have trained over the last 20 years or so, the Taiwanese Armed Forces, who can‘t defeat the Chinese but they can exact a price. And so to the degree that we keep arming them and keep training them, I think we’re contributing to the deterrent factor.’’

But she predicted China would mirror Putin’s strategy in Eastern Ukraine by using paramilitary forces and acts of sabotage like cutting underwater cables and destabilising the Taiwanese government by strengthening pro-Beijing forces within the country.

“There was a fistfight in the Taiwanese parliament a few weeks ago and wondered to myself did that really happen between the people of Taiwan or was that something that was provoked from the outside?’’ she said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/aukus-needed-to-counter-xi-jinpings-aggression-condoleezza-rice/news-story/5f48578bb20f13fbd387f0778e8395ba

Australia PM Morrison says he will attend U.N. climate summit

Renju Jose and Colin Packham - October 15, 2021

SYDNEY, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday he would attend the U.N. COP26 climate summit in Glasgow as his conservative government faces global pressure to take further action to cut carbon emissions.

Morrison had said he was unsure whether he would travel to the summit on Oct. 31-Nov. 12 because of the situation with COVID-19, but those concerns are easing as Sydney ends its quarantine requirements on Nov. 1.

World leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden are scheduled to attend the meeting in Scotland.

"I confirmed my attendance at the Glasgow summit which I'm looking forward to attending," Morrison told a media conference in Sydney.

"The government will be finalising its position to take to the summit. We're working through those issues."

While many countries have pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, Australia - one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases on a per capita basis - has declined to firm up its targets.

Morrison has said Australia wanted to achieve net zero "as soon as possible and preferably by 2050" and it expects to beat its pledge to cut carbon emissions by 26% to 28% from 2005 levels by 2030.

Morrison is engaged in negotiations with the junior partner in his coalition government, the rural-based National party, about strengthening climate targets.

The National party, which is concerned about the impact of carbon targets on farming and coal mining, will meet on Sunday to discuss Morrison's plan.

Morrison must face a general election by May 2022 and he needs to appease moderates in his Liberal Party pressing for climate action, while at the same time retaining support of the National party.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-pm-morrison-says-he-will-attend-un-climate-summit-2021-10-15/

Row at Oxford over lecture invite to Cardinal Pell

Madoc Cairns - 14 OCTOBER 2021

The University of Oxford’s Catholic student society has invited Cardinal George Pell to give its prestigious annual lecture, attracting both praise and criticism from within Oxford’s Catholic community.

Cardinal Pell, formerly Archbishop of Sydney and Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy from 2014 to 2019, will be giving the Newman Society’s annual Thomas More lecture, which is this year entitled “The Suffering Church in a Post-Christian Society”.

Pell, born in 1941 in the Australian city of Ballarat, is popular amongst many conservative-minded Catholics for his uncompromising defence of traditional Church teachings.

Some, however, regard him as having polarised opinion within the church and more widely, especially during the years of the clerical sex abuse crisis that has rocked the Church in Australia. Defenders of Pell paint him as a pioneer of safeguarding practices.

In 2017, the cardinal was charged with sexual assault offences against children in his native Victoria.

Although one set of charges was dropped in 2018, Pell was convicted on on five counts of child sexual abuse and, in 2019, sentenced to six years in prison.

In August 2019 Victoria’s Court of Appeal struck down a legal challenge by Pell but a final appeal, to the High Court of Australia in April 2020, was successful. Pell’s convictions were quashed by a panel of judges who concluded the prosecution had failed to establish the truth of their charges beyond “reasonable doubt”.

Pell’s conviction and later acquittal made global headlines, and prompted fierce invective from the Cardinal’s detractors and defenders.

A longtime theological opponent of Pell, Jesuit priest Frank Brennan, declared the prosecution a politically motivated “show trial”. In contrast, the Australian Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests stated after Pell’s acquittal: “We believe that this ruling will make others lose their faith in the criminal justice system.”

Pell’s Oxford lecture will take place November 13, in the university’s Examination Schools. After the lecture, a five-course formal dinner will be held in honour of the cardinal at the Catholic chaplaincy.

The cardinal, who graduated with a DPhil from Oxford in 1971, has been a patron of the Newman Society since 2009, when he inaugurated the current iteration of the Thomas More lecture at the Divinity School of the Bodleian Library.

His return to Oxford has sparked criticism from some local Catholics, however, with one graduate of the university appealing to other Catholics to protest.

Dr Katharine Perry, who received a DPhil in theology this year, was a resident of the Catholic chaplaincy between 2017 and 2019.

Speaking to The Tablet, she described the Newman Society’s decision as “shockingly insensitive”.

She pointed to the 2017 finding by Australia's royal commission into child sexual abuse: “Cardinal Pell was not only conscious of child sexual abuse by clergy, but he also considered measures of avoiding situations which might provoke gossip about it.” Perry said she was “stunned” by the society’s choice of lecturer.

In a statement, the Newman Society said that it shares “the pain of those protesting”, as well as the goal of ending the “scourge of sexual abuse” within the Church.

This goal, however, derives from a principle, justice, that impels the fair treatment of the innocent ,just as it does the punishment of the guilty, the society added.

Pell has been exonerated of those accusations that were brought to court, the society emphasised. As for any allegations that have not been brought to court, Pell’s reception by Pope Francis in October 2020 indicates that he remains in good standing across the rest of the Church.

The decision to invite Pell to give the lecture was therefore made following the lead set by juridical and ecclesiastical authorities.

https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/14618/row-at-oxford-over-lecture-invite-to-cardinal-pell

Judge refuses to move Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case across state borders

Tammy Mills - October 15, 2021

A Federal Court judge has resisted moving a high-profile defamation case involving war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith from NSW to South Australia.

The running of the trial, involving witnesses from five different states and territories, as well as Afghanistan, has faced significant hurdles caused by border closures and lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Roberts-Smith, a former Special Air Service soldier, is suing The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in the Federal Court for defamation over stories published in 2018 that alleged he was involved in unlawful killings during missions in Afghanistan.

The 42-year-old has denied all wrongdoing and told the court earlier this year he had only killed Taliban insurgents in the heat of battle.

The news outlets are defending the claims and relying on a defence of truth. Four Afghan witnesses have given evidence in the trial, including one who said he saw a “big soldier” kick his uncle, Ali Jan, off a cliff before shots were heard.

The defamation trial was adjourned in August because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in Sydney.

On Friday, one of Mr Roberts-Smith’s barristers applied for the trial to be moved to South Australia in the hope there would be less of a chance of interruptions there, as well as less restrictive travel requirements for witnesses.

But Justice Anthony Besanko was not persuaded that he should relocate the case, and he resisted setting a date for the trial to resume.

“It seems to me the circumstances are too uncertain for me to do that,” Justice Besanko said.

Justice Besanko said he wanted the option to resume the trial from January 17, depending on the situation with the pandemic and the parties involved in the case.

The court heard there were 10 barristers and a “battalion of solicitors” involved in the proceedings.

Courts in NSW have indicated they intend to slowly reopen this month. While NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has said NSW borders would reopen from November 1, there is uncertainty over the borders in other states.

The defamation trial was still to hear from nine witnesses in Western Australia, seven in Queensland, more than six in NSW, two from Victoria and another from the ACT, the court heard on Friday.

There was particular concern over whether witnesses from Western Australia, some of whom were special forces soldiers, would be able to return home if they travelled interstate to give evidence because of the hard border closure there.

The newspapers’ lawyer, Nicholas Owens, SC, said it seemed “very unlikely” that Western Australia would treat South Australia any differently than NSW if the trial was moved.

Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Arthur Moses, SC, said WA police had confirmed that witnesses who were active military personnel could still return to their home state from NSW, considered an “extreme risk jurisdiction”, if they were required to be on duty, as long as they self-quarantined for two weeks when they returned.

But Mr Owens said his advice was that defence personnel could rely on that exemption only if they were travelling on defence business.

Mr Moses said witnesses for Mr Roberts-Smith were “prepared to come from WA and will do what is required to come to court to give evidence”.

“These are special forces soldiers, some of them. Self-quarantine is not a hardship, your honour … they can come to court and self-quarantine for 14 days,” Mr Moses said.

A further case management hearing will take place on December 3.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/judge-refuses-to-move-ben-roberts-smith-defamation-case-across-state-borders-20211015-p5908b.html

Covid fortress to reopen for returning families

YONI BASHAN - OCTOBER 15, 2021

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Australians and their families will be free to travel in and out of the country without isolating from November 1 after NSW became the first state to dismantle its quarantine program – allowing passenger caps to be lifted – for individuals fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

But international students will have to wait several more weeks, while a timeline for the return of tourists remains unclear after Scott Morrison rejected a move from new NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet to immediately lift all travel restrictions.

Mr Morrison said Australians stranded abroad would be prioritised. Under the national road map, international students and skilled migrants will be next to be allowed into the country.

But government sources expect it could be weeks after the nation passes the 80 per cent vaccination rate in November, with the deciding factor likely to be how many returning Australians are still ­trying to get flights and whether there is an unforeseen spike in Covid cases.

International airlines have ­already begun releasing thousands of seats after the NSW ­announcement, with Qantas fast-tracking the resumption of international services to London and Los Angeles.

Announcing that those flights would begin on November 1, the airline’s chief executive, Alan Joyce, said the NSW government’s decision was “a massive step towards life as we knew it”.

Earlier, Mr Perrottet said hotel quarantine requirements were a tremendous drain on the state’s ­resources, and continuing these arrangements in an environment of widespread vaccination coverage would be inefficient.

“There is no reason why we should take health staff or police staff or other public servants away from their frontline duties for them to monitor people in quarantine who have exactly the same vaccination status as 90 per cent of people in NSW,” Mr Perrottet said.

“We need to rejoin the world. We can‘t live here in our hermit kingdom.”

Under the plan, travellers would have to demonstrate they had tested negative to the coronavirus before boarding an international flight to Sydney.

Throughout the pandemic, states have set limits on the number of people able to use hotel quarantine services, a factor that dictated the number of passengers able to board flights.

The commonwealth, however, has been responsible for regulating movements at the border.

The arrival of unvaccinated travellers, who would still need to quarantine, will remain restricted to 210 each week.

The move to resume international flights came as Victoria flagged lifting restrictions that have barred vaccinated adults in NSW from travelling to the state. The change would take effect from Tuesday, with individuals travelling to Victoria required to test negative before and after arriving.

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley also flagged a ­likelihood that international ­travellers arriving in Sydney would later be eligible to enter the state.

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Officials in NSW had hoped the lifting of arrival caps and quarantine rules would allow the ­immediate return of all travellers, not just Australians and their families. “There is no delineation between Australian citizens and other citizens of countries around the world,” state Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres said. “The focal point here is a delineation between vaccination status: so vaccinated and unvaccinated.

“We know from November our vaccination rates will be incredibly high across the city and across the state. And we want to be able to say to the world that we treat everybody equally, and if you are fully vaccinated you can engage in this wonderful state.”

This hope, however, was quickly dashed by the Prime Minister, who said it was a decision for the commonwealth who would arrive in the country.

“It is for the commonwealth to decide when the border opens up at an international level and we will do that,” Mr Morrison said.

“In the first instance it will be for Australian residents and their families. We will see how that goes … and then we’ll move to the other priorities, which I’ve already set out as being skilled migration, as well as students to Australia. We are not rushing into this.”

WA Premier Mark McGowan said NSW’s decision to bring forward its reopening to vaccinated international arrivals was likely to extend Western Australia’s hard border with the state.

Mr McGowan said it was ­possible that NSW’s decision to end quarantine for vaccinated international arrivals could increase the spread of the virus in that state.

“I understand why they (NSW) would because you may well be just as safe overseas as you are in Sydney,” he said.

“But it may mean there is greater spread of the virus in NSW. That will obviously mean that we would keep our current border arrangement with NSW, which is currently at extreme risk, in place for as long as necessary. It is unfortunate for myself, my parents and my brother live in NSW and I can’t see them, but it’s necessary to protect our state and keep us in the very good condition we are in.”

As of Friday the national vaccination coverage level was 66.3 per cent.

The borders are likely to be opened to tourists after skilled ­migrants and students, possibly in December, ­although federal officials said a precise timeline was undecided.

The Tourism and Transport Forum estimates that once the industry resumes it will see a gradual return to 60 per cent of pre-Covid spending, which had been about $10bn prior to the pandemic. The forum’s chief executive, Margy Osmond, said that she applauded Mr Perrottet’s announcement, which would send an important message to other premiers, but a staged approach was preferable for reviving the sector.

“We’d love everything to be opened, but we really need those university students and workers back to rebuild the industry to cope with the demand,” Ms Osmond said.

She added that travellers arriving in Australia would, for the moment, have fewer attractions to enjoy.

“It’s a holiday of a lifetime, and they want to see lots of things, and that includes the Great Barrier Reef and the Barossa,” she said. “So other borders need to be reopened to grow that capacity.”

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKeller said the announcement from NSW ­underscored the importance of reopening state and territory borders across the country.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/covid-fortress-to-reopen-for-returning-families/news-story/c1f61c843aa933dc9b19b3893e35d3e4

Australia urged to draw ‘lines in the snow’ against China’s flouting of Antarctic Treaty consensus

MATTHEW DENHOLM - OCTOBER 15, 2021

Australia has vowed to “assert our authority” in Antarctica amid claims Chinese obstructionism is undermining the treaty system that protects the world’s last wilderness and keeps it free from militarisation.

Environment Minister Sussan Ley said Australia would “not countenance” any undermining of the Antarctic Treaty System, amid signs of a fracturing of the consensus that has underpinned it since 1961. Ms Ley told The Weekend Australian Antarctic nations that sought to move away from consensus decision making would need to be “brought back into the fold”.

“Australia will always assert our authority within the Antarctic Treaty System and we won’t ever take a step back from that,” she said. “That is where our strength lies. Not on my watch or this government’s watch will we see or countenance any undermining of the strong, principled treaty system that underpins everything that every country does – and should do into the future – in ­Antarctica.

“The next 60 years won’t be like the last. And we need to be vigilant and we need to be proactive within the treaty system. We need to play to our strengths, which are considerable.”

Antarctic experts accuse China and Russia of undermining consensus on Antarctic management by repeatedly blocking key measures such as marine parks, krill and toothfish catch limits, and the black-listing of illegal fishing vessels.

Australian Antarctic Division director from 1998 to 2009, and author of the 2014 Australian Antarctic 20-year strategic plan, Tony Press, said Chinese delegations had even been “personally insulting” to other delegations at recent Antarctic forums.

Dr Press said Australia – as a treaty founder and instigator of the Madrid Protocol banning mining in Antarctica until at least 2048 – should make a “line in the snow” against China’s erosion of consensus.

“Whole of government co-­ordination needs to be ramped up because the issues are now ­becoming about the integrity of the Antarctic Treaty System as a whole,” Dr Press said.

China was taking an “incredibly legalistic approach to just about every single piece of text” in an apparent determination to “hold the line” on any measure that might set a precedent ­in ­restricting fishing rights.

“That practice is contrary to the traditions of the treaty system and in fact at some stage in the ­future might provoke a formal dispute.” He called for consideration of an Antarctic ministerial board, including the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, and formation of a united approach to Beijing with like-minded Antarctic ­nations.

“Countries like Australia, the UK, the original 12 (treaty) signatories should be saying ‘this ­behaviour is not acceptable’,” Dr Press said. “We should be going at very high levels to Beijing singularly and collectively to draw lines in the snow on this and stop this.

“Because essentially … it changes the norms and modes of the treaty system, which has ­always been based on consensus – the glue that keeps the treaty system together.”

While the current flashpoints were Australian-backed plans for marine protected areas, and krill fishing, there was a danger of it “spilling over” into other treaty areas, potentially including the future of mining post-2048.

The treaty was not just about protecting penguins and krill. “The treaty bans military activities,” he said. “That means that we don’t have to have half of our navy belting around the Southern Ocean. That’s incredibly strategically important for Australia.”

Ms Ley said she had escalated diplomacy by speaking directly to other Antarctic nation environment ministers, and that the government was focused on Antarctic issues at the highest levels. She would not give up on Australia’s proposal for an East Antarctic marine park, while conceding it was likely to be blocked – potentially by China – at a summit in Hobart next week. “I’m not prepared to take my foot off the pedal in pushing for this,” she said.

Under the treaty, Antarctic ­nations put their claims to the region to one side and agree to peaceful, scientific pursuits. Australia has a dormant claim to 42 per cent of the continent.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/australia-urged-to-draw-lines-in-the-snow-against-chinas-flouting-of-antarctic-treaty-consensus/news-story/e976fd11919c6273a6cd3c0aa5b4cdd9

‘Cult’ leader’s widow accused of grooming girls for sexual abuse

Harriet Alexander - October 11, 2021

The leader of a personal development group described by police as a “cult” groomed young girls to be sexually abused by her late husband and gave them antiseptic lollies after ushering them into private sessions with him, a senate committee has been told.

Jan Hamilton operated Kenja Communications with her husband, Ken Dyers, until he died by suicide in 2007 when new allegations of sexual abuse were raised against him, and has run the group by herself ever since.

Dyers was accused during his lifetime of sexually abusing seven young girls during “processing sessions” that were supposed to clear the girls of negative energy. A police strike force formed to investigate some allegations in 2005 formed the position that Kenja fitted the profile of a cult.

Earlier this year, former banking executive Michelle Ring told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that she had also been raped by Dyers during private processing sessions that occurred over a period of seven years when she was a teenager, but lied in court to protect him when charges were brought against him in 1996.

Ms Ring told a senate committee on Monday afternoon that many adults who are still active in Kenja knew about and witnessed her abuse, including Ms Hamilton who also groomed and emotionally abused her as well. The group, which describes itself as a spiritual and communications training centre, is based in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. It also runs sporting competitions and musicals.

Ms Ring’s submission to the committee was protected by parliamentary privilege.

“[Ms Hamilton] drove me in her white VW to Ken,” Ms Ring said.

“She sent me into the room and ushered me out when he was done, or held me there until the next girl arrived to join us. She gave me antiseptic lollies after each session with Ken so I wouldn’t get infections in my mouth from his abuse. There are many who have the same story.”

When Ms Hamilton unsuccessfully sued the NSW Police for persecuting Dyers and driving him to take his life, the NSW Supreme Court heard in 2019 that other adult members of Kenja witnessed the sexual abuse of children.

Police tendered a statement by Alison DeCamp in which she claimed that a woman known as Person 3 – not Ms Hamilton – had been in the room while he sexually abused her as a 12-year-old child.

“I told him that it hurt when he touched me and that this was wrong,” Ms DeCamp said in her police statement. “I said there had to be another way to solve my problems. He started talking to Person 3, ignoring me and talking about me in the third person. He said that my natural sexual responses were abnormal.”

Ms Ring has tried to make a claim against Kenja under the National Redress Scheme, which was set up following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, for survivors to access counselling, an apology and a payment from the institution that was responsible for the abuse. She was unable to do so because Kenja has refused to join the scheme.

She raised Ms Hamilton in her submission to a senate committee into the implementation of the National Redress Scheme because she said the complicity of the adults who remain active in Kenja is a point of vulnerability that could be leveraged to encourage the group to join the scheme.

Other groups have only joined the scheme when the government has threatened to withdraw their charitable status for taxation purposes, but Kenja is not a registered charity.

“The adults of Kenja knew what was going on and have never been investigated, just like Jan Hamilton has never been investigated because responsibility of care wasn’t an issue like it is now,” Ms Ring told the committee.

“I do think there is some vulnerability there because one of the ways that Jan manages to stay within that organisation is with the support of her very dedicated followers … [but] the way that it’s set up from a finance perspective doesn’t make them vulnerable.”

Kenja said in a statement that Ms Ring’s statement was “false and malicious” and an abuse of parliamentary process.

“All Ms Ring’s statements are completely denied. They are baseless and degrading. Furthermore, the allegation that other adults were aware of the alleged abuse is similarly baseless. This is a terrible smear on people’s good character.”

Lifeline: 131 114

https://www.lifeline.org.au/

National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800RESPECT or 1800 737 732

https://www.1800respect.org.au/

Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800

https://kidshelpline.com.au/

https://www.smh.com.au/national/cult-leader-s-widow-accused-of-grooming-girls-for-sexual-abuse-20211011-p58z1p.html

‘Extreme urgency’: Tony Abbott calls for nuclear submarine stop gap

ADAM CREIGHTON - OCTOBER 16, 2021

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has urged the government to obtain retiring British or American nuclear powered-submarines as soon as possible, reflecting concern the new AUKUS security pact struck between Australia, the US and UK won’t deliver new submarines fast enough to counter Chinese aggression.

In remarks in Washington, Mr Abbott, fresh from delivering a provocatively scathing assessment of Chinese foreign policy in Taiwan last week, said Australia needed “new subs now, not in 10 or 20 years time … The sooner we have a much more substantial sovereign capability the better for everyone”.

“One of the things I hope our government is exploring as an extreme urgency would be the possibility of taking over retiring British or American nuclear subs, if needs be with a composite crew … running them as part training part operational boats, if need be based in Guam,” he added.

The new AUKUS security pact announced last month will see Australia obtain at least eight nuclear-powered submarines after the government tore up a $90bn earlier agreement to acquire conventionally powered from France.

“I can understand the French being a little bit miffed, it is a blow to their pride, I am very confident that he fundamental goodwill between French an Australian people will be unscathed by this,” Mr Abbott said, noting 46,000 Australians had died defending France in World War I.

“The deal with the French had many exit ramps, that was part of the contract, so we haven’t broken the contract, we have simply chosen to take an exit ramp,” he added.

The AUKUS agreement, kept under wraps for months by the three government, envisages an 18 month period for the government to contract for construction of nuclear submarines, to be built at least in part in Australia, from British or American manufacturers.

The UK has suggested sending a few nuclear submarines to be based in Australia, while Defence Minister Peter Dutton has previously raised the idea of “leasing” nuclear subs, in the interim.

Speaking in an online forum hosted by Project2049, a US non-profit dedicated to promoting US interests in the Asia-Pacific region, Mr Abbott also urged Japan to become a member of the ‘five eyes’ group of nations, which includes Australia, the US and New Zealand.

“Certainly I’d like to see Japan effectively in the 5 eyes because Japan would bring enormous insight and capability to it,” he said, also revealing his inclination as prime minister in 2013 to award the submarine contract, which ultimately went to France, to Japan because it had “skin in the game unlike European nations”.

“Japan’s subs are in a region which would be traversed by both Chinese and Russian nuclear submarines,” Mr Abbott said.

“And I was confident Japan would not put its submariners to sea in boats that weren’t more than capable of taking on any potential adversary,” he added.

Mr Abbot’s remarks in Washington continue what’s become a global campaign of the former prime minister to build support for Taiwan, a democratic Chinese island nation of 24 million, which is increasingly fearful of losing sovereign to Beijing as the communist nation seeks to assert greater control in the Asia-Pacific region.

“I want the people of Taiwan to know that they are not nearly as isolated as Beijing would like them to feel,” he said in Taiwan.

“While Taiwan is a 10-hour flight from Australia it is a like-minded society. It is a free and liberal society, which has evolved magnificently in last few decades … a living breathing refutation of the idea there’s some totalitarian gene in Chinese DNA,” Mr Abbott said on Friday.

Mr Abbott also said that “no self-respecting Australian government should support China’s application to join the Transpacific Partnership, while some $20bn of our trade is being capriciously disrupted for political purposes”.

Taiwan, the US and the UK should be admitted, though, he said. “It is most unfortunate that domestic politics in the US ultimately prevented the US from being part of that which was its original conception,” Mr Abbott said, referring to former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the US from the nascent trading bloc in 2017.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/extreme-urgency-tony-abbott-calls-for-nuclear-submarine-stop-gap/news-story/e9f138ac289b99fe6829f10555ef0660

Ian Maxwell: ‘Court of public opinion has already convicted my sister Ghislaine, but she is innocent’

In exclusive interview, the socialite’s brother tells how his family are fighting her corner while she awaits trial on trafficking charges

Robert Mendick - 15 October 2021

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Ian Maxwell thumps the arm of his chair. “It makes me damn angry,” he says, in reference to his sister’s plight.

Ghislaine Maxwell has already been incarcerated for 471 days, held in isolation in a tiny jail cell in Brooklyn, awaiting trial on sexual abuse and trafficking charges for alleged crimes committed between 20 and 27 years ago. She has already spent far longer in jail than Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier and her former boyfriend.

Mr Maxwell, the big brother of the Maxwell clan, cannot really believe his family is still in the news. Almost never out of it since his father, Robert, was declared 50 years ago by an official report of the Department of Trade and Industry to be unfit to run a publicly listed company.

“This is Succession in spades,” he says, in reference to the award winning drama series about a media mogul and his family.

‘A family that sticks together’

On November 5 1991, Robert fell overboard to his death from his yacht Lady Ghislaine, as the pension theft scandal engulfed him. “Bob Maxwell died 30 years ago and in the same month, Ghislaine is facing her moment of truth,” says Mr Maxwell. “This family has been somehow – the father mostly and now the children – in the news since 1971.”

He reels off the events that have shaped their lives, from his father’s demise to his own fraud trial with younger brother Kevin (they were both acquitted in 1996) and, just as the family is getting on with their lives, then “bang”, he says, his sister is charged.

Mr Maxwell, in his 60s and practically deaf save for the assistance of sophisticated hearing aids, is defiant, running from London the campaign to ensure Ms Maxwell gets a fair hearing in the New York courts.

“This is a family that sticks together,” he says. “Ghislaine has people who love her; people who trust her. This is a family that has been knocked down, gets up, gets knocked down again and then gets up. We are a family that fights for each other and this is a big fight we are in. We are hopeful justice will prevail as it must.”

This week, just over a month before the criminal trial starts, Ms Maxwell and her legal team, finally and officially, were given the names of the women who have accused her of recruiting them as teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse them. The charges relate to alleged offences committed between 1994 and 2004.

(continued)

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Fighting the claims

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the woman who has accused the Duke of York of sexual assault and rape, is not among the complainants in the Maxwell trial. She has separately, in civil proceedings, accused Epstein and Ms Maxwell of trafficking her to London and forcing her to have sex with the Queen’s son. Ms Maxwell settled a defamation claim brought by Ms Giuffre in 2017 after she had accused her of lying and now Ms Giuffre is suing the Duke.

Prince Andrew has always denied the allegation.

At the same time that the legal team has learned the names of the accusers, the Metropolitan Police said it had re-examined Ms Giuffre’s claims and was not opening a full-blown investigation.

“It’s an extraordinary situation,” says Mr Maxwell. “Neither the UK police nor, it would seem, the US authorities are using the allegations of Virginia Giuffre. They didn’t use them as far as I know in the arrest and prosecution of Epstein in 2008 and didn’t use it again in 2019 [when Epstein was arrested a second time].

They are not using Giuffre’s testimony in the prosecution of Ghislaine.

“If her claims are strong and true, and there is back-up evidence to support them, why aren’t they using them? In my opinion, it speaks volumes as to credibility.”

Mr Maxwell cannot believe that Ms Giuffre would make up her claims: “The key thing about it, it seems to me, is she [Ms Giuffre] is at the centre of the whole allegation against Prince Andrew and the defamation case against Ghislaine. So I cannot believe anyone would be so evil as to tell lies about what may have happened that has resulted in my sister being in prison for nearly 500 days and has ruined the life of Prince Andrew. It is just too evil a thought.

“I cannot imagine someone would tell such lies. It is too unconscionable. What I think seems evident is that she was deeply confused. She seems to me to be a very, very confused lady.”

But he is in no doubt of the seriousness of her claims: “Prince Andrew has effectively been cancelled as a result of these allegations.”

‘My sister is not some socialite flibberty gibbet’

The deep, deep worry for Team Maxwell is that in the court of public opinion, Ms Maxwell is already convicted. They are trying to turn the tanker around in the face of a high-profile FBI press conference, broadcast around the world, when she was arrested at her secluded farmhouse – or secret hideout, depending on how it is spun – in New Hampshire in July 2020.

Mr Maxwell insists his sister is wholly innocent, and that while she was close to Epstein for a number of years, they lived in separate homes and their lives “compartmentalised” so that she was unaware, and certainly not involved, in his predatory sexual behaviour, in which he abused scores of young women and teenage girls.

(continued)

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When Epstein was first arrested in 2008 (he was subsequently jailed after a controversial plea bargain, serving just 388 days in prison), Mr Maxwell says his sister’s name “was never mentioned in all the police reports made against him”.

He adds: “Her name is not mentioned in the grand jury. The police officer who gathered these statements, Joe Recarey, who has since sadly died, but his testimony is alive and he was asked these questions. Did he name her? No. Did her name feature in the grand jury? No.

“But here we are six weeks from trial, and it just seems to me that some focus on some of the truths in this case need to occur. This needs investigating because it hasn’t been given any real aeration. It hasn’t. All this has been in the public domain, but it’s not the narrative. The narrative is all women must be believed. Epstein was a monster, but Epstein is now dead.

“So Ghislaine is the monster and she’s a woman makes her doubly a monster. And she’s the daughter of Bob Maxwell makes her trebly a monster.”

Mr Maxwell recalls meeting Epstein only once, at a dinner in Florida, where they lived, in about June 1996. Both he and Kevin had flown to the US shortly after being acquitted of fraud following an eight-month trial at the Old Bailey.

“By then, it was my sense their relationship was moving on. They didn’t live together. They never lived together. She had her place and he had his place. She didn’t have a key to his door.”

Mr Maxwell makes it clear he had “absolutely” no idea of her having any of the sexual proclivities of which she is accused: “Ghislaine is painted as some socialite flibberty gibbet. But it is impossible to have been a child of Bob Maxwell and Elisabeth Maxwell and be a flibberty gibbet. Ghislaine is friends of presidents. She went to Oxford.”

Countdown to the trial

With six weeks to trial, Ms Maxwell continues to languish in the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn. Bail, despite an offer of nearly $30 million surety, has been denied three times.

It is an abuse of her human rights, says her brother, who insists that should she be found guilty, Ms Maxwell will campaign for improved rights for those held in custody in the US while awaiting trial. She is on constant suicide watch, a hangover from the failure of prison guards to prevent Epstein killing himself in jail while awaiting trial in August 2019.

“There is an obvious abuse of human rights,” says Mr Maxwell.

“The right to the presumption of innocence, the right really to due process, including the ability to defend yourself properly.”

The prosecution case will last somewhere between two to four weeks before Ms Maxwell, if she agrees, will take the witness stand, her chance to make her case to a jury that she hopes will be uninfected by all the terrible publicity that has preceded the trial.

In Britain, strict laws prevent cases being played out before a trial begins. The US, with its politicised court processes, is very different.

Ms Maxwell may, or may not, walk free. But inevitably, she will spend her 60th birthday, which falls on Christmas Day, in prison. The big question is, where will she be for her 61st and beyond?

The jury is out on that one.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/10/15/ian-maxwell-court-public-opinion-has-already-convicted-sister/

https://www.realghislaine.com/media

https://433da961-4072-4f62-a692-d989a9f700d0.filesusr.com/ugd/ba2454_7189fcb821ed4515a5c1b29288e6b0c8.pdf

Australia considers world-first laws to stop China attack

World-first powers are being considered as the government ramps up the fight against cyber attacks that threaten national security.

Ellen Whinnett - October 16, 2021

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People who refuse to allow cyber spooks access to their business computers would be jailed under new laws being rushed into parliament to toughen up the nation’s cyber defences.

Legislation is being fast-tracked to give the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) the power to take over the computer systems of any critical infrastructure business which is unable or unwilling to defend itself against a crippling cyber attack.

The move is in direct response to fears Australia’s critical infrastructure is dangerously vulnerable to an attack from China, other rogue states, or criminal ransomware gangs.

The new “government assistance’’ powers would authorise the Australian Federal Police to force entry into a business and arrest individuals if they did not agree to let the cyber spooks into their computer systems.

Two-year jail terms and fines of $26,640 would be levelled against individuals who failed to respond to an ASD order on how to respond to the cyber attack. Corporations would face fines of up to $133,200.

And while the penalties could be levelled against company CEOs, jail terms and fines could also be handed out to employees whose job is to manage cyber attacks, such as chief information and security officers.

The extraordinary new “last resort’’ powers, thought to be the toughest suite of powers for a Government cyber agency anywhere in the world, are being introduced as Australia comes under sustained cyber attack from malicious state actors, and from criminal gangs extorting ransom payments.

High-level briefings in Canberra have warned that China’s Ministry of State Security in particular posed a real threat to Australia’s critical infrastructure.

Multiple sources told News Corp it was likely Beijing’s hackers had already infiltrated some critical infrastructure systems and planted malware which could be used in the future to bring Australia’s critical infrastructure to its knees.

One scenario discussed is the possibility China could launch a crippling cyber attack on Australia to take us out of the game ahead of any potential move against Taiwan.

The Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2020 will bring 11 sectors – communications, financial services and markets, data storage or processing, defence industry, higher education and research, energy, food and grocery, health care and medical, space technology, transport, water and sewerage – under the remit of the new powers, alongside the industries already deemed vital to Australia’s national security – electricity, gas, water and ports.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, Liberal Senator James Paterson, said urgency was required because Australia’s critical infrastructure faced a cyber attack every 32 minutes.

“Given how interconnected our digital systems are, it’s not difficult to imagine the society-wide consequences if our financial system was shut down or if our food supply chains were disrupted,’’ Sen Paterson said.

“Our security agencies need the appropriate tools to mitigate these serious risks.’’

The committee has just completed an inquiry into the legislation, which recommended splitting the bill to rush the new government assistance powers into parliament.

Sen. Paterson said most companies willingly co-operated with the Australian Signals Directorate when they suffered a cyber attack.

“But we heard during our inquiry an example of at least one systemically-important business that failed to co-operate in a timely way, and there may be others who never reported they were under attack,’’ he said.

“In the event of a crisis we must have last-resort powers to keep critical infrastructure up and running if they are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.’’

(continued)

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Sen. Paterson said independent experts had told the committee it was likely there was “already a dormant presence of foreign state actors on at least some of our critical infrastructure networks.’’

“They advised the committee that these vulnerabilities could be activated as a prelude to a regional crisis to hamper Australia’s ability to project power to defend our allies, interests and values,’’ he said.

Sen. Paterson said criminal ransomware gangs were an ongoing threat but were less likely to cause a major national crisis by launching a comprehensive attack on a number of critical assets at once.

“Only a sophisticated state actor has the resources and the incentive to launch such an attack.’’

China, Russian, North Korea and Iran have all been named internationally as the major threats to western democracies.

“China is not the only state actor who operates in this space but for Australia they are easily the largest and most sophisticated threat,’’ Sen. Paterson said.

The committee has recommended the legislation be split into two, with the first tranche to be introduced this sitting fortnight. This bill would bring the 11 new sectors under the critical assets legislation, require companies to report any cyber attacks, and allow the ASD to step in as a last resort.

The second half of the bill, which requires companies to upgrade their cyber security, would be referred off for further consultations after strong opposition from business which fears it could prove too costly.

Director of think tank ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre, Fergus Hanson, said the powers contained within the bill were “a big deal’’.

“It gives the Government the ability to send people into an organisation and demand, under pain of a sizeable penalty, that they must run a piece of software or do a certain thing to protect their systems,’’ he said.

“In practise, I don’t think it means you’re going to be seeing ASD ordering major technology companies around about what they should and shouldn’t be doing with their very complicated systems.

“I don’t think it’s going to move the dial on companies like Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure, they’re already going to have superior cyber security capabilities.

“But for sectors that haven’t really thought about cyber security but are really vulnerable to cyber risks and will be increasingly vulnerable, I think it’s really useful.

“Australia will be in the vanguard of a small group of countries that are really at the forefront of creating these sorts of powers for critical infrastructure.’’

Mr Hanson said he believed cyber criminals such as ransomware gangs were the most urgent threat to Australia’s critical infrastructure network, but said “several states are certainly burrowing into critical infrastructure systems around the world and laying in wait basically to deploy and exploit if needed.’’

“I think it’s almost certain, that’s happened all around the world, not just in Australia but everywhere.’’

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said a range of malicious cyber actors were intent on doing harm to critical infrastructure and Australia’s way of life.

“We must give our agencies the powers and authorities they need to keep us safe, and to support and protect the shared national resources we’re all connected to and rely on – like power grids, transport links, and secure e-commerce networks,’’ she said.

Labor has indicated it supports the splitting of the Bill, with a spokeswoman for Opposition Home Affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally noting the last resort powers were “required and urgent.’’

It will make a final decision on whether to support the legislation once it sees the amended legislation.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/technology/online/australia-considers-worldfirst-laws-to-stop-china-attack/news-story/27d13df314ba8e5c9737c887125dd8e7

NSW hits 80 per cent double vaccination target against COVID-19

abc.net.au - 16 October 2021

NSW has become the first state with 80 per cent of its eligible adult population fully inoculated against COVID-19.

Premier Dominic Perrottet announced the milestone on Facebook, saying restrictions will ease further on Monday.

Mr Perrottet said it had been a long wait but it felt good to be "breaking this news".

He also thanked healthcare professionals and the residents of NSW.

"A huge thanks to all the nurses and the vaccination hub staff at NSW Health, the GPs, the pharmacists and every person in our state who rolled up their sleeve to get us here," he said.

Under the government's COVID-19 roadmap, more freedoms would be allowed on the Monday after the state hit its target.

It now means from Monday, October 18, the rules around 80 per cent will take effect which allow for freedoms including more visitors to people's houses, an increase to people gathering outdoors and outdoor ticketed events.

Mr Perrottet advised people to go to NSW Health and Service NSW to keep up to date with the changes.

From Monday, masks will no longer have to be worn in offices, community sports can resume and nightclubs can reopen.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison congratulated the Premier on social media, writing "Well done NSW" in response to the announcement.

"A tremendous achievement! Let's keep going," Mr Morrison said.

"Help keep you, your family and your community safe by getting vaccinated today."

As at October 15, 91.9 per cent of those 16 and over had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Other social media users had mixed reactions to the Premier's announcement.

While some were excited by the news others were concerned about the restrictions on the unvaccinated.

One user wrote that the community had been segregated and he wouldn't be celebrating until he could see family and friends regardless of their vaccination status.

Another wrote: "Any chance of letting the unvaxxed out to play a bit earlier?"

The delay of travel to the regions, promised at 80 per cent, was also an issue for social media users with some calling for it to be reinstated.

The government suspended travel due to the low vaccination rates in some parts of regional NSW.

Earlier on Saturday, the number of double-vaccinated people allowed at upcoming racing events was increased to 10,000.

It means the next four Spring Racing Carnival meetings, which includes Melbourne Cup Race Day, will be able to operate at this capacity.

Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation Kevin Anderson made the announcement at the Everest race, the first big event for NSW out of lockdown and the first with the 10,000 crowd limit.

He said Saturday's race was setting the benchmark on how to operate safely.

"There's no doubt we're coming out of a very dark time through the pandemic and lockdown, and to be able to be on course today with 10,000 people, we are setting the benchmark," Mr Anderson said.

"We are setting the platform on how to operate safely, on how to get people out and about, how to get them socialising not only on an economic perspective but a mental health perspective."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-16/nsw-hits-80-per-cent-double-covid-19-vaccination/100545168

>>14798254

Horse race marks Sydney's emergence from long COVID-19 lockdown

Lidia Kelly - October 16, 2021

Oct 16 (Reuters) - Thousands of Sydney residents flocked to a prominent horse race on Saturday, as Australia's biggest city emerges from a strict COVID-19 lockdown and the nation begins to live with the coronavirus through extensive vaccination.

Up to 10,000 fully vaccinated spectators can now attend races such as The Everest in Sydney, Australia's richest turf horse race, and the country's most famous, Melbourne Cup Day, on Nov. 2.

New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, reached its target of 80% of people fully vaccinated on Saturday, well ahead of the rest of Australia.

"80% in NSW! Been a long wait but we've done it," New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet said on Twitter.

The state reported 319 new coronavirus cases, all of the Delta variant, and two deaths on Saturday. Many restrictions were eased in New South Wales on Monday, when it reached 70% double vaccinations.

Neighbouring Victoria, where the capital Melbourne has been in lockdown for weeks, reported 1,993 new cases and seven deaths, including the state's youngest victim, a 15-year-old girl.

Victoria is expected to reach 70% double vaccination before Oct. 26 and ease its restrictions more slowly than New South Wales has, drawing criticism from the federal government on Saturday.

"It is really sad that Victorians are being held back," said Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

Australia is set to gradually lift its 18-month ban on international travel from next month for some states when 80% of people aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated. As of Friday, 67.2% of Australians were fully inoculated, and 84.4% had received at least one shot.

The country closed its international borders in March 2020, since then allowing only a limited number of people to leave or citizens and permanent residents abroad to return, requiring them to quarantine for two weeks.

Australia's overall coronavirus numbers are low compared to many other developed countries, with just over 140,000 cases and 1,513 deaths.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/horse-race-marks-sydneys-emergence-long-covid-19-lockdown-2021-10-16/

https://twitter.com/Dom_Perrottet/status/1449241653928075264

https://twitter.com/Dom_Perrottet/status/1449241656029450246

>>14798254

Melbourne to ease world's longest COVID-19 lockdowns as vaccinations rise

Lidia Kelly - October 17, 2021

MELBOURNE, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Melbourne, which has spent more time under COVID-19 lockdowns than any other city in the world, is set to lift its stay-at-home orders this week, officials said on Sunday.

By Friday, when some curbs will be lifted, the Australian city of 5 million people will have been under six lockdowns totalling 262 days, or nearly nine months, since March 2020.

Australian and other media say this is the longest in the world, exceeding a 234-day lockdown in Buenos Aires.

While coronavirus cases keep rising in Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital, the state's double-vaccination rate is set to reach 70% this week, allowing for the ease in restrictions.

"Today is a great day," said Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews in announcing the lockdown. "Today is a day when Victorians can be proud of what they have achieved."

When hospitality venues and some businesses reopen, their capacity will remain heavily restricted. More easing, including the reopening of many retailers, will come once 80% of eligible Victorians are fully vaccinated - estimated by Nov. 5 at the latest.

On Sunday, Victoria recorded 1,838 new coronavirus cases and seven deaths. Neighbouring New South Wales, which emerged last week from a 100-day lockdown, reported 301 cases and 10 deaths. Eighty percent of the state's people have been fully vaccinated.

Australia, once a champion of a COVID-zero strategy of managing the pandemic, has been moving towards living with the virus through extensive vaccinations, as the Delta variant has proven too transmissible to suppress.

The new strategy makes lockdowns highly unlikely once 80% of the population is fully vaccinated. As of the weekend, around 68% of eligible Australians have been fully inoculated.

Australia's health officials said on Sunday that quarantine-free travel from New Zealand's South Island, where there is no outbreak, will resume on Wednesday. The government is also in discussions with Singapore about reopening travel between the two countries for the fully vaccinated.

Despite the rise in cases in recent months, Australia's coronavirus numbers are low compared to many other developed countries, with just over 143,000 cases and 1,530 deaths.

Neighbouring New Zealand, which is also learning to live with COVID-19 by accelerating inoculations, reported 51 new cases on Sunday, 47 of them in the largest city Auckland, which has been in a lockdown since mid-August.

On Saturday, New Zealand vaccinated more than 2.5% of its people as part of a government-led mass vaccination drive.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/melbourne-ease-worlds-longest-covid-19-lockdowns-vaccinations-rise-2021-10-17/

>>14798254

Australia secures two new “breakthrough” Covid treatments

BLAKE ANTROBUS - OCTOBER 17, 2021

More than half-a-million additional doses of Covid-19 treatments have been secured for Australians, with the first 5000 expected to arrive by the end of the month.

The Federal Government on Sunday announced it had secured 500,000 treatment courses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 oral antiviral drug, which will be used in combination with the protease inhibitor drug ritonavir.

Another 15,000 doses of the Covid-19 antibody-based therapy Ronapreve were also secured.

Early studies have shown the drug Ronapreve reduced the risk of hospitalisation and death by up to 70 per cent in positive Covid cases.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the initial shipment of 5000 doses was expected to be ready by the end of the month.

The supply will be held in the National Medical Stockpile.

Clinical trials are still being undertaken on the Pfizer antiviral drug but Mr Hunt said it is expected to help to reduce the severity or onset of illness in adults who contract or are exposed to Covid-19.

He said it is expected to be available over the course of 2022, subject to final clinical trials and approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administrator (TGA).

“This oral antiviral treatment is taken every 12 hours for five days and is designed to block an enzyme the virus needs in order to multiply early in its life cycle,” Mr Hunt said.

“Co-administration with a low dose of ritonavir is expected to help slow the metabolism of the treatment in order for it to remain active in the body for longer periods of time at higher concentrations to combat the virus.”

He said it was expected to be targeted for use in unvaccinated people who are at risk of developing severe disease.

Australia has also secured an advanced purchase agreement for 300,000 courses of the oral Covid-19 treatment Molnupiravir – expected to be supplied in 2022 subject to TGA approval.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/australia-secures-two-new-breakthrough-covid-treatments/news-story/f4e78b5f27bac653d25ffb30760130fd

Prince Andrew says sex abuse claims invalid over secret Epstein ‘royalty’ deal

Victoria Ward - October 17, 2021

London: Prince Andrew will argue that a sexual abuse lawsuit filed against him is invalid because his accuser struck a secret deal with Jeffrey Epstein referencing “royalty”.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre settled with the convicted sex offender in 2009 for undisclosed damages after lodging a criminal complaint accusing The Duke of York of sexual exploitation and abuse.

The confidential agreement they signed in Florida, in which she allegedly promised not to take further action against the financier or his associates, has since remained sealed.

But after Giuffre sued Andrew for undisclosed damages, claiming she was forced to have sex with him three times when she was 17, the document has become of significant interest to his legal team. His US-based lawyer, Andrew Brettler, told a pre-trial hearing last month he believed it released the Duke and others from “any and all potential liability”.

It was last week released to Andrew’s legal team on the orders of a judge.

The reference to royalty is likely to be seized upon by his legal team as they argue that it nullifies Giuffre’s claim. No other member of the royal family has been implicated in the scandal or is thought to have come into contact with Giuffre, allowing them to insist it could only apply to Prince Andrew.

The reference appears to accord with Giuffre’s original complaint against Epstein, filed under the pseudonym Jane Doe in Florida, which stated: “In addition to being continually exploited to satisfy the defendant’s every sexual whim, Plaintiff was also required to be sexually exploited by defendant’s adult male peers, including royalty, politicians, academicians, businessmen and/or other professional and personal acquaintances.”

The ensuing settlement was used by Alan Dershowitz, Epstein’s former lawyer, to get an abuse claim that Giuffre made against him struck out in August. He urged the judge in his own case, Loretta Preska, to unseal the document, warning that he was “compelled not to sit back silently” knowing its contents. “The issue before the court is a matter of professional ethics and the interests of justice,” he said.

Dershowitz told said: “I cannot imagine how the case against the Prince will not be dismissed based on the dismissal of the case against me.”

However, David Boies, Giuffre’s lawyer, has said the royal reference is “irrelevant” to the case. He originally urged a judge not to disclose the document to Andrew, but later said he should be allowed to review it.

Andrew has until October 29 to respond to the civil suit, with a remote hearing scheduled for November 3.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/prince-andrew-says-sex-abuse-claims-invalid-over-secret-epstein-royalty-deal-20211017-p590mk.html

>>14798254

Some Sydney school students return as more COVID-19 curbs eased

Renju Jose and Shashwat Awasthi - OCTOBER 18, 2021

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Thousands of children returned to school in Sydney on Monday, putting an end to months of home learning as Australia’s largest city eased more COVID-19 curbs, thanks to rising rates of vaccinations.

Masks are no longer mandatory in offices and larger groups are to be allowed in homes and outdoors after the state of New South Wales, home to Sydney, hit a double-dose inoculation rate of 80% at the weekend among those older than 16.

The latest in a series of planned relaxations is part of a shift in strategy by Australia’s largest cities towards living with the virus, though officials have warned it will bring more COVID-19 cases.

“This is not over,” state premier Dominic Perrottet said on Monday, urging people to stick to the remaining health rules. “There is a long journey to go.”

Shops, gyms and pubs can allow more vaccinated users while nightclubs can re-open to serve drinks to seated patrons, and limits on the number of guests at weddings have been dropped. But all must follow social distancing measures.

Monday’s return to the classroom has been staggered, as the youngest and eldest - those in kindergarten, year 1 and year 12 go back - with all the rest scheduled for next week.

New South Wales’s 265 new cases were the lowest single-day rise in 10 weeks, far off September’s high of 1,599.

The neighbouring state of Victoria reported 1,903 new cases, up from 1,838 the previous day. Its capital, Melbourne, is on track to begin exiting its lockdown on Friday, as full vaccination levels near 70%.

The city has spent about nine months under strict stay-home orders since March 2020, the world’s longest such stint, say Australian media.

BORDER RE-OPENING

Authorities in northeastern Queensland, which is free of COVID-19, said quarantine-free travel for fully vaccinated residents from Sydney and Melbourne would begin from Dec. 17, when the state’s full vaccination rate is expected to top 80%.

“That is good news for families to be reunited for Christmas,” said the state’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk.

The two cities have been hotspots of Australia’s virus outbreak.

Fully vaccinated individuals can travel to Queensland when the level of inoculations stands at 70%, but must quarantine at home for two weeks.

As states begin to ease curbs, the federal government said it would roll out its vaccination passport for international travel from Tuesday, a crucial step in its plan to let citizens travel abroad from next month.

Last week, authorities said vaccinated international travellers, initially only citizens and permanent residents, would be allowed to enter Sydney from Nov. 1 here free of quarantine..

With a tally of 145,000 infections and 1,543 deaths, Australia’s exposure to the coronavirus has been relatively low.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-australia/some-sydney-school-students-return-as-more-covid-19-curbs-eased-idUSKBN2H70K8

Malcolm Turnbull on Murdoch, lies and the climate crisis: ‘The same forces that enabled Trump are at work in Australia’

Systematic partisan lying and misinformation from the media, both mainstream and social, has done enormous damage to liberal democracies, the former PM writes

Malcolm Turnbull - 18 Oct 2021

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The United States has suffered the largest number of Covid-19 deaths: about 600,000 at the time of writing. The same political and media players who deny the reality of global warming also denied and politicised the Covid-19 virus.

To his credit, Donald Trump poured billions into Operation Warp Speed, which assisted the development of vaccines in a timeframe that matched the program’s ambitious title. But he also downplayed the gravity of Covid-19, then peddled quack therapies and mocked cities that mandated social distancing and mask wearing.

Trump’s catastrophic management of the pandemic resulted in election defeat in November 2020. It says a lot about the insanity of America’s political discourse that the then presidential nominee Joe Biden had to say, again and again: “Mask wearing is not a political statement.”

From our relative safety and sanity, Australians looked to America with increasing horror. If the Covid-19 disaster was not enough, the callous police murder of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 ignited a wave of outraged protest against racism in the US and around the world. And then events took another sinister turn.

Anticipating defeat, Trump had been busy claiming the election would be rigged by the Democrats. He predicted widespread voter fraud, setting himself up for an “I wuz robbed” case if the result went against him. He had done the same in 2016.

As it happened, Biden won convincingly. Trump and the Republican party launched more than 60 legal challenges to the result. Their failure did not stop the misinformation campaign.

Relentlessly, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and the rest of the rightwing media claque claimed Biden had stolen the election. A protest march was scheduled in Washington for 6 January 2021, the day Congress was scheduled to formally count the electoral college votes and confirm Biden’s win. The protest was expressly designed to pressure Congress, and especially the then vice-president, Mike Pence, to overthrow the decision of the people and declare Trump re-elected.

They assembled in their thousands. Trump wound them up with a typically inflammatory address, culminating in a call to march on the Capitol. The mob proceeded to besiege and break into the home of US democracy. They surged through the corridors, threatening to hang Pence and the Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Several security guards were killed, as was one of the insurgents. Luckily, none of the legislators were found by the mob, although several appeared to have encouraged them in the lead-up to the assault.

It was nothing less than an attempted coup, promoted and encouraged by the president himself and his media allies like Murdoch who, through Fox News, has probably done more damage to US democracy than any other individual.

(continued)

>>14806352

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Vladimir Putin’s disinformation campaigns have sought to exacerbate divisions in western democracies and undermine popular trust in their institutions. By creating and exploiting a market for crazy conspiracy theories untethered from the facts, let alone science, Murdoch has done Putin’s work – better than any Russian intelligence agency could ever imagine possible.

That is why I supported the former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s call for a royal commission into the Murdoch media, which does not operate like a conventional news organisation but rather like a political party, pushing its own agendas, running vendettas against its critics and covering up for its friends.

In April I reinforced these points in an interview with CNN’s Brian Stelter, as I had to the Australian Senate’s inquiry into media diversity. Of all the endorsements, none was more significant than that of James Clapper, the former US director of national intelligence, who said Fox News was “a megaphone for conspiracies and falsehoods”.

We have to face the uncomfortable fact that the systematic partisan lying and misinformation from the media, both mainstream and social – what Clapper calls the “truth deficit” – has done enormous damage to liberal democracies, and none more so than the US itself. Thanks to this relentless diet of lies, a quarter of all Americans and 56% of Republicans believe Trump is the true president today.

Biden is leading a more traditional and rational administration. The friends and allies Trump had outraged around the world are breathing a sigh of relief. The US has rejoined the Paris agreement on climate change and Biden is seeking to lead the world with deeper, faster cuts to emissions.

But the same forces that amplified and enabled Trump are still at work in the US and here in Australia. In April the Murdoch press bullied the New South Wales government into reversing its decision to appoint me chairman of a committee to advise on the transition to a net zero emission economy. My “crime” was to not support the continued, unconstrained expansion of open-cut coalmining in the Hunter Valley. In the crazed, rightwing media echo chamber so influential with many Liberal and National party members, the primary qualification to advise on net zero emissions is, apparently, unqualified support for coalmining.

As though we hadn’t had enough demonstration of the Murdochs’ vendetta tactics, right on cue on 2 May Sky News Australia broadcast a “documentary” designed to disparage me and Rudd as being, in effect, political twins separated at birth. As a job, I am told it gave hatchets a bad name. But the message was clear to anyone inclined to hold Murdoch to account: step out of line and you will be next.

And while politicians are accountable, the Murdochs are not. Their abuse of power has been so shameful that James Murdoch has resigned from the company. His brother, Lachlan, however, is thoroughly in charge and apparently more rightwing than his father. Yet he has chosen to move back to Australia with his family, fleeing the hatreds and divisions of America that he and his father have done so much to exacerbate.

(continued)

>>14806354

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As bushfires raged in the summer of 2019-20 I hoped that this red-raw reality of global warming would end the crazy, politicised climate wars in Australia. Well, it didn’t. The onset of the pandemic served to distract everyone, although the irony of following the virus science while ignoring the climate science seems to have been lost on too many members of the Australian government.

Australia is more out of step with its friends and allies than it has ever been. All of our closest friends – the US, the UK, the EU, Japan and New Zealand – are now committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

On 18 May the International Energy Agency released a new report on how the world can, and must, reach net zero.For the first time this expert agency, always regarded as sympathetic to the oil and gas sectors, demanded that investment in new oil, gas and coal projects cease and that we make a rapid shift to renewables and storage. They described how this would enable us to have more, and cheaper, electricity.

To coincide with this report (of which the Australian government had full prior notice), Scott Morrison chose to announce that his government would invest $600m to build a new gas-fired power station in the Hunter Valley. The energy sector, the regulators, the NSW government and other experts were united in saying the power station was not needed – $600m wasted. To the rest of the world, increasingly puzzled by Australia’s fossil-fuel fetish, it must have looked like a calculated “fuck you” to the global consensus demanding climate action.

To those concerned about the lack of leadership on climate, Morrison says his five predecessors all lost their job, one way or another, because of climate policy. He is determined not to let the right wing of the Coalition do to him what it did to me. Before June he would point to the instability in the National party and warn how a shift on climate could trigger a party room revolt, led by Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and others, to overthrow Michael McCormack. That has now happened, and Joyce made his case for change on the basis of McCormack not doing more to oppose Morrison’s edging towards a net zero commitment.

So Morrison is determined not to lead on climate; he wants business and other governments to take the lead and for events to take their course so that the transition to zero emissions happens without any discernible action from the Australian government at all. In the meantime he will continue to use support for coal as a totemic issue to rally working-class voters in mining areas.

Scott is long on tactics and very short on strategy. With climate, he underlines my biggest concern about his government: that it will be successful at winning elections but do little in office. And with Barnaby back as deputy prime minister, he has another excuse to do nothing.

This is an edited extract from the new foreword to A Bigger Picture by Malcolm Turnbull (Hardie Grant Books, available now in paperback)

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/18/malcolm-turnbull-on-murdoch-lies-and-the-climate-crisis-the-same-forces-that-enabled-trump-are-at-work-in-australia

maybe a dingo started your bushfire

maybe a dingo started your brushfire

еснооооо

HIV-positive pedophile Jadd William Brooker is Australia’s worst child-sex predator after admitting to 189 charges

This HIV-positive pedophile has made history by confessing to 189 vile crimes. One victim took his own life, and prosecutors are expected to seek a “life without parole” order.

Sean Fewster - October 18, 2021

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HIV-positive pedophile Jadd William Brooker will plead guilty to 138 more crimes against children – making him the worst child-sex offender in Australian history.

In the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday, Brooker’s counsel said their client wanted to confess to all but four of a horrifying list of perverted and predatory offences.

With that indication, Brooker has admitted a total of 189 offences – a case far larger than any other sex crime previously heard by this country’s courts.

Tim Clarke, for Brooker, told the court he was ready to finalise the case.

“This was next listed for court in November, but I’ve asked it be called on for pleas,” he said.

“My client would like Your Honour to record guilty pleas to all counts except for four.

“It’s proposed that if the court takes those pleas, and we have spoken to prosecution about this, a copy of the information will be sent to my client so that he can sign it, rather than all charges being read out.”

It will fall to the District Court to sentence the former logistics manager for crimes committed, both in person and online, against children and teenagers around the world.

Prosecutors are expected to argue Brooker is unwilling to or incapable of controlling his sexual instincts, and seek to have him detained indefinitely.

If that application succeeds, he would – thanks to legal reform brought about by an Advertiser campaign – spend the rest of his life behind bars without parole.

That would place Brooker in the same class of sex criminal as predatory kidnapper Colin Charles Humphreys and murderous rapist Mark Errin Rust.

Brooker’s only chance of release would be convincing two mental health experts he had rehabilitated and no longer posed a risk to children.

His penalty would therefore outstrip even that of another infamous SA pedophile – Ruecha Tokputza, known as “the child collector”.

In 2019, Tokputza was jailed for 40 years with a non-parole period of 28 years after pleading guilty to 51 charges.

Both Tokputza and Brooker were brought down by SA’s Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team, a partnership between SA Police and Australian Federal Police.

(continued)

>>14806450

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JADD WILLIAM BROOKER’S CHARGES

Communicate To Make Child Amenable To Sexual Activity (Basic Offence) x 107

Adult, Maintain Unlawful Sexual Relationship With Child x 3

Persistent Sexual Exploitation Of A Child x 2

Disseminate Child Exploitation Material (Aggravated Offence) x 36

Disseminate Child Exploitation Material (Basic Offence) x 21

Obtain Access To Child Exploitation Material (Aggravated Offence) x 8

Obtain Access To Child Exploitation Material (Basic Offence) x 6

Produce Child Exploitation Material (Basic Offence) x 2

Possess Child Exploitation Material (Aggravated Offence) x 4

Possess Child Exploitation Material (Basic Offence) x 4

– Source: District and Magistrates Court registries

Brooker, 39, of Glenelg East, was arrested last year – the number and severity of the charges against him has been steadily increasing ever since.

On Monday, Mr Clarke told the court he was still seeking negotiations on the four remaining counts with prosecutors.

Those counts relate to alleged online offending – the age of the children involved remains in dispute, which determines how severe an eventual penalty would be.

Brooker’s arrest was sparked by an online conversation with barista Michael Drennan, in which Brooker expressed his intention to infect adults and children with HIV.

Drennan was subsequently jailed for two years – Brooker, meanwhile, filmed himself acting on his intent.

His actions were so vile, a detective gave sworn evidence they were “the worst and most degrading” he had investigated in his 14-year career.

One of Brooker’s victims took his own life after learning his abuser was HIV-positive, while others continue to be tested to see if they have contracted the virus.

After his arrest, Brooker was caught red-handed asking family members to delete his computer data and cloud storage – information that exposed a large pedophile ring.

Former SA Labor political adviser Benjamin John Waters is awaiting sentence for his role in that ring, while several other men have been charged and are before the courts.

On Monday, prosecutors agreed with Mr Clarke’s proposal to record guilty pleas but Magistrate Simon Smart did not.

He said he was not prepared to accept the proposal without written and signed guilty pleas, or all charges being read out in court.

Mr Clarke insisted the court record show his client’s pleas had been indicated – early guilty pleas attract a sentencing discount.

Mr Smart remanded Brooker in custody to face court again in November.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-sa/hivpositive-pedophile-jadd-william-brooker-is-australias-worst-childsex-predator-after-admitting-to-189-charges/news-story/8c7f6734e170d4a411e1fe7a98758be0

>>14789400

Journalist’s Ben Roberts-Smith report should remain secret, say lawyers

Tammy Mills - October 18, 2021

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A director of Seven West Media deployed a Walkley-award winning journalist to look into war crime allegations against the company’s employee, former special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, in a secret report later dubbed the “McWilliam project”.

Lawyers for Mr Roberts-Smith in his defamation case against The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, now say journalist Ross Coulthart’s report for Seven commercial director Bruce McWilliam and chairman Kerry Stokes should not be released to the newspapers, arguing it is protected by legal professional privilege, which keeps communication between lawyers and clients confidential.

The inner workings of how Seven responded to the allegations against Mr Roberts-Smith, who held a senior executive position at the company, is part of the broader defamation case in which Mr Roberts-Smith is suing the Nine-owned publications over a series of stories that allege he committed murders while on deployment to Afghanistan.

Mr Roberts-Smith, who has stepped aside from his position as general-manager at Seven in Queensland while he fights the case, denies all wrongdoing. The Age and Herald are relying on a defence of truth.

While the defamation trial is on hold until at least January, the latest stoush in the Federal Court on Monday centres on access to documents, specifically a report and a series of emails by Coulthart, a freelance journalist who at the time had been hired by public relations company Cato & Clive.

Mr McWilliam said in an affidavit that after media articles began to be published in 2017 about Mr Roberts-Smith, he asked Coulthart, an investigative reporter who had previously worked for the organisation, to look into the allegations and prepare a report for him and Seven boss Kerry Stokes.

Nine wants access to Coulthart’s report, which the barrister acting for Nine, Nicholas Owens, SC, called the “McWilliam project”. Nine also wants access to subsequent emails Coulthart sent to Mr McWilliam, Mr Stokes and Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers containing media statements he drafted for the war veteran as part of a public relations response to the allegations.

Mr Roberts-Smith is resisting releasing the documents on the basis that they are covered by legal professional privilege.

In his affidavit, Mr McWilliam said a report setting out the allegations and Mr Roberts-Smith’s responses would assist the former solider’s lawyers, Mark O’Brien and Arthur Moses, in advising him ahead of being questioned in a war crimes inquiry and a soon-to-come defamation suit.

The fact that Seven were, at that time, footing the war veteran’s legal bills was also a consideration.

“I wanted to ensure that any decision by SWM [Seven West Media] to continue to support the applicant [Mr Roberts-Smith] was a considered one,” Mr McWilliam said.

Mr Owens said the purpose of the report was a commercial one, not a legal one.

“There’s just been a series of very serious allegations made, and Seven West Media wants to make sure that it’s spending its money wisely, presumably,” Mr Owens said.

(continued)

>>14806475

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Mr Moses told the court on Monday the blanket assertion that the report was a “McWilliam project” was misconceived.

“The document would not have come into existence, but for the purpose of enabling the applicant to obtain advice in relation to the inquiry and the defamation proceedings, in order to protect his reputation, and his interests,” Mr Moses said.

“The fact that that had the benefit of protecting the interests of Seven West Media is a secondary purpose and subsidiary to that.”

Mr Roberts-Smith said in an affidavit that Mr McWilliam suggested he speak to Coulthart as a “good starting point” to prepare for a separate inquiry into the war crimes allegations being conducted by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force.

In another affidavit, Coulthart said he was also told the purpose of the report, which he completed in June 2018, was to assist Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal team. The journalist said the subsequent draft media statements he helped to craft were also sent to lawyers so they could provide legal advice before any publication.

But Mr Owens argued even if legal protection over the communications could be established, Coulthart waived that privilege in his dealings with staff from The Age and Herald.

In August 2018, Coulthart texted journalist Nick McKenzie, who co-wrote the war-crimes stories with Chris Masters, that “numerous witnesses” had told him his stories were wrong.

“Why should I, as a journalist, tell you anything when your focus is so blatantly and belligerently and unfriendly and focused on a wacky conspiracy theory about who I am supposedly working for?” Mr Coulthart’s text, detailed in one of the affidavits connected to Nine’s legal team, read.

Mr Owens argued the dominant purpose at this point was, “not the preparation of this document for legal advice”, but “back-channelling” designed to influence reporting.

Justice Wendy Abraham is expected to make a ruling on the application next Wednesday.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/journalist-s-ben-roberts-smith-report-should-remain-secret-say-lawyers-20211018-p590t6.html

>>14798254

Australia's COVID-19 cases remain subdued as vaccinations rise

Renju Jose and Shashwat Awasthi - OCTOBER 19, 2021

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia’s COVID-19 cases remained subdued on Tuesday as its largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, gradually move towards normality amid a surge in vaccinations, after being rocked by a third wave of infections from the Delta variant.

Sydney and the national capital Canberra exited a months-long lockdown last week after racing through its inoculation targets while Melbourne is on track to lift its strict stay-home orders later this week as double-dose rates in the adult population pass 70%, 80% and 90%.

Authorities in Queensland, which on Monday became the first COVID-free state to outline its reopening plans, urged the state’s 5 million residents to get vaccinated ahead of opening its state borders a week before Christmas - when its double-dose vaccination rate is expected to reach 80%.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the opening of borders should act as an “incentive” for residents to get inoculated. Queensland has so far only fully vaccinated 57% of its population above 16, well below the national average of 68%.

Some states and territories have mandated inoculation of frontline workers with offenders facing up to A$5,000 ($3,718) fine in the remote Northern Territory.

Michael Gunner, the territory’s chief minister, on Monday blasted Texas Senator Ted Cruz who labelled the territory’s vaccine mandate as “Covid tyranny”.

“We don’t need your lectures, thanks mate. You know nothing about us. And if you stand against a life-saving vaccine, then you sure as hell don’t stand with Australia,” Gunner said in a tweet.

Texas has seen nearly 70,000 deaths from the virus, compared with just 1,558 in Australia and none in the remote Northern Territory.

A total of 1,749 new cases were reported in Victoria, the majority in Melbourne, down from 1,903 on Monday. Daily infections in New South Wales, home to Sydney, rose slightly to 273, still well down from its pandemic high in early September.

($1 = 1.3448 Australian dollars)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-australia/australias-covid-19-cases-remain-subdued-as-vaccinations-rise-idUSKBN2H82FI

>>14812510

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner fires back at US Senator Ted Cruz over social media post

Stuart Marsh - Oct 18, 2021

The Northern Territory's Chief Minister Michael Gunner has fired back at Texas Senator Ted Cruz for labelling the territory's vaccination policy as "disgraceful and sad".

A week ago Mr Gunner announced a sweeping vaccine mandate that would require a mandatory jab for most hospitality workers, bankers, receptionists, hairdressers, barbers, beauty therapists and more.

A video of Mr Gunner announcing the policy became the subject of intense interest by far-right American politicians on social media, who used it as an example of "COVID tyranny".

Mr Cruz shared the video of Mr Gunner, saying while he loves "the Aussies", "the COVID tyranny of their current government is disgraceful and sad".

Mr Gunner responded to Mr Cruz's tweet, saying "we don't need your lectures, thanks mate".

"Nearly 70,000 Texans have tragically died from COVID. There have been zero deaths in the Territory. Did you know that?" Mr Gunner said.

"We've done whatever it takes to protect the Territory. That's kept us safe and free. We have been in lock down for just eight days in 18 months. Our businesses and school are all open. Did you know that?

"We don't need your lectures, thanks mate. You know nothing about is. And if you stand against a life-saving vaccine, then you sure as hell don't stand with Australia."

Senator Cruz has been an infamous proponent of scrapping vaccine mandates, arguing any policy to make the jab compulsory "ignores medical data".

In his most recent statement, Senator Cruz criticised US President Biden after he ordered the US Labor Department to impose a COVID vaccine mandate on businesses with over 100 employees.

"While I support the vaccine and have received it, Americans have the right to exercise personal choice when it comes to their health," Mr Cruz said.

"Getting the vaccine is a decision to be made in consultation with one's doctor, not forced on Americans by the government.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/nt-chief-minister-michael-gunner-fires-back-at-us-senator-ted-cruz-over-twitter/12d0cba6-89c0-4134-9de7-04efd32a6764

https://twitter.com/fanniebay/status/1449945099383705601

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1448345783409983492

Australia among the worst for online sexual harm to children

Caitlin Fitzsimmons - October 19, 2021

Two out of three people in Australia and New Zealand report experiencing online sexual harm before they turned 18, a higher rate than most regions around the world.

The findings are based on a survey of 5000 18 to 20-year-olds who had regular access to the internet as children as well as other sources such as the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, the Australian Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Federal Police, and the eSafety office. The survey was in WeProtect Global Alliance’s Global Threat Assessment 2021 report.

Chloe Setter, head of policy at WeProtect, which has 200 members including governments, companies and civil society organisations, said the fact there were 60,000 daily reports of online abuse to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in the United States gave a “shocking sense of the scale”.

“The COVID pandemic is certainly something that we believe is behind some of the spikes that we’ve seen,” Ms Setter said. “It’s been a perfect storm of conditions with more young people online than ever before and more apps and platforms available.”

Australia’s eSafety office has previously reported that reports of child sexual abuse materials discovered online was 90 per cent higher in 2020 than 2019. The WeProtect report reveals that it soared 129 per cent in the March-September period last year, coinciding with COVID-19 lockdowns across the country.

The eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant, who also sits on the board of WeProtect, said she was concerned about the past few months when schools were closed in most of NSW and Victoria and children were “online all hours of the day”.

“Parents who are working full time can’t be looking over our shoulders every minute,” she said. “If we don’t have the right kinds of parental controls on, the risks definitely increase the more time they spend online.”

The WeProtect survey found 67 per cent of 18-20 year-olds in Australia and New Zealand experienced online sexual harm as children, compared with 71 per cent in North America and 65 per cent in Europe. This was 10-20 percentage points higher than anywhere in Asia, Africa, Russia or Latin America.

Online sexual harm included being sent sexually explicit content from an adult, being asked to keep part of their sexually explicit relationship with an adult a secret, having sexually explicit images of them shared without consent by adults or peers, and being asked by adults or peers to do something sexually explicit that made them uncomfortable.

The age this starts happening is falling - 18-year-old respondents said this first happened to them at age 12, compared with age 13 for respondents who are now 20.

Girls were more likely to be targets than boys, while LGBTI youth and disabled young people were also at higher risk.

The report highlights the rise in sexual material generated by children themselves, sometimes through coercion or in exchange for payment. The Internet Watch Foundation reported a 77 per cent increase in child self-generated sexual abuse material from 2019 to 2020.

Ms Inman Grant said the threat had increased because children were no longer posting to public social media forums where their parents could see them, but using encrypted private messaging services on smartphones in their bedrooms or bathrooms.

“We’re seeing children as young as six or seven engaging in that kind of sexualised behaviour, and it can be sexual acts with inanimate objects, with animals or with siblings,” she said. “You can’t always tell if there’s someone forcing them, or it’s something that they saw by accessing porn, pornography, and emulating those acts.”

Ms Setter said the challenge for law enforcement was to deal with this while not criminalising young people who may be consensually exploring sexuality and relationships with their peers.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-among-the-worst-for-online-sexual-harm-to-children-20211018-p590xt.html

>>14600499 (pb)

>>14600527 (pb)

Federal prosecutors launch appeal against Geoffrey William Moyle’s ‘manifestly inadequate’ sentence for starting global child abuse

The Adelaide pedophile who started the global, online exploitation of children must be resentenced so a new standard is set for punishing sex offenders, a court has heard.

Sean Fewster - October 19, 2021

Three more years in jail is a manifestly inadequate punishment for the Adelaide man who played a central role in creating the global online child abuse trade, a court has heard.

Federal prosecutors have renewed their push to have Geoffrey William Moyle, aka “Waka”, imprisoned for more than 14 years by filing appeal papers.

They want the Court of Appeal to replace his nine-year sentence, which leaves him eligible for parole in 2024, with one of the harshest penalties ever imposed in Australia.

The bid is expected to face staunch opposition in court as it goes against existing national legal precedent.

Courts around the country have, over the previous decade, repeatedly ruled a 10-year head sentence is appropriate for the abuse of children overseas.

A foreign aid worker, Moyle, 47, of Westbourne Park, filmed himself abusing child sex slaves in overseas brothels.

He was among the first criminals to share such material online – under his alias “Waka” – with other perverts, who called him the man who “wrote the Bible on child abuse”.

“Waka” was the target of a 20-year international manhunt that ended in 2019, when Moyle was unmasked and arrested by SA’s Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team.

Detectives matched a watch, a pair of shoes and a growth on “Waka’s” thigh to Moyle’s possessions and physical characteristics.

After paying one of his victims $84,000 compensation, Moyle was jailed for more than nine years, with a 4 ½-year non-parole period backdated to his arrest.

In sentencing, District Court Judge Paul Cuthberston said prosecutors had called for Waka to be jailed for 14 years, but noted such sentences had been overturned on appeal interstate.

“It seems to me that there is a good argument that the penalties as set down in the respective courts of appeal may be too low,” he said.

”As a judge of the District Court, I don’t think it is appropriate for me to change a sentencing regime that has been imposed by three different courts of appeal throughout Australia.”

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-sa/federal-prosecutors-launch-appeal-against-geoffrey-william-moyles-manifestly-inadequate-sentence-for-starting-global-child-abuse/news-story/050365fb5e8e07fa9e180dd8e2164c37

Prosecutors Oppose Ghislaine Maxwell’s Bid to Let Her Attorneys Screen Potential Jurors in Secret

ADAM KLASFELD - Oct 18th, 2021

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A little more than a month before the anticipated start date of a sex trafficking trial, federal prosecutors told a judge on Monday that Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers should not be allowed to screen potential jurors in private grilling sessions.

“The Government respectfully submits that the well-established practice in this District should be followed; that is, the Court should ask most questions in open court and ask sensitive questions, such as those that relate to sexual abuse and media exposure, at sidebar,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe wrote in a five-page letter.

The letter comes a little less than a week after Maxwell’s request for extraordinary secrecy surrounding the grand jury process. Maxwell’s legal team—without objection from prosecutors—wanted to keep a proposed jury questionnaire and proposed joint voir dire under seal, citing the extensive pre-trial publicity as justification.

“A tsunami of reporting in every conceivable form – newspapers, magazines, books, television, radio, video streaming services, podcasts, social media platforms – has broadcast this case locally, nationally, and globally,” Maxwell’s lawyer Bobbi Sternheim wrote in an Oct. 12 memo. “Without a doubt, and without any credible evidentiary basis, Ms. Maxwell has been tried, convicted, and condemned in the court of public opinion.”

Maxwell’s lawyers separately requested an “individual sequestered voir dire” and “limited attorney-conducted voir dire.” Sternheim swiftly responded to the prosecution’s opposition, floating the same argument for a change of procedure. The Monday filing produces the latest Google searches associated with the case: more than 4.7 million hits for Maxwell and 26.2 million for Jeffrey Epstein.

“This is an extraordinary case involving sensitive issues,” the filing states. “We urge the Court to exercise its supervisory powers and discretion and grant the defense request for individual sequestered voir dire and very limited counsel-conducted voir dire.”

For prosecutors, these requests were a bridge too far.

“None of the defendant’s arguments warrant departing from the well-settled practice in this District of Court-led voir dire,” prosecutors wrote on Monday. “The Court is well-equipped to thoroughly question prospective jurors and to appropriately filter questions prepared by the parties.”

During most jury trials in the Southern District of New York, the court routinely releases jury questionnaires and questions potential candidates in open court. Federal judges occasionally grant requests for anonymous juries in cases involving organized crime or terrorism, and in these cases, jurors are typically identified by a number and aspects of their questioning are released to the public. There has been no request for an anonymous jury to date in Maxwell’s case.

(continued)

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With trial slated to begin Nov. 29, Maxwell’s lawyers assert that the sex trafficking allegations may require soliciting sensitive information from the jurors, but prosecutors say that typical courtroom procedures already account for such issues.

“Of course, under the typical practice in the District, prospective jurors would not be asked to describe their experiences with sexual assault or the details of pretrial publicity in front of the rest of the venire,” prosecutors wrote. “That questioning would happen at sidebar, in an ‘individual, sequestered’ setting. But not every prospective juror may need additional questions on those topics, and other topics can safely be discussed in the group setting. Accordingly, it is more efficient to conduct voir dire following the usual practice in this District.”

Maxwell’s superseding indictment accuses her of sex trafficking and grooming minors as young as 14 years old for Epstein’s predation from 1994 to 2004. Prosecutors also allege that she participated in the abuse.

“Having developed a rapport with a victim, Maxwell would try to normalize sexual abuse for a minor victim by , among other things , discussing sexual topics, undressing in front of the victim, being present when a minor victim was undressed , and/or being present for sex acts involving the minor victim and Epstein,” the superseding indictment states.

Prosecutors claim the abuse occurred in Epstein’s New York mansion, Palm Beach estate, and Santa Fe ranch, as well as Maxwell’s personal residence in London. Though the indictment focuses on girls labeled as “Minor Victim,” Epstein’s estate recently paid out almost $125 million to roughly 150 people from a fund designed to compensate victims.

Read the prosecution’s motion below:

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/prosecutors-oppose-ghislaine-maxwells-bid-to-let-her-attorneys-screen-potential-jurors-in-secret/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.355.0.pdf

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on October 18, 2021

Hubei Media Group: On October 15, Russian foreign ministry released information on Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov's meeting with UK Ambassador to Moscow. Ryabkov said that the trilateral security partnership of Australia, the UK and the US (AUKUS) won't facilitate the resolution of the tasks of strengthening the international security and stability, and will create difficulties in the sphere of arms control. Russia hopes that the AUKUS participants can strictly adhere to their obligations of nuclear non-proliferation. Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: China agrees with the views expressed by the Russian side on AUKUS.

As China has stressed many times, the establishment of this trilateral security partnership and their nuclear submarine cooperation have a series of seriously negative impacts: First, the three countries, drawing lines along ideology, have built a new military bloc which will heighten geopolitical tensions. Second, it will encourage regional countries to accelerate the development of military capabilities, and even seek to break the nuclear threshold, thus leading to arms race and increasing the risk of military conflicts. Third, the nuclear submarine cooperation poses serious nuclear proliferation risks and violates the spirit of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

I want to stress that this cooperation would be the first time that a nuclear weapon state transfer nuclear submarine to a non-nuclear weapon state. That means the US and the UK will export to Australia highly enriched uranium with purity of 90% or more, but the current safeguards mechanism of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cannot verify whether Australia will use the highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. Therefore, what these three countries are doing runs counter to the purposes and goals of NPT and gravely undermine the international non-proliferation system. The US, on the one hand, sanctions and suppresses some countries with the excuse of developing nuclear technologies, and flagrantly transfers weapon-grade nuclear materials to non-nuclear states on the other. This is typical double-standards. It will create far-reaching, negative impact on the political and diplomatic settlement of regional nuclear hotspots.

For years, the US, the UK and Australia have been calling themselves leaders of international non-proliferation efforts and defenders of the international non-proliferation system. But what the three countries did have proven that they actually engage in proliferation and undermine the international non-proliferation system.

China believes that all regional mechanisms should follow the trend of peace and development, enhance mutual trust and cooperation among regional countries rather than target any third party or harm their interests. We urge the three countries to listen to the appeals of the international community, abandon the outdated Cold War, zero-sum mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical perception, reverse the wrong decision, faithfully fulfill their international non-proliferation obligations and do more that benefits regional peace and stability.

http://ph.china-embassy.org/eng/fyrth/t1915130.htm

Japanese Ambassador YAMAGAMI Shingo Tweets

Delighted to welcome Defence Minister @PeterDutton_MP to my residence last evening! His leadership is essential for (Japan) and (Australia) to achieve a Free and Open Indo-Pacific.

https://twitter.com/YamagamiShingo/status/1450243796730404867

—

Pleased to talk with Minister for Home Affairs @karenandrewsmp. I hope (Japan) and (Australia) continue to develop cooperation on various issues including cyber security and counter-terrorism.

https://twitter.com/YamagamiShingo/status/1450357354457796615

Marine Rotational Force – Darwin Tweet

Two Forces, One Fight

“For the first time, Combined Task Force GINAN integrated over 2,000 U.S. and Australian troops from both MRF-D and Australian Army’s 1st Brigade at Exercise Koolendong 2021”.

(U.S. Marine Corps graphic by Cpl. Jacob Foster)

https://twitter.com/MrfDarwin/status/1450046498746552320

>>14798254

70 per cent of Australians 16 and older have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, reaching national milestone

Jake Evans - 20 October 2021

Seventy per cent of Australians aged 16 and older have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, a national milestone in the government's plan to reopen the country.

While vaccination rates differ between states, causing a staggered move to ease restrictions, the national rate has now reached the major target set by the government to begin moving out of the pandemic.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said the milestone was a testament to Australians.

"I can officially confirm that Australia has now passed the 70 per cent double-dosed vaccination rate for the 16-plus population," Mr Hunt said.

"To be precise, 70.007 per cent of Australians.

"It's a memorable number, but it's memorable above all else because it represents the movement at a national level to phase B of our national roadmap."

Under the national roadmap, the move to phase B happens when the national average, as well as the average in a particular state or territory, has reached 70 per cent.

Lockdowns become less likely, restrictions are eased for fully vaccinated residents, international traveller caps are raised, and international students and other temporary visa holders are able to enter Australia.

It also marks the beginning of preparations to administer vaccine booster shots.

Details of that program are expected later this month, but Mr Hunt suggested boosters would first be rolled out in aged care homes.

"We have the supply, we have the mechanism. The last part is the medical advice and the medical approval," he said.

'Patchiness' between states

Mr Hunt also celebrated the outstanding vaccination rate in Canberra, which is now one of the most vaccinated cities in the world.

"I think it's important to acknowledge what has happened here in the ACT," he said.

"The ACT is at 98.1 per cent first vaccinations. It is one of the most highly vaccinated societies in the world."

But Mr Hunt noted there was some "patchiness" between states, particularly among children aged 12 to 15, for whom vaccines have only recently become available.

While NSW and the ACT have surpassed 80 per cent double dose rates for the eligible population, Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory are not expected to reach their 70 per cent milestones until mid-November, and 80 per cent a month after that.

Nationally, 85.5 per cent of the population has received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-20/national-double-dose-full-vaccination-rate-reaches-70-per-cent/100552790

SA public servant Ian Schapel took advantage of children's poverty to exploit them sexually, court hears

Claire Campbell - 19 October 2021

A retired senior public servant of 45 years preyed on the economic disadvantage of young children in the Philippines, forcing them to perform sex acts for him online — or starve — an Adelaide court has heard.

Ian Ralph Schapel – who was a senior HR manager with the South Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet — has pleaded guilty to 50 offences, including 41 counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child outside of Australia, using a carriage service to access child exploitation material and possessing child exploitation material.

The 67-year-old engaged in 74 occasions of sexual activity with at least 13 children in the Philippines over platforms including Skype and WhatsApp.

The female victims were aged between three and nine years old.

Schapel also had more than 52,000 images and videos of child exploitation material in his possession.

Commonwealth prosecutor Krista Breckweg said Schapel took advantage of families in the Philippines and paid a "paltry" amount of $30 on average for a live recording.

"He preyed on the economic vulnerability of the facilitators and the children, acknowledging that the communication was usually initiated by the adult women who contacted him asking for money to buy food or medicine," Ms Breckweg told the court.

"The chat logs that accompanied established that the offender was directing the facilitators as to what he wanted the children do.

"The offender chose the Philippines where he could easily and readily access young girls for sex given their dire economic circumstances and the absence of efficient law enforcement aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse."

She said if the facilitator – or parent – of the child victim did not meet his requests, he would threaten them including saying "you starve now".

Schapel's loneliness connected with hoarding

The District Court heard Schapel's offending escalated when he retired from the public service in 2017.

He would take at least one overseas holiday every year.

Schapel's lawyer Chris Kummerow said his client viewed his arrest in February last year as "a wake-up call".

"At the time of the offences, Mr Schapel did not consider the moral question of his offending," Mr Kummerow told the court.

"These conversations were a form of escape for Mr Schapel; this interaction was essentially not in the real world, it was somewhat of a fantasy world for him, it didn't seem real to him at the time given his quite isolated and insular nature.

"He has come to realise that these are not victimless offences and that he has directly caused harm to these children.

"He feels an incredible sense of remorse, pain and regret for that."

(continued)

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Mr Kummerow said Schapel – who has been diagnosed with a hoarding disorder — was lonely and isolated and found a community online where he was free from judgement.

"There was a disconnect between who Mr Schapel was at work – confident, engaged, knowledgeable – he was the go-to man, to who he was at home – he was lonely, insecure, afraid of social contact," Mr Kummerow told the court.

"The hoarding disorder essentially means that he collects these images like he collects various other legal non-pornographic collections over the course of his adult life."

Mr Kummerow said Schapel accepted he would go to prison but was "keen and eager" to one day be released as a "productive member of the community".

He said Schapel wanted to use his time inside to get treatment.

The court heard Schapel had to be moved in prison for his safety following a number of incidents.

Police wanted to seize house

Mr Kummerow also said the Australian Federal Police (AFP) had wanted to seize Schapel's Mitchell Park house on the basis that "it was an instrument of the offending".

"Their rationale – and to my knowledge, this has never been tested in Australia – is that it provides power and internet connection to facilitate the offences," Mr Kummerow said.

"Noting that a number of these offences occurred while he was overseas, clearly it doesn't require the house for the offences to be committed."

He said a deed of settlement in the Supreme Court had since allowed Schapel to pay half the value of his house — $165,000 — to the AFP but keep his house.

Commissioner for Victims' Rights Bronwyn Killmier said Schapel's offending was "a violation of human rights" in a community impact statement that was read to the court.

"He was not a bystander but rather an active participant and manipulator," she wrote.

"While the offender may be thousands of miles away, they are responsible for the abuse and exploitation of children for their own gratification.

"Victims and facilitators are often in countries of high levels of poverty, unemployment and job instability so the cost for offenders is relatively low.

"Thus the cycle of abuse is perpetrated by economic imbalances and results in lifelong damage for the children victims."

The court heard Schapel had no prior criminal history.

Judge Paul Cuthbertson will sentence Schapel in February.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-19/public-servant-sexually-exploited-children-overseas-court-hears/100550242

>>14812759

Ghislaine Maxwell Asks Judge Not to Let Prosecutors Mention ‘Victims,’ ‘Minor Victims’ or Alleged ‘Rape’ by Jeffrey Epstein

ADAM KLASFELD - Oct 19th, 2021

Accused sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell wants to prevent prosecutors from mentioning some of the words most associated with her case in front of a jury, including “victims,” “minor victims” or allegations of “rape” by Jeffrey Epstein.

The request became public in a filing late on Monday evening, previewing more than a dozen motions Maxwell’s legal team plans to file attempting to exclude or suppress evidence and testimony.

In the lead-up to a U.S. criminal trial, lawyers typically file so-called motions in limine to prevent one of the parties from eliciting testimony or introducing evidence believed to be inflammatory, prejudicial or irrelevant. Maxwell’s lawyer Jeffrey S. Pagliuca previewed 13 such motions in a three-page notice, showing the broad outlines of their requests.

The details of the defense team’s requests or their legal reasoning have not been made public by press time—but the titles of the motions are eye-opening.

“Motion to Preclude Testimony About Any Alleged ‘Rape’ by Jeffrey Epstein,” the 11th on the list reads.

“Motion to Preclude Reference to the Accusers as ‘Victims’ or ‘Minor Victims,'” the 12th is named.

The phrase “minor victim” appears no fewer than 20 times in Maxwell’s 24-page superseding indictment, which focuses on four such alleged victims. Those four hardly comprise the suspected universe of Epstein accusers. The late pedophile’s estate recently paid out almost $125 million to roughly 150 people from a fund designed to compensate victims.

With trial slated to begin on Nov. 29, Maxwell’s attorneys want to keep prosecutors from uttering the phrase to a jury. They also proposed a secretive process of screening potential jurors through questioning by defense counsel outside the view and earshot of the press and public. In the past, they have claimed that such measures are justified by the intense media coverage their client’s case has attracted.

“A tsunami of reporting in every conceivable form – newspapers, magazines, books, television, radio, video streaming services, podcasts, social media platforms – has broadcast this case locally, nationally, and globally,” Maxwell’s other attorney Bobbi Sternheim wrote in an Oct. 12 memo. “Without a doubt, and without any credible evidentiary basis, Ms. Maxwell has been tried, convicted, and condemned in the court of public opinion.”

Among her many motions to exclude evidence, Maxwell wants to bar admission of evidence related to the third of four accusers. She also asked to exclude “evidence of alleged flight,” a government exhibit she claimed to be an “unauthenticated hearsay document from suspect sources,” and items seized during a search of 358 El Brillo Way on Oct. 20, 2005.

That is the address of Epstein’s Palm Beach, Fla. home, which was searched before his controversial plea deal years later that included a provision purportedly shielding his alleged co-conspirators.

U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan, who is presiding over Maxwell’s trial, previously ruled that Epstein’s 2008 plea deal does not shield Maxwell from prosecution.

Maxwell’s defense also asked the judge to exclude evidence that Maxwell allegedly made false statements under oath in her litigation with Virginia Giuffre, one of her most outspoken accusers. Giuffre’s lawsuit, which stated that Maxwell made her Epstein’s “sex slave,” was settled on confidential terms before an open-records battle unsealed much of the court’s docket.

Prosecutors claim that Maxwell perjured herself during two sworn depositions in that case, and those allegations will be heard separately from the sex trafficking and other claims going before a jury in November.

Read Maxwell’s notice below:

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/ghislaine-maxwell-asks-judge-not-to-let-prosecutors-mention-victims-minor-victims-or-alleged-rape-by-jeffrey-epstein/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.357.0.pdf

>>14818568

Greg Hunt chokes back tears as he reveals death threats to family

Rob Harris - October 20, 2021

Health Minister Greg Hunt has choked back tears while recalling violent threats made against him and his young family as the Australian Federal Police reviews the security arrangements of federal MPs following the stabbing murder of their British counterpart.

Mr Hunt, first elected 20 years ago, said the violent threats against MPs, including Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner at the weekend, must be “clearly, absolutely, unequivocally” condemned.

Mr Gunner’s family had to leave their Darwin home after his personal address was disclosed in front of a large contingent of anti-vaccine protesters at the weekend.

Mr Hunt told reporters in Canberra he had never spoken about details of the threats received.

“There was a period where, yeah, the lives of my children were threatened quite openly some years ago, and that it was a matter of great concern. But we have very fine federal police in this country,” an emotional Mr Hunt said.

“To those that think violence or the threat of violence is acceptable in any way, shape or form, it is not. As a country, we have to, I think, relearn the value of respect.

“And I don’t mean holding … parliamentarians up on any pedestal. We’re not better than anybody, but they’re not worse than anybody.

“They are overwhelmingly public servants that seek to serve the nation, and there will be differing views and different approaches. But this notion of national tolerance and mutual respect is something I believe in … we follow the advice of the police at a state and federal level based on threat assessments, but it’s that culture of mutual respect, which is critical.”

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews met AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw on Tuesday after half a dozen Coalition members raised concerns about the safety of their colleagues and staff members in their weekly party room meeting.

She told Parliament on Tuesday evening that members should not let the murder of Conservative MP Sir David Amess at a public meeting with voters deter them from important work in their communities.

Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said he had received “a number of death threats” during his five years in Parliament and had an AFP security detail at times as a minister.

“Obviously that comes with what comes out of my mouth sometimes … but we live in a free country and I should be able to say what I want, within reason,” the Nationals MP said.

“But obviously, I trust the AFP in making determinations of whether I need protection or not. I think Australia is a very mature country. They understand the political process. Some of them aren’t as engaged in the political process as we’d like, but I think broadly we’re a safe country.”

Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said she was personally thankful for the effort the AFP makes to protect federal MPs of all political persuasions and said she had received threats in recent months.

“When my children were younger it was quite stressful. I had situations as NSW premier where I had police in my house with their guns drawn, clearing rooms to ensure an intruder wasn’t there, with my children upstairs. This is part of the job, unfortunately.”

She took aim at several Coalition MPs who she accused of giving a “wink and a nod” to ideologically motivated groups, saying it was in the national interest that they were called out and rejected by everyone from Prime Minister Scott Morrison down.

“We all have a role to play in saying Australian democracy is worth preserving. It’s better than this. If there are things that Labor can do to assist the government, in making a more secure environment, then I’m happy to do that,” she said.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/greg-hunt-chokes-back-tears-as-he-reveals-death-threats-to-family-20211020-p591l0.html

ASIO warns foreign attackers may try to insert malicious code in critical infrastructure to exploit later

Anthony Galloway - October 20, 2021

The nation’s counter-espionage agency has warned Australia’s adversaries may try to infect its telecommunications and energy grids with malicious code to launch damaging cyber attacks years down the track, as the government readies to pass laws to better protect critical infrastructure.

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general Mike Burgess said foreign attackers could be preparing to “sabotage” the country’s critical infrastructure.

“I remain concerned about the potential for Australia’s adversaries to pre-position malicious code in critical infrastructure, particularly in areas such as telecommunications and energy,” Mr Burgess said in ASIO’s annual report tabled in Federal Parliament on Tuesday. “Such cyber-enabled activities could be used to damage critical networks in the future.”

He said the attacks would “undermine Australia’s sovereignty, democratic institutions, economy and national security capabilities”, while also warning espionage and foreign interference attempts by multiple countries remained “unacceptably high”.

“These attempts occur on a daily basis. They are sophisticated and wide-ranging. They are enabled and accelerated by technology,” he said. “And they take place in every state and territory, targeting all levels of government, as well as industry and academia.”

The government will on Wednesday introduce amendments to its contentious critical infrastructure bill in line with the recommendations of a bipartisan inquiry to pass some changes immediately while continuing to consult industry on more controversial proposals.

The bill, which would require operators of critical infrastructure to report cyber attacks within 72 hours of being hacked, is now expected to be passed within days. As a last resort, the government would also be able to declare an emergency, which would give the cyber spy agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, the power to plug into the company’s network to defend against the attack.

Business groups and unions were scathing of the government’s consultation with industry and stakeholders during the security and intelligence committee’s inquiry into the proposal, resulting in the recommendation to split the bill.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison last year revealed a wave of sophisticated cyber attacks on all levels of government, industry and critical infrastructure including hospitals, local councils and state-owned utilities.

The new laws will redefine what is deemed critical infrastructure, with universities, finance and banking, health and the food and grocery sectors, communications, defence industry, energy and transport added to the list.

Other proposals, such as new “positive security obligations” for businesses – which would include developing risk management plans – will be put in a separate bill after further consultations with industry and stakeholders.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said recent cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, both in Australia and overseas, made the changes “critically important”.

She said the laws would “secure the essential infrastructure and services all Australian’s rely on – everything from electricity and water, to healthcare and groceries”.

“They will bring our response to cyber threats more into line with the government’s response to threats in the physical world,” she said. “This legislation is about helping businesses focus on what they do best – delivering goods and services and supporting their customers.”

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed last week that global tech giants had stepped up their opposition to the laws, warning the bill would allow authorities to forcibly access their networks without due process.

The industry bodies representing some of the world’s biggest technology companies, including Google, Microsoft, Intel, Twitter, eBay, Amazon and Adobe, said the laws would create an “unworkable set of obligations and set a troubling global precedent”.

The government has been frustrated by a lack of co-operation during and after a cyber attack from some companies operating critical infrastructure.

The parliamentary inquiry into the proposed laws heard a major Australian company the subject of an attack refused to comply with the ASD for weeks. Transport and logistics giant Toll Group later conceded it may have been the company that failed to adequately engage with the ASD.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/asio-warns-foreign-attackers-may-try-to-insert-malicious-code-in-critical-infrastructure-to-exploit-later-20211019-p591cq.html

ASIO ANNUAL REPORT 2020-21

https://www.asio.gov.au/asio-report-parliament.html

https://www.asio.gov.au/sites/default/files/Annual%20Report%202020-21%20WEB.pdf

Department of Defence Tweet

The 2021 @MrfDarwin has departed from the NT!

This marks the end of the 10th rotation of @USMC and Sailors through Australia’s Top End.

The #Marines will return to the Northern Territory in 2022.

bit. ly/3G1lOEE

https://twitter.com/DeptDefence/status/1450635465246269443

—

US Marines depart Australia's top end

news.defence.gov.au - 20 October 2021

The 2021 Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D) has departed from the Northern Territory, bringing to a close the tenth rotation of U.S. Marines through Australia’s Top End.

This year’s rotation coincided with the 70th anniversary of the Australia, New Zealand, and United States (ANZUS) treaty and was made special by visits from the Prime Minister of Australia, Chief of the Defence Force, and U.S. Consul General.

The history of the Australia-U.S. relationship is one that predates World War I, tracing back to the days of the Great White Fleet in 1908, a deployment of US Atlantic Fleet to the Pacific.

Commander Headquarters Northern Command Colonel Marcus Constable said “Our Alliance with the United States is our most important defence relationship.”

“The Alliance is the cornerstone of Australian security and together we are committed to ensuring a secure, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific.

“MRF-D is a reflection of the close cooperation between the ADF, United States Marine Corps and the Northern Territory Government.”

This year, approximately 2,200 U.S. Marines and Sailors conducted a comprehensive range of training activities, including humanitarian assistance, security operations and high-end, live-fire exercises.

Combined exercises such as Crocodile Response, Southern Jackaroo, Loobye, and Koolendong demonstrated military interoperability between the U.S. Marine Corps and ADF, as well as with regional partners.

The focus remains on strengthening bilateral military capabilities and preparing for crisis and contingency response to help maintain stability and security in the region.

“MRF-D is a highly capable force, prepared to operate with our Australian partners,” noted U.S. Marine Colonel David Banning, MRF-D commanding officer.

“Being able to continue MRF-D rotations while making the necessary adjustments to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic is a testament to the alliance relationship and the discipline of our forces.”

The Marines will return to the Northern Territory in 2022, as part of the 25-year commitment established by the U.S Force Posture Initiatives.

“We look forward to next year’s MRF-D rotation, and the opportunity to continue to deepen our ties with our Australian partners and engage with regional partners in the Indo-Pacific,” said Colonel Banning.

United States Force Posture Initiatives also include an expanded program of Enhanced Air Cooperation between the Royal Australian Air Force and United States Air Force. These initiatives are tangible demonstrations of the strength of the Australia-US Alliance and our deep engagement within the Indo-Pacific region.

More information is available at https://www.defence.gov.au/Initiatives/USFPI/

https://news.defence.gov.au/media/media-releases/us-marines-depart-australias-top-end

Australia calls out China’s bad behaviour at the WTO

WILL GLASGOW - OCTOBER 21, 2021

The Australian government has denounced China as a threat to the global trading system in a scorching statement to the World Trade Organisation.

An explosive two-page statement by the Morrison government called out the Xi government’s brutal campaign of trade coercion on exports previously worth more than $20 billion a year.

The statement directly accused China’s government of linking the sweeping campaign of trade strikes to its displeasure with Australian government policy.

“WTO rules do not permit a member – however large – to impose conditions such as these on trade with another member,” the Australian government said in a statement submitted to the body responsible for governing the rules of international trade.

“The implications of China’s actions go beyond their impact on Australian exporters – they raise the risk and uncertainty of the China market for the global business community,” the statement said.

“China has assured members of its commitment to the rules-based order; but from our viewpoint there is a growing gap between China’s rhetoric and its actions,” the statement said.

The Australian statement – part of a regular review process by the WTO into the trade practices of its members – marks a notable escalation by the Morrison government.

It was published on Twitter by Australia’s WTO ambassador George Mina and was retweeted by former trade minister Simon Birmingham, now the Finance Minister and a key member of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s leadership team.

Canberra has sought to internationalise its push back of Beijing’s attempt to use its giant market to punish the governments of trading partners for perceived misbehaviour.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has used the coercive trade tactic with increased frequency, including on Canada, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and Lithuania.

The strikes on Australia have hardened the Morrison government’s China policy and contributed to a profound souring of public sentiment towards Australia’s biggest trading market.

Most of the lost trade has been redirected to other markets, while China has continued to buy Australian iron ore and liquefied natural gas at record levels – and record prices – undermining the macroeconomic impact of Beijing’s trade attack.

The new statement outlines the victims of the Xi government’s trade coercion with detail unprecedented in an Australian government statement.

“Over the past 18 months, China has increasingly implemented trade disruptive measures targeting a wide range of Australian products,” the statement said.

“These included increased and arbitrary border testing and inspections; unwarranted delays in listed and re-listing export establishments, issuing import license and other restrictions, and the imposition of unjustified anti-dumping and countervailing duties.”

The Australian government statement said the Xi government’s measures had severely limited Australia’s trade with China of barley, coal, copper ores and concentrates, hay, logs, rock lobsters, sugar and wine.

Other products were hindered or disrupted, the Australian government said, including beef, citrus fruit, grains and table grapes.

China also limited Australia’s market access for dairy, infant formula and meat, according to the Australian government statement.

The blunt statement was released as China seeks to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a giant trading block that the Turnbull government was instrumental in creating.

To join, China needs the support of all CPTPP members, including at least three countries it has used its trade coercion tactics on in recent years: Japan, Canada and Australia.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan has said Australia will only support China’s entry if it can demonstrate it has a history of following the rules of the trade agreements it signs up to, including its thoroughly tattered free-trade agreement with Australia and its membership of the WTO.

“Australia urges China to fully align its trade policies with its WTO obligations, for the benefit of all,” the Australian government said in its statement.

“We look forward to reviewing China’s answers to our questions carefully.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/australia-calls-out-chinas-bad-behaviour-at-the-wto/news-story/2ccf3b8b68434fa07e5927da1d07987f

https://twitter.com/AusWTO/status/1450752226482339840

>>14798254

Victoria records 2,232 new local COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths as lockdown exit nears

abc.net.au - 21 October 2021

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Victoria has recorded 2,232 new local cases of COVID-19 and 12 deaths, as metropolitan Melbourne and Mildura prepare to leave lockdown tonight.

There are now 22,889 active cases of the virus in Victoria, and 187 people have died during the current Delta outbreak.

The new cases mark the second-highest daily tally in Victoria since the pandemic began and were identified from 79,544 test results received yesterday.

Victoria has passed the 70 per cent full-vaccination milestone that will officially trigger the end of Melbourne's COVID-19 lockdown at 11:59pm tonight.

The state has also passed the milestone of 90 per cent of people aged 16+ receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Deputy Premier James Merlino said Mildura would also exit lockdown at 11:59pm tonight with the rest of the state, a day earlier than expected.

But he said the restriction on travelling between Melbourne and regional areas would remain in place, as planned, until the 80 per cent double goal was reached.He described the state's vaccination rates as "truly phenomenal".

"To be on track to be one of the most highly vaccinated jurisdictions in the world is a feather in the cap of every single Victorian," he said.

Mr Merlino said the government would have more to say about what might happen when 90 per cent of the eligible population are double dosed closer to that milestone.

"We've made a promise, a contract, with the people of Victoria: Victorians get vaccinated, we'll get out of this lockdown and we'll ease restrictions," he said.

He said the state was "tracking well ahead" of reaching the 80 per cent goal by November 5, as initially projected.

The 12 people who died were a man in his 40s, two men and two women in their 60s, one man and one woman in their 70s, three women and a man in their 80s and a woman in her 90s.

There are 779 people in hospital with COVID-19, 141 people in intensive care and 96 on a ventilator.

Excitement, hard work ahead of midnight reopening

Across metropolitan Melbourne and Mildura, there is a flurry of activity as hospitality businesses and hairdressers get ready to move out of lockdown tomorrow.

Nick Justice from the Paringa Estate winery in Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula said the excitement was mounting.

"We're super pumped, we're excited about re-opening this weekend," he said.

"It's been a really lonely time out here on the estate and to have people come back and have a glass of wine amongst the vines is really exciting for us."

He said there had been a big response from customers since the announcement about the end of lockdown was made, with non-stop phone calls and hundreds of emails.

"Almost everyone is ready to get out of Melbourne and come and visit rural, more regional areas that are still located in metropolitan Melbourne," Mr Justice said.

Unlike some pubs and other hospitality businesses who were planning to reopen at midnight, the winery plans to open gradually, with cellar doors open this weekend, outdoor dining resuming next week and fine dining indoors still two weeks away.

Mr Justice said he wanted to take some time to return to normal so there would be a smooth reopening and less pressure on staff.

The owner of Soak Bar + Beauty in South Yarra, Carlie Lansdown, has also been hard at work.

"We are restocking everything, cleaning everything," she said.

"I haven't really stepped foot much in the salon in the past three months so it has needed a full head-to-toe makeover, so fully excited, getting on our hands and knees scrubbing floors.

"We are ready to roll."

But she said density limits posed challenges.

"The most difficult part of this whole situation is that five limit in our space and we've got over 500 bookings sitting there and only five people allowed in the space," she said.

(continued)

>>14825507

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Half a million Victorians urged to come forward for second dose

Acting Chief Health Officer Ben Cowie encouraged Victorians to take a moment to enjoy their "hard-earned freedoms" as lockdown restrictions lifted in Melbourne and Mildura.

He said about a third of the new cases were in the south-east of Melbourne, with the largest share in the local government area of Casey.

Professor Cowie said in response to its outbreak, vaccination rates in Mildura had risen "astronomically".

He said 65 per cent of people aged 16 and over in the regional city had been fully vaccinated, which meant it was closing in on the state average.

He said about 500,000 second doses would bring the state to its 80 per cent double vaccination goal.

"That means there are about half a million Victorians out there who have had their first dose and are due for their second dose in the next fortnight or so," Professor Cowie said.

"If you haven't already, please, book in that second jab, lock in that double-dose protection for yourself and do your bit to protect yourself, your family and your community, and to help us finish this job."

Booster program advice 'urgently needed'

Professor Cowie said his state's health team was in "daily communication" with Commonwealth colleagues about approving a program for booster shots for healthcare workers and the aged care sector.

"From my own, personal perspective, the evidence is clear that we see waning immunity … particularly six months and beyond after the initial vaccine course is completed," he said.

"I think booster vaccinations will be really important to some of our sensitive settings. I'm thinking about healthcare workers, I'm thinking about aged care workers and residents.

"I would strongly endorse such an approach and I would really welcome that national guidance coming out as quickly as possible, because it's an important issue that's playing out right now and we urgently need that guidance and national consensus.

"I am sure Victoria would be very, very happy to be an active partner in making that happen as quickly as possible."

Pressure is mounting for an urgent plan to roll out booster doses to healthcare workers, but ATAGI is yet to outline its advice on the issue.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has this week said she expected that advice would be released by ATAGI "very, very shortly" and her state was also poised to immediately begin a booster program rollout.

Leaders laud state reaching key goal

Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed this morning that both Victoria and Tasmania now had 70 per cent of their 16+ population fully vaccinated.

"I officially confirm, just got the figures, Victoria has reached 70.51 per cent double-dose vaccination rate right across the state. And good on Tasmania as well, because they have hit 70.6 per cent," he told Channel Seven.

On Twitter, Premier Daniel Andrews congratulated Victorians for their vaccination efforts, saying he was "so proud".

"Because of everything Victorians have done, tomorrow we can start getting back to the things we love," he said.

Under Victoria's new rules, fully vaccinated people will be allowed much greater freedoms. But people who are not double-dosed will be barred from most hospitality venues and events.

COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar has confirmed the double-dose rule also applies to staff at those venues.

He said Melbourne's citywide curfew would be in place from 9:00pm on Thursday until restrictions lifted at 11:59pm, the "witching hour" when people would be able to enjoy their new freedoms.

Staff at hospitality venues will still be allowed to go into work after the curfew kicks in at 9:00pm to get their venues ready, but patrons will need to wait until 11:59pm to leave home to get into venues.

Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said it was a day of celebration, but he again insisted that Victoria could re-open faster.

"There is a difference with restrictions having been eased in New South Wales and Victoria and my only point was a factual one which is I hope that Victorians can enjoy the same freedoms as those in New South Wales," he told ABC Radio National.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-21/victoria-reaches-covid-vaccination-70-per-cent-goal/100555616

>>14789393

British defence chief General Sir Nicholas Carter says AUKUS security pact 'not designed to be exclusive'

Andrew Greene - 21 October 2021

The UK's departing Chief of the Defence Staff has signalled the new trilateral AUKUS security pact with the United States and Australia could be expanded to include other allies such as Japan.

In a wide-ranging discussion at a Washington-based think tank, General Sir Nicholas Carter has reflected on the formation of the new military group which will work to develop a nuclear submarine fleet for Australia.

General Carter has told the Center for a New American Security he believes there are still some "question marks" about information sharing between the AUKUS partners.

"I think like all these things we're going to see how it goes – I mean I think there are some question marks about how we share information and those sorts of things," he said.

"I hope this could act as a catalyst for us all to be a bit more open-minded about how we share information with allies and partners because that would be helpful."

Asked whether countries like Japan feel excluded by the new partnership, General Carter suggested the nation could eventually join, along with remaining Five Eyes partners Canada and New Zealand.

"AUKUS is not designed to be in any way exclusive," General Carter told an online audience.

"It's a first step in terms of industrial development between like-minded partners and I absolutely know that the architects of it reckon that if it could be made more inclusive, if there were opportunities there, then that's the direction of travel it would go."

"The same applies to Five Eyes (the intelligence sharing alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) and also to other like-minded countries".

Government and diplomatic sources have played down the British general's comments, telling the ABC there are no plans for AUKUS to include any other nations.

During his appearance, the retiring Defence Chief also talked up the United Kingdom's growing military deployments to the Indo-Pacific.

General Carter said the presence of the Queen Elizabeth Carrier Strike Group in the region was "not going to happen every year", but said the UK intends to have two warships operating continuously and have a "littoral strike group from time to time" there.

At the end of November, General Carter will be succeeded as Chief of the Defence Staff by Sir Antony Radakin, a naval officer who was involved in the early discussions that led to the AUKUS agreement.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-21/british-defence-chief-flags-more-potential-aukus-allies/100555416

>>14789393

‘We feel the heat’: Malaysia cool on Australian submarines

Chris Barrett - October 21, 2021

Singapore: Australia’s attempts to ease south-east Asian anxiety about its submarine ambitions continue to fall short, with Malaysia deeply concerned despite acknowledging the difference between nuclear power and nuclear arms.

The Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam have welcomed the AUKUS pact between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as Australia’s plans to enhance its military capability with varying degrees of enthusiasm. But Indonesia and Malaysia are fearful its acquisition of nuclear-propelled submarines will ramp up tension and trigger an arms build-up in the region.

It is a view not disputed by Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who on Wednesday said the prospect of other countries seeking to follow Australia and develop their own nuclear-powered submarines “cannot be excluded”.

The Morrison government has sought to address consternation in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur by sending Vice Admiral David Johnston, the Vice Chief of the Defence Force, to the region for talks but two of Australia’s most important neighbours are unconvinced.

“Marise Payne, the Foreign Minister, spoke to me twice on the phone. Immediately after the announcement [last month] and also last week after they sent their Vice Admiral to brief us on what the submarine [plan] is all about,” Malaysia Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah told the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia on Wednesday during a visit to Jakarta.

“She tried her level best and her team tried their level best to impress upon us that it is a nuclear-propelled submarine but not a nuclear-armed submarine. We take it at face value that’s what it is because it is still a work in progress. But we were very clear about sending our message of concern to Canberra.”

Saifuddin said nuclear power was “not something that will make Malaysians and I believe many ASEAN people comfortable”.

“We know the difference between nuclear arms and using nuclear for scientific purposes,” he said. “But when I talk to my friends they always remind me ‘it is a submarine’. Whether it is nuclear-propelled and not nuclear armed, it is a submarine. What do you use a submarine for?“

He said some ASEAN member nations would raise the issue with Australia, a dialogue partner of the regional bloc, when leaders convened for a three-day virtual summit next week.

“During the next ASEAN [leaders meeting] there is the ASEAN-Australia summit. I believe some member states want to raise the issue with Australia during the summit,” he said.

“I don’t think it is useful to evaluate whether we are satisfied with [Australia’s] explanation. The issue is still there.“

Saifuddin was speaking a day after Australia and Malaysia celebrated 50 years of the Five Power Defence Arrangements, which also includes the UK, Singapore and New Zealand, with a flyover in Singapore.

He said Malaysia didn’t want to have to choose sides in the geopolitical rivalry between the US and China.

“We feel the heat but we want to maintain our neutrality,” he said.

Malaysia has faced increasing incursions into its airspace and waters by China, and as recently as a fortnight ago it summoned Beijing’s ambassador to lodge its latest protest.

Even so, Saifuddin said Malaysia’s relations had improved with China, its top trading partner and investor, “despite what happened in the South China Sea”.

Grossi, the head of the IAEA, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, said Australia’s pursuit of a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines as a non-nuclear armed nation needed to be closely monitored.

“We have to have specific agreements to make sure that whatever they receive technology-wise or material-wise, is under safeguards,” he said.

“There has to be a specific arrangement with the IAEA… which has never been done before and it’s a very, very demanding process.”

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/we-feel-the-heat-malaysia-cool-on-australian-submarines-20211020-p591o6.html

Malka Leifer’s lawyers consider seeking report on fitness for trial, court told

Adam Cooper - October 21, 2021

Lawyers for Malka Leifer are considering seeking a report on whether the former school principal is fit to stand trial on child abuse charges.

Ms Leifer has pleaded not guilty to at least 70 charges, including rape, and was last month committed to stand trial on allegations she abused three of her students between 2004 and 2008. Ms Leifer was principal of the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick at the time.

Her trial is set to be held next year.

Ms Leifer, 55, appeared before a County Court directions hearing on Thursday. Judicial Registrar Matthew Phillips asked defence counsel Ian Hill, QC, if he planned to seek a report about his client’s fitness to stand trial.

“It’s still a course that we’re considering,” Mr Hill said.

Mr Hill said he would have an answer on whether his team would seek a report about Ms Leifer by the time the case returned to court in early 2022.

It was estimated that the trial would run for three or four weeks. Judicial Registrar Phillips said he wanted to get the case moving and allocate it to a judge given the accused woman had been in custody for some time.

He ordered prosecutors to file an outline of how they would argue the case, and a response from the defence team, by early next year.

Another directions hearing was set down for March 16.

Ms Leifer, who wore a blue top and white head covering, raised her hand to confirm she could hear but did not speak during the short hearing. She held a hand on her chin throughout and was remanded in custody.

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

https://1800respect.org.au/

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/malka-leifer-s-lawyers-consider-seeking-report-on-fitness-for-trial-court-told-20211021-p591wz.html

>>14812973

Japanese Ambassador YAMAGAMI Shingo Tweet

Delighted to welcome Minister for Foreign Affairs @MarisePayne to my residence. Thanks to her contribution, (Japan and Australia) cooperation has been and will grow from strength to strength!

https://twitter.com/YamagamiShingo/status/1450950025022828546

Former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed unarmed Australian woman Justine Damond sentenced to 57 months in jail

ABC/AP - 22 October 2021

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The former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot and killed Australian woman Justine Damond after she called 911 to report a possible rape behind her home has been sentenced to 57 months in prison.

Mohamed Noor has been re-sentenced to almost five years in jail on the charge of manslaughter in the second degree and culpable negligence causing unreasonable harm.

The new sentence came after his murder conviction was overturned by the Minnesota Supreme Court last month.

Judge Kathryn Quaintance, who also presided at Noor's initial trial, granted the prosecutors' request to impose the maximum sentence called for by state sentencing guidelines on Noor's manslaughter conviction, 57 months.

In doing so, she brushed aside the defence's request for 41 months, which is the low end of the range.

"Mr Noor, I am not surprised that you have been a model prisoner," Judge Quaintance said. "However, I do not know any authority that would make that grounds for reducing your sentence."

She cited Noor "shooting across the nose of your partner" and endangering others the night of the shooting to hand down the stiffest sentence she could.

With time already served, he’ll spend a further two years and three months behind bars.

Noor was initially convicted of third-degree murder and manslaughter in the 2017 fatal shooting of Ms Damond, a 40-year-old dual US-Australian citizen and yoga teacher who was engaged to be married.

With his conviction and sentence for murder thrown out, he could be out on supervised release within months.

The overturned murder conviction

Last month Noor's murder conviction and sentence were tossed out with the court saying the third-degree murder statute didn't fit the case.

Noor testified at his 2019 trial that he and his partner were driving slowly in an alley when a loud bang on their police SUV made him fear for their lives.

He said he saw a woman appear at the partner's driver's side window and raise her right arm before he fired a shot from the passenger seat to stop what he thought was a threat.

He was then sentenced to 12 1/2 years on the murder count and had been serving most of his time at an out-of-state facility.

Experts say the new ruling could mean Derek Chauvin's third-degree murder conviction earlier this year in George Floyd's 2020 death could also come under review.

(continued)

>>14831650

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Justine's family criticises the reversal

During Thursday's hearing, Ms Damond's parents, John Ruszczyk and Maryan Heffernan, asked the judge to impose the longest sentence possible.

In a statement read by prosecutors, they called Ms Damond's death "utterly gratuitous" and said that the Minnesota Supreme Court's overturning of a "poorly written law" didn't change the jury's belief that Noor committed murder.

"Our sorry is forever, our lives will always endure an emptiness," they said.

The victim's fiancé, Don Damond, gave his statement via Zoom.

He started by praising prosecutors for their "sound application of the law" and criticising the state Supreme Court for its reversal, which he said "does not diminish the truth that was uncovered during the trial."

"The truth is Justine should be alive. No amount of justification, embellishment, cover-up, dishonesty or politics will ever change that truth," Mr Damond said.

But Don Damond also spoke directly to Noor, saying he forgave him and had no doubt Justine also would have forgiven him "for your inability in managing your emotions that night."

Noor, wearing a suit and tie and donning a face mask, appeared impassive as the victim's loved ones' statements were read.

At his original sentencing in 2019, he got emotional as he expressed regret for what he had done and apologised to Ms Damond's family.

Outrage after the killing

Ms Damond's death angered citizens in the US and Australia, and led to the resignation of the Minneapolis police chief at the time.

It also led the department to change its policy on body cameras; Noor and his partner didn't have theirs activated when they were investigating Ms Damond's 911 call.

Noor, who is Somali American, was believed to be the first Minnesota officer convicted of murder for an on-duty shooting.

Activists who had long called for officers to be held accountable for the deadly use of force applauded the murder conviction but lamented that it came in a case in which the officer is black and his victim was white.

Some questioned whether the case was treated the same as police shootings involving black victims.

Days after Noor's conviction, the city of Minneapolis agreed to pay $US20 million ($26 million) to Ms Damond's family, believed at the time to be the largest settlement stemming from police violence in Minnesota.

It was surpassed earlier this year when Minneapolis agreed to a $US27 million ($36 million) settlement in George Floyd's death just as Derek Chauvin was going on trial.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-22/justine-damond-mohamed-noor-resentencing/100558828

Schools risk our next-gen security: Alan Tudge

MAX MADDISON - OCTOBER 21, 2021

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The next generation of Australians will be unwilling to defend their country in a military crisis, because schools are feeding students a negative view of its history and undermining confidence in liberal democracy, the Education Minister will warn in a major speech on Friday.

Alan Tudge will push for more far-reaching changes to the draft national curriculum in a speech to the Centre for independent ­Studies, including its treatment of history, which he warns could ­entrench ideological misgivings, such as referring to “our most sacred day, Anzac Day, as a contested idea”.

While Mr Tudge says a revised version of the draft curriculum ­includes a stronger focus on ­phonics and the introduction of multiplication timetables in year three rather than year four, he ­expresses deep concern that ­children are still fed “negative views of our country, our history and our people”.

“With education standards in decline in Australia over the last 20 years, we cannot have our curriculum stand still. It must aim higher. It must lift standards so we are on a path to where we used to be two decades ago,” he says.

He also warns that the draft curriculum has “weakened Christianity, despite it being the single most important influence on our modern development.”

Mr Tudge says Western liberal culture should be just as fiercely defended in schools as Indigenous culture and heritage.

“These are matters core to who we are as a nation. We should expect our young people leaving school to have an understanding of our liberal democracy and how it is that we are one of the wealthiest, most free, most tolerant and most egalitarian countries in all of human history, which millions have immigrated to,” he says.

“If they don’t learn this, they won’t defend it as previous generations did.”

Mr Tudge says it is fundamental that school-leavers have an understanding of “how extraordinarily lucky” they are given the rise of authoritarianism, communism and Islamic fundamentalism across the globe as well as the emergence of more assertive China on the international stage.

“There has not been a more important time to teach children the origins, values and singular greatness of liberal democracy since the 1940s,” he says.

Geoffrey Blainey — described by Mr Tudge as the nation’s “greatest living historian” — said on Thursday the “fashion” of most schools over the preceding three decades had been to teach a history curriculum that “denigrates Australia and its history and present way of life”.

“In my view, the condemnation of this country has gone too far. There is plenty to criticise here, as in every country on earth. But Australia on the whole is a success,” Professor Blainey said.

“It is one of the world’s conspicuous success stories in modern times. That’s why so many millions want to come and live here in a normal year.”

(continued)

>>14831893

2/2

John Howard also threw his weight behind a more robust teaching of liberal democracy. The former prime minister said that improving students’ understanding of the history and philosophy behind Australia’s system of government was fundamental to preserving “freedoms that we enjoy”.

“Any curriculum which does not emphasise such things is highly deficient,” Mr Howard said.

In his speech Mr Tudge says the revised draft curriculum has “gone from an F to perhaps a C” but ­students “deserve an A-plus”.

“I am told that there is a ­stronger, clearer focus on phonics,” he says. “I am told that times tables will continue to be introduced in year 3, rather than delayed to year 4 and that nonsensical concepts like “mathematising” have been removed. I am informed that year 2 kids will no longer be asked to identify statues that are racist! How that ever got into the draft, I do not know. According to the April draft, kids can’t apparently learn the times tables at year 2, but can assess statues and deem them racist.”

Speaking in parliament on Thursday, Mr Tudge said: “I am not satisfied with the current draft (curriculum) which has been presented because some of those core things which underpin our democracy are not there.”

Mr Tudge demanded last August that the board of the nation’s schooling authority substantially rewrite its draft national curriculum, after accusations it put “ideology over evidence” and would ultimately harm student outcomes. Among the most scathing criticism was from the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, which called for any ongoing review of the curriculum to be halted, saying the draft had children learning open-ended maths problems before the basics.

Mr Tudge has come under intense criticism in recent months from teachers and progressives for his objection to making slavery, imperialism and colonisation large aspects of the draft history curriculum, and for saying children should not learn Anzac Day is a “contested idea”.

Critics of the Education Minister have said his insistence that children are taught a more positive view of western civilisation is contradictory with his campaign to broaden protections for freedom of speech at universities.

In his address, Mr Tudge cites Lowy Institute polling showing that 40 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds believe that non-democratic government may be preferable or that it does not matter what kind of government system is in place. “That is a catastrophe,” he says. “Ultimately, students should leave school with a love of country and a sense of optimism and hope that we live in the greatest country on earth and that the future is bright …

“Our Western political institutions are not always perfect but think of what they have given us: ‘one-person one-vote’ democratic government, equality before the law, freedom of association and speech, universal education, strong human rights, incredible wealth. These are very precious, and very rare institutions – rare still in the world today and particularly rare throughout human history. We cannot take that for granted.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/schools-risk-our-nextgen-security-alan-tudge/news-story/6ab4e405177c01086fb5c1a6f0c82cab

>Infiltration not invasion.

>>14831893

Revised draft curriculum gets C, must try harder

ALAN TUDGE - OCTOBER 21, 2021

I have previously made it clear I am disappointed by the draft national curriculum published by the independent Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. It does not increase standards, it has a negative view of our history and it is a ridiculously long and unwieldy document at 3500 pages. Put simply, I would not support it.

There were many areas in the draft where learning was delayed, not progressed. Learning the times tables was pushed back to year 4 from year 3. In other countries it starts in year 2. There are 20 concerns in maths alone. The peak mathematics association expressed alarm at the draft and asked them to start again.

Evidence-based content, such as phonics, was minimised.

The biggest problem, though, was in the draft history curriculum. It gave the impression nothing bad happened before 1788 and almost nothing good has happened since. It downplayed our Western heritage. It omitted significant figures in our history such as Menzies, Howard and Whitlam. It almost erased Christianity from our past, despite it being the single most important influence on our modern development, according to our greatest living historian, Geoffrey Blainey. It introduced ridiculous concepts such as asking year 2 students – seven-year-olds – to ask whether statues could be deemed racist.

I have been crystal clear in my views to ACARA that significant rework was required. ACARA has taken this feedback seriously, along with thousands of pieces of public feedback.

This week I was briefed on some of these updates, but I am yet to see a full updated version of the curriculum. My initial view is that the revised draft curriculum has gone from an F to a C, but our students deserve an A+.

I am told there is a stronger, clearer focus on phonics. I am told maths concepts will remain being taught where they are today and not be delayed. I am told that nonsensical concepts like “mathematising” have been removed.

This is proof the public exposure made a difference. But I remain concerned the updated curriculum does not lift standards. With our education standards in decline the past 20 years, we cannot have our curriculum stand still. It must aim higher.

I remain particularly concerned when it comes to the history curriculum. These are matters core to who we are as a nation. We should expect young Australians leaving school to understand how our nation is one of the most free, wealthy, tolerant and egalitarian societies in all of human history, and a magnet for millions of migrants.

Our Western political institutions are not always perfect but think of what they have given us: democratic government; equality before the law freedom of association and speech; universal education; strong human rights.

These are very precious and very rare institutions. If students don’t learn this, they won’t defend it as previous generations did. Lowy Institute polling shows 40 per cent of young Australians say that non-democratic government may be preferable or that it does not matter what kind of government system we have. That is a catastrophe.

Just as Indigenous Australians (and other Australians) celebrate and fiercely defend Indigenous culture and heritage, we should all celebrate and fiercely defend our Western liberal culture. Students should leave school with a love of country and a sense of optimism and hope that we live in the greatest country on earth.

ACARA’s April draft certainly did not meet this standard. I was deeply disappointed in its ideological misgivings about our nation. Based on my briefing this week, there have been some improvements. Year 2 students are no longer asked to assess whether historical statues are racist. It recognises our democracy is based on our Christian and Western origins, with a reference to the importance of the values of patriotism and freedom. These are positive changes, but there is still a way to go.

The influence of authoritarianism and communism is growing in the world, particularly with the rise of an assertive China. Fundamentalist Islam remains a dominant force in many countries, as we are seeing in Afghanistan. There has not been a more important time since the 1940s to teach children the origins, values and singular greatness of liberal democracy.

This is an edited extract of a speech to be given by Education Minister Alan Tudge to the Centre for Independent Studies on Friday.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/revised-draft-curriculum-gets-c-must-try-harder/news-story/7e2254fa5eefc29b3c9db4a22e96f290

>>14798254

Melbourne reopens as world's most locked-down city eases pandemic restrictions

Sonali Paul and Melanie Burton - OCTOBER 22, 2021

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Melbourne residents flocked to the city’s pubs, restaurants and hair salons in the early hours of Friday after the world’s most locked-down city emerged from its latest spate of restrictions designed to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Australia’s second-largest city has so far endured 262 days, or nearly nine months, of restrictions during six separate lockdowns since March 2020, representing the longest cumulative lockdown for any city in the world.

Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, last year went through 234 straight days of lockdown.

In Melbourne, people were seen cheering and clapping from their balconies, while cars honked horns continuously at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday when lockdown restrictions in place since early August ended.

Many venues, including food outlets and even haircutters, opened at the unusual hour for the occasion.

Josh Mihan, owner of The Bearded Man barber shop in Melbourne, told Reuters he is nearly booked out for the next month and he is encouraging customers to make appointments for Christmas.

“We all love cutting hair and being on the floor is such a lovely feeling, being around people,” he said. “I have urged our customer base, make sure you have booked in your Christmas cut.”

Similar jubilant scenes were seen in the country's largest city here, Sydney, almost two weeks ago, when authorities started easing restrictions as COVID-19 vaccination rates rose.

Just over 70% of adults in Australia are now fully vaccinated and many residents are planning to fly overseas again as international border restrictions start to ease from November here.

From Nov. 1, fully vaccinated international travellers arriving in Sydney and Melbourne will no longer need to quarantine. Other cities have flagged similar plans as vaccination rates rise.

Qantas Airways Ltd said on Friday that it would speed up plans to restart flights to many destinations and upsize some planes amid “massive demand”.

Qantas said it would launch a new route from Sydney to Delhi in early December and bring forward plans for flights to Singapore, Fiji, Johannesburg, Bangkok and Phuket.

“This is a wonderful day - Australia is ready for take-off,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said shortly after the Qantas announcement.

A quarantine-free travel bubble between Australia and Singapore could operate from next month, Morrison said, if an agreement is reached as expected.

A LONG LOCKDOWN

Even with Delta outbreaks across Australia’s southeast from late June, coronavirus numbers are still far lower than those of many comparable nations, with some 152,000 cases and 1,590 deaths.

And with a once-stuttering vaccine rollout gaining momentum, authorities no longer plan to rely on extended lockdowns to suppress the virus.

It has been an arduous period, especially for those in Melbourne running a business.

“We’ve been open for a year, and this is our fourth lockdown. It’s been very difficult,” said David Boyle, the head chef at the up-market Farmer’s Daughters restaurant in Melbourne.

Under more relaxed rules, restaurants and cafes can reopen with up to 20 people indoors and 50 outdoors - all of whom must be vaccinated - while 10 guests can gather at homes. Masks will remain mandatory.

The reopening will be a boost for Australia’s A$2 trillion ($1.5 trillion) economy after recent lockdowns pushed it to the brink of a second recession in as many years.

At Melbourne’s once bustling Journal Cafe, waitress Sullivan Kovacs said business was still modest on Friday and that customer numbers would increase once office workers and trades people returned to the city en masse.

“A lot of the traffic comes from people working in the city, and a lot of the tradies haven’t gone back to work yet,” Kovacs said.

($1 = 1.3259 Australian dollars)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-australia/melbourne-reopens-as-worlds-most-locked-down-city-eases-pandemic-restrictions-idUSKBN2HB2PC

>>14789393

Controversy over AUKUS pact overhyped, says UK armed forces minister

Rozanna Latiff - October 21, 2021

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Britain's armed forces minister James Heappey on Thursday said there has been an "overhyping" of controversy over a new trilateral security pact between Australia, the United States and Britain.

The alliance, known as AUKUS, will see Australia acquiring technology to deploy nuclear-powered submarines and is widely seen as a response to Chinese militarisation in the region, particularly in the strategically important South China Sea.

The plan has divided Southeast Asian countries, with Indonesia and Malaysia warning that it could lead to an arms race among rival superpowers. The Philippines, a U.S. defence ally, has backed the pact.

China has said the AUKUS plan risks severely damaging regional peace and stability. The alliance has also sparked a row with France, after Australia backed out of a submarine deal with Paris in favour of AUKUS.

Heappey said AUKUS was not intended to challenge others, saying Australia had simply made a decision to join a long-standing technology-sharing partnership between Britain and the United States.

"There has been a lot of, sort of overhyping of AUKUS," he told reporters at a Kuala Lumpur event celebrating the 50th anniversary of a five-way defence pact between Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia.

"It doesn't in any way reflect any sort of reduction in our friendship with our great colleagues and allies in Paris. It doesn't in any way represent a challenge in your part of the world."

At the same event, Australian defence minister, Peter Dutton, said AUKUS would not change the country's security strategy going forward, but will allow it to ensure it remains a reliable partner in the region.

"We're not somebody who interferes with the operations of other nations. We are a country which is forthright, and we love providing peace in our region, and that's at the centre of our friendship here," he said.

Speaking in Jakarta during a visit this week to Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, Derek Chollet, Counselor of the U.S. State Department, said AUKUS did not undermine the centrality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

In a teleconference on Thursday, he said AUKUS was not a threat to peace and more U.S. engagement in the region was positive, because a free and open Indo-Pacific was critical to security and prosperity.

He also said Australia "does not, and will not use nuclear weapons", which is why the trilateral alliance works.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/controversy-over-aukus-subs-pact-overhyped-says-uk-defence-minister-2021-10-21/

Wuhan clan: the price I paid for my lab leak exposé

Sharri Markson - 23 October 2021

On 12 March last year, I texted a trusted source connected to Australia’s foreign intelligence agency. ‘What do you think about the theory that the virus came from a virology lab in China? Does that have credibility? I know it’s officially a conspiracy theory but China is not exactly a picture of transparency so I thought it’s possible.’

He replied to say he knew someone ‘very involved in the observation of that lab and its activities’ and it was a definite possibility the virus leaked from the facility. It was a surprising response because, at the time, this view contradicted every utterance by scientists and world leaders, who insisted the virus had a natural origin. Most media outlets dismissed the lab-leak theory as a conspiracy.

A month after this exchange, I confirmed and reported on a global scoop for my paper in Australia, that the Five Eyes intelligence network of the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were seriously examining the possibility of a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The story went global. For the following year, as I developed new sources around the world and unravelled the complexities of the Chinese Communist party’s suppression of the theory, I wrote a book on the topic and my reporting made me a target of the CCP.

There have been many personal attacks by the CCP newspaper Global Times, the English-language propaganda newspaper China Daily and the China Global Television Network, which have repeatedly tried to smear and discredit me. The Global Times called me a ‘bugler for American lies on China’. Another piece accused me of ‘fabricating anti-China rumours’ in order to ‘slander China’. China Daily said I had ‘helped to poison the international community’s rhetoric’. After the Australian foreign minister Marise Payne called for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19 in April last year, Chinese authorities claimed my stories were sanctioned by, or even commissioned by, the Australian government.

Perhaps most bizarrely, China Daily created a video about me, which it tweeted to its 4.2 million followers. The clip incorrectly claimed I was a ‘social butterfly in the right-wing circle’ who had ‘made big money and big fame’. China Daily reporters Xu Pan Yiru and Meng Zhe said: ‘If you think about the Wuhan lab-leak theory, you would probably think the US media played a major role in promoting the conspiracy. But as we look closer at the origin of Covid-19, we find actually it is an Australian journalist who has pushed the conspiracy.’

There have been hacking and malware attempts as well. My Wikipedia page is subject to constant trolling from IP addresses registered in China. The night after my first Wuhan scoop, I received anti-Semitic death threats that also targeted my family.

It wasn’t until I spoke with officials who had led intelligence agencies that I properly understood the motivation behind such a concerted campaign against me in the Chinese media. The former US secretary of state and CIA director Mike Pompeo told me that the CCP was desperate to control the narrative about how the virus began and to deflect any attention from the Wuhan lab.

‘The CCP disseminate information through their media outlets, the Global Times, China Daily, and all the organisations, the propaganda arms that you know. Their diplomats around the world share this with their international counterparts, all with the central message being driven from Beijing,’ he said. ‘It’s something that they have professionalised, they are very good at it, and this was an example of their capacity to flood the zone with a storyline and have that storyline become the narrative in the western media as well.’

His comments were supported by Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6. He told me that China was leading a ‘bloody outrageous global disinformation operation… You can bet your bottom dollar that the ministry of state security has been in control of the narrative from day one’.

‘This is what the CCP have spent decades since Tiananmen preparing for,’ says Matt Turpin, the White House’s former Director for China on the staff of the National Security Council. ‘They’ve got the influence and the media and propaganda apparatus to be able to control the story.’

As someone who became fodder for the Chinese propaganda machine, I certainly discovered this to be the case. But what I found most remarkable in the past 18 months was the number of western scientists, government officials and tech giants who willingly accepted the CCP line. In doing so, they not only helped push China’s narrative, but shamefully aided and abetted the CCP’s vituperative attacks on people like me who dared question that narrative.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2021/10/wuhan-clan/

>>14812759

Judge denies Ghislaine Maxwell's request for private juror screening

JAMES HILL - October 22, 2021

1/2

A federal judge on Thursday denied requests from Ghislaine Maxwell, the accused accomplice of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, to have prospective jurors for her criminal trial questioned privately - outside the view of the public and the press - and to keep a jury questionnaire under seal.

Maxwell's attorneys had argued that the extraordinary measures were necessary to effectively screen for potential bias and for exposure to a "tsunami" of publicity about the high-profile sex-trafficking case.

"This case amplifies the likelihood that jurors will be more apprehensive and constrained to respond openly and honestly in open court within earshot of other jurors, members of the public, and the media," Maxwell attorney Bobbi Sternheim wrote in a court filing last week.

The proposal from Maxwell's defense team, which federal prosecutors opposed, would have been a departure from typical procedure in the Manhattan federal court where her trial is scheduled. In most instances, a judge conducts screenings of groups of prospective jurors in open court after consulting with prosecutors and defense counsel about the questions to be posed.

In a court filing last week, prosecutors contended that Maxwell had presented "no persuasive reason" to depart from the "well-established practice."

"The Court should ask most questions in open court and ask sensitive questions, such as those that relate to sexual abuse and media exposure, at sidebar," wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe.

But Maxwell's lawyers argued those conventional procedures are "inadequate" to ferret out potential bias and prejudice because of the sensitive nature of the charges and the "intense negative media coverage" about Maxwell and Epstein "in every conceivable form."

"The negative publicity has been so pervasive, vitriolic, and extreme that Ms. Maxwell has been demonized in the press," Sternheim wrote.

Private and individual questioning "would encourage potential jurors to answer questions more completely and honestly because the jurors would not be influenced by (or influence) the answers given by fellow jurors or fear embarrassment in giving an honest response," Sternheim added.

U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan, who's overseeing Maxwell's trial, also denied a request to allow Maxwell's lawyers and prosecutors to question each potential juror individually for up to three minutes after the court concludes its inquiries.

The initial jury pool for the case is estimated to include about 600 people, who will fill out jury questionnaires in early November, Nathan said. She expects to reduce the pool to about 50 to 60 people before she questions each prospective juror in person. The final panel will consist of 12 jurors and six alternates.

(continued)

>>14832220

2/2

Late Wednesday, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and a coalition of 17 media organizations registered objections to Maxwell's proposed secrecy surrounding the jury selection process, known as "voir dire."

"Voir dire is a critical stage of criminal proceedings, and the public interest in favor of access to voir dire is correspondingly weighty," RCFP attorney Katie Townsend wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan, who's overseeing Maxwell's case.

The media coalition, which includes ABC News, argued that a proposed jury questionnaire that was filed under seal last week by Maxwell's attorneys - without government objection - should be made part of the public record. Maxwell's lawyers contended the documents should remain sealed "to avoid media coverage that may prejudice the jury selection process."

"Giving jurors the opportunity to view the questionnaire before they come to court to fill it out is like a take-home exam, and they can fill out all the answers and do all the research and decide what answers they want to put on those papers," Sternheim said during the hearing Thursday. "I think there's an opportunity for people motivated to want to sit on this jury for a variety of reasons."

But Nathan ruled that Maxwell's generalized concerns about media coverage were not sufficient to overcome the public's First Amendment right of access to court proceedings, including the jury selection process.

"The parties' sole rationale for sealing the submission is to avoid, at a general level, media coverage that may prejudice the jury selection process," Nathan said. "But jurors are sworn to give true and complete answers to the questionnaire and voir dire."

"If a juror is being dishonest, we will smoke that out," the judge added.

Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to charges that she "assisted, facilitated and contributed" to Epstein's abuse of four minor girls from 1994 to 2004. Prosecutors allege Maxwell befriended the young girls and helped to put them at ease, knowing that they would eventually be sexually abused by Epstein.

Maxwell's lawyers have argued in court filings that federal prosecutors pursued charges against her as a "substitute" for Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York federal jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Jury selection is set to begin in Maxwell's case on Nov. 15, with the trial scheduled to open two weeks later.

https://abc7chicago.com/ghislaine-maxwells-attorneys-to-seek-private-screenings-of-potenti/11150736/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.362.0.pdf

SA man James David Ryan Sharp jailed for possessing child-like sex doll

The first person in Australia arrested for importing a child-like sex doll will only have to serve half of his jail term behind bars.

Mitch Mott - October 22, 2021

The first person arrested in Australia for possessing a child-like sex doll has been jailed for three years.

James David Ryan Sharp, 32, became the first person in the nation to be charged with importing a child-like sex doll when he was arrested in January 2020.

He was arrested at his home in a small country town near the South Australia and Victorian border where police discovered 9021 images and 128 videos of child exploitation material.

They also found a disturbing collection of non-explicit photos of local children from his area.

Sharp is the first person to be sentenced in South Australia for importing a child-like sex doll – although Auxiliary District Court Judge Gordon Barrett did not specify the proportion of his total sentence was for the charge of possessing the sex doll.

On Friday, Judge Barrett sentenced Sharp to three years in prison, but ordered he be released on a recognisance order after serving 18 months.

Judge Barrett said the material was far from a victimless crime

“Every film, every image, every disk depicts a child being abused.” he said.

“Every one of the children depicted in the materials which you possessed was abused and your being in possession of them and taking access to them provides the market for the abuse of children.”

Described as an “unremarkable” man crippled by shyness, Sharp was subject to death threats and was forced to move from the country town near Naracoorte he called home.

He pleaded guilty to five charges relating to the importation of the doll and the child exploitation material.

Commonwealth prosecutor Alice Bitmead told the court that among the voluminous collection of child exploitation material were “hyper-realistic digital images” of abuse against children as young as three.

“A large proportion of the material depicts female children being physically restrained with rope, collars, chains, blindfolds and duct tape while being sexually abused,” Judge Barrett said.

“This material is at the higher end of seriousness for offending of this type.”

Nick Healy, for Sharp, told the court during sentencing submissions his client had accepted that he was going to be sent to prison for his crimes.

“My client suffers from social anxiety disorder which is shown through extreme shyness and difficulty articulating his thoughts,” he said.

Mr Healy said Sharp had an “unremarkable” childhood and still had the support of his family who hoped he would get treatment.

Auxiliary Judge Gordon Barrett heard Sharp told a psychologist he had thought he ordered an adult-size sex doll, but when the child model came he decided to try and buy clothes for it.

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/messenger/mount-gambier/james-david-ryan-sharp-imported-a-childlike-sex-doll-and-hoarded-photos-of-local-kids-on-his-computer/news-story/8046fb2e51e0990f2d3bc4b340fd4083

>>14789393

British nuclear sub’s visit may be Astute ad

BEN PACKHAM and PAUL GARVEY - OCTOBER 22, 2021

Britain will press its case to build Australia’s promised nuclear-powered submarines during an upcoming visit by a British ­nuclear boat to Perth.

The Astute-class submarine has been sailing in a task group with British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth on its maiden voyage through the Indo-Pacific.

Defence sources in Canberra and Western Australia have confirmed the fast attack boat is scheduled to visit Perth naval base HMAS Stirling – the home of Australia’s Collins-class submarines – in coming weeks.

The British will use the visit to showcase the Astute’s capabilities to the Royal Australian Navy, with Australian sailors and officers expected to go to sea on the UK nuclear boat.

The submarine could also engage in exercises with an Australian Collins-class submarine, after taking on a Japanese Soryu-class sub in underwater drills last month.

HMS Artful, the third of the Astute-class, was initially sailing with the carrier strike group, but another submarine, either HMS Astute or HMS Ambush, was more recently spotted with the group.

The scheduled visit comes just weeks after British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he believed the UK would build Australia’s nuclear-powered subs. “We are in a strong position to help the Australians achieve that capability so I am very confident that British engineering, British skills, Australian nous, will deliver a very good submarine,” Mr Wallace said this month.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also suggested Australia’s new submarines would be British-made, and AUKUS would create “hundreds” of highly skilled jobs across the UK and reinforce Britain’s place “at the leading edge of science and technology”.

A Defence taskforce has commenced an 18-month study to determine which submarine Australia will get, and how the navy and Australian industry can deliver on the government’s aspirations. Many in the government believe the US’s Virginia-class design would be a better option for Australia than the British Astute.

But it’s unclear whether the US would allow Australia direct access to its nuclear submarine technology, even under the AUKUS technology partnership struck in September between the three English-speaking allies.

The two US shipyards producing Virginia-class boats have no spare capacity to build submarines for Australia, although Australian defence sources have speculated we could invest in a third US production line.

The Virginia-class design would need few changes for Australian use, but defence analysts suggest the Astute’s combat system and weapons would need to be switched for American alternatives, significantly raising costs.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings said Britain was working hard to position itself in the unofficial competition to build Australia’s next-generation subs.

“If they had one in the region, getting it out here would be an obvious thing to do to promote British industry,” Mr Jennings said.

“Knowing the Brits, they won’t miss an opportunity to get out there and do some marketing.”

Australia regularly hosts US nuclear-powered submarines but it has been more than a decade since a UK nuclear boat visited.

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency will oversee the visit, and is responsible for contingency arrangements in the unlikely event of a nuclear accident.

Scott Morrison has described the AUKUS partnership as “the single largest step we have been able to take to advance our defence capabilities in this country”.

He has said the submarines will be built in Adelaide, but many strategists believe it would be better to purchase the boats from an overseas production line.

Australia’s HMAS Canberra and HMAS Anzac joined HMS Queen Elizabeth’s carrier strike group earlier this month during Exercise Bersama Gold 21.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/british-nuclear-subs-visit-may-be-astute-ad/news-story/49696e29561a9dbb812f167c76c87f9e

>>14789393

China renews attack on AUKUS, says the three countries are pursuing 'the rule of the jungle'

abc.net.au - 23 October 2021

China's Foreign Ministry ha again lashed out at the trilateral security partnership between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia (AUKUS), saying the pact poses nuclear proliferation risks and is a threat to regional stability.

Mr Wang made the statement at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday in response to the three countries' assurances the day before that the AUKUS pact is only for Australia's development of submarine power and will not undermine ASEAN centrality, nor pose threat to regional peace.

"I've noticed that in the face of doubts and objections from the regional countries and the international community, the United States, Britain and Australia had to defend their trilateral security partnership," he said.

"Their explanation is just a pale and weak response to the concerns of the regional countries and the international community," Mr Wang said.

Mr Wang added that the security partnership was a "reminder" the three countries are pursuing "the rules of the jungle, where the weak are meant to be killed by the strong."

He then raised concerns about nuclear proliferation and accused the US, UK and Australia of violating the purpose of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, saying that the countries "are representatives of rule-breaking".

"The above-mentioned cooperation between the three countries is bound to undermine the building of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Southeast Asia," he said.

Derek Chollet, Counsellor of the US State Department, had said in a teleconference on Wednesday that more US engagement in the region was a positive, because a "free and open Indo-Pacific is critical to security and prosperity".

He said, "Australia does not and will not use nuclear weapons", which he said was the reason the trilateral alliance works.

Mr Wang urged the three countries to reverse the "wrong decisions", discard the zero-sum mentality, stop forming cliques, faithfully fulfil their nuclear non-proliferation obligations, and do more to contribute to regional peace and stability.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-23/china-aukus-pact-nuclear-proliferation-regional-stability/100562476

>>14838617

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on October 22, 2021

Hubei Media Group: It is reported that US, British and Australian officials made remarks on the AUKUS trilateral security partnership on October 21. They said that Australia joined AUKUS only to develop its own nuclear submarine capability and it does not, and will not use nuclear weapons. They said that AUKUS did not undermine the centrality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and it was not a threat to regional peace. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: I noted that the US, the UK and Australia had to justify themselves in the face of the suspicion and opposition of regional countries and the international community over their trilateral security partnership. However, their feeble argument cannot address the concerns of regional countries and the wider international community.

This Anglo-Saxon "clique" created by the three countries is a typical military bloc that smacks of obsolete Cold War zero-sum mentality. It is a reflection of the three countries' obsession with force, an extension of the US and the UK's nuclear deterrence policy, and a product of the US philosophy of "position of strength". The trilateral security partnership between the US, the UK and Australia is a stark reminder that the rules the three countries believe in are still the rules of the jungle where might is right.

The US and the UK export nuclear submarines to Australia out of geopolitical and economic considerations. They did so in violation of the object and purpose of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), creating risks of the proliferation of nuclear materials and technology. Their moves have a huge impact on the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. This fully shows that the three countries are typical rules-breakers.

The nuclear submarine cooperation between the US, the UK and Australia involves transferring weapons-grade uranium of over 90 percent fissile purity to Australia, which constitutes a grave nuclear proliferation risk and violates the object and purpose of the NPT. Besides, the US will also export Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Australia. The threat posed by such moves to regional peace and security is self-evident. The three countries couldn't just deny this and explain the threat away. The trilateral cooperation is also bound to undermine efforts to build a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) in Southeast Asia. Where is their respect for ASEAN centrality?

We once again urge the three countries to redress the mistake, abandon Cold War zero-sum mentality and stop putting together small cliques. They should uphold the international nuclear non-proliferation system and safeguard regional and world peace, stability and development, rather than the opposite.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1916229.shtml

>>14789393

Hypocritical double standards in US, UK and Australia’s statements crystal clear: Global Times editorial

Global Times - Oct 23, 2021

A US State Department spokesperson issued a statement on Thursday, claiming the US "remains seriously concerned at the continued erosion of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including political participation, in Hong Kong." It points a finger at the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) for disqualifying certain district councilors according to law. On the same day, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne issued similar statements on Twitter. The spokesperson of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in the HKSAR condemned on Friday the US' blatant and clumsy intervention in HKSAR affairs and China's domestic affairs.

This is a joint action against Hong Kong since the US, the UK and Australia formed the new clique - AUKUS. Everyone on Earth knows that the US is the head of the gang, while the UK and Australia are merely two yes-men.

The US has focused its attention on Hong Kong, tossing out statements on Hong Kong affairs every few days ranging from the Legislative Council to "diplomacy" and administrative agencies. This has become routine. The US is utilizing the statements, which cost nothing, to pave the way for future attempts to contain China with Hong Kong as an excuse, in public opinion. It also encourages anti-China rioters, which have almost come to a dead end, preventing them from falling into total despair. The US government issued an announcement on Thursday to allow Hong Kong residents in the US, who can extend their date of mandatory departure from the US, to apply for work permits. This is a move to offer a safe haven for anti-China rioters in exile.

The US and other Western countries' statements are often covered under so-called democracy and human rights. They claim to protect the rights and interests of people in Hong Kong. Yet their rhetoric is highly deceptive. They are actually talking about the same thing over and over again.

They say they stand with Hong Kong people, but they are in reality standing with the criminals who have been sentenced by the Hong Kong judicial system, bomb-making rioters, secessionists and political conspirators. Worse, they are now blatantly playing the role to save rioters in the city. They are not concerned about the rights and freedom of Hong Kong people. What they really intend to do is disrupt the city's rule of law, undermine its stability, and see Hong Kong in disorder.

Seeing the consequences their actions have brought to the city, their hypocrisy and ill-intensions behind the statements are crystal clear.

If the US and the West really care about the people of Hong Kong, they should truly safeguard Hong Kong's status as a bridge between the East and West, and as the Pearl of the Orient. The US should immediately lift all sanctions against Hong Kong, let the people of Hong Kong interact with the people of the world, and create conditions for them to realize their well-being.

If the US and the West really care about the people of Hong Kong, they should pay attention to whether their right to live in safety can be guaranteed. During the riots, Hong Kong's airport was paralyzed, the MTR was destroyed, shops were smashed and innocent citizens were injured. If the US had even a little care and love for Hong Kong, it would feel distressed about such a situation. However, such a Hong Kong was called a "beautiful sight to behold" by US politicians. Their true intention was obvious.

It is Hong Kong citizens who have endured a painful price in the riots. Given the profound lesson, they now cherish the restoration of Hong Kong's security, stability and economic restoration after the implementation of the national security law. Facts have proved, the better Hong Kong, which has integrated into the entire country's development, is built, the fewer political leverages the US and the West will have in Hong Kong. Their statements and sanctions can no longer intimidate anyone. Foreign forces which have been interfering in Hong Kong affairs are swallowing the bitterness of failure. Hong Kong patriotic forces are becoming more confident. The trend of Hong Kong heading toward prosperity thanks to the good governance is unstoppable.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202110/1237067.shtml

https://twitter.com/MarisePayne/status/1451294795905712130

>>14820622

Australia asks why Hong Kong considers lobsters national security risk

Kirsty Needham - October 22, 2021

SYDNEY, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Australia said it is seeking answers from China on why its lobster exports have been blocked, after a top Hong Kong customs official said Beijing had imposed trade restrictions and lobster smuggling was a national security matter.

Almost all of Australia's exports of the live seafood, prized at Chinese banquets for its red colour, went to mainland China until diplomatic tensions in 2020 saw a series of unofficial trade hurdles imposed by Beijing on Australian produce.

Exports of lobsters to Hong Kong then soared - Hong Kong and Australia have a separate free trade deal - with some of the live seafood finding its way to mainland cities.

Hong Kong's new Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Louise Ho, told local media on Thursday that a new crackdown on the smuggling of Australian lobsters from Hong Kong to mainland China was an "important part of protecting national security".

"On the surface, it is a simple matter of smuggling lobsters, but these activities undermine our country's trade restrictions against Australia," Ho said, according to local media outlet RTHK.

The comments come as China's trade practices are being reviewed by the World Trade Organisation, with Australia stating China's actions are inconsistent with WTO rules.

Australia's ambassador to the WTO said in a statement on Thursday that China had "implemented trade disruptive measures" which had ended Australia's exports of a dozen commodities, including lobster.

Australia lobster exports to China, previously worth $527 million a year, had been "significantly impacted following the General Administration of Customs China (GACC) notification on 5 November 2020 they would be subjected to enhanced inspection", a spokesperson for Australia's Minister for Trade Dan Tehan said in an emailed statement on Friday.

"The Australian Government continues to seek further information from GACC on this matter."

Asked to respond to the Hong Kong official Ho's comment, he said: "The trade in Australian rock lobster to Hong Kong fully complies with importing country requirements".

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-asks-why-hong-kong-considers-lobsters-national-security-risk-2021-10-22/

>>14798254

Australia's Melbourne enjoys weekend of eased COVID curbs after long lockdown

Lidia Kelly - October 23, 2021

MELBOURNE, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Melbourne, Australia's second-biggest city, began its first weekend out of the world's longest string of COVID-19 lockdowns with spontaneous street parties, live music and packed pubs, bars and restaurants.

Home to about five million people, Melbourne endured 262 days, or nearly nine months, of restrictions during six lockdowns since March 2020, longer than the 234-day continuous lockdown in Buenos Aires.

Despite rain on Saturday morning, people queued for barbers and breakfast restaurants, all of which are open only to the fully vaccinated.

Late on Friday, people broke into a spontaneous street party in Melbourne's southeast and many rejoiced with their first drink in months in a pub with friends, social media footage showed.

Although the Delta outbreak continues to spread, with 1,750 new cases and nine deaths reported on Saturday in Victoria state, of which Melbourne is the capital, the ease in restrictions came the state's full-vaccination rate reached 70%.

While most retail outlets remained closed, authorities said further easing will come once 80% of Victorians are fully inoculated, estimated by next weekend.

"Let's not slack off, let's increase the pace as we get to the 80% milestone - but also the 90% vaccination milestone," Jeroen Weimar, Victoria's COVID-19 response commander, said on Saturday.

While small but violent anti-vaccinations protests have taken place in Melbourne and other cities this year, Australians overwhelmingly support vaccinations, with polls showing the percentage decisively opposed in single digits.

Nearly 72% of adults in Australia are now fully vaccinated and nearly 87% have received one shot. According to a national strategy, lockdowns will be unlikely once 80% of Australians are fully inoculated.

Sydney, Australia's largest city, celebrated its reopening two weeks ago, after reaching the vaccination threshold of 70%. On Saturday, New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, recorded 332 COVID-19 cases and two deaths.

Weekend newspapers were filled with travel advertising for the coming months, as international border restrictions start to ease from November. Flag carrier Qantas Airways Ltd is speeding up plans to restart flights to many destinations and upsize some planes amid "massive demand".

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australias-melbourne-enjoys-weekend-eased-covid-curbs-after-long-lockdown-2021-10-23/

>>14798254

Australia looks to roll out COVID-19 booster shots soon as curbs ease

Renju Jose - OCTOBER 25, 2021

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian officials plan to roll out COVID-19 booster shots soon to prevent a resurgence of cases, as residents in the two largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne begin to enjoy more freedoms after months-long curbs.

Australia has ditched its COVID-zero strategy in favour of suppressing the coronavirus, after largely stamping out infections for most of this year, and is now aiming to live with the virus through higher vaccinations.

Officials are gradually shifting their focus to booster shots as double-dose vaccinations levels in Australia’s adult population nears 75%. Almost 87% of people above 16 have received their first dose since the national rollout began in February.

“We think what is going to happen is that a booster shot will be made available from six months from your second dose,” Lieutenant General John Frewen, head of the vaccination taskforce, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Monday.

Advice from the country’s immunisation advisory group on booster shots “is imminent”, he said, adding health workers, and staff and residents in aged care and disability centres would be offered the doses in the initial phase.

Amid a surge in vaccinations, Victoria on Monday logged its lowest rise in daily infections in nearly three weeks at 1,461, while cases dipped for the fourth straight day in neighbouring New South Wales (NSW) to 294.

Officials in Victoria are looking to ease more restrictions on gatherings and movement on Friday, just a week after Melbourne, the state capital, exited its sixth lockdown during the pandemic. Sydney lifted its lockdown two weeks ago.

Double-dose vaccination rates in Victoria’s adult population will top 80% by then - a level where masks will not be mandatory outdoors and people free to travel throughout the state.

That rate neared 85% in NSW, home to Sydney, with the state tipped to hit 90% next week. The next set of restrictions will be eased on Dec. 1, when the lockdown rules will lift for the unvaccinated, according to the state’s reopening plan.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-australia/australia-looks-to-roll-out-covid-19-booster-shots-soon-as-curbs-ease-idUSKBN2HE0MF

Edward Snowden says Julian Assange ‘wont bend’ as the Australian faces a US extradition court appeal

JACQUELIN MAGNAY - OCTOBER 25, 2021

One former British spy has claimed another spy, the ex-MI-6 agent and author of the Trump dossier, Christopher Steele, has enjoyed special First Amendment rights in the United States, saying it was “something denied to Julian Assange’’.

This comes as the former CIA computer analyst Edward Snowden who fled to Moscow after leaked highly classified documents, said of the US legal pursuit of Assange: “what we are witnessing is a murder’’.

Snowden was one of several activists, academics, politicians and Assange supporters, speaking via video link to a two and a half-hour “Belmarsh Tribunal”, a peoples’ court held in at Convocation Hall, Westminster, about the predicament facing Assange, and named after his current high security prison abode.

It was held just days before the Royal Courts of Justice in London will hear a US government appeal on Wednesday and Thursday seeking to extradite Assange to the United States to face espionage charges for releasing hundreds of thousands of classified US documents in 2010 and 2011.

Supporters also embarked on a march through central London to highlight that Assange was still being held in Belmarsh prison.

Snowden said “Everywhere we look, from Afghanistan to economics, from pandemic to pervasive surveillance, the obvious has been made unspeakable.’’

He said that speaking up would make people criminals like Assange because he was charged for “the transgression of choosing the wrong side”.

Snowden said that Assange “didn’t bend”, warning he will die before he does.

Annie Machon, who worked for the British domestic intelligence agency MI5 before going on the run in 1997 with her then partner David Shayler, because he wanted to expose wrongdoings in the spy agency, told the Belmarsh tribunal that Assange was being “persecuted’’ for trying to protect whistleblowers.

She said Assange was also not being accorded the same respect as more mainstream journalists.

Machon said that Steele, who created the 35 page dirty dossier on Donald Trump’s visit to Russia, later discredited, has been accorded US rights.

“He (Steele) has been accorded US rights, even though he is a UK citizen and resident in UK he can have first amendment rights under US law, yet this is specially denied to Assange if he is extradited to the US,’’ she said, adding “it is disgusting”.

Steele was granted the First Amendment rights when three Russians sued him for defamation.

Assange’s partner Stella Moris said of the US action: “This is just a naked political persecution” and highlighted a recent report of how the CIA had discussed kidnapping and even killing Assange when he was in the Ecuador embassy in London. “Julian is holding back a tide of authoritarianism, and if we win this, we can push back,” said Moris. “If he loses this, we all lose.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/edward-snowden-says-julian-assange-wont-bend-as-the-australian-faces-a-us-extradition-court-appeal/news-story/0a9002329408934f39de2373f80e1d9f

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

AFP is looking to be 'more aggressive' with new cyber offensive arm

The AFP is in talks with the Five Eyes alliance about how it can implement a new cyber offensive operation.

Campbell Kwan - October 25, 2021

The Australian Federal Police is conducting an internal review to implement a new cyber offensive arm, AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw said at Senate Estimates on Monday morning.

"At the moment, we're actually going through an internal review of how we can be more aggressive in cyber, and it may mean a mini restructure internally for us to really have what we would call a cyber offensive operation of the AFP, which would actually conduct disruption operations on these individuals," he said

Kershaw said this process has included talking with the Five Eyes alliance about the growth of cyberthreats. Kershaw is currently the chair of Five Eyes' law enforcement group.

Throughout his testimony at Senate Estimates, Kershaw explained that the powers given to the AFP through the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act 2021, which passed earlier this year, would allow its cyber offensive capabilities to increase across various fronts, from countering child abuse, to spam, to terrorism.

"So [spam is] something we're looking forward to using those new powers to, you know, it is my personal pet hate. I get multiple ones a day," Kershaw said.

Through the new laws, the AFP and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) will gain the ability to apply for three new warrants to deal with online crime.

The first of the warrants is a data disruption one, which gives cops the ability to "disrupt data" by modifying, copying, adding, or deleting it. The second is a network activity warrant that would allow the AFP and ACIC to collect intelligence from devices or networks that are used, or likely to be used, by those subject to the warrant. The last warrant is an account takeover warrant that will allow the agencies to take control of an online account for the purposes of gathering information for an investigation.

"This is the next frontier of crime, and the AFP and our partners will work with governments and global law enforcement networks to ensure the long arm of the AFP reaches criminals no matter where they are in the world," Kershaw said in his opening statement at Senate Estimates.

"Our investigators are already strategising how they will use the new powers in active investigations to identify, target, and disrupt offenders – including those relating to terrorism, large drug importations, and distribution of child abuse material."

The Attorney-General's department is currently working on authorising the warrants application process, with AFP Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney saying that this process would be resolved in the coming weeks.

In the AFP's annual report released last week, the law enforcement agency said the past year has seen it expand cyber operational capacity and build technical capabilities as part of an $90 million investment by the Australian Government across four years. This includes the ransomware action plan's new Orcus taskforce and an AFP-led multi-agency taskforce called Dolos for targeting fraud that used compromised business emails.

The AFP added that it carried out 163 disruption activities and charged eight offenders with 21 offences in relation to cybercrime during 2020-21.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/afp-is-looking-to-be-more-aggressive-with-new-cyber-offense-arm/

https://www.afp.gov.au/sites/default/files/PDF/Reports/AFPAnnualReport20-21.pdf

>>14852955

Terrorist recruiters are grooming vulnerable children to carry out violent attacks

BEN PACKHAM - OCTOBER 25, 2021

Terrorist groups are grooming children, including those with learning difficulties and developmental conditions, to carry out violent attacks.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the alarming new trend had emerged under the cover of the pandemic, and urged parents to find out who their children were engaging with online.’

“Children as young as 13 years old - not even old enough to get their learners’ driver’s licence - are planning and negotiating with others online to carry out catastrophic terror attacks,” Mr Kershaw told Senate estimates.

“Some of these youth feel isolated or do not feel like they belong, and so they retreat to the online world, looking to connect with someone, including (religiously-motivated violent extremist) and (ideologically-motivated violent extremist) individuals.

“Research on how vulnerable children – including those with learning difficulties or developmental conditions – are being recruited is underway now.”

He said the AFP was dedicated to preventing vulnerable people from becoming radicalised, but parents also needed to play a role.

“We need parents and carers to understand who their children are communicating with online. I implore parents to call the AFP if they are worried their child is being targeted by individuals with extremist views,” Mr Kershaw said.

“Early intervention can divert children from this path. Where possible, we want to keep youth out of the criminal justice system.”

He said the terrorism threat level remained at probable but “there have been some significant shifts in the diversity and complexity” of the problem during the pandemic.

“The threat of terrorism has not dissipated. In fact, the pandemic, extended lockdowns and more time spent online, has in some cases, made it easier for extremists to recruit,” he said.

“Across the world, including in Australia, we have individuals who are now pre-loaded with extremist ideology, and the end of restrictions on movement will make it harder for law enforcement.”

Religiously-motivated violent extremism remained the biggest threat accounting for 85 per cent of investigations.

Ideologically-motivated terrorism accounted for 15 per cent of terrorist threats, he said.

Mr Kershaw said ideologically-motivated extremist groups, also known as right-wing terror groups, were “extremely interconnected”.

“Their views are diverse and include support for nationalist, white-supremacy and neo-Nazism.

The Commissioner said the AFP was braced for an increase in Islamist terrorism following the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He said Australian Islamist extremists were predominantly followers of the ISIL ideology, although some were followers of al-Qaeda.

“We expect that ISIL will transform and re-establish transnational links to increase their ability to direct or influence terrorism in other parts of the globe,” he said.

Mr Kershaw said the other significant terrorist threat in Australia related to the release of convicted terrorist offenders.

“Eighteen terrorist offenders are scheduled for release from prison before 2026, and 54 are due for release by 2060,” he said.

“Since February 2019, the AFP has applied for and obtained more control orders than in the 15 years prior.

“Seven individuals have been arrested and charged for breaching the conditions of their control orders since July 2020 – that is 70 per cent of individuals on control orders.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/terrorist-recruiters-are-grooming-vulnerable-children-to-carry-out-violent-attacks/news-story/1569874c0473f2564389fd77bb8ea404

Telstra seals $US1.6b deal to buy Digicel with a helping hand from Canberra

Zoe Samios and Anthony Galloway - October 25, 2021

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Taxpayers will provide $1.9 billion to help Telstra buy South Pacific telco operator Digicel from Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien, under an agreement that will ensure it is kept out of Chinese hands and boost Australia’s footprint in the region.

Telstra will own 100 per cent of the new entity as part of the $US1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) deal, which is expected to be completed within six months. The sale follows almost a year of discussions between the telco giant and the federal government about the asset, which was subject to interest from Chinese telco operators.

While Telstra called it a “commercially attractive asset”, there is concern among some in the government and industry that the threat of the asset falling into Chinese hands was hyped up to drive a sale to an Australian company with the help of the government.

Industry and government sources confirmed that a Chinese company was never close to buying Digicel’s Pacific assets. But senior figures within the Australian government believed Chinese companies such as China Mobile may have been interested and they assessed it was important to help Telstra purchase the asset for strategic reasons.

William Stoltz, a senior adviser at the Australian National University’s National Security College, said it remained “somewhat opaque” exactly how real the possibility of a Chinese bid for Digicel ever was. But he said the government’s move showed that Australia “wasn’t going to take any chances”.

Dr Stolz said Mr O’Brien was selling Digicel because it had become a “bit of a stranded asset”, but in the tension between economic and security considerations Australia is “going to have to make more decisions like this where security wins out because we’re in an era of ideological contest for the future of our region”.

“The development needs of the Pacific island countries demand wealthier states invest in bolstering their infrastructure and modernising their economies so they can be more prosperous and stable,” he said.

Both Telstra and the government don’t believe they will have to rip up the 4G infrastructure placed by Chinese company Huawei, with the technology not as vulnerable to penetration as the next-generation 5G networks.

Telstra chief executive Andy Penn said Digicel was a commercially attractive asset the move was an “important milestone in the company’s relationship with the Australian government”.

“The Board unanimously believes the transaction is in the best interests of shareholders and it is on this basis that Telstra has agreed to proceed with the acquisition,” he said.

Telstra will contribute $US270 million of equity to the $US1.6 billion purchase price and the Australian Government, through Export Finance Australia, is providing the remaining $US1.33 billion through a combination of debt facilities and equity finance. A further $US250 million will be paid subject to business performance over the next three years.

In a joint statement, Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Trade Minister Dan Tehan and Pacific Minister Zed Seselja said Digicel Pacific has been a successful and growing telecommunications provider in the Pacific for the past 15 years.

“Telstra’s acquisition sends an important signal about the company’s potential and about wider business confidence in the future of the Pacific region,” they said.

“Digicel Pacific has been a successful and growing telecommunications provider in the Pacific for the past 15 years. ”

"EFA is providing financing that enables Telstra to take this commercial opportunity and will bring valuable experience in managing financial and other risks."

(continued)

>>14852974

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Liberal senator James Paterson, chair of the federal parliament’s security and intelligence committee, said it was a “very exciting development for the Pacific and for Australia” and it would come with “no strings attached”.

“Digital communications are the key to development and prosperity, particularly in the developing world,” he said.“It’s a tribute to Australia’s commitment to the Pacific. It’s consistent with our long-standing policy of the Pacific Step Up, and it demonstrates that once again, Australia is a partner of choice whether that comes to aid and development, or more recently, the vaccine roll out and now the development of critical infrastructure.

"One of the key things about this agreement is that it demonstrates that Australia does so for the benefit of our friends and family in the Pacific, and unlike some other operators in the Pacific, we do so without any strings attached.

Asked whether the deal was about countering China, Senator Paterson said “this isn’t about any one other country”.

There has been growing concern from national security experts about China-backed firms funding and buying strategically sensitive assets in the Pacific, including a proposed Chinese fishing facility in Papua New Guinea and Digicel’s assets.

While Australia has long been the dominant provider of foreign aid in the region, Beijing has led the way in providing cheap loans to bankroll infrastructure projects. China was responsible for 37 per cent of all donor loans to the Pacific between 2011 and 2017, funding projects with a total value of about $US1.7 billion.

Telstra was approached by the federal government late last year about the prospect of an acquisition, amid reports there was interest from Chinese buyers. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed an initial offer was made in July, whereby Telstra would contribute between $200 and $300 million for the assets.

Telstra’s existing international division holds a large subsea cable network that has licences in Asia, Europe and the US. The value in this division comes from the facilitation of data traffic for the company’s major clients including Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

Digicel operates in six markets in the South Pacific including Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga and Nauru. In the year ending March 31, it reported $US450 million in revenue and adjusted earnings [before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] of approximately US$ 222 million. Digicel will have no operational responsibility as part of the deal, but the brand will remain in the six markets.

Mr O’Brien will join the board of directors for the newly formed company, which was a request made by Telstra earlier this year.

”I am very pleased that today’s agreement with Telstra, our very near neighbour in the Pacific, will further enhance DPL’s infrastructure, data and call termination links with one of the largest and most reliable networks in Australia,” Mr O’Brien said. “I thank all of our colleagues in the South Pacific and beyond who have made today possible, and I remain committed to ensuring a successful transition in my ongoing role as a director of the newly formed holding company for DPL.”

Investment bank Barrenjoey advised Telstra on the deal while Macquarie Capital advised the government. Former Treasurer Joe Hockey’s firm Bondi Partners was engaged by Digicel to help sell its Pacific assets.

Telstra shares closed up 2 per cent at $3.81.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/telstra-seals-us1-6b-deal-to-buy-digicel-20211025-p592sj.html

QAnon faithful gather in Vegas on their mission to save the world from Satan

WILL PAVIA - OCTOBER 24, 2021

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In the cool of a Las Vegas morning a former speechwriter for Donald Trump smoked a cigarette by the entrance to a glass hotel, chatting with a man in a cowboy hat who became famous for riding a horse from New Mexico to the White House.

Meanwhile, a sheriff-turned-media personality was finishing his breakfast inside, and various Republican politicians and candidates were expected.

It was just another stop on the conservative speaking circuit — with one important difference: the Patriot Double Down convention over the weekend had been organised by followers of the conspiracy theory QAnon, who believe that the world is in the grip of an epochal battle pitting Trump against a global cabal of Democrats and Satan-worshipping elites guilty of horrific crimes against children.

The line-up featured speakers who believe that a heroic government insider, or a group of insiders, known as “Q” has exposed a war between Trump and the Devil worshippers through cryptic messages posted in an online chatroom.

John Sabal, 31, the conference organiser, felt that some in the movement were strangely embarrassed to talk openly. Not so the Patriot Double Down.

“We are loud and proud,” he said. “The information that we have been given is going to change the world.”

A star speaker was Ron Watkins, the administrator of the internet message board where many of Q’s messages appeared. Watkins, who is widely suspected of being “Q” (he has denied it), is now running for Congress in Arizona.

Another speaker, Alan Fountain, said he planned to talk about “the paedophile, blackmail and bribery system”. A global cabal had been enslaving humanity, he explained, in an interview with the British YouTuber Nicholas Veniamin.

“Their whole goal is to feed off the energy of humans. We are basically their sustenance and this has been covered up and hidden for hundreds of years, so this movement is vital to liberating humanity.”

Fountain called the conference “the largest gathering of patriots that are the great awakening movement and also traditional politicians”.

Chroniclers of QAnon trace its origins to a gnomic remark by Trump in 2017. Standing in the state dining room of the White House, surrounded by senior military officials who had gathered there for dinner, the president addressed reporters.

“You guys know what this represents?” he said. “Maybe it’s the calm before the storm.”

(continued)

>>14852986

2/2

In The Storm Is Upon Us, the QAnon-watcher Mike Rothschild describes how this was met, a few weeks later, with an anonymous post on 4chan: a messageboard filled with pornography, neo-Nazi agitation and people claiming to be government whistleblowers.

The message said: “Hillary Clinton will be arrested between 7.45 AM-8.30 AM EST on Monday — the morning on [sic] October 30, 2017”. This was followed by posts predicting riots, the deployment of the military and a reference to Trump’s “calm before the storm” comment.

As these posts gained traction, a community of interpreters calling themselves “Anons” sprang up to decode them and offer elaborations, including a variation of the “blood libel” that spurred attacks on Jews during the Middle Ages, alleging that Satan-worshipping elites were murdering children and drinking their blood. Trump, with his wealth and scant political ties, had been brought in by the military to clean house: there would be mass arrests and a purge of the “deep state”.

Trump himself preferred not to contradict the idea that he was saving the world. “Is that such a bad thing?” he said, when asked to disavow it. His ideas were energising an element of the Republican base: last year, two political candidates who had dabbled in Q-adjacent ideas were elected to congress.

Q believers took up Trump’s cry that last year’s election had been stolen and stormed the US Capitol on January 6 to try and stop the certification of the results.

As Washington was locked down after the insurrection, QAnon followers believed that the huge military presence for Joe Biden’s inauguration signalled the promised military purge. The Democrats would be arrested and Trump would return in glory to the White House.

When it did not happen, there was outrage and disbelief among Anons, many of whom had fallen out with their families. They had also been kicked off Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Sabal, a prominent voice in the movement, said he and his girlfriend, Amy, decided to organise a conference in Texas to gather together the Anons and revive their spirits.

Travis View, 38, host of the podcast QAnon Anonymous, said he was startled by the scale of the Texas event, following previous low-key meet-ups involving a few dozen people — “but this was $US500 a head, lasted three days and had spectacular production values”. The Las Vegas event was its sequel.

Finishing his cigarette, Couy Griffin, the country-crossing horseman and leader of Cowboys for Trump, said the conference would feature “speakers who have different ideas and different opinions. And that’s the way we should be as Americans.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/qanon-faithful-gather-in-vegas-on-their-mission-to-save-the-world-from-satan/news-story/4e1ad042b7f41327dc218768ab271183

Australia adopts target of net zero emissions by 2050 but won't legislate goal

Colin Packham - October 26, 2021

CANBERRA, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Australia, long under fire as one of world's top producers of coal and gas, said it will target net zero carbon emissions by 2050, but added it will not legislate the goal and instead rely on consumers and companies to drive emission reductions.

The adoption of the target will ease international criticism after Australia earlier refused to join countries in pledging to meet the target ahead of the United Nations COP26 climate conference in Glasgow from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia, one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases on a per capita basis, will achieve the target largely through technology development, with the government investing A$20 billion ($15 billion).

The investment will reduce the costs of technologies such as clean hydrogen and increase their use, he said.

Morrison has been in a political bind over climate change. He needs the support of rural votes who oppose the reducing emissions as he heads into an election that must take place by May, but much of the wider Australian population wants to see more action.

A widely watched poll on Monday showed Morrison is on course to lose to the centre-left Labor party.

On Tuesday, Morrison, sought to downplay any threat to domestic industries and jobs as a result of reducing emissions.

"Australians want action on climate change. They’re taking action on climate change, but they also want to protect their jobs and their livelihoods. They also want to keep the costs of living down,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“I also want to protect the Australian way of life, especially in rural and regional areas. The Australian way of life is unique.”

Morrison also said Australia will not strengthen its 2030 target of reducing emissions by 26-28% from 2005 levels but added the country looks like it will reduce emissions by 30-35%.

Critics said Morrison's plan was too weak and does not prepare the Australian economy for a rapidly evolving world.

“Unless the government sets the wheels in motion to cut our emissions in half by 2030, it is making climate change worse and turning its back on the opportunities," said Kelly O’Shanassy, chief executive officer of the Australian Conservation Foundation.

"Australia cannot keep relying on coal and gas exports because these industries are on the way out and if those workers are not helped with the transition, they will be left high and dry."

Morrison struggled to gain backing for the net zero target from his coalition government's junior partner, the National Party, which has a regional power base reliant on agriculture and mining.

However, the party said on Sunday it would support a net zero target. According to the Australian Financial Review, the deal includes an agreement for increased spending on regional infrastructure and tax benefits for income derived from carbon farming.

($1 = 1.3398 Australian dollars)

https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/australia-unveil-2050-net-zero-target-ahead-un-climate-summit-2021-10-26/

>>14852889

‘Very clearly a target’: Julian Assange’s fiancée Stella Moris fears CIA will kill her

Latika Bourke - October 26, 2021

London: Julian Assange’s partner and mother of his two sons says she feared the CIA was also plotting to kill her.

Last month, an explosive report published by Yahoo news claimed that the CIA discussed plots to kill or kidnap the Australian who at the time was in hiding at the Ecuadorian embassy in London’s Knightsbridge. Assange had sought asylum there to avoid being extradited to Sweden to face possible sexual assault charges.

The dramatic plots were never followed through. Donald Trump’s last secretary of state and former CIA director Mike Pompeo subsequently said the report was “fiction” and that “we never conducted planning to violate US law”.

“Whoever those 30 people who allegedly spoke with one of these reporters - they should all be prosecuted for speaking about classified activity inside the Central Intelligence Agency,” he said.

“Maybe they didn’t, maybe [the journalist] made it up.”

Stella Moris, who formed a romantic relationship with Assange while working on his legal defence when he was hiding in the embassy, said she also felt targeted.

“It felt like we were prey and because I was the person who was closest to Julian, I felt that I was very clearly a target,” she told a press briefing in London.

“I felt that maybe they might beat me up or try to kill me or something to get to Julian because they were desperate to drive him out of the embassy and into Belmarsh prison.”

The CIA plot was reportedly a response to fears that Assange was planning an escape of his own, possibly to Russia.

Although the CIA has a history of involvement in drone strikes against terrorism leaders in the Middle East, the US intelligence agency has backed away from organising the assassinations of public figures since the 1970s after revelations of those activities were publicised.

Asked by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age if Assange would feel safer living in a country like Russia compared to his native Australia or Britain where their two children were born, Moris said “no” but said that both governments needed to guarantee their safety and her family’s “right to exist”.

Assange has spent more than two years in British jails since the Ecuadorians revoked his asylum and invited British police to arrest him. Assange was imprisoned for skipping bail and has stayed behind bars for the duration of his extradition hearing and appeal.

The US has charged Assange under the Espionage Act. It lost its extradition bid after a British judge ruled Assange might suicide if sent to the US to face charges.

The US has won the right to appeal key evidence provided by the expert whose testimony was central to convincing the judge that Assange could take his own life.

Moris was speaking ahead of a two-day hearing in the High Court scheduled to begin on Wednesday and likened Assange’s case to that of journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was dismembered inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

“The US was plotting to kill an Australian journalist, an Australian national, and Australian winner of the Walkley Award,” she said.

“Australia has to do something, the government has to do something to save his life.

“We were all outraged and denounced what happened to Jamal Khashoggi - that can’t depend on which country kills,” she said.

Moris saw Assange in person on Saturday and said she was taken aback by how thin he appeared.

“He was looking very unwell,” she said.

If you or anyone you know needs support call Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.

https://www.lifeline.org.au/

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/very-clearly-a-target-julian-assange-s-fianc-e-stella-moris-fears-cia-will-kill-her-20211025-p5932c.html

>>14852889

‘You can’t pretend it didn’t happen’: Labor MP calls on government to press US on alleged Assange plot

Rob Harris - October 26, 2021

Labor MP Julian Hill says the United States government must answer a “credible allegation” that its spy agency planned to kidnap or even kill Julian Assange while he evaded possible charges in Ecuador’s embassy in London.