>>10927542

George Papadopoulos Tweets

The Clinton errand boy is becoming increasingly unhinged. The walls are closing in on him.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1313305627297484800

Alexander Downer @AlexanderDowner

Trump will lose by making it all about himself

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1312817906837786627

https://www.afr.com/world/north-america/trump-will-lose-by-making-it-all-about-himself-20201001-p5615u

—

I am predicting that declassified information will demonstrate that Alexander Downer, and the Australian government, were willful participants of the Obama administration to help jump start a conspiracy on the FISA court. I haven’t been wrong about anything. I lived this.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1313538519097315330

—

UK and Australia are trying to stonewall the declassification!

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1313609586650361857

President Trump Tweet

I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313640512025513984

Paul Sperry @paulsperry_

When all the documents are finally declassified, and all the redactions removed from reports, the nation will see that the FBI and CIA not only knew the Russia "collusion" allegations against Trump were a political dirty trick, but that they were in on the trick

https://twitter.com/paulsperry_/status/1313292997057015808

>>10959112

Trump authorizes declassification of all Russia collusion, Hillary Clinton email probe documents

'I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents,' Trump tweeted

1/3

President Trump on Tuesday said he has “fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents" related to the Russia investigation and the FBI’s investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

“I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!” The president tweeted Tuesday night.

"All Russia Hoax Scandal information was Declassified by me long ago," Trump tweeted. "Unfortunately for our Country, people have acted very slowly, especially since it is perhaps the biggest political crime in the history of our Country."

He added: "Act!!!"

Last year, the president gave Attorney General Bill Barr authority to declassify any documents related to surveillance of the Trump campaign in 2016. Trump, at the time, also ordered members of the intelligence community to cooperate with Barr’s probe.

Allies of the president, including Republicans on Capitol Hill leading their own investigations into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, have criticized officials like FBI Director Christopher Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel, claiming that the directors have been blocking the release of documents.

The president’s tweets come after Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe declassified documents that revealed former CIA Director John Brennan briefed former President Obama on Hillary Clinton’s purported “plan” to tie then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia as “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server” ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Fox News first reported that Ratcliffe declassified Brennan’s handwritten notes – which were taken after he briefed Obama on the intelligence the CIA received – and a CIA memo, which revealed that officials referred the matter to the FBI for potential investigative action.

"Today, at the direction of President Trump, I declassified additional documents relevant to ongoing Congressional oversight and investigative activities," Ratcliffe said in a statement to Fox News Tuesday.

A source familiar with the documents explained that Brennan's handwritten notes were taken after briefing Obama on the matter.

“We’re getting additional insight into Russian activities from [REDACTED],” Brennan notes read. “CITE [summarizing] alleged approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service,” Brennan’s notes read.

The notes state “on 28 of July." In the margin, Brennan writes "POTUS," but that section of the notes is redacted.

“Any evidence of collaboration between Trump campaign + Russia,” the notes read.

The remainder of the notes are redacted, except in the margins, which reads: “JC,” “Denis,” and “Susan."

The notes don't spell out the full names but "JC" could be referring to then-FBI Director James Comey, "Susan" could refer to National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and "Denis" could refer to then-Obama chief of staff Denis McDonough.

(continued)

>>10959339

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The declassification comes after Ratcliffe, last week, shared newly-declassified information with the Senate Judiciary Committee which revealed that in September 2016, U.S. intelligence officials forwarded an investigative referral on Hillary Clinton purportedly approving “a plan concerning U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections” in order to distract the public from her email scandal.

That referral was sent to Comey and then-Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok.

“The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate,” the CIA memo to Comey and Strzok stated.

"This memorandum contains sensitive information that could be source revealing. It should be handled with particular attention to compartmentation and need-to-know. To avoid the possible compromise of the source, any investigative action taken in response to the information below should be coordinated in advance with Chief Counterintelligence Mission Center, Legal,” the memo, which was sent to Comey and Strzok, read. “It may not be used in any legal proceeding—including FISA applications—without prior approval…”

“Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date," the memo continued. "“An exchange [REDACTED] discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.”

The memo is heavily redacted.

Ratcliffe informed the committee last week that the Obama administration obtained Russian intelligence in July 2016 with allegations against Clinton, but cautioned that the intelligence community “does not know the accuracy of this allegation or the text to which the Russian intelligence analysis may reflect exaggeration or fabrication.”

According to Ratcliffe’s letter, the intelligence included the “alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016, of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services.”

Nick Merrill, Clinton's spokesperson, called the allegations "baseless b———t” last week. A spokesman for Clinton did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment on the declassified documents.

But Ratcliffe, in a statement released after the information was made public, pushed back on the idea he was advancing "Russian disinformation.”

"To be clear, this is not Russian disinformation and has not been assessed as such by the Intelligence Community,” Ratcliffe said in a statement to Fox News. “I’ll be briefing Congress on the sensitive sources and methods by which it was obtained in the coming days.”

A source familiar with the documents told Fox News on Tuesday that the allegation was "not disinformation.”

"This is not Russian disinformation. Even Brennan knew, or he wouldn't be briefing the president of the United States on it," the source said. "There is a high threshold to orally brief the president of the United States and he clearly felt this met that threshold.”

Another source familiar with the documents told Fox News that "this information has been sought by hundreds of congressional requests for legitimate oversight purposes and was withheld for political spite—and the belief that they’d never get caught.”

The source added that the Brennan notes are significant because it is “their own words, written and memorialized in real time.”

(continued)

>>10959346

3/3

Meanwhile, last week, during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey was asked whether he received an investigative referral on Clinton from 2016, but he said it didn’t “ring any bells.”

“You don’t remember getting an investigatory lead from the intelligence community? Sept. 7, 2016, U.S. intelligence officials forwarded an investigative referral to James Comey and Strzok regarding Clinton’s approval of a plan [about] Trump…as a means of distraction?” Graham asked Comey.

“That doesn’t ring any bells with me,” Comey said.

Graham questioned “how far-fetched is that,” citing the fact that Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, through law firm Perkins Coie, hired Fusion GPS and ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to author and compile information for the controversial and unverified anti-Trump dossier.

The Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, through law firm Perkins Coie, hired Fusion GPS and ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to author and compile information for the controversial and unverified anti-Trump dossier.

The dossier contains claims about alleged ties between Donald Trump and Russia that served as the basis for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants obtained against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

Attorney General Bill Barr last year appointed U.S. Attorney of Connecticut John Durham to investigate the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe shortly after special counsel Robert Mueller completed his years-long investigation into whether the campaign colluded with the Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election.

It is unclear whether this information will be considered part of Durham’s investigation, or whether the president’s declassification will affect Durham’s investigation.

Last month, Fox News reported, though, that Durham had assumed aspects of U.S. Attorney John Huber’s investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

A source familiar with Durham’s investigation told Fox News last month that parts of what Huber was investigating in 2017 involving the Clinton Foundation have been incorporated in Durham’s investigation.

In November 2017, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed Huber, the U.S. attorney for Utah, and other senior prosecutors to evaluate “certain issues” involving the sale of Uranium One, and other dealings related to the Clinton Foundation. Sessions tapped Huber after requests by congressional Republicans, who had been calling for the appointment of a special counsel to review the matters.

Huber was also tasked with reviewing the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email probe, including allegations that the Justice Department and FBI “policies or procedures” were not followed.

It has been unclear, for years, the status of Huber's investigation, but another source told Fox News Thursday that Huber has faced mounting criticism from the Justice Department and White House over his progress.

It is unclear whether any aspects of the Clinton email investigation were included in Huber’s review.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-authorizes-declassification-of-all-russia-collusion-hillary-clinton-email-probe-documents

2020 race: Donald Trump on track to lose by a landslide

Cameron Stewart - OCTOBER 7, 2020

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While the world has been transfixed by the theatrics of Donald Trump projecting a macho image as a self-described survivor of COVID-19, a more terminal political prognosis for the president is closing in.

In recent days, while we have been watching the Trump Covid show, a slew of polls reveals that his Democrat opponent Joe Biden has dramatically extended his lead over the president.

With under four weeks to go until the November 3 poll, Biden now leads Trump by a formidable 9.2 points according to the RCP national average of all polls. This is up from 6.1 points only a week ago; a punishing response from voters to Trump’s poor performance in the first presidential debate. Some polls, like this week’s WSJ/NBC poll have Biden a thumping 14 points ahead. Biden has also extended his lead in the battleground states that will decide the election and he is even leading in states like Iowa, North Carolina and Ohio which were once expected to be easy wins for Trump.

Put simply, unless Trump can engineer a stunning comeback in just a few weeks, he is on track not just to lose this election, but to lose it in a landslide.

To put this in perspective, Trump supporters point to his come-from-behind victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, a comeback that began just 10 days out from the election. The polls were wrong then, they said, so they will be wrong again.

Perhaps, but the signs are much more ominous this time. Firstly, in the entire six month period leading up to the 2016 election, Clinton never enjoyed a lead even approaching this size over Trump, and certainly nothing like it with under a month to go.

Clinton’s 2016 poll leads over Trump were erratic and uneven, with Trump passing her twice during the campaign. Trump has never narrowed the gap with Biden to less than 4 points any time this year.

Trump’s 2016 comeback over Clinton was also triggered by a specific event – FBI chief James Comey’s decision to reopen the probe into the Clinton email saga.

With his campaign now facing its potential Waterloo, Trump has chosen to try to engineer a last stand, game-changing moment from his fight against COVID-19.

He has done this in true Trump style, dividing the nation with brazen behaviour for a patient supposedly recovering from a potentially deadly virus.

From his drive-past of supporters outside the hospital to his theatrical helicopter return to the White House, Trump has sought to portray the image of a strong leader in control. He has made it clear there will be no Boris Johnson-style epiphany which will lead him to more fully respect the dangers of COVID-19 or express greater empathy for others who have died.

Instead the president, who had the best medical team in the country and a cocktail of medications unavailable to ordinary Americans, has told them ‘don’t be afraid of Covid, don’t let it dominate your life.”

One wonders how such a glib dismissal of the pandemic will be received by the families and friends of the 210,000 Americans who have died from it, not to mention the more than seven million who have caught it and the tens of millions who have lost their jobs because of it?

(continued)

>>10960152

2/2

But Trump is driven by politics above all else and at this late stage he may feel it is self-defeating to suddenly change course at the eleventh hour. Trump’s ultimate political message now is that Americans simply have to live with the virus, get on with life and follow his example that if you do get infected, you are likely to survive.

This will play well with Trump’s rusted-on support base, who are less worried about containing the virus and more concerned about the economy and jobs. They will lap up his strongman persona.

It will not play well with those roughly two-thirds of voters who already disapprove of Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic which has seen the US, with just 4 per cent of the world’s population, suffer 20 per cent of all coronavirus deaths.

But the key question for Trump is how his actions will be seen by the 14 per cent of Americans who say they are still undecided about who to vote for.

Will they see what Trump wants them to see – a strong president, a survivor against the odds, leading from the front and telling the country to get on with life?

Or will they see a president who has irresponsibly played down the virus yet again after fumbling his leadership of the pandemic since it began?

Trump is rolling the dice on this election like never before, but his odds are growing longer by the day.

(Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia)

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/2020-race-donald-trump-on-track-to-lose-by-a-landslide/news-story/3b1beb462f2ce1e9e27dbe46ac83e01d

Pell hailed as 'honest George' in Italy

1/2

Australia's Cardinal Pell has been hailed as "honest George" in some Italian media reports which say he's back in Rome to enjoy the disgrace of ousted Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who is accused of embezzling Vatican funds.

Reports this week also said Vatican investigators were ascertaining whether church money was used to persuade accusers in Victoria to pursue sexual abuse charges against Pell to get him out of Rome.

Backgrounding these reports is an alleged bitter feud between the two cardinals going back to when Pope Francis appointed Pell as his powerful money tsar to clean up the Vatican's finances.

Italy's prestigious daily Corriere della Sera speculated that Vatican investigators were examining whether Becciu wired 700,000 euros ($A1.1 million) in Vatican money to a bank account in Australia and if that money was tied to Pell's sex abuse trial.

No sources or documents were cited.

A Victorian man who accused Pell of sexually abusing him when he was a choir boy in Melbourne in 1996 has denied he was bribed for his testimony.

Vivian Waller, a lawyer for "Witness J", whose testimony led a jury to convict Pell in 2018, said this week her client "denies any knowledge or receipt of any payments" and won't be commenting further.

Pell had to take leave of absence as the Vatican's economy minister in 2017 to return to Australia to stand trial.

Australia's High Court absolved him in April and he returned to Rome last week.

After release from prison, Pell said he knew of the "Vatican bullets for Victorian trial" charge but had not seen any documents about it.

He welcomed Francis forcing the resignation of Becciu, although without naming him.

Sources say Pell is in Rome simply to clear out his Vatican apartment but he will have an audience with Pope Francis.

Pell has not responded to an AAP phone request for comment.

(continued)

>>10960440

2/2

Shortly before Pell's return to Rome, Francis requested the resignation of Becciu who until recently was very close to him.

Until two years ago, when Becciu was put in charge of the saint-certifying office and made a cardinal, he was effectively No. 3 in the Vatican, a sort of Minister of the Interior.

Among other things he was in charge of the Secretariat of State's finances.

A significant portion of these come from 'Peter's Pence', a yearly financial contribution to the Pope for charitable purposes from Catholics worldwide which until recently was estimated at over $A70 million a year.

In 2014 Francis surprised the Church's central bureaucracy, the Roman Curia, by creating a Secretariat for the Economy with Pell as its Prefect.

It was on the same level as the Secretariat of State which previously had reigned supreme, coordinating the other Vatican offices.

Pell said the church of the poor, which Francis wanted, did not have to be poorly run. He promised greater transparency and an end to financial shenanigans.

Many in the Curia welcomed Pell as a new broom, but not the old guard and Secretariat of State which was particularly annoyed when Pell gave an interview disclosing it had an unlisted money reserve.

There had been complaints about 'the Australian mafia' from the moment Pell arrived with other Australian staff.

He paid them what they could have gained working for non-Church bodies but some curialists grumbled that they were working for a Church body and should not receive more than they themselves did for comparable work.

Moreover, the brusque style of Pell, still described in Italian media as a 'rugbyist', irritated some curialists.

Days after Pell left Rome "to clear his name" in Australia, the Economy Secretariat's chief auditor, Libero Milone, was accused by Becciu of spying on him.

This may have been because Milone, perhaps inspired by Pell, was investigating Becciu's financial operations. Milone was harassed and resigned, with his appeal to Francis and his request for a trial ignored.

In a press briefing last month, Becciu said he had differed with Pell but their relations had been cordial until, in a meeting with Francis, Pell accused him of being dishonest, which made him lose his temper.

He said later that Francis told him he had been justified.

Now Becciu has been sacked because Francis credited investigators' claims he was part of a gang which had stripped the Vatican of millions of euros.

Becciu is accused of sending Peter's Pence money to his brothers in his native Sardinia. The family say he did not enrich his brothers but aided the charitable organisations they headed. This has been backed up by the local bishop.

Becciu admits he made errors but said he never profited personally and his demotion was disproportional.

The Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has reportedly said Pell's return to Rome only a few days after Becciu's demotion was coincidental. If so, it is a coincidence that a novelist might be wary of using.

Becciu's resignation looks like a confirmation of Pell's accusation of dishonesty.

But some still speak up for Becciu, the case is complex and the cardinal has requested a trial where he could defend himself.

Perhaps one result of the turmoil will be a decrease in Peter's Pence.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6958600/pell-hailed-as-honest-george-in-italy/

George Pell office denies Vatican funding

George Pell’s office has denied he received any money from the Vatican to fund his legal defence against child sexual abuse allegations.

Responding to claims of a mysterious transfer of more than $1.1m in church money to Australia, a spokesman for Cardinal Pell on Tuesday was emphatic in denying the Vatican or any other part of the church in Australia or elsewhere had bankrolled his legal fees over charges that saw him jailed before being freed on appeal in April.

The spokesman said money was donated by supporters of the cardinal, many of whom had not met him and some of whom were not Catholic.

An appeal, independent of the church, was organised and widely publicised in Catholic magazines.

Three major Italian news­papers have reported that the seven-figure sum was wired to Australia to corrupt the sex-abuse case Cardinal Pell was facing in 2017.

Lawyer Viv Waller, who represented the complainant in the case, said her client had not received any of the money.

Amid speculation about the alleged money transfer, The Australian can reveal that the Vatican’s ambassador to Australia, Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, met the Pope in a private audience in Rome on Monday.

The meeting came amid suggestions a reported transfer of €700,000 of Vatican funds were sent to an account at the Holy See’s Canberra embassy.

Such a meeting, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggests Francis is sufficiently concerned about the reports to seek further information.

Three leading Italian newspapers have reported that disgraced Vatican Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, a staunch opponent of Cardinal Pell’s fin­ancial reforms, was suspected of paying that amount to an unnamed account in Australia to unfavourably influence the case against Cardinal Pell.

The case was ultimately dismissed 7-nil by the High Court, after Cardinal Pell spent 13 months in jail, mostly in solitary confinement.

Cardinal Becciu, who resigned from the college of cardinal last week, denies the allegation made by his former associate, Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, in the Italian daily newspaper Il Messaggero.

It is believed to be the newspaper read by the Pope.

On Saturday, Edward Pentin, Vatican-based correspondent for the US National Catholic Register, reported that a Vatican source with detailed knowledge of the matter confirmed details of a bank transfer to Australia as reported by Corriere della Sera.

There is no suggestion Archbishop Yllana, a Filipino appointed ambassador to Australia in 2015 by Francis, has been involved in any wrong­doing.

The embassy told The Australian yesterday that Archbishop Yllana was “away on a mission’’ and nobody else was available to answer questions.

Several questions have been emailed to the archbishop.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/george-pell-office-denies-vatican-funding/news-story/d99e8a9aa4df510bd0a98ddd8d359f81

Facebook bans all QAnon groups as dangerous amid surging misinformation

San Francisco: Facebook on Tuesday, local time, classified the QAnon conspiracy theory movement as dangerous and began removing Facebook groups and pages as well as Instagram accounts that hold themselves out as representatives.

The step escalates an August policy that banned a third of QAnon groups for promoting violence while allowing most to stay, albeit with content appearing less often in news feeds. Instead of relying on user reports, Facebook staff now will seek out and delete the groups and pages, the company said in a blog post.

Since the August restrictions, some QAnon groups have added members, and others used coded language to evade detection, for example referring to "cue" instead of Q. Meanwhile, adherents have worked to integrate themselves in other groups, such as those concerned with child safety and those critical of restrictions on gatherings due to the coronavirus, according to researchers at Facebook and elsewhere.

“While we’ve removed QAnon content that celebrates and supports violence, we’ve seen other QAnon content tied to different forms of real world harm, including recent claims that the west coast wildfires were started by certain groups,” Facebook wrote.

“QAnon messaging changes very quickly and we see networks of supporters build an audience with one message and then quickly pivot to another.”

Recent QAnon posts have spread false information about voting and about COVID-19, researchers said, even claiming that US President Donald Trump faked his diagnosis of COVID-19 in order to orchestrate secret arrests.

Classed as a potential source of domestic terrorism by the FBI, QAnon is driven by an anonymous internet poster nicknamed Q who claims to be a Trump administration insider. The core, nonsensical claim is that Trump is secretly leading a crackdown against an enormous paedophile ring that includes prominent Democrats and the Hollywood elite.

There has been no surge in arrests, and the fictitious Satanic rituals that the group cites echo longstanding legends used to anger people for political reasons, often against minorities.

Trump has praised the group as patriotic, and more than a dozen Republican congressional candidates have promoted it.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/facebook-bans-all-qanon-groups-as-dangerous-amid-surging-misinformation-20201007-p562oe.html

—

Facebook Newsroom Tweets

We're strengthening our enforcement efforts against the QAnon conspiracy theory movement. Starting today, we will remove any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon, even if they contain no violent content.

https://twitter.com/fbnewsroom/status/1313585551811981318

An Update to How We Address Movements and Organizations Tied to Violence

https://about.fb.com/news/2020/08/addressing-movements-and-organizations-tied-to-violence/

—

Our Dangerous Organizations Operations team is starting to enforce this updated policy today and is removing content accordingly, but this work will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks.

https://twitter.com/fbnewsroom/status/1313586003446247427

>>10960694

Facebook to ban QAnon conspiracy theory content from its social media platforms

Facebook says it will ban groups that openly support QAnon, the baseless conspiracy theory that paints US President Donald Trump as a secret warrior against a supposed child-trafficking ring run by celebrities and "deep state" government officials.

The company said it would remove Facebook pages, groups and Instagram accounts for "representing QAnon", even if they do not promote violence.

The social network said it will consider a variety of factors to decide if a group meets its criteria for a ban.

These include its name, the biography or "about" section of the page, and discussions within the page, group or Instagram account.

Mentions of QAnon in a group focused on a different subject would not necessarily lead to a ban, Facebook said.

Administrators of banned groups will have their personal accounts disabled as well.

Less than two months ago, Facebook said it would stop promoting the group and its adherents, although it faltered with spotty enforcement.

It said it would only remove QAnon groups if they promote violence. That is no longer the case.

The company said it started to enforce the policy on Tuesday but cautioned it "will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks".

The QAnon phenomenon has sprawled across a patchwork of secret Facebook groups, Twitter accounts and YouTube videos in recent years.

QAnon has been linked to real-world violence such as criminal reports of kidnapping, and dangerous claims coronavirus is a hoax.

But the conspiracy theory has also seeped into mainstream politics.

Several Republicans running for Congress this year are QAnon-friendly.

By the time Facebook and other social media companies began enforcing — however limited — policies against QAnon, critics said it was largely too late.

Reddit began banning QAnon groups in 2018 and has largely avoided a notable QAnon presence on its platform.

"We've seen several issues that led to today's update," Facebook said in a blog post.

"While we've removed QAnon content that celebrates and supports violence, we've seen other QAnon content tied to different forms of real-world harm, including recent claims that the West Coast wildfires were started by certain groups, which diverted attention of local officials from fighting the fires and protecting the public."

Twitter did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-07/facebook-instagram-bans-qanon-content-from-social-media-platform/12738630

>>10960694

>>10960706

An Update to How We Address Movements and Organizations Tied to Violence

August 19, 2020

''Update on October 6, 2020 at 2:00PM PT:''

On August 19, we announced a set of measures designed to disrupt the ability of QAnon and Militarized Social Movements to operate and organize on our platform. In the first month, we removed over 1,500 Pages and Groups for QAnon containing discussions of potential violence and over 6,500 Pages and Groups tied to more than 300 Militarized Social Movements. But we believe these efforts need to be strengthened when addressing QAnon.

Starting today, we will remove any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon, even if they contain no violent content. This is an update from the initial policy in August that removed Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts associated with QAnon when they discussed potential violence while imposing a series of restrictions to limit the reach of other Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts associated with the movement. Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts that represent an identified Militarized Social Movement are already prohibited. And we will continue to disable the profiles of admins who manage Pages and Groups removed for violating this policy, as we began doing in August.

We are starting to enforce this updated policy today and are removing content accordingly, but this work will take time and need to continue in the coming days and weeks. Our Dangerous Organizations Operations team will continue to enforce this policy and proactively detect content for removal instead of relying on user reports. These are specialists who study and respond to new evolutions in violating content from this movement and their internal detection has provided better leads in identifying new evolutions in violating content than sifting through user reports.

We’ve been vigilant in enforcing our policy and studying its impact on the platform but we’ve seen several issues that led to today’s update. For example, while we’ve removed QAnon content that celebrates and supports violence, we’ve seen other QAnon content tied to different forms of real world harm, including recent claims that the west coast wildfires were started by certain groups, which diverted attention of local officials from fighting the fires and protecting the public. Additionally, QAnon messaging changes very quickly and we see networks of supporters build an audience with one message and then quickly pivot to another. We aim to combat this more effectively with this update that strengthens and expands our enforcement against the conspiracy theory movement.

This is not the first update to this policy – we began directing people to credible child safety resources when they search for certain child safety hashtags last week – and we continue to work with external experts to address QAnon supporters using the issue of child safety to recruit and organize. We expect renewed attempts to evade our detection, both in behavior and content shared on our platform, so we will continue to study the impact of our efforts and be ready to update our policy and enforcement as necessary.

''Update on September 30, 2020 at 4:10PM PT:''

Today we’re sharing a few updates on our enforcement against militarized social movements and QAnon:

On September 16, we started down-ranking content in the Pages and Groups that have been restricted but not removed. Now, people who are members of Groups that have been restricted and follow Pages that have been restricted, will see content from these Groups and Pages further down in their News Feed.

As of yesterday, we are also prohibiting anyone on our platform from running ads that praise, support or represent militarized social movements and QAnon.

We are taking steps to address evidence that QAnon adherents are increasingly using the issue of child safety and hashtags like #savethechildren to recruit and organize. Starting today, we will direct people to credible child safety resources when they search for certain child safety hashtags. In addition, content about QAnon and child safety is eligible for fact checking through our third-party fact-checking program. Content that is debunked will be reduced in News Feed and filtered from Explore and hashtags on Instagram, will receive a label (so that people who see it, try to share it or already have, will see more context), and it will be rejected as an ad.

(continued)

https://about.fb.com/news/2020/08/addressing-movements-and-organizations-tied-to-violence/

Facebook, Instagram ban all QAnon conspiracy theory content ahead of US election

Facebook has expanded its attempts to stop the spread of a conspiracy theory that exploits child safety concerns to spread its bizarre messages in the lead up to the US election.

Jack Gramenz - OCTOBER 7, 2020

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Facebook has expanded its attempts to remove the controversial QAnon conspiracy theory from all of its platforms in one of the broadest content moderation exercises the company has ever embarked upon.

Facebook will now ban all content representing the group and is also taking action against people exploiting child safety concerns to indoctrinate people in the conspiracy theory, likened by many to a cult.

It builds on a policy announced in August that led to around 1500 pages, groups and profiles linked to QAnon being deleted for discussing or promoting violence.

Facebook will now expand it so that all QAnon content, not just posts with the potential to promote or incite violence, are removed from the platform.

“Starting today we will remove any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon, even if they contain no violent content,” Facebook’ said via blog post on Wednesday morning.

“Our Dangerous Organisations Operations team is starting to enforce this updated policy today and is removing content accordingly, but this work will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks,” the company added.

The QAnon conspiracy theory began on more underground websites and message boards like 4Chan and later 8kun, before spreading to Reddit, and then exploding into the mainstream via Facebook and Twitter.

The movement posits many, many things, but there is no real central leadership (the “Q” character at the centre is, as you might expect, Anonymous), and newly indoctrinated followers are essentially encouraged to talk themselves into it by “doing their own research” (though they’re often poked and prodded in the “right” direction).

The basic (extremely oversimplified) gist of the theory is that there exists in the world a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophile elites, but their time is running out as Donald Trump will soon expose and dismantle their operation.

This has led to real-world violence in some cases, but on a more everyday human level, people are losing their loved ones to the radical theory as they fall down the rabbit hole of QAnon content.

There are also several QAnon followers running in the US election next month.

(continued)

>>10960834

2/2

The old adage that when the US sneezes Australia catches a cold appears to apply, and some QAnon adherents have been pushing our politicians to embrace the conspiracy too.

Last week Gizmodo reported Qld MP George Christensen used a Facebook page to follow a number of QAnon accounts (though this doesn’t mean he shares the same views or they’ve influenced his political position or even they’d been posting that sort of content when he liked them). The page has since been deleted.

Facebook said it had “specialists who study and respond to new evolutions in violating content from this movement” and it was actively looking to remove content from the platform rather than waiting for users to report it.

“We’ve been vigilant in enforcing our policy and studying its impact on the platform but we’ve seen several issues that led to today’s update,” Facebook said.

It cited other forms of real world harm than just the incitement of violence, such as recent QAnon claims that wildfires in the US were being deliberately lit “by certain groups” (similar theories were spread on the social media site during Australia’s horror summer bushfires, but according to at least one former employee Facebook is generally more interested in what happens in the US).

“Additionally, QAnon messaging changes very quickly and we see networks of supporters build an audience with one message and then quickly pivot to another,” Facebook added.

One movement hijacked by QAnon is the protection of children.

Ordinarily you’d be hard pressed to find any reasonable person in opposition to protecting children from harm, which is probably the reason it’s been co-opted by QAnon through the #SaveTheChildren hashtag.

“We began directing people to credible child safety resources when they search for certain child safety hashtags last week – and we continue to work with external experts to address QAnon supporters using the issue of child safety to recruit and organise,” Facebook said.

The company added it expects to see “renewed attempts to evade our detection” and will continue studying “the impact of our efforts and be ready to update our policy and enforcement as necessary”.

Searching for the hashtag now directs users to a statement from the humanitarian organisation Save The Children.

“While people may choose to use our organisation’s name as a hashtag to make their point on different issues, we are not affiliated or associated with any of these campaigns,” the statement reads.

REAL WORLD CONSEQUENCES

The online conspiracy theory has crossed from the URL to the IRL through incidents of violence and protests, but there are other potential real-world consequences for participating in the baseless and bizarre movement.

Just ask the now former technology manager for investment bank Citigroup Jason Gelinas.

Mr Gelinas was placed on paid leave in September when it emerged he was allegedly behind a QAnon website and its associated mobile apps.

The website aggregated “Q drops” – posts from the anonymous “Q” character who supposedly has high-level government security clearance – making them easier to find and navigate as well as presenting them in one place.

“Mr Gelinas is no longer employed by Citi,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday morning, according to Bloomberg.

“Our code of conduct includes specific policies that employees are required to adhere to, and when breaches are identified, the firm takes action.”

His website has been shut down and now links to other QAnon sites.

But it appears he hasn’t necessarily been fired for spreading the conspiracy posts, just for making money off them.

Bloomberg reports that CitiGroup’s code of conduct forbids employees engaging in outside business activity that makes them money without getting the all clear from their managers first.

A Patreon crowd-funding site reportedly brought in $US3000 ($A4200) a month, which Mr Gelinas claimed was used to meet the costs of running the website.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/facebook-instagram-ban-all-qanon-conspiracy-theory-content-ahead-of-us-election/news-story/2edc149ff36318c78bf928610b11fdda

Victoria's Daniel Andrews to scrap controversial detention powers in bid to pass Covid omnibus bill

Government agrees to crossbench amendments, including tightening restrictions around who is an authorised officer

The Andrews government will scrap preventative detention powers and tighten restrictions about who can be an authorised officer in a bid to pass a controversial bill seen as vital to Victoria’s response to a second wave of coronavirus cases.

The move has been cautiously welcomed by crossbench MPs, who had insisted on the amendments to win their support – the government needs the backing of at least three of 12 crossbenchers for the bill to pass.

Transport Matters party MP Rodney Barton confirmed to Guardian Australia that the Victorian government had agreed to the amendments in discussions with him and other crossbench MPs.

The omnibus bill will be introduced to the upper house next week.

Barton said he was pleased the government had listened during negotiations and made the amendments, but he was yet to make a decision regarding his support.

“I’m not sure it’s a win but it’s better,” he said. “I’m not 100% happy with it.”

The majority of the bill focuses on extensions to existing arrangements put in place to ensure institutions such as courts can function during the pandemic.

But controversial changes allowing the appointment of unspecified authorised officers with powers to detain people on a “reasonable belief” they will not comply with public health directions were seen as a gross overreach by several MPs, legal bodies, and civil liberties groups.

According to a table outlining the proposed amendments seen by Guardian Australia, police and protective services officers will still be able to be appointed as authorised officers, but with lesser powers than had previously been allowed.

The powers still include being able to search a property without a warrant if “necessary for the purpose of investigating, eliminating or reducing the risk to public health”.

The categories of people which are now specified as being able to be appointed as authorised officers include interstate public health workers, health professionals, WorkSafe inspectors and individuals with specific and relevant skills who are not already employed as Victorian public servants.

Animal Justice party MP Andy Meddick is still considering whether to support the bill, but is far more likely to back it given the amendments.

“I listened to the concerns of the legal community, other interested groups and my own constituents, and took some honest and constructive feedback to the government,” Meddick said in a statement. “I am pleased to see they have acted and amended the bill to suit community expectations.

“I want to work with the government – not against them – to introduce the appropriate measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus and allow society to open up again in a safe way. This is a great example of the constructive ways that the government and the crossbench can work together to get the best result.

“The restrictions are part of the government’s plan to defeat the health crisis first, and are working. The periods of lockdown and restricted movement have been doing the heavy lifting of minimising further infections of coronavirus.”

Reason Party MP Fiona Patten said the government had been backed into a corner after it was clear they did not have crossbench support.

“I don’t think they had much choice,” she said.

Patten is more inclined to vote in favour of the bill given the amendments, but may seek a commitment to make some of the measures relating to the justice system in the bill permanent, such as increased use of video conferences for court hearings and prison visits.

Greens upper house MP Samantha Ratnam tweeted that she welcomed the changes to the bill.

The Greens are believed to be leaning towards supporting the bill.

Crossbench MPs have been inundated with emails urging them to vote against the bill, or to request that it be subject to a Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee hearing.

Barton said he had received hundreds of emails regarding the bill – five of them landed in his inbox during five minutes while he was speaking to Guardian Australia.

Many of the emails calling for a committee hearing share a template that has been circulated on social media, including on groups which have espoused 5G conspiracy theories and been promoting protests against Victoria’s lockdown.

(continued)

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/07/victorias-daniel-andrews-to-scrap-controversial-detention-powers-in-bid-to-pass-covid-omnibus-bill

Alleged Kimberley sex offender Charles Batham to be extradited from Italy nine years after fleeing country

Alleged child sex offender Charles Batham is set to be extradited from Italy to face court in Western Australia after Italian authorities approved a request from the Australian Government.

Mr Batham fled Australia in 2011 after being charged with 31 child sex offences in the northern tourist town of Broome.

After nine years on Interpol's Red Notice list, the 76-year-old was arrested in March this year in a coastal resort town in Italy after an ABC investigation published in February resulted in a string of reported sightings and tip-offs.

The Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department has confirmed its extradition request had been approved.

"Australia is seeking Mr Batham's extradition from Italy for prosecution in Western Australia for alleged child sexual offences," it said in a statement.

"We have been informed that Italy has approved his extradition.

"Australian authorities will work with Italian authorities to make arrangements for his surrender … [while] Mr Batham remains in extradition custody in Italy."

Italian authorities swooped on Mr Batham in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there were concerns international travel restrictions would delay his return to Australia.

But the ABC understands detectives from the WA Police Force are hoping to travel to Italy before the end of the year to escort the Englishman to Perth.

It is not clear whether the charges will be heard in the Broome Magistrates Court or if the case will be relocated to Perth.

Tourist operator fled Kimberley after charges

Mr Batham was a well-known tourism operator who had lived in Broome for a decade at the time of his arrest.

The Englishman ran a successful ultra-light plane tour business and lived in a renovated double-decker bus.

The first allegations emerged in 2010, after police searched Mr Batham's makeshift office and seized a large amount of material.

He appeared briefly in the Broome Magistrates Court in November that year to face charges of intent to expose a person under 13 to indecent matter, and one count of possessing child exploitation material.

At the time Mr Batham denied the allegations to his shocked friends.

Not long afterwards he slipped out of the country, catching a flight to Malaysia and moving on quickly to Europe.

The ABC later revealed authorities tracked his movements over the years and were aware he had been issued a passport under a new name in Britain in 2014, despite being listed on Interpol's Red Notice register.

The coverage resulted in people in Turkey, Italy, and the United Kingdom passing on sightings, culminating in Mr Batham's arrest in northern Italy in March.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-07/alleged-kimberley-sex-offender-to-be-extradited-from-italy/12736616

>>10851719

>>10890825

Pompeo says U.S. and "Quad" partners must answer China's rise, "for the soul of the world"

The four nations of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad as it's more commonly known, are the U.S., Japan, Australia and India. The members have met sporadically since forming the informal alliance in 2007, but on Tuesday, they agreed to meet annually going forward.

Each has had its own points of contention with Beijing, from almost-daily naval operations by Chinese ships near territory claimed by Japan in the East China Sea; a deadly border standoff between India and China; and Australia's call for an investigation into the cause of the COVID-19 outbreak in China.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted on Japanese television that the "Quad" group was not just about "a rivalry between the United States and China."

"This is for the soul of the world," he said, "whether this will be a world that operates (as) a rules-based international order system, or one that's dominated by a coercive totalitarian regime like the one in China."

The other Quad members declined to adopt Washington's hardline stance towards the world's second-largest economy, however. China remains an indispensable trading partner for Japan, Australia and India, and arguably the U.S., too.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne pointedly sidestepped shaming Beijing by name, saying: "Whether it is individual human rights, market-based economies, countering disinformation or building greater resilience into our supply chains, our common values and interests mean we share a vision for a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific."

Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was also circumspect, telling reporters earlier this week that, "the world is possibly becoming even more unpredictable and uncontrollable due to heightening selfish nationalism and growing tension between the U.S. and China."

Suga vowed to promote the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy (FOIP), with the Japan-U.S. alliance as a cornerstone, while also cementing relations with China and Russia. FOIP was a key initiative of Suga's predecessor, Shinzo Abe, seen as vital for protecting Japan's shipping lanes.

The Quad gathering marked a diplomatic debut for Suga, who lacks experience in foreign affairs.

Experts have poured cold water on the prospect of the Quad becoming a collective security organization like NATO in Europe, largely over concerns in the Asia-Pacific region about antagonizing China.

Pompeo was originally scheduled to also visit Mongolia and South Korea on this trip, but he decided to cut his itinerary short after President Trump contracted the coronavirus.

He arrived Monday at Yokota Air Base outside central Tokyo for a single day of meetings, and then departed Tuesday evening after they wrapped up.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pompeo-says-us-japan-australia-india-quad-must-answer-china-rise-for-soul-of-the-world/

Australian Border Force charges two Geraldton men over child-like sex dolls

Two Geraldton men have been charged with importing child-like sex dolls after two separate Australian Border Force investigations.

The men, both in their 60s, were charged by ABF officers in separate investigations after two air cargo packages from Hong Kong were intercepted in Perth last month.

"Both parcels were described as containing a 'mannequin' but when ABF officers examined the contents they allegedly found a silicon, child-like sex doll in each," a spokesperson said.

The men were not believed to be connected, an ABF spokesperson said.

One of the men, 61, was charged with intentionally importing a tier 2 prohibited good, possessing child exploitation material and two drug offences after a search of his Beresford home on Tuesday.

He was not required to plead when he appeared at Geraldton Magistrate's Court on Tuesday afternoon.

Magistrate Chris Miocevich granted the man bail on the condition he had no contact with children under the age of 16 without supervision.

He was also ordered to give police access to all electronic devices he owns and allow officers to enter his property to search for electronic devices.

The second man was arrested on Monday after a search of a home where ABF officers seized electronic communication devices, sex doll accessories and parts belonging to an imported infant-sized sex doll.

The 65-year-old was charged with one count of importing a prohibited item and faced the Geraldton Magistrates Court on Monday.

He was granted conditional bail.

Both men will reappear in the Geraldton Magistrate's Court in November.

Under the Customs Act, prohibited tier 2 goods include child abuse material, weapons, some chemicals and human tissue.

The maximum penalty for importing a tier two good is 10 years' imprisonment and fines of up to $555,000.

ABF Investigations Acting Commander Nicholas Walker said the the force was determined to prevent child-like sex dolls and other forms of child-abuse material from crossing the border.

"Tackling child abuse material is an operational priority for the ABF as part of its role in protecting the border from individuals who may pose a threat to the community," Acting Commander Walker said.

"ABF officers have the skills and technology to detect items like these. And they are equally committed to investigating and prosecuting those who seek to import this deplorable material, which has no place in our community."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-07/two-geraldton-men-charged-with-importing-child-sex-dolls/12736902

>>10960694

Facebook's QAnon ban omits high-profile Australians linked to conspiracy theory

Pages and groups deleted but individual accounts – like Pete Evans’ profile – left untouched

Christopher Knaus, Josh Taylor, and Michael McGowan - Oct 2020

High-profile Australians linked to QAnon will remain untouched by Facebook’s crackdown on the conspiracy theory because the ban does not extend to individual posts, the social media giant has conceded.

But experts say Facebook’s announcement overnight that it would significantly escalate attempts to combat misinformation on the site by removing “any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon” would still deal a massive blow to proponents of the conspiracy theory.

QAnon-linked groups based in Australia have already been caught up in the purge. By Wednesday morning, a number of Australian groups boasting tens of thousands of members had been deleted. Experts who monitor conspiracy theory content in Australia say that while they have reservations about Facebook’s approach the ban is having a major impact.

Facebook’s ban is targeted at pages and groups that directly represent QAnon. Many groups with names or descriptions suggesting a dedication to the conspiracy theory have been removed.

The ban is not targeted at individual posts, or profiles or accounts that may disseminate QAnon material but are not solely devoted to it.

That decision has left several high-profile Australian pages unaffected by the ban, something experts warn will limit its effectiveness.

For example, Facebook said it had no intention of removing the profile of Pete Evans, the celebrity chef who routinely posts material sympathetic to the QAnon conspiracy theory.

“When they take down Pete Evans’ Instagram, then I’ll believe they’re serious,” said Kazz Ross, a University of Tasmania expert in conspiracy theories and the far right. “That is the litmus test.”

Other Australian groups, including “99% Unite Worldwide” and “Rise Up For Children Australia & NZ - Operation Underground Railroad”, remain active.

The 99% group, which has helped organise many of the protests held in Melbourne throughout the Covid-19 lockdown, shares QAnon material but is not exclusively dedicated to it. Rise Up for Children shares QAnon content but represents itself as a legitimate movement to save children from paedophilia.

Ross said the ban was having a major impact on the broader QAnon following in Australia.

But she said Facebook’s characterisation of QAnon as “militant” was an over-reach and described the ban as a “blunt tool” which would simultaneously harm innocent users and miss much of the content being shared across the platforms.

“I think the ban will have a massive effect and I think it is going to piss a lot of people off who are by-catch,” Ross told Guardian Australia.

The ban would probably drive hardcore believers to other platforms, such as Telegram, which were harder to monitor and attracted more dangerous extremists, including neo-Nazis. It would also further cement conspiratorial beliefs, Ross said.

“They’re just waiting for the 10 days of darkness when the internet goes down. They’re waiting for that, ‘Oh look here we are, it’s more proof.’ It’s the conspiratorial thinking they have that nothing is a coincidence, everything has meaning and purpose.”

The ban’s chief impact would be on those half-interested in QAnon, who weren’t dedicated enough to be bothered making a shift elsewhere. The ban was also likely to help reduce general exposure to the broader public.

But Axel Bruns, the head of Queensland University of Technology’s digital media research centre, said Facebook had acted far too late.

QAnon has risen from the fringes of forums including 4Chan to become one of the most popular conspiracy theories on Facebook and Instagram, helped in part by Facebook recommendation algorithms that put it in front of anti-vaccine, Trump campaigners and wellness communities.

“It’s certainly a positive step, yes, but it’s also a step that is several years too late in many ways,” Bruns told the Guardian.

“The hardcore of QAnon isn’t necessarily on Facebook, it’s obviously operating out of a number of other platforms, where the Q drops themselves have been happenings, and where many people are actively coordinating and organising and so on.”

Bruns said the ban was “almost certainly” going to be circumvented by followers who would change their language to avoid monitoring.

“I think the real question is whether Facebook will continue to monitor this and trace and track them to wherever they go now,” he said.

“If you have the page admins of the existing Q pages, are they now setting up new pages, are they now creating the new groups and so on? Is Facebook actually monitoring that?”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/oct/07/facebooks-qanon-ban-omits-high-profile-australians-linked-to-conspiracy-theory

President Trump Tweet

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313959702104023047

—

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American biotechnology company headquartered in Tarrytown, New York. The company was founded in 1988. Originally focused on neurotrophic factors and their regenerative capabilities (thus the name), it branched out into the study of both cytokine and tyrosine kinase receptors.

…..

As of September 2020, Regeneron is evaluating an artificial "antibody cocktail", REGN-COV2, for its potential both to treat people with COVID-19 and to prevent SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection.

In October of 2020 when U.S. President Donald Trump was infected with the COVID-19 virus and taken to Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, one of the treatments he was administered was the Regeneron COVID 19 "antibody cocktail" which the commander in chief's doctors obtained from the company via a compassionate use request (as it was not yet through clinical trials and thus had not yet received FDA approval).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regeneron_Pharmaceuticals

>>10973858

Regeneron Tweet

Our statement on the White House compassionate use request for our investigational monoclonal antibody cocktail: bit. ly/3naDJiN

https://twitter.com/Regeneron/status/1312174761288425472

—

October 2, 2020

Regeneron Confirms that REGN-COV2 Antibody Cocktail Provided to President Trump Under Compassionate Use Request

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) today confirmed that, as announced by the White House Press Secretary, Regeneron provided a single 8 gram dose of REGN-COV2, a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies, for use by President Trump. REGN-COV2 is an investigational COVID-19 therapy, which was provided in response to an Individual Patient Investigational New Drug (IND) application (commonly known as ‘compassionate use’ request) from the President’s physicians.

Regeneron has a compassionate use program with certain established criteria and review committee. As a matter of policy, the company does not disclose whether any individual has or has not submitted a request for compassionate use without their consent or prior disclosure.

The company’s current priority is to maintain a sufficient supply of REGN-COV2 in order to conduct rigorous clinical trials that fully evaluate its safety and efficacy. In addition to the clinical trial supply and product being manufactured under an agreement with the U.S. government, there is limited product available for compassionate use requests that have been approved under rare, exceptional circumstances on a case-by-case basis. Requests for compassionate use must be initiated by a treating physician.

REGN-COV2 is being evaluated for both the treatment and prevention of COVID-19. Clinical trials are actively enrolling hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients, as well as people at risk of infection who have had close household exposure to a COVID-19 patient. Earlier this week, Regeneron announced early data showing a reduction in viral levels and improved symptoms with REGN-COV2 treatment in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

(continued)

https://investor.regeneron.com/static-files/fd58ba6a-f401-47b0-9d65-cfb01c313ec6

>>10973858

>>10974034

REGENERON'S REGN-COV2 ANTIBODY COCKTAIL REDUCED VIRAL LEVELS AND IMPROVED SYMPTOMS IN NON-HOSPITALIZED COVID-19 PATIENTS

September 29, 2020

Greatest improvements in patients who had not mounted their own effective immune response prior to treatment

Plan rapidly to discuss results with regulatory authorities

Regeneron to host investor and media webcast to discuss results at 4:30 pm ET today

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) today announced the first data from a descriptive analysis of a seamless Phase 1/2/3 trial of its investigational antibody cocktail REGN-COV2 showing it reduced viral load and the time to alleviate symptoms in non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19. REGN-COV2 also showed positive trends in reducing medical visits. The ongoing, randomized, double-blind trial measures the effect of adding REGN-COV2 to usual standard-of-care, compared to adding placebo to standard-of-care.

This trial is part of a larger program that also includes studies of REGN-COV2 for the treatment of hospitalized patients, and for prevention of infection in people who have been exposed to COVID-19 patients.

"After months of incredibly hard work by our talented team, we are extremely gratified to see that Regeneron's antibody cocktail REGN-COV2 rapidly reduced viral load and associated symptoms in infected COVID-19 patients," said George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron. "The greatest treatment benefit was in patients who had not mounted their own effective immune response, suggesting that REGN-COV2 could provide a therapeutic substitute for the naturally-occurring immune response. These patients were less likely to clear the virus on their own, and were at greater risk for prolonged symptoms. We are highly encouraged by the robust and consistent nature of these initial data, as well as the emerging well-tolerated safety profile, and we have begun discussing our findings with regulatory authorities while continuing our ongoing trials. In addition to having positive implications for REGN-COV2 trials and those of other antibody therapies, these data also support the promise of vaccines targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein."

…..

About REGN-COV2

REGN-COV2 is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies (REGN10933 and REGN10987) and was designed specifically to block infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

To develop REGN-COV2, Regeneron scientists evaluated thousands of fully-human antibodies produced by the company's VelocImmune® mice, which have been genetically modified to have a human immune system, as well as antibodies identified from humans who have recovered from COVID-19. The two potent, virus-neutralizing antibodies that form REGN-COV2 bind non-competitively to the critical receptor binding domain of the virus's spike protein, which diminishes the ability of mutant viruses to escape treatment and protects against spike variants that have arisen in the human population, as detailed in Science. Preclinical studies have shown that REGN-COV2 reduced the amount of virus and associated damage in the lungs of non-human primates.

REGN-COV2's development and manufacturing has been funded in part with federal funds from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under OT number: HHSO100201700020C. Regeneron has recently partnered with Roche to increase the global supply of REGN-COV2. If REGN-COV2 proves safe and effective in clinical trials and regulatory approvals are granted, Regeneron will manufacture and distribute it in the U.S. and Roche will develop, manufacture and distribute it outside the U.S.

(continued)

https://investor.regeneron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/regenerons-regn-cov2-antibody-cocktail-reduced-viral-levels-and

>What if cures already exist?

US Embassy Canberra Tweets

This morning Ambassador Culvahouse will be sharing his outlook on the future of the #USwithAUS alliance and #IndoPacific leadership live at @ASPI_org’s Indo-Pacific Leaders Dialogue with Peter Jennings /THREAD

https://twitter.com/USAembassyinOZ/status/1313630120393928706

—

'In the past year, Australia has led the way in confronting foreign interference, disinformation, and cyber aggression… Australia’s leaders have looked at the region and the world we are living in, and have said: Australia will not be a bystander.' - Ambassador Culvahouse

https://twitter.com/USAembassyinOZ/status/1313632041066405889

—

‘We have seen the COVID-19 pandemic devastate lives and livelihoods; we have seen geostrategic competition intensify in our region; and we have seen disinformation run rampant…. In the face of these challenges, Australia is more vital than ever.’

https://twitter.com/USAembassyinOZ/status/1313632882477289472

—

‘Australia and the U.S. trust each other. The (United States) is the largest foreign investor in Australia—by far—and Australia’s third largest trading partner… Our unique economic partnership will only become more important as we navigate our path out of the pandemic.’

https://twitter.com/USAembassyinOZ/status/1313634694324396032

—

‘Australia is absolutely playing an important “great power” role… through coalition-building and diplomacy, not arm-twisting or coercion. Nations in this region recognize and respect that (Australia) has been a force for good in the world for decades. The (United States) absolutely respects that.’

https://twitter.com/USAembassyinOZ/status/1313635156813516801

—

“As long as the United States and Australia continue to work together, I am—and I will remain—confidently optimistic about the future.” - Ambassador Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. #USwithAUS

https://twitter.com/USAembassyinOZ/status/1313635736491454464

—

“As long as the United States and Australia continue to work together, I am confidently optimistic about the future.”

Ambassador Culvahouse shared his outlook on the #USwithAUS alliance at @ASPI_org’s #IndoPacific Leaders Dialogue this morning

Speech https://bit. ly/3jEx4eq

https://twitter.com/USAembassyinOZ/status/1313705529764503553

—

Ambassador Culvahouse Speech – ASPI Indo-Pacific Leaders Dialogue

https://au.usembassy.gov/ambassador-culvahouse-speech-aspi-indo-pacific-leaders-dialogue/

>>10976399

Indo-Pacific Leaders Dialogue: The future of US-Australia relations

ASPICanberra

Published on 7 Oct 2020

ASPI’s Indo-Pacific Leaders Dialogue is an ongoing webinar series engaging with leaders from across the Indo-Pacific region to discuss the future of the region and shared strategic challenges and identify areas of potential cooperation.

US Ambassador to Australia, Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. joined ASPI’s Executive Director, Peter Jennings, for the second instalment of ASPI’s online Indo-Pacific Leaders Dialogue series to share his outlook on the future of the US-Australia alliance, particularly in light of the recent and consequential US-Australia Ministerial Consultation (AUSMIN) in Washington.

As great-power competition intensifies in the Indo-Pacific and countries work to address shared challenges, the U.S.-Australia partnership will be more important than ever. This dialogue provides an opportunity to engage and seek shared approaches to strategic challenges of the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRDbGy95Y8U

>>10961153

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo Tweet

Great to meet again with Australian Foreign Minister @MarisePayne today in Tokyo to discuss Quad cooperation. The U.S.-Australia-India-Japan relationship is integral to ensuring an open and transparent #IndoPacific.

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1313338886916132865

—

Foreign Minister Marise Payne Tweet

The #Quad is a diplomatic network with a positive agenda: a region governed by rules, not power, & regional security & recovery from #COVID19 that supports sovereign choices for the countries of the Indo-Pacific. Thanks to @Moteging @DrSJaishankar & @SecPompeo

https://twitter.com/MarisePayne/status/1313501598690144259

QAnon super-spreader Facebook’s latest crackdown may be doomed to fail, experts warn

Isabelle Lane - Oct 8, 2020

1/2

Social media has fuelled the spread of conspiracy theories during the coronavirus pandemic, and Facebook’s latest crackdown on QAnon is unlikely to reverse the damage, experts have warned.

On Tuesday, the Mark Zuckerberg-led firm announced a ban on content related to QAnon on Facebook and Instagram, stating that it aimed to “disrupt the ability of QAnon” to spread its messages across its platforms.

“Starting today, we will remove Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts,” Facebook said.

The pro-Trump conspiracy theory movement has flourished for years on Facebook, and is responsible for spreading numerous false claims including that COVID-19 is a hoax.

But QAnon content on Facebook has ramped up during the pandemic, and the firm’s previous efforts to tackle it have proven lacklustre, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) researcher Elise Thomas told The New Daily.

“I’ve lost count of the number of times Facebook has said it’s going to either commit to reduce or crack down on QAnon-related content in various forms around the world,” Ms Thomas said.

“So far it hasn’t been enormously successful, and due to the pandemic we have seen a huge explosion in QAnon-related activity on Facebook, as we have seen in a range of conspiracy theories across other platforms.”

QAnon hails from the US, but has gained traction in Australia and is responsible for the “Freedom Day” protests against Melbourne’s coronavirus lockdown measures.

QAnon followers believe in a host of bizarre conspiracy theories.

The group’s central claim is that US President Donald Trump is on a secret mission to bring down a global pedophile ring run by Satan-worshipping elite celebrities and government insiders.

Will Facebook’s ban work?

Facebook said on Tuesday that its ‘Dangerous Organisations Operations’ has begun the work of deleting QAnon groups, pages and content across its platforms, but warned that it “will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks”.

In August, Facebook vowed to stop promoting QAnon content, but said it would only remove QAnon groups that encouraged violence.

On Tuesday, Facebook backtracked on that stance, promising to now remove content “representing QAnon” on Facebook and Instagram even if it doesn’t encourage violence.

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But Facebook’s new “sledgehammer” approach to QAnon could have a number of unintended consequences, and result in followers migrating to other online platforms, University of Tasmania lecturer and QAnon expert Kaz Ross told The New Daily.

QAnon influencers are already encouraging their followers to migrate to platforms including right-wing social media site Parler, Gab and encrypted app Telegram.

It will also be difficult for Facebook to rid itself of QAnon content, as followers can quickly adopt new codewords and hashtags.

“How are they going to identify what actually is Q? Which hashtags are they going to remove?” Dr Ross queried.

"Are they going to ban the number 17? Because Q’s the 17th letter of the alphabet and that’s what they are all using now. Where does this begin and end?”

QAnon has “taken off” in Australia in 2020, Dr Ross said.

“It’s completely wiped the other patriot groups on Facebook and has become the dominant thing during the pandemic lockdown,” she said.

Although QAnon’s most popular conspiracy theories are US-centric, Australian conspiracy theories have also sprung up among local followers, including that Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been replaced by a clone.

Many of the conspiracy theories have anti-Semitic and anti-Chinese undertones, Dr Ross explained.

“For example, that everybody’s been locked down because Chinese soldiers are coming in at night at Tullamarine airport, and that 5G is secret Chinese surveillance so that everyone’s microchipped and able to be tracked, and so on and so forth,” she said.

Australians drawn in by the “cult” of QAnon are often “naive” and not internet savvy, Dr Ross said.

“I would say that the people that are being swept into it are generally pretty new to social media,” she said.

"They’re not 4chan or 8chan memelords, and they may be quite naive."

“They don’t know how to download a video, they don’t know how to look for different sources. They might have just been using Facebook for personal purposes and now they’re in groups. They may not have the digital literacy to analyse stuff.”

QAnon’s online leaders are “grifters” that “often come from a self-promoting entrepreneur or multi-level marketing framework”, Dr Ross explained.

“They’re on Instagram, that’s all your wellness influencers that have drifted to the QAnon hashtags because you get a ton of likes if you post ‘down the rabbit hole content’.”

The New Daily put questions regarding QAnon to Facebook.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/tech/2020/10/08/facebook-qanon-crackdown-australia/

Awkward moment Scott Morrison confronts Leigh Sales over her 'irresponsible question' when she grills him about the US presidential election - and what he really thinks of Donald Trump

Scott Morrison has slammed ABC journalist Leigh Sales for asking him to take a stance on the US Presidential election.

The prime minister butted heads with Sales during a live interview on the 7.30 program on Wednesday night.

Sales made the suggestion that Australia may prefer Democratic candidate Joe Biden to win the November election instead of 'four more years of Trump'.

But Mr Morrison refused to make comment on either presidential candidate, saying it wasn't his place to cast judgement on another world leader.

'Would Australia, prefer a Biden presidency to four more years of Trump?' Sales asked.

The prime minister quickly hit back at the presenter, saying: 'Well Leigh, you would you know there is an election on in the United States. To ask me to commentate on candidates in a US election, it is a bit of an irresponsible question.'

'It is not for me to engage in commentary on other world leaders. It is for me to work with them and the Australian-US relationship couldn't be in a more strong state.'

Sales quickly pointed out that there was precedent to her question, saying: 'When the same question was asked of John Howard in 2007 of McCain versus Obama. He said terrorists in Iraq would be praying for a Obama victor. What is in Australia's best interests?'

'What is in Australia's interests is we have a good relationship. And I'll have that with whoever they chose to elect,' Mr Morrison said.

'I have demonstrated that with leaders around the world of various political persuasions. I focus on Australia's national interests. I don't get involved in the politics of other countries and don't commentate on that.'

Mr Howard refused to apologise over his comments which were widely condemned at the time.

Then-opposition leader Kevin Rudd even accused Mr Howard of acting against Australia's interest.

During the tense interview Sales also grilled the prime minister for 'failing' to prevent a 'tragedy' when it came to nation's elderly.

'Three-quarters of the COVID-19 deaths have been in this country, in aged care facilities, that is 673 people. Those facilities are the responsibility of the Federal Government,' Sales said.

But Mr Morrison argued the government had done everything it could to keep deaths low in the aged care system.

He pointed to the death toll in the United Kingdom as evidence the Coalition had shown strong leadership in Australia's aged care sector.

'In comparison to what we have seen around the world, 8 per cent of Australia's aged care facilities had COVID-19 cases, that compares to 56 per cent in the UK,' he said.

'There have been half a dozen cases where I would agree that the failings were acute, but they were not system-wide.

'In the vast majority of aged care facilities, what we saw is the system actually deal with the pandemic and prevent that horrific result that we are seeing all around the rest of the world.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8814229/Scott-Morrison-confronts-Leigh-Sales-irresponsible-question-presidential-election.html

Three arrested after alleged forced marriage of Shepparton woman

Three people have been charged in connection to the alleged forced marriage of a 20-year-old Victorian woman, who later became the victim of an alleged homicide in Western Australia.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) arrested a 44-year-old woman and 22-year-old man who are related to the victim, along with a 30-year-old woman in Shepparton on Tuesday, 6 October 2020.

The AFP Human Trafficking Team and Victoria Police executed search warrants across two residential properties in the north east Victorian regional city after arresting the trio in the morning.

In August 2019, AFP Human Trafficking Team detectives met with the victim who alleged members of her family were threatening and coercing her into participating in a forced marriage, organised by a woman in her community.

She was offered police intervention and protection, emergency safety planning and alternative accommodation via the Red Cross Support for Trafficked People Program (STPP).

The woman was offered assistance to leave her situation on several occasions.

It is alleged the 20-year-old woman was coerced into marriage with a Western Australian man in a ceremony held in Shepparton in November, 2019.

The AFP allege the woman did not freely consent to this marriage. The woman then travelled to Western Australia to live with her husband.

In January 2020, the Western Australian Police Force Homicide Squad confirmed the death of the victim, with a 25-year-old man charged in connection to her alleged murder.

The two women and man arrested on Tuesday have been charged with causing a person to enter a forced marriage under section 270.7B (1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).

This is the second time this charge has been used in the state of Victoria.

The 30-year-old woman and 20-year-old man faced the Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (6 October, 2020) and were bailed to reappear at a later date.

The 44-year-old woman also appeared at the Shepparton Magistrates' Court on Wednesday (7 October, 2020) and was also bailed to reappear again at a later date.

AFP Southern Command Acting Commander Investigations Jayne Crossling said while it can be incredibly difficult for vulnerable victims to come forward, there is help and protection available.

“This is a particularly tragic example of a vulnerable victim in an alleged forced marriage situation, and underscores why the AFP dedicates significant resources to this issue nationally,” she said.

“We understand that removing a person from an anticipated forced marriage situation, or interceding with family members without the consent of the victim can risk creating a more harmful domestic situation for a vulnerable person,” she said.

“The AFP’s position is to accommodate the person’s wishes with their overall welfare in mind. However, we want victims to know that the AFP, and its partners, can assist victims, offer protection and intervene, where appropriate, through a range of mechanisms including border alerts and court orders.”

Acting Commander Crossling said the AFP recognised and appreciated the assistance that members of the public, particularly from within the local Afghan community, have provided in relation to this investigation.

“Human Trafficking including forced marriage does not discriminate. This issue goes beyond borders or religious affiliation. Victims of human trafficking can be male or female, adults or children and come from all walks of life, community, nationality and culture,” she said.

If you or someone you know is being forced to marry and you need immediate assistance you can call 131 AFP (237) or use our online form to report information regarding human trafficking.

Additional resources are available:

• Australian Red Cross Support for Trafficked People Program

https://www.redcross.org.au/get-help/help-for-migrants-in-transition/trafficked-people

• Support for victims of forced marriage is also available at https://mybluesky.org.au/

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/three-arrested-after-alleged-forced-marriage-shepparton-woman

—

Australian Federal Police

Human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices (including forced marriage) information report

If a child is in danger, do not use this form – contact your local Police Service directly.

Any information you provide will be kept confidential.

We encourage you to provide your contact details, so that we can follow up on your report.

https://forms.afp.gov.au/online_forms/human_trafficking_form

Facebook is removing QAnon pages and groups from its sites, but critical thinking is still the best way to fight conspiracy theories

Shane Satterley - October 8, 2020

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Facebook has announced a ban on groups and pages identified with the rapidly growing QAnon conspiracy movement, which will cover both Facebook itself and the Facebook-owned Instagram.

QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory that alleges, among other things, that US President Donald Trump is battling Satan-worshipping paedophiles and a global child sex-trafficking ring run by Democrats. While the movement began in the US, it has begun to attract followers in other countries, including Australia.

Facebook’s ban escalates a policy announced in August that aimed to ban QAnon groups promoting violence, and comes as the social media giant attempts to slow the spread of disinformation on its platform in the lead-up to the US presidential election on November 3.

Twitter also banned “so-called ‘QAnon’ activity” in July. After Facebook’s latest move, some QAnon adherents were quick to claim the ban itself was more evidence of a cover-up.

Can social media suppress ‘dangerous’ ideas?

Facebook’s action raises important questions. Will it work? Will taking down these pages stop the spread of “potentially dangerous” ideas?

There is some evidence it will. In 2015, Facebook blocked accounts and deleted posts associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Thereafter, the group’s propaganda did not seem to pop up as often elsewhere online (although it has not disappeared entirely).

However, if groups are banned from Facebook or other platforms, they may still find ways to propagate material. This can create a “black market” of ideas out of public view, where any idea, no matter how objectionable, can go completely unchecked.

Should social media suppress ‘dangerous’ ideas?

Another question is whether Facebook should be banning “potentially dangerous” groups and pages, and therefore ideas, from its platforms. This is a harder question to answer.

Platforms such as Facebook sit in a grey area in relation to freedom of expression. Banning somebody from a platform does not infringe on their legal right to express themselves — it just means they will have to do it elsewhere.

However, Facebook and other platforms such as Instagram and Twitter are among the main avenues for public expression, and are used not only by everyday individuals but also large organisations and even elected representatives. So the removal of certain groups or ideas should be at least concerning. This is particularly true for those like QAnon which do not directly call for violence (though the group has been linked to some violent incidents).

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The value of free expression

Trump has said he has heard followers of QAnon are “people who love our country”. Like other far-right groups, QAnon is ultra-nationalistic, so Trump is likely correct.

QAnon’s ultra-nationalism is important when we talk about the Facebook ban because one of the founding principles of the United States as a nation is the idea people should be free to express any idea they like, including conspiracy theories, ideas associated with religious cults and hateful propaganda.

Key texts that informed the foundation of the US, such as the introduction to The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine, Areopagitica by John Milton and and John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, all make similar arguments on freedom of expression.

They argue that when we deny an idea the chance to be expressed, we do ourselves a disservice because we deny ourselves a chance to hear it. It is not just the right of the expresser to think and say; it is the right of the listener to hear and think.

From this point of view, ideas expressed by QAnon or any other fringe group should sharpen our ability to think critically about what we claim to know. If someone puts forward a seemingly crazy idea, they should be heard because they could be correct or hold kernels of truth to their ideas — if not, they need to be publicly refuted for the benefit of everyone.

John Stuart Mill argued “the greatest harm done is to those who are not heretics, and whose whole mental development is cramped, and their reason cowed, by the fear of heresy”. The heretical view is therefore the most salient of all views because in its heresy enhances our individual and collective ability for critical thinking.

No simple solutions

Do these centuries-old principles still hold in the age of social media? Platforms like Facebook appear perfectly suited to the promotion and dissemination of conspiracy theories like QAnon. In their relentless quest for our attention, the platforms take advantage of the human tendency to find salacious and infuriating articles and ideas more captivating than nuanced, balanced and factual material.

There is no simple solution or shortcut to mitigating potentially dangerous ideas. They need to be openly refuted but to do this requires time and engagement with the ideas themselves but importantly first, an ability for critical thinking.

Who will do this work? It may be an indictment on our educational systems if it can be shown that we are not producing enough critical thinkers. Perhaps this is a place to start, so we do not have to rely on Silicon Valley to tell us what crazy ideas we can read, because those ideas will find it hard to find a home to begin with.

In the meantime perhaps Facebook can use its algorithms and tremendous resources to find a way to promote critical thinking and to incentivise nuanced and balanced discourse — adding to the global discussion rather than merely subtracting.

https://theconversation.com/facebook-is-removing-qanon-pages-and-groups-from-its-sites-but-critical-thinking-is-still-the-best-way-to-fight-conspiracy-theories-147668

Australian wellness celeb 'Paleo Pete' fuels 'infodemic'

Andrew Beatty / Andrew Leeson / Johnny Lieu / with Tania Lee in Melbourne - Thursday, October 8, 2020

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - One minute Australian "wellness" personality Pete Evans is posting a barbecued prawn recipe to 1.5 million Facebook followers, the next he's claiming the coronavirus pandemic is an elaborate global hoax.

During this year of crisis, the ever-smiling, one-time television chef known as "Paleo Pete" has become a leading purveyor of conspiracy and pseudoscience Down Under.

The pandemic has seen a worldwide explosion of misinformation with anti-vaccination groups, the far right, libertarians, state-backed trolls and anarchists forging a loose coalition of the disgruntled.

An unlikely mix of celebrities, wellness experts and social media influencers like Evans have become a powerful vector in that "infodemic".

While government scientists give earnest daily briefings, Evans turns to social media to question lockdowns and rubbish the use of facemasks.

The content is often up-beat - appearing in a wetsuit with blue eyes beaming, riffing about the joys of being back surfing after injury. He signs off emails with the signature: "Cook with Love and Laughter!"

But his most popular content is often recycled from U.S. conspiracy theories.

These posts prompt long threads that echo QAnon movement talking points, claiming a "plandemic" manufactured crisis by global elites to enforce lucrative mass vaccinations and control humanity.

A post of Anthony Fauci, who has led the U.S. government's response to every epidemic since the 1980s, being questioned over a potential Covid-19 vaccine was a particular hit for Evans.

The post attracted over half a million views and a blizzard of conspiratorial comments against vaccinations and traditional government rule.

According to data from social media tracker CrowdTangle, Evans' reach has increased since the pandemic began, growing by up to 15,000 users a week, rather than the net loss he often used to see.

"People are searching for answers," said Mathew Marques, a lecturer in Social Psychology at La Trobe University. "You've got, I guess, charlatans and snake oil salesmen offering a cure."

Evans denies trafficking in lies, and denounces what he calls "fear-based propaganda."

"The pandemic is a hoax. It is as simple as that" he told AFP, claiming that wearing masks and social distancing "are in fact damaging our immune system."

"The reason we have become the number one selling health and lifestyle author in this country is because what we share actually keeps people healthy."

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'LAID BACK' AUSSIE BLOKE

Academics have labelled the mash-up of New Age thinking with conspiracy theories as "conspirituality."

"They all see themselves in some way as rebels, as a resistance," Professor Axel Bruns from the Digital Media Research Centre at the Queensland University of Technology told AFP.

Those interested in healthy lifestyles and spirituality may have been primed for Covid-19 conspiracies - given existing distrust of western medicine and corporate interests.

The charismatic "laid back, stereotypical Aussie bloke" appeal of Evans helped him weave a narrative which pits him against powerful establishment interests, said Marques.

"These kind of big pharma conspiracy theories… these seem to be kind of interlinked with this rise of a wellness alternative."

The spread of his beliefs can be seen online, and on the streets of virus-hit Australia's cities.

"He's bringing to light, to the people in Australia and the people around the world, how corrupt the governments are," said Evans fan and naturopath Sheridan Lee at a recent anti-lockdown rally in Melbourne.

"If it has to be a celebrity and influencer to bring this out, then so be it."

Fellow Melbourne protester Dellacoma Rio said he regularly listened to Evans' livestreams and agreed with his promotion of anti-vaccination views.

"I feel like if you follow the money you see who's getting paid to do things and where money is coming from," he said.

For some of Evan's critics, the question of money is pertinent.

He sells pricey "Thoughtful Food" products like "Dehydrated Beef Bone Broth with Wattleseed, Lemon Myrtle & Kakadu Plum" and has promoted an Aus$15,000 "light machine" - which looks like a psychedelic countertop blender - to help against Covid-19.

Evans denied pitching the "biocharger" for use against the disease, despite video evidence of him telling followers it had "recipes" for the "Wuhan coronavirus" - a claim which resulted in a fine from Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration.

"It's hard not to look past the fact that many people offering these supposed cures or alternatives seem to be profiting from them," said Marques.

Authorities complain that the spread of such disinformation also weakens social cohesion, which is needed to tackle the virus quickly.

"The tinfoil hat-wearing brigade are alive and well in our community," a frustrated Victoria Police assistant commissioner Luke Cornelius said recently.

"They're taking every opportunity to leverage the current situation to serve their own ridiculous notions about so-called sovereign citizens, about constitutional issues and about how 5G is going to kill your grandkids," he said, describing the claims as "batshit crazy nonsense."

https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/australian-wellness-celeb-paleo-pete-fuels-infodemic-1.5137676

In midst of cardinal scandal, Pope Francis seeks to reassure money inspectors

Vatican City: Pope Francis sought to assure external inspectors of the Vatican's financial operations on Thursday that he was pushing ahead with reforms, as the Holy See reeled from a scandal in which he fired a powerful cardinal.

In an address to Moneyval, the Council of Europe's financial monitoring arm, Francis listed recent actions he had taken to make Vatican finances more transparent.

He appeared to refer to the Vatican's latest financial scandals when he quoted the gospel story of Jesus driving the merchants from the temple and telling them "You cannot serve both God and money".

Last month, the Pope fired Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, accusing him of embezzlement and nepotism. Becciu has denied all wrongdoing.

Moneyval is making one of its periodic inspections to check the Vatican is complying with international norms to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism.

"The measures that you are evaluating are meant to promote a 'clean finance', in which the 'merchants' are prevented from speculating in that sacred 'temple'," Francis said.

Italian media have this week run interviews with a woman who says she received €500,000 ($820,000) from Becciu to run a "parallel diplomacy" to help missionaries in conflict areas.

Cecilia Marogna's purported work for the Vatican's Secretariat of State, where Becciu held the number two position until 2018, was not previously known.

In an emailed response to Reuters on Wednesday, Becciu's lawyer, Fabio Viglione, said the cardinal knew Marogna but that his dealings with her had been "exclusively about institutional matters". He did not mention her comments about the funds, which Marogna said went through a company she started in Slovenia.

Marogna, 39, who like Becciu is from Sardinia, did not reply to a phone message from Reuters.

Addressing the inspectors, Francis pointed to his approval in June of sweeping new rules for procurement and spending meant to cut costs, ensure transparent competition and reduce the risk of corruption in awarding contracts.

Moneyval has given the Vatican increasingly positive evaluations since its first inspection eight years ago but has lamented the slowness of its judicial arm in carrying out investigations and bringing suspects to trial.

In his email, Becciu's lawyer also denied Italian media reports that his client had sent money to Australia to help enemies of Cardinal George Pell, the former Vatican economy minister who was cleared this year of sexual abuse charges in Australia after spending 13 months in prison.

Pell had accused Becciu of blocking Vatican financial reforms and after Becciu was fired, Pell said the Pope "is to be thanked and congratulated".

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/in-midst-of-cardinal-scandal-pope-francis-seeks-to-reassure-money-inspectors-20201009-p563ix.html

RISE OF ONLINE RIGHT-WING EXTREMISM MAPPED IN LANDMARK NSW STUDY

Macquarie University - 9 OCTOBER 2020

Researchers from Macquarie and Victoria Universities have published the first study mapping the online activity of right-wing extremists in New South Wales. Their study has revealed a network of highly active, social, and complex communities that is difficult to monitor for potential offline violence and is highly successful in radicalising at-risk individuals and introducing hateful and extreme rhetoric into Australian political discussions. The report highlighted the strong influence of American populist politics particularly Trumpism on right-wing extremism in Australia.

Macquarie researchers Dr Brian Ballsun-Stanton, Lise Waldek and Dr Julian Droogan mined publicly available social media data to examine the narratives and recruitment methods of right-wing extremist groups and individuals and determine the level of risk posed by these online communities.

Across social media platforms Twitter, Facebook, Gab, Reddit, 4chan, and 8chan/kun, the researchers found complex and dynamic communities that unite around shared narratives of threats to ‘white identity’. These highly social spaces become ‘echo chambers’ where like-minded individuals reaffirm their extremist world views, socialise and develop their identities.

Common narratives used to recruit and engage users included anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic messaging, and far-right conspiracy theories such as QAnon.

“The propagation of extremist narratives online serves to polarise political debate, and to undermine trust in institutions and democracy,” say the study authors. “Social media is playing a key role in the rise of right-wing violent extremism. The Christchurch terror attack is one example.”

The authors say that messages advocating violence were frequent, particularly on less-moderated anonymous platforms, but the actual threat of violence was difficult to distinguish from ironic and exaggerated posts.

“We know that individuals with violent intentions exist on these platforms. However, this environment is full of bragging, irony, and fantasy, meaning identification of violent threats is difficult.”

“While online right-wing extremist activity is difficult to moderate, ensuring real-world programs and infrastructure are well-placed to identify at-risk individuals and communities is essential as this threat continues to grow in NSW and Australia.”

The report emphasises the need for increasing focus on societal resilience and strength building capabilities as well as targeted risk reduction strategies, and provides a baseline for further targeted research.

The public report and executive summary are available now. The project was funded by the NSW Department of Communities and Justice Countering Violent Extremism Program.

https://www.mq.edu.au/newsroom/2020/10/09/rise-of-online-right-wing-extremism-mapped-in-landmark-nsw-study/

—

Mapping Networks and Narratives of Online Right-Wing Extremists in New South Wales

Dr Brian Ballsun-Stanton, Lise Waldek and Dr Julian Droogan

Department of Security Studies and Criminology - October 9, 2020

The project Mapping Networks and Narratives of Online Right-Wing Extremists in New South Wales (NSW) used the systematic mining and analysis of online data to generate evidence-based insights into online right-wing extremism (RWE) across the state. The project was conducted between July 2019 and February 2020 with data collection occurring from August to November 2019. The project addressed three key areas:

1. What is the nature of the online RWE environment in NSW?

1. How are themes and narratives framed in different online contexts in order to mobilise support?

1. What level of risk does the online RWE environment pose?

The research areas were framed as broad questions to facilitate wide exploratory research into the online RWE movement in NSW, a milieu that has been little studied. This breadth of scope was considered pertinent in the wake of the March 2019 mass casualty terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, by an attacker originating from NSW.

Academics from Macquarie University and Victoria University partnered to deliver this research. Expertise was provided by All Together Now. Funding was provided by the Department of Communities and Justice (NSW), Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Program.

Executive Summary - (88.1 kB)

https://zenodo.org/record/4017216

FINAL REPORT - (14.1 MB)

https://zenodo.org/record/4071472

>>10994062

Web of hate: how COVID fuels QAnon and other right-wing extremists in Australia

Right-wing extremism was already a growing problem. But the pandemic has made it that much worse.

MARGOT SAVILLE - OCT 09, 2020

When Donald Trump told US-based white supremacist group the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”, right-wing extremists in Australia were listening.

Groups such as Reclaim Australia and The Lads Society — which are strongly influenced by Trumpist rhetoric — have always been monitored by security agencies, but the scope of their influence has been unclear.

Today’s launch of a landmark study, Mapping Networks and Narratives of Online Right-Wing Extremists in New South Wales, changes that.

Published by Macquarie and Victoria Universities, the report uses data from social media platforms to delineate a network of online communities which radicalise individuals and introduce extreme rhetoric into Australian politics.

On unregulated platforms such as Gab, Reddit, 4chan and 8chan/kun, along with the poorly-moderated Twitter and Facebook, there is a plethora of messages advocating violence, the report found. However, the actual threat of violence was difficult to distinguish from ironic and exaggerated posts.

“We know that individuals with violent intentions exist on these platforms. However, this environment is full of bragging, irony, and fantasy, meaning identification of violent threats is difficult,” the report says.

Right-wing extremists are defined by the researchers as communities and individuals committed to an extreme social, political, or ideological position that is pro-white identity and actively suspicious of non-white others.

In these social media echo chambers, anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic messaging and far-right conspiracy theories such as QAnon are used to recruit and engage users.

QAnon was the major influence on the Christchurch terrorist who live-streamed the fatal shooting of 51 worshippers at two mosques in 2019.

The dangers of these narratives are that, as well as fostering violent extremism, they serve to “polarise political debate and undermine trust in institutions and democracy,” say study authors Dr Julian Droogan, Dr Brian Ballsun-Stanton and Lise Waldek.

COVID-19, of course, has made everything much worse. Right-wing extremists have been exploiting the fear about the virus by promoting conspiracy theories and misinformation.

“Conspiracy theories regularly play a critical role in the development of extremism through the formation of crisis narratives. These narratives offer individuals a framework to identify an enemy that can be held accountable and that requires decisive actions against so as to protect the believers from destruction,” the report says.

For instance, people who are nervous about using vaccines are told that pharmaceutical companies are in the pocket of politicians and are therefore part of a powerful cabal, Droogan says. Believing this gives people a sense of agency in a time of crisis and an explanation for acts such as refusing a vaccine.

In 1996, One Nation’s Pauline Hanson referred to Australia being “swamped by Asians”. According to the Macquarie University report, racist rhetoric in this country transitioned from a mainly anti-Asian discourse to an anti-Islamic one in the early 2000s. This was triggered by 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the rise of Islamic State, and the 2014 Martin Place siege.

With less than four weeks left until the US election, the extremist language on these social media platforms will only get worse. Recently, Donald Trump tweeted a conspiracy theory about ballot fraud, fuelling fears he will refuse to stand down if he loses.

“THE MEDIA IS CORRUPT, JUST LIKE OUR DEMOCRAT-RUN BALLOT SYSTEM IS CORRUPT. Look what’s happening with Fake, Missing and Fraudulent Ballots all over the Country??? VOTE” he tweeted. His supporters are preparing to vote, but the Proud Boys heard something extra. They are standing back and standing by, with arms.

https://www.crikey.com.au/2020/10/09/covid-19-qanon-fuels-right-wing-extremists/

>>10994062

US-inspired rightwing extremism an 'insidious' threat to Australia, study finds

Researchers warn online networks of mostly male and under-35 users are attracted to ‘the theme of white identity under threat’

Daniel Hurst - Fri 9 Oct 2020

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Rightwing extremism poses a “creeping threat” to liberal democracy in Australia, according to a new study that investigates how extremists are using online networks to spread radical narratives.

The study – which focuses mainly on New South Wales because it was funded by the state government – identified networks involving mostly male and under-35 users who were attracted to “the theme of white identity under threat”.

It noted the influence of American populist politics – including Trumpism – in rightwing extremist discussions in Australia.

Researchers from Macquarie and Victoria universities said rightwing extremists were “very good at appropriating the language of conservative political opinion” and called on Australian politicians to ensure “our system of politics is protected from these very insidious and ongoing threats”.

The research examined 30 Australian rightwing extremist group pages on Facebook and 37,422 tweets from 3,321 users identified as being in NSW on Twitter.

It also examined archived message boards focused on NSW and Australian issues on Reddit, 4chan and 8chan, and looked at thousands of interactions on the platform Gab.

The report, published on Friday, said while most rightwing extremist groups that had formed over the past decade had done so in Victoria, many had “chapters” or associated groups in NSW and maintained an online presence.

The communities in NSW consisted of “networks of socially connected individuals that engage and share content across diverse media platforms”.

“We identified a trend towards mostly male and young (under 35) users. This is not to say that these communities are completely homogeneous, but that other demographics appear to be in a minority when compared to young males,” the report said.

The narrative of “white identity under threat” – shared throughout Australia, North America and Europe – provided a “transnational focus and identity for otherwise complex, diverse, and fluid communities”.

The networks also promoted narratives that sought to delegitimise liberal democratic government and dehumanise other groups, in particular Muslims, Asians, Jews, women and liberals.

Researcher Lise Waldek, from Macquarie University, said rightwing extremists were “appropriating conservative politics and appropriating Trumpism” to expose potential recruits to their narratives.

Fellow Macquarie researcher Julian Droogan said many of the discussions in Australia drew on imagery and themes from American politics.

“Trump is really held up as an example of a defender of white identity by many in this extreme subculture. However, we also see it being presented in a distinctly Australian way,” Droogan said.

Droogan said the perpetrator of the Christchurch massacre, the Australian Brenton Tarrant, was “celebrated in some of these online platforms, in particular platforms like 8chan and 4chan and Reddit”.

“Certainly we did see Australian characteristics such as the Akubra hat and the look of Crocodile Dundee and so on have been superimposed onto the Christchurch perpetrator’s image on some of these platforms, and that’s used to sort of sell an Australian stereotype within these communities.”

(continued)

>>10994116

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Researchers found differences in how extremist views were expressed, depending on the platform.

For example, they said users on Twitter found ways of referring to the “defence” of a “white identity under threat” without violating platform moderation policies.

On newer platforms such as Gab, however, this theme was “framed in far more explicit terms that consistently draw on antisemitism, Islamophobia and more”.

On the 4chan and 8chan messaging boards, the messages took on “a stronger extremity of expression including a willingness to explore and speculate about the need for (at times violent) action”.

Researchers also identified two risks that emerged from rightwing extremist networks in NSW and Australia more widely.

The first was the “shifting of the acceptable window of social and political discourse towards an extreme end point … that challenges the fundamentals of liberal democracy”.

The second risk was of individuals adopting violent and illegal tactics in an effort to trigger sudden social change.

Waldek said some people were attracted to conspiracy theories – such as QAnon - “because they are crisis narratives and they provide structure and security in times of crisis”.

“In our report we talk about the creeping threat and how that is the aim of rightwing extremism. When you look at its end state, yes, there’s a violent aspect, but they’re also trying to make it acceptable for people to talk about Islamophobic things,” Waldek said.

The researchers said politicians should take the lead in raising awareness of the threat from rightwing extremism.

“We spend a lot of energy within a democratic system, as we should, with the two different teams arguing and competing against one another,” Droogan said.

“But maybe we should also be spending some more time just protecting the rules of those games … so that our system of politics is protected from these very insidious and ongoing threats through rightwing extremism and others.”

The research was funded by the Countering Violent Extremism program of the NSW Department of Communities and Justice.

In the wake of the Christchurch massacre, the domestic spy agency Asio has been blunt about the risk from far-right terrorism, labelling it an “enduring threat” that is “real and growing”.

Last month Asio revealed rightwing violent extremism now constituted between 30% and 40% of the agency’s counter-terrorism caseload, an increase from 10% to 15% before 2016.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/09/us-inspired-rightwing-extremism-an-insidious-threat-to-australia-study-finds

Alexander Downer Tweets

Latest podcast with Georgina on Gibraltar, Brexit latest, US elections

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1313958733697949699

GeoPod: The Geopolitics Podcast by Tenjin Consulting on Apple Podcasts

This week on GeoPod, Tenjin Consulting's Alexander Downer talks to Georgina Downer about his recent trip to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory at the tip of Spain. Fish and chips at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula, monkeys, e-gaming and car insurance, make this strategically important territory a fascinating place to visit.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/brexit-boris-new-caledonia-sticks-france-for-now-covid/id1525124501?i=1000493989711

—

Filler Littlecrab @fillerlitlecrab

Replying to @AlexanderDowner

Oh, I fondly remember when you were just starting to record your conversations. And so does @GeorgePapa19. Any word from Durham yet?

https://twitter.com/fillerlitlecrab/status/1313961504778129408

—

Alexander Downer @AlexanderDowner

Replying to @fillerlitlecrab and @GeorgePapa19

(Face with Tears of Joy emoji)

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1314266009629601792

NAB didn’t maintain records of human traffickers until 2019

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NAB has been flagging around 10 transactions a month as potentially related to human trafficking but did not maintain its own records of its suspicions about the sinister nature of transactions involving criminals, terrorists and paedophiles until the middle of 2019.

The bank revealed over the seven months to January 2020 that it identified as many as 68 transactions as exhibiting characteristics consistent with human trafficking and another 148 with child exploitation before reporting them to the financial intelligence regulator AUSTRAC.

The transactions shed new light on the prospect of action from AUSTRAC almost three years after it first revealed it was investigating and fixing problems relating to its compliance with Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing laws.

A NAB spokeswoman confirmed the bank updated its internal systems to automate the extraction of data in July 2019 but maintained the reports submitted to AUSTRAC have always been compliant.

“NAB SMR (suspicious matter reports) reports submitted to AUSTRAC include details of the suspected crime type, as required by law. It would be wrong to suggest otherwise," the spokeswoman said.

Last month AUSTRAC won a record $1.3 billion penalty from Westpac for 23 million breaches of the law and turning a blind eye to transactions of suspected paedophiles in an action which led to the departure of its CEO Brian Hartzer, chairman Lindsay Maxsted and widespread blood-letting in the executive suite.

NAB’s suspicions about its customers and their transactions are laid out in a macabre table filed to a House of Representatives Economics Committee as part of a 23-page info dump in response to a question from Tim Wilson MP made in December 2019 about the number of transactions it flagged and types of criminal activity it suspected.

When the bank responded in January - the day before the Australia Day long weekend - hidden among the 10 separate documents was a breakdown of the suspected criminal activity behind 8110 suspicious matter reports filed to AUSTRAC between July 2019 and January 2020.

In addition to the human trafficking and child exploitation transactions NAB said it categorised another 6648 SMRs as consistent with money laundering, 15 with organised crime, 12 with terrorist financing, and two with crimes of a sexual nature.

Serious crimes

The bank said there were more than 1000 transactions it suspected as relating to “serious crimes” but could not be captured by the above categories because of their unique nature.

The bank said: “1217 SMRs relating to various other threats such as (not limited to) narcotics, family day care fraud, tax evasion, complex movement of funds, unregistered remittance service providers and other sanctions related suspicion”.

(continued)

>>10994627

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The bank also revealed it had reported a total of 52,950 SMRs to AUSTRAC in the previous decade but could not provide details of its suspicions of the other 44,840 transactions because they did not begin maintaining records of why the transactions were suspicious and the associated criminality until recently.

“From July 2019, NAB commenced recording the basis for the suspicion the SMR forms that are submitted to AUSTRAC,” the bank said in its response to a question on notice.

Banks are required to file SMRs to AUSTRAC when they suspect a customer or transaction is related to criminal activity. If an institution’s suspicions relate to terrorism financing they must report it within 24 hours and for other types of criminal activity they must file the SMR within three business days.

When a bank has reason to suspect a transaction or customer is related to or involved in criminal activity it is obliged to include this on the report, however, there is a loophole for institutions where the nature of the offending is not certain.

“NAB is required to specify on the SMR form submitted to AUSTRAC the nature of the suspicion where known. In some instances, NAB may form a suspicion regarding the nature of the transaction or other conduct, but may not be clear on what the underlying offence could be. In such circumstances, NAB will still file a SMR” the bank said in its submission.

The admissions from NAB that it did not think keeping track of why thousands of SMRs filed to the financial intelligence regulator were suspicious until last year provides new context for an enforcement action foreshadowed by the bank itself in its 2017 annual report.

At the time the bank said it was “currently investigating and remediating a number of identified issues” with know-your-customer requirements, its transaction monitoring and reporting obligations. NAB said it had begun a program of work to “uplift and strengthen the AML and CTF program” but remained vague.

After CBA was hit with a $700 million penalty when its systems were exploited by criminal syndicates, drug traffickers and terrorists in 2018, NAB elected to provide more information in its annual report saying “further issues may be identified” and “total costs associated with the investigation and remediation” remained uncertain.

In 2019 – weeks before Westpac was accused of turning a blind eye to patterns of transactions that were known to indicate payments for child-exploitation material being produced in South East Asia and the Philippines – NAB was more transparent with its disclosures in that year’s annual report.

“Given the large volume of transactions that the group processes, the undetected failure of internal AML/CTF controls, or the ineffective implementation or remediation of compliance issues, could result in a significant number of breaches of AML/CTF obligations and significant monetary penalties,” it said.

https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/nab-didn-t-keep-records-of-human-traffickers-until-2019-20201008-p56395

—

Parliament of Australia - House Of Representatives Standing Committee On Economics

Review Of The Four Major Banks - National Australia Bank

NAB21QW - Anti-money laundering

https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Economics/FourMajorBanks/Documents#NAB

https://www.aph.gov.au/-/media/02_Parliamentary_Business/24_Committees/243_Reps_Committees/Economics/46p/Banks_and_Financial_Institutions/1_Bank_Review_-_First_Report/NAB_QoNs/NAB21QW_bcdefghijk.pdf

>>10983540

Chef Pete Evans Instagram Post

Listen to every word spoken. New world order and homes are now dangerous

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGEY7wtBj9l/

Claim bribes paid to frame George Pell as sex abuser 'ludicrous', complainant's father says

No evidence has been released to support allegations reported in Italy that a large payment was made to Australia

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Even the staunchest George Pell supporters conceded the claims were wild: could the cardinal have been framed as a child sex abuser to settle a Vatican feud?

“I know. It sounds incredible,” Andrew Bolt told his audience on Sky News this week.

“I’m not a big fan of conspiracy theories. This sounds like … a Dan Brown thriller.

“But this is, in fact, exactly what Pell and his many supporters in the Vatican have always suspected, and could never prove.”

Almost a week after the claims were made, that proof remains elusive.

Three Italian newspapers reported allegations that Cardinal Giovanni Becciu, who resigned under a cloud last month, made a $1.1 million payment to undisclosed recipients in Australia to secure a conviction against Pell, who he had clashed with over attempts to reform the Vatican’s finances.

Becciu denies he made such a payment or any other wrongdoing.

“I categorically deny interfering in any way in the trial of Cardinal Pell,” he said in a statement.

Pell supporters say the reports underline a suspicion about how one of his accusers was able to afford a lucrative property that was purchased after he made allegations against Pell.

Bolt said on Sky he had seen property records to back the claim.

Another person who was close to the case told Guardian Australia that someone who had been investigating the purchase of the property for weeks had his house burgled on Monday, and nothing but the documents were taken.

Throw in the supposed involvement of the mafia in funneling the cash allegedly stolen by Becciu , and the shadowy demise of several other Vatican financial reformists, and Pell’s supporters had found their grassy knoll.

But the property records were not forthcoming, nor was any other detail about where the property was or when it was supposed to have been purchased. Property searches undertaken by Guardian Australia also failed to uncover anything suspicious.

The Italian newspapers that published the claims have not revealed any subsequent evidence of a wire transfer to Australia.

The most reputable of these papers, the Corriere della Sera, did not respond to requests for comment from Guardian Australia. Neither did the Vatican press office.

And as the claims swirled around the world, those who had accused Pell of abuse, and their families, felt their pain anew.

“If these bribe allegations are inferring that I have in any way benefited financially, I am beyond offended,” the father of the second alleged choirboy victim in Pell’s cathedral trial told Guardian Australia.

“My wife and I are driving around in a car that is 21-years-old, we are renting a National Rental Affordability Scheme home and living on a pension.

“This is absolute stupidity and these allegations should never have seen the light of day.”

The man’s son died of a heroin overdose in 2014, aged 30. His father says he never spoke to his parents about being abused. But his father now believes that was the reason his son turned to drugs. He has commenced a civil claim against Pell and the church.

“I have certainly not received any money to give evidence against George Pell and any suggestion that the surviving complainant has is just ludicrous.

“Anyone who knows this man [the complainant who brought the case against Pell] and his character knows there is absolutely no chance he would have been involved in such underhanded tactics,” he said.

“Given what the surviving complainant has been through, I can only imagine how distressing it’s been for him to hear of these baseless allegations. He has the utmost integrity and is an honourable member of our community.”

(continued)

>>11006048

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Lisa Flynn, Shine Lawyers national practice manager, who represents the man, said the claims were outrageous and unfounded.

“These faceless people driving this conspiracy theory need to provide the evidence and name the people or person who apparently received the money, rather than casting the net. That money could have gone anywhere in Australia. It is mere speculation without any facts.

“These allegations are cowardly compared to the brave sexual abuse survivor who came forward to police following the funeral of his friend and went through hell in an attempt to obtain justice for that friend.”

Flynn echoed the comments of Pell’s former lawyer Robert Richter, who called this week for the claims to be investigated.

“If the evidence is there that bribe money was paid to someone, we call for them to give it to police so they can investigate, otherwise these allegations are absurd,” Flynn said.

“Playing on a sexual abuse survivor’s need to remain anonymous is grossly unfair to say the least. Those driving this propaganda know the surviving complainant can only defend his character so much while protecting his identity.”

Victorian and federal authorities are not investigating, as no proof has been provided.

It is clear that Pell and Becciu have clashed since at least 2016. The first cathedral complainant went to police in June 2015, but had first disclosed the abuse to his sister in 2012 or 2013.

The man’s lawyer, Vivian Waller, said he denied any knowledge or receipt of any payments, and wouldn’t comment further about the claims.

Pell left Rome to confront the Victorian allegations in 2017, amid a power struggle with Becciu which had seen an audit into Vatican finances cancelled.

Pell was charged that June and later convicted, but the high court of Australia overturned the convictions in April.

Becciu had remained in charge of millions of euros in Vatican finances until his downfall last month. As it happened, Pell returned to the Vatican only days later; just in time for the release of the sensational Becciu story.

“But how the wheel turns,” Bolt noted on Sky.

It may yet turn again.

While no evidence has been released to support the claims that a large payment was made to Australia to frame Pell, reports about the financial impropriety of Becciu continue to mount.

In many cases, they are reportedly backed by bank transfer documents and company records.

Ed Condon, a canon lawyer who has reported extensively on Vatican finances for the Catholic News Agency, said that if the Pell claims were true, similar documents would exist to support them.

Condon believes the truth could lie with Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, who effectively served as Becciu’s right-hand man until the cardinal was promoted in 2018.

“If money was moved, Perlasca would be uniquely placed to know – and indeed may have played a role in moving it,” Condon wrote last week.

“He would also be able to furnish prosecutors with evidence of what money went where in Australia, when, and why.

“And, to be sure, if it happened, there will be evidence.”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/10/claim-bribes-paid-to-frame-george-pell-as-sex-abuser-ludicrous-complainants-father-says

Cardinal Pell’s timely return to Rome fuels rumors of his restoration as finance sheriff

His return coincides with the resignation of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, whose name has recently been mentioned in connection with numerous questions about church funds.

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VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Reforming the Vatican’s tangled finances, once the subject of hushed conversations in hallways, has gone mainstream. Every day, media reports shine more light on the intricate dealings of church officials, revealing troubling relationships and conflicting interests.

After years of scandals and sensationalistic tell-all books about insider schemes, the powers inside the Vatican seem to realize that the global credibility of the Catholic Church is at stake.

“The financial reform of the Vatican has reached an acute crisis point,” said Matthew O’Brien, an American investment adviser who has long advocated financial reforms in the church.

It’s at this moment that Cardinal George Pell has returned to Rome after being acquitted of charges of sexual abuse of minors in his native country of Australia. Before his trial, Pell, 79, helmed the Vatican’s financial reform effort as Prefect for the Economy, a post created by Pope Francis in 2014 to oversee all of the institution’s financial dealings.

His return coincides with the resignation of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, 72, whose name has recently been mentioned in connection with numerous questions about church funds, from investments in prime real-estate in downtown London to large transactions seemingly benefitting his family and associates.

In his role as reformer, Pell had come to be perceived as a bulldog who often confronted Becciu. In a recent press conference, Becciu told reporters that Pell had once accused him of being “dishonest” in the presence of the pope.

Reports in the Italian media have hinted that Becciu played a role in Pell’s recall to Australia in 2017 to stand trial. Without offering evidence, the reports have alleged that Becciu, then sostituto, the equivalent of a chief of staff to the pope, sent more than $825,000 to Pell’s accusers, two former choir boys and to Australian dioceses.

At about the same time, the auditor general at the Vatican, Libero Milone, was unceremoniously arrested by Vatican law enforcement, which was led at the time by Domenico Giani, a close associate of Becciu’s.

The accusations in the media were enough to lead Pell’s lawyer, Robert Richter, to appeal in an interview on Oct. 5 with the Australian daily Financial Review for an investigation of Becciu’s transactions by an outside agency.

“In a statement on Wednesday (Oct. 7), Becciu reiterated the “absolute falseness” of the news reports and denied taking part in any “illicit activity whatsoever.”

On Tuesday (Oct. 6), Pope Francis held a private audience with Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, the papal representative to Australia. Vatican officials told Religion News Service that it is common practice for papal nunzios to brief the pontiff, pointing out that Australia recently loosened its COVID-19 restrictions.

But sources inside the Vatican say that Francis brought him to Rome to quiz Yllana, who is close to Becciu, about the alleged bribe of the plaintiff in Australia.”

Pell’s timely return has been described as a “coincidence” by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, whose office said the Australian prelate was only coming to Rome to pick up personal effects he’d left behind before his trial began. But with Becciu’s resignation, speculation has begun that Pell may have returned to finish the job he began.

“Before Cardinal Pell returned to Australia to face the now-discredited legal charges against him, he laid out a thoughtful and comprehensive framework for financial reform,” O’Brien said. “This framework was never adopted, and the revelations about Cardinal Becciu and the Secretariat of State’s ‘off books’ investment ventures are proving the folly of delay.”

(continued)

>>11006204

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Pell’s proposals are now becoming a reality, though years late. The Vatican finances are now being streamlined under the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), and the purchase of goods and services by Roman Curia, the bureaucracy of the church, has been placed under supervision.

Meanwhile, Pell’s replacement as the head of the Secretariat for the Economy is the Rev. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, who has been praised as an effective leader for reform. The office struggled to remain relevant once Pell left, but the fact that Guerrero is a simple priest, not a cardinal, is in itself seen as an effort by Pope Francis to promote accountability; cardinals “are often untouchable inside their own republics,” one observer noted, while priests can be more easily moved.

Under Guerrero, too, the Secretariat for the Economy has been given control over the Vatican’s data processing center. This means that its prefect will no longer have to ask other Vatican offices for financial transaction reports but can access them directly.

Amid battling prelates and whirling scandals, there are hopes of a new era within Vatican finances. But rumors of future revelations that threaten the reputation of the Catholic Church continue to loom on the horizon. In these days, the Vatican will consider whether the recent investigations into Becciu will lead to a trial.

According to O’Brian, Vatican reform cannot hinge only on the role of cardinals or priests but must include the active participation of lay people.

“Pope Francis needs to embrace more fully the vision of the Second Vatican Council and involve in the Vatican’s financial management members of the lay faithful who have established track-records of professional expertise, demonstrated moral character, and independence of status that mitigates against any conflicts of interest in stewarding the resources of the Church,” he said.

https://religionnews.com/2020/10/09/cardinal-pells-timely-return-to-rome-fuels-rumors-of-his-restoration-as-finance-sheriff/

Abuse survivors despair as Pell conspiracy breaks cover

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At the mention of George Pell, the old man became enraged.

The Italian Monsignor had been sitting quietly beneath the baroque arches of a 17th century dining room, waiting for his guests to arrive for Sunday lunch, when a visiting Australian priest made the mistake of name-dropping the Cardinal.

“Pell, what is he doing here?’’ the normally affable Monsignor shouted. “He is imposing your ways on our ways.

“We have our ways of doing things.’’

Peter J. Elliott, an auxiliary bishop from Melbourne who previously worked for 10 years inside the Vatican, says he retreated to his own table without saying a word in response. “I sat down and thought ‘Oh George, you are in trouble.’''

Such was the venom in the Monsignor’s comments, Bishop Elliott made a note of them in his diary: July 5, 2015. He has since become convinced that Pell’s enemies within the Vatican, possibly with the help of the mafia, were the hidden hand in his prosecution and jailing for historical child sex offences.

This conspiracy theory, previously only held to by Cardinal Pell's most ardent supporters, has broken into the open with Italian newspaper reports that 700,000 euros ($1.2 million) in Vatican funds were transferred to Australia to influence witness testimony against Pell.

According to those who subscribe to the theory, this was done not to bring Pell to justice but to throw him nel fango – in the mud – and prevent him from cleaning up the Vatican’s finances and exposing corruption within the church.

“He went into a situation where they were going to fight him and they got him," says Bishop Elliott, now retired. “I believe he was punished. Now it is up to an inquiry to prove it.’’

Chrissie Foster also wants an inquiry.

She lives far removed from the splendour of the Domus Paulus xi, a residence for Catholic clergy in the ancient centre of Rome where Bishop Elliott had his run-in with the now dead Monsignor.

The mother of two daughters who were sexually abused by a Catholic priest known by the church to be a paedophile, Foster says the suggestion implicit in the Italian media reports is deeply offensive and potentially damaging to abuse survivors and should not be left to stand.

“They are saying the witnesses are corrupt. How are you supposed to take that?

“It should be investigated to the end to find out where that money went. How do we know it didn’t go into George Pell’s account to pay for his legal bills?

“Follow the money. Get a court order and find out. Don’t just leave it hanging there, to entertain their conspiracy theories.''

(continued)

>>11006573

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Claims of a dark conspiracy against Pell involving crooked Vatican officials, the mob and corrupt actors in Australia have been circulating for at least four years.

Sources familiar with the matter this week said that Pell's legal team considered the possibility of a Vatican plot before he was formally interviewed by Victoria Police in Rome in October 2016.

His legal team considered the claims and decided that, in the absence of any evidence to support them, they could not be put to jury.

Bishop Elliott, a friend of Pell’s, spoke of it publicly in October 2017 at a Sydney Institute event to mark the 500th anniversary of the reformation. Pell had just been charged by police and shortly after the event, Bishop Elliott surprised those still in room by suggesting the mafia had cooked up his legal troubles.

Pell has been more careful. After the High Court quashed his conviction and freed him from jail earlier this year, he said in a Sky News interview that he believed his only accuser who testified at trial, a former choirboy known as J, might have been used.

Did he believe corrupt Vatican officials were behind it? “Most of the senior people in Rome who are in any way sympathetic to financial reform believe that they are,’’ he said. “I don’t have any evidence of that.’’

Evidence remains elusive. However, over the past two weeks, a sequence of events have sent into overdrive Vatican intrigue surrounding the trials of George Pell.

The first was an announcement by Pope Francis on September 24 that Giovanni Angelo Becciu, a powerful Vatican figure who vehemently opposed Pell’s financial reforms, had effectively resigned as a cardinal. Becciu is at the centre of ongoing Vatican investigations into a series of suspect property deals.

On the day the Becciu news broke, Pell was packing his bags in Sydney to prepare to return to Rome for the first time since he stood trial in the Victorian County Court. It appears coincidental that Pell arrived in Rome just as Becciu was exiting the Vatican but Pell revelled in the timing. “I hope the cleaning of the stables continues in both the Vatican and Victoria," he said.

Pell’s return to Rome was greeted by a series of local newspaper reports, the first of which was written by L'Espresso journalist Massimiliano Coccia.

It revealed that Becciu’s assistant Monsignor Alberto Perlasca had turned whistleblower and was assisting Vatican investigators. According to the report, Perlasca told the investigators Becciu arranged a series of financial transfers to Australia to “finance the testimonies against his great rival George Pell''.

The report goes on to suggest the second former choirboy Pell was charged with sexually assaulting received money to accuse the Cardinal. This claim, which the Italian journalist sourced to unnamed “Ballarat residents", does not withstand scrutiny.

The second choirboy, a friend of J, never accused George Pell of sexual assault, did not provide a statement to police and died three years before Pell was charged. J testified that it was his friend's death, which followed years of drug addiction and mental health problems, which prompted him to take his allegations against Pell to police.

The second choirboy’s father, who testified against George Pell at the Cardinal’s committal proceedings and is currently preparing a lawsuit against the church, said he was “beyond offended" by any suggestion he benefited financially from Pell’s prosecution.

“My wife and I are driving around in a car that is 21 years old, we are renting a National Affordability Scheme home and living on a pension. This is absolute stupidity and these allegations should never have seen the light of day," he said.

“I have certainly not received any money to give evidence against George Pell and any suggestion that the surviving complainant has is just ludicrous. Given what the surviving complainant has been through I can only imagine how distressing it has been for him to hear these baseless allegations.''

J has denied through his lawyer any knowledge or receipt of payments to testify against the Cardinal. At every stage of the judicial process, including the High Court appeal, J was found to be a credible, compelling witness.

Becciu has denied interfering in Pell's trial. The barrister who defended Pell, Robert Richter, QC, says the money transfer should be investigated.

(continued)

>>11006594

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The final event in a combustive sequence was Pope Francis’ private meeting with his Canberra Nuncio, Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana. News of the meeting emerged shortly after reports of the 700,000 euros transfer, inviting speculation that the Vatican’s embassy in Australia might have played a part in the conspiracy.

Senior church figures are divided on whether it is unusual for a Nuncio – the Vatican equivalent of an ambassador – to be given a private audience with the Pope. The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald confirmed that the Nuncio's reasons for being in Europe had nothing to do with Becciu or Pell. He had recently travelled to Poland to ordain the next Bishop of Port Pirie.

Whatever the truth of the conspiracy theory, the political machinations playing out in Rome are crucial to the affairs of the Vatican and legacy of George Pell.

Pell was handpicked by Pope Francis to bring the finances of the Vatican into the modern era. This put Becciu on a direct collision course with Pell, who had already dubbed his shadowy technique of managing funds as the metodo Becciu – the Becciu method.

By 2016, when the Victoria Police investigation into Pell was nearing its conclusion, Becciu had politically outmanoeuvred his rival and with the Pope’s support, blocked Pell’s attempt to bring external auditors into the Vatican.

The resignation of Becciu and return of Pell to Rome presents a dramatically altered picture. Becciu's loss of cardinalate rights exposes him to Italian civil law. Pope Francis, having backed the wrong cardinal four years ago, is hoping to be remembered on the right side of the historical ledger.

And Pell? "He was the Eliot Ness of the Vatican," says Australian Catholic University vice chancellor Greg Craven. "He was the good guy trying to clean up hundreds of years of financial mess and exploitation."

Such is the view from Rome. In Ballarat and Melbourne, it remains unchanged.

As Chrissie Foster puts it, whatever comes of Vatican power plays, abuse survivors stay at the bottom of the pile. "It is terrible and for what? For George Pell and his fight with his fellow cardinals? They really do live in another world. That’s what’s wrong with them."

https://www.theage.com.au/national/abuse-survivors-despair-as-pell-conspiracy-breaks-cover-20201009-p563pt.html

Alexander Downer Tweet

The political danger for @realDonaldTrump is people may be tiring of the endless dramas. @JoeBiden may be a weak candidate but they may think a vote for him is a vote for a quiet life!

https://twitter.com/AlexanderDowner/status/1314579958375874562

SAS at war: ‘I will shoot you in the head’

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The toxic culture within the Australian Army’s elite Special Air Service is under renewed scrutiny as it emerges that an internal military investigation into the ­nation’s most decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith found that he may have threatened to shoot a fellow soldier in the back of the head after a battle with insurgents in Afghanistan.

Ahead of the imminent ­release of the findings of a four-year war crimes inquiry for the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force, The Weekend Australian can reveal an SAS captain investigated the alleged bullying incident, finding it was likely Mr Roberts-Smith acted inappropriately in the aftermath of the firefight in 2006 — for which he was later awarded the Medal for Gallantry

According to an internal SAS document, obtained by The Weekend Australian, the investigating captain concluded in 2013 that, despite the seven-year gap between the alleged incident and the complaint, “there is reasonable suspicion that an incident of unacceptable behaviour did occur”.

A mediation process was ­ordered after the investigation, consistent with ADF policy that “complaints of unacceptable ­behaviour are resolved at the lowest appropriate level”.

The revelation of the SAS captain’s findings expose the deep ­divisions that have been percolating within the elite regiment for years — and the split has only widened in recent times as Mr Roberts-Smith has been accused of a series of war crimes, prompting many serving and former members of the unit to take sides.

Mr Roberts-Smith, who is suing Nine Entertainment for defamation over a series of articles alleging he committed multiple unlawful killings while on deployment in Afghanistan, told the 2013 assessment that the claims arising from the 2006 firefight were “fabricated”.

The official report of the ­allegations against Mr Roberts-Smith casts a further shadow over the operations of the SAS on the battlefields of Afghanistan, with accusations the force was overused, beset by a poor culture, and inappropriately used as “door kickers” and big-battle soldiers when they were specifically trained for stealth operations.

The upcoming Inspector-General’s crimes report by NSW Supreme Court judge Major General Paul Brereton is expected to make further allegations in relation to Mr Roberts-Smith, a ­recipient of the Victoria Cross.

The SAS “quick assessment brief” obtained by The Weekend Australian concerns a complaint by a fellow operator, “Corporal M”, who was a trooper in a six-man patrol with then-trooper Roberts-Smith during the June 2, 2006, battle near Chora Pass in Afghanistan’s Oruzgan province.

Corporal M, who cannot be identified because he is still serving in the regiment, told the investigator in 2013 that he was “bullied and verbally harassed” by Mr Roberts-Smith, according to the four page “staff-in-confidence” briefing prepared for the regiment’s commanding officer.

“During the deployment and post the patrol Cpl Roberts-Smith came up to me and said ‘Next time we go out on patrol, if your performance doesn’t improve I will shoot you in the back of the head’ or words to that effect,” the operator said. It is understood Corporal M did not interpret Mr Roberts-Smith’s comment as a literal threat to kill, but was nevertheless distressed by it.

Corporal M alleged Mr Roberts-Smith later “demeaned (his) character/ability as an SAS patrol member” during a 2012 squadron conference. He made the official complaint in an August 2013 ­interview — seven years after the alleged incident — amid swirling rumours over the conduct of some SAS members.

The Weekend Australian is not suggesting the allegations are true, only that they were made.

Mr Roberts-Smith told the ­investigator: “These allegations are simply not true and have been fabricated … (Corporal M) has been communicating with other members of the unit to try and concoct stories and statements to verify his allegations.”

In his official report, the investigating captain found “there is sufficient evidence to suggest that CPL Roberts-Smith may have verbally insulted (Corporal M)”, and that “an act of unacceptable behaviour may have been carried out by CPL Roberts-Smith during that deployment”. Mr Roberts-Smith announced several months later he was leaving full-time army service to pursue a career in business. There is no suggestion this was linked to Corporal M’s complaint.

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The Federal Court heard this week that Justice Brereton has ­issued Mr Roberts-Smith with a “potentially affected person” ­notice, meaning the former soldier is the subject of allegations made to the inquiry.

The court has previously heard Mr Roberts-Smith is a suspect in an AFP war crimes inquiry for alleged murder and cruel treatment of an Afghan farmer, Ali Jan, who was allegedly kicked off a cliff while handcuffed and before being shot dead in September 2012.

The Weekend Australian has spoken independently to multiple SAS veterans of the Afghanistan conflict who said Mr Roberts-Smith’s alleged threat against Corporal M was consistent with his behaviour

According to one, Mr Roberts-Smith appeared to have an intense dislike of the smaller, quieter Corporal M.

Another said: “I know that Ben Roberts-Smith harassed, was abusive and disrespectful to (Corporal M) at the time. It got to the point where it was so bad ­(Corporal M) was moved out of the patrol.”

Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyer Mark O’Brien said the allegation his client bullied the other soldier “is completely false”.

He said Corporal M’s complaint against Mr Roberts-Smith was “was made at the urging of a couple of senior patrol commanders … who have well known animosity towards my client.”

There have been conflicting accounts of the Chora Pass battle.

According to Robert-Smith’s official Medal for Gallantry ­citation, an observation post manned by his patrol “had become the focus of the anti-­coalition militia force”.

It records his repeated moves to leave the covered position to “neutralise” the enemy, and his taking up of an exposed position ahead of the patrol, halting “a group of sixteen” Taliban combatants with his sniper rifle while experiencing “very accurate small arms fire”.

The citation omits mention of what attracted the enemy to the observation post, which was ­directing fire on insurgents in the valley below.

Journalist Chris Masters’ 2017 book, No Front Line: Australian special forces at war in Afghanistan, said the then-trooper Mr Roberts-Smith had disagreed with a decision made by the then-trooper M and another soldier who opted not to shoot a teenage boy who came within about 75 metres of the hidden position.

“He wore traditional Afghan garb and with no chest rig or weapons,” Masters wrote.

The teenager might have been a “spotter”, but the operators believed their position had not been compromised, Masters wrote.

But Mr Roberts-Smith told the Australian War Memorial in February 2011 that “a couple of blokes” came close to the observation post, potentially compromising the hideout.

“(They) just walked up literally, probably about two hours before dark, walked straight up to the front of the OP.”

He said the patrol’s job was “not to start a fight”, but believing the insurgents may have spotted the patrol, he and Sergeant Matt Locke, who was killed in action in 2007, “hunted them down and got rid of them”.

He said the gunfire set off a flare carried by one of the insurgents in a “chest rig”, which attracted the attention of other enemy fighters.

In a later interview with The Australian, in April 2011, Mr Roberts-Smith said he and Sgt Locke engaged just a single armed insurgent who walked within 30m of the position.

In the ensuing battle, Corporal (then trooper) M’s Minimi machine gun jammed, which Mr Roberts-Smith said placed the patrol in danger, according to his interview with the War Memorial.

“When the gun broke, that’s why it was desperate, because that was 25 per cent of the firepower,” he said.

Mr Roberts-Smith was later awarded the Victoria Cross for his role in a 2010 battle, in which he stormed two enemy machine gun positions in Afghanistan while the rest of his squad was pinned down.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/ben-robertssmith-i-will-shoot-you-in-the-head-sas-at-war/news-story/b32c06b4c7a6ea2d81e0a5b2e9527143

'Transparency' needed in China's Yang Hengjun case, says Morrison

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australia has been calling on China to provide "transparency" and a "fair and just process" for a detained Australian citizen who has just been charged with espionage.

Australian writer Yang Hengjun has been formally charged with espionage almost two years after he was first detained by Chinese authorities, paving the way for him to face trial.

Chinese prosecutors have been running out of time to charge the UTS PhD graduate, who has been held since January 2019 without trial. His case has been handed between Chinese state security organs and the Supreme People's Procuratorate three times and prosecutors had less than two weeks left to charge Yang under China's opaque judicial system.

Morrison said Australia had been providing consular support and would continue to do so, but "it never assists, I think, in these circumstances for me to offer any real extensive commentary on these issues".

"We are obviously keen, and have been stressing in all our diplomatic engagements around this issue, that there should be transparency, there should be a fair and just process," he said.

"These are the things we stand for as Australians, and there is no reason why we shouldn't expect the same for any Australian, wherever they are in the world including in the PRC [People's Republic of China].

"The system there is very different to the system here in Australia, and that can cause some anxiety."

The ABC reported on Saturday that Yang had been charged on October 7. There are no details about the exact nature of charges against Yang, a pro-democracy blogger who was born in China and once worked for its Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Yang's lawyer, Shang Baojun, told the ABC that Yang had been officially charged with espionage but gave no further details stating he was "strictly prohibited from being interviewed by the foreign media".

In September, Yang vowed to "fight to the end" after seeing his second lawyer, Mo Shaoping, for the first time since he was detained.

The 55-year-old has been isolated and allegedly tortured in an attempt to extract a confession on the unspecified claims.

In comments to his lawyers and confirmed by sources close to his family at the time, Yang said he wanted to go to court. "This is political persecution," he said. "They can abuse me. I did not confess to anything criminal. I am innocent and will fight to the end."

Yang is among several Australians detained by Chinese authorities. Chinese-Australian TV anchor Cheng Lei is also being held by state security on unknown claims.

Yang’s wife, Yuan Xiaoliang, told the ABC she felt “helpless” after hearing her husband had been charged.

Chinese authorities have spent the past year interrogating the pro-democracy blogger on his Australian, US and Chinese Communist Party connections. Prior to coming to Australia in 1999, Yang has said he worked for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The charge comes at a time when relations between Australia and China are at their lowest point since diplomatic ties were established almost 50 years ago.

Australia has no accredited foreign correspondents left in China after two journalists were last month forced out of the country, while Australian Australian television anchor Cheng Lei has also been detained in Beijing.

Cheng, a business anchor with Chinese state media network CGTN was privately critical of the Chinese Communist Party on Facebook. China's Foreign Ministry confirmed in September that the Melbourne-mother had been arrested on national security grounds but there has been no public detail on the specific claims against her.

Australian journalists Bill Birtles and Michael Smith left China in September after being questioned by Chinese state security in relation to Cheng's case.

Australian-Chinese relations have deteriorated sharply since 2018, with multiple disputes over the coronavirus, Beijing's crackdown in Hong Kong, foreign interference and incursions into the South China Sea.

China has imposed more than $1 billion in trade strikes against Australia this year, after the Morrison government pushed for an independent inquiry into the coronavirus.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Australia had been informed that Chinese authorities have decided to prosecute Yang "on charges yet to be announced".

"The Australian Government has had recent consular access to Dr Yang in detention, in line with our bilateral consular agreement. We will continue to provide consular support to him and his family, and to advocate for his interests," the DFAT spokeswoman said.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/australian-writer-formally-charged-with-espionage-reports-20201010-p563tw.html

ADF personnel warned about social media use after offensive Instagram account uncovered

Military personnel using fake or anonymous profiles to post offensive material online are being warned they can easily be tracked down and punished for breaching Defence policies.

The crackdown on social media was introduced just days after the ABC revealed that current and former Australian special forces soldiers were operating an Instagram account called State Sanctioned Violence, which mocked allegations of war crimes allegedly committed by their comrades in Afghanistan.

In a message sent by Defence Chief Angus Campbell and Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty last month, ADF members and civilian staff are warned it is "essential" to adhere to Defence's Media and Communication Policy.

"We do not tolerate any Defence person, whether an ADF member, an APS employee or a contractor, engaging in behaviour or content that is inconsistent with our Defence values and policy," he said.

"All defence personnel have an obligation to uphold these standards at all times," General Campbell and Secretary Moriarty wrote on September 15.

Under the official guidelines, personnel are warned they must not "join or remain a member of a group, forum, site or discussion that is involved in or promotes behaviour that is exploitative, objectifying or derogatory or in any other way breaches any relevant legislation or Defence policies".

It also warns against posts that are "defamatory, vulgar, obscene, abusive, profane, threatening, racially or ethnically hateful or otherwise offensive or illegal information or material".

Defence has also warned personnel that hiding behind fake identities is not an excuse, and they can still be caught.

"Anyone identified as having posted or engaged with inappropriate material, including anonymously or under a pseudonym, will be held accountable for contravening Defence policy," the Chief and Secretary warned.

Member questioned over Instagram account

The ABC can also reveal that a serving Defence member was this week questioned over links to a public Instagram account that sold merchandise including bumper stickers reading "Make Diggers Violent Again" and "Taliban Tears", and T-shirts with "High Velocity Atrocities" emblazoned on them.

A Defence spokesperson has confirmed the Instagram account titled State Sanctioned Violence is currently under investigation.

"No Australian Defence Force personnel have been charged at this time," the spokesperson told the ABC.

"As this matter is still under investigation, it is inappropriate for Defence to provide further comment."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-10/adf-personnel-warned-about-social-media-use-after-instagram/12749150

Home Affairs TikTok security review found data security protections 'inadequate'

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The popular video app TikTok is at the centre of a national security showdown between the United States and China.

But while the Trump administration has pushed for the platform to be banned, citing concerns it could share user data with Chinese authorities, the Federal Government has not yet followed America's lead.

In early August, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Government had taken "a good look" at TikTok and found no evidence of local data misuse.

However, the scale and detail of Australia's investigation of TikTok remains unclear.

Partly redacted documents, obtained by the ABC under freedom of information laws, show that the Department of Home Affairs completed a security assessment in January and recommended the app be banned or restricted on department devices.

That risk assessment of TikTok found controls on its use within Home Affairs to be broadly "inadequate".

The four risk events assessed by the department's Cyber Risk Services Branch included a nation state gaining access to data and personal information — an event that was considered "possible" with "major" consequences.

There was also a risk that "users may be assumed to represent the agency through association and or content" — a scenario that would seem to apply to all social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.

The report's recommended action was to restrict use of TikTok on corporate devices by the end of February.

Justin Warren, founder of PivotNine, said the risk assessment appeared "cursory" and lacked any significant explanation of the basis of the department's decision-making process. The document calls it a "short form risk assessment".

"For an [department] that is a critical part of Australia's cyber security mechanisms… I expected more from them," he said. "This does not inspire confidence."

The assessment seemed narrowly focused, according to Fergus Ryan, an analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

As it looked solely at whether TikTok should be used on corporate devices within Home Affairs, it did not examine whether the app poses a broader national security threat to the community at large.

"It also appears that the Home Affairs investigation only looked into the data security side of the equation without looking at the other important national security concern — that the app could be used to shape information flows to the benefit of the Chinese government," he said.

The ABC reported in January that the Australian Defence Department had banned TikTok on work devices. It also restricts the use of WeChat, a Chinese social media and messaging app.

A Home Affairs spokesperson said decisions around the use of applications on department-issued devices were ultimately a matter for individual agencies and departments.

"The Department of Home Affairs regularly assesses the risk of applications on department issued devices," he said. "Where the risk is unacceptable to the department, the use of these applications is blocked."

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Scale of Australia's TikTok security review unclear

While the January security assessment of TikTok focused on internal risks in Home Affairs, reports from early August suggest the Federal Government was also conducting two complementary investigations into the app — one reportedly undertaken by security agencies, and one by Home Affairs.

Days after the ABC report, Prime Minister Morrison told the Aspen Security Forum the Government had looked into the concerns raised by TikTok and its relationship to the Chinese Government via its parent company Bytedance.

"There's nothing at this point that would suggest to us that security interests have been compromised or Australian citizens have been compromised because of what's happening with those applications," he said.

"But people should know that the line connects right back into China and that they should exercise their own judgement about whether they should participate in those things or not."

He did not say on what review or evidence his comments were based, or whether Home Affair's January assessment was considered.

TikTok executives recently appeared before a Senate committee examining the risk of foreign interference through social media in Australia.

The company's general manager in Australia Lee Hunter told the committee that the Australian government inquiry had "concluded that there was no reason to restrict us".

But representatives from TikTok also claimed to committee chair Jenny McAllister that Home Affairs had not contacted them directly about their investigation, which she described as "quite incredible".

TikTok reached out to a range of federal politicians, including every member of the Australian Cabinet, according to its director of public policy for Australia and New Zealand Brent Thomas.

"We did have discussions with the relevant ministers' offices who were in charge of those departments, but we were not asked to engage directly with those agencies," he said.

On August 6, US President Donald Trump published executive orders declaring TikTok and WeChat would be blocked from processing transactions for US citizens and from being downloaded in US app stores.

Mr Trump later suggested the ban could be averted if TikTok sold its US business to an American company.

While Microsoft was considered a frontrunner to purchase the app's US operations, Oracle and Walmart announced a deal in September to purchase a stake in TikTok Global.

TikTok insists user data is stored in Singapore and the US, with "strict controls" on employee access.

"TikTok does not share the information of our users in Australia with any foreign government, including the Chinese Government, and would not do so if asked," a spokesperson said.

The Prime Minister's office declined to comment.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-10-11/tiktok-security-review-home-affairs-inadequate-protections/12739694

UK leads global call for Facebook to take action on paedophiles

Facebook will be turning a blind eye to Britain’s 300,000 paedophiles if it goes ahead with its encryption plans, Priti Patel has warned, as she joined six other major nations in an unprecedented appeal to the tech giant.

Ministers from the UK, US, Japan, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and India published a joint statement on Sunday warning Facebook’s plans to encrypt users’ end-to-end communications will prevent law enforcement agencies pursuing paedophiles who use the platform to groom and abuse children.

The seven nations - which account for one in five of Facebook’s 2.7 billion users - are demanding that Facebook embed systems to enable the company and law enforcement agencies to continue to access illegal content and activity including child abuse as well as terrorism and serious crime.

Facebook accounts for 94 per cent of the 69 million suspect child abuse images or videos passed to investigators in the past year, a 50 per cent rise on the previous year, which law enforcement agencies warn will disappear if the tech firm goes ahead with encryption.

In a briefing by senior Home Office and GCHQ security officials for journalists, Rob Jones, the National Crime Agency (NCA) director responsible for combating child sexual exploitation, said Facebook’s plans would “shut the door” on the near 90,000 online abuse cases referred to it in the past year.

With 300,000 active paedophiles in the UK that the NCA believes pose a threat to children, he said these referrals had enabled it to pass on 15,000 leads to police in the year to June, leading to 4,500 offenders being arrested and 6,000 children safeguarded.

“That’s what we stand to lose if these measures are implemented,” he said. “The lights go out. The doors get slammed and we lose all that insight.

“The best technical experts in the UK - the same people who keep us safe from terrorists and cyber attacks - tell us there is no alternative. I believe them and I am deeply concerned.”

He warned that if other platforms followed Facebook, the market leader with its hold on Instagram and WhatsApp, it would be “catastrophic.”

Ms Patel, the Home Secretary, said: “We owe it to all of our citizens, especially our children, to ensure their safety by continuing to unmask sexual predators and terrorists operating online.

“It is essential that tech companies do not turn a blind eye to this problem and hamper their, as well as law enforcement’s ability to tackle these sickening criminal acts.

“Our countries urge all tech companies to work with us to find a solution that puts the public’s safety first.”

In their statement the seven nations warn that Facebook and other platforms' encryption plans pose a “severe risk” to public safety, and reject the company’s claims that it will improve privacy and cyber security.

“We challenge the assertion that public safety cannot be protected without compromising privacy or cyber security,” they said.

“We strongly believe that approaches protecting each of these important values are possible and strive to work with industry to collaborate on mutually agreeable solutions.”

The statement is signed by the five eyes nations which share intelligence of Ms Patel, William P. Barr, US Attorney General, Peter Dutton, Australia’s home minister, Andrew Little MP, New Zealand’s justice minister, Bill Blair, Canada’s public safety minister, as well as India and Japan.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/10/10/uk-leads-global-call-facebook-take-action-paedophiles/

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Home Secretary and international partners tell tech companies to put child safety first

Seven countries have today published an international statement on the end-to-end-encryption and public safety.

Seven countries, whose populations represent a fifth of Facebook’s users across the world, have today (Sunday 11 October 2020) published an international statement on the impact of end-to-end encryption policies which erode the public’s safety online.

A year after the Home Secretary wrote an open letter to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg requesting the company halts its end-to-end encryption plans unless they can address child safety fears, the UK, alongside the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India and Japan, have called on all tech companies to ensure they do not blind themselves to illegal activity on their platforms, including child abuse images.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said:

"We owe it to all of our citizens, especially our children, to ensure their safety by continuing to unmask sexual predators and terrorists operating online.

"It is essential that tech companies do not turn a blind eye to this problem and hamper their, as well as law enforcement’s, ability to tackle these sickening criminal acts.

"Our countries urge all tech companies to work with us to find a solution that puts the public’s safety first."

The 7 signatories of the international statement have made it clear that when end-to-end encryption is applied with no access to content, it severely undermines the ability of companies to take action against illegal activity on their own platforms.

It also prevents law enforcement investigating and prosecuting the most serious crimes being committed on these services such as online child sexual abuse, grooming and terrorist content.

This international intervention calls on tech companies to ensure there is no reduction in user safety when designing their encrypted services; to enable law enforcement access to content where it is necessary and proportionate; and work with governments to facilitate this.

The UK and its international partners are clear that they support strong encryption, but not where it is applied in a way that precludes all legal access to content, therefore putting the public at significant risk of harm.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-secretary-and-international-partners-tell-tech-companies-to-put-child-safety-first

—

International statement: End-to-end encryption and public safety

International statement calling on tech companies to ensure end-to-end encryption is not implemented in a way that erodes public safety.

Details

This statement has been signed by the governments of the UK, Australia, Canada, India, Japan, New Zealand and the United States.

The statement:

• sets out the severe impact on public safety where end-to-end encryption is implemented in a way that precludes all access to content, even to investigate the most serious crimes, including terrorism, and child sexual exploitation and abuse

• calls on tech companies to work with governments to find solutions to ensure the safety of our citizens, without eroding user privacy or cyber security

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-statement-end-to-end-encryption-and-public-safety

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/925601/2020.10.11_International_statement_end-to-end_encryption_and_public_safety_for_publication_final.pdf

US elections were changed for better (and worse) by the secret 'Australian ballot'

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The voters in one West Virginian precinct weren't having it.

"They swore they wouldn't have any more of the Australian nonsense," the New York Times and other papers reported.

They told officials to step away and then demolished the polling booths.

It was 1892. They were meant to be using, for the first time, the 'Australian ballot'.

Decades earlier Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia had done something innovative.

In 1856 they'd all passed laws requiring standardised ballots with the names of all the candidates, that could be filled out secretly and placed in a ballot box.

Victoria holds the honour of getting in an election first with this new method. SA came up with indicating your choice with an X — as opposed to crossing out the names you didn't want.

But the citizens of Lincoln County, West Virginia, reportedly found this method "slow and tedious".

They demanded, the report says, to vote "according to the old method in vogue before the war".

So they voted by voice.

Before the Australian ballot

There were two ways of voting before the US took on the Aussie invention: viva voce (by voice) or with a party ticket.

If a state or county required voting by voice, men (it was almost all men — in the late 19th century very, very few states allowed women to vote) would announce to an official who they were voting for. Their name and vote was then written down in a poll book.

The other method involved voting with party tickets which were handed out by parties.

"They were highly visible, highly marked … everybody could see the colour of the ticket. So there was no secrecy," Flinders University's Don DeBats says.

Dr DeBats has spent decades studying US political history and has used the 'viva voce' poll books and public records of two US cites to learn who the voters were, the lives they lived, and the votes they cast.

He says in this era elections were exciting, social events.

"It was a really great public occasion. Everybody got together, both voters and non-voters, they stood around outside — elections were outside — and they watched the election happen. And they watched individuals vote."

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The Australian ballot arrives

The secret ballot was designed to stop one problem made possible by these very public election days — voter intimidation.

It's much harder to intimidate or bribe someone if you can't see who they end up voting for.

But Dr DeBats says there was another reason some states and counties got behind the Australian ballot.

It could be used to control who got to vote.

"It disenfranchised African Americans and disenfranchised anybody who couldn't read a ballot on their own," Dr DeBats says.

US election ballots are complicated. It's not just the president being voted for, there are other state and local offices (eg senators, attorneys general), and there are ballot measures — proposed laws being put to voters.

Reading and filling out a ballot — as opposed to dropping a pre-written party ticket in a ballot box — required a level of education that many lacked.

"It was a pseudo literacy test. The Australian ballot, worked very, very well, it disenfranchised millions," Dr DeBats says.

"Anybody who couldn't read a very complicated ballot, on their own, in secret, in a kind of a sanctified space was essentially disenfranchised. And that was the idea."

A New York Times account of Mississippi's first use of Australian ballots in 1891 says the law, "as is generally known, was passed to put the white people in control of the state for all time to come".

Today

Dr DeBats and other experts argue that the increasingly popular mail-in ballots reduce secrecy, as voting at home doesn't guarantee the privacy of a polling booth.

It's also easier than ever to view public records with apps allowing people to see information on their friends and contacts (eg. whether they voted at the last election, their political affiliation) and encouraging users to remind them to vote.

But factcheckers warn claims by some such as US Attorney-General William Barr that voting by mail eliminates secret voting are misleading or unfounded.

Dr DeBats says the shift to voting in secret has had a lasting impact on elections that were once open, public, community events.

"Politics is about community, one way or another, and the Australian ballot, individualised, sanctified, sterilised, the vote," he says.

"Do-gooders thought that was a fine thing. Other people thought it probably wasn't a fine thing.

"People who wanted to disenfranchise a lot of people said, 'This is a good way to do it'. And they did it."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-11/us-election-voting-changed-by-secret-australian-ballot-history/12726686

Donald Trump pushes for release of report into Alexander Downer and Russia inquiry

Donald Trump is pushing hard for the release of a major report into the origins of the Russia investigation which could draw Australia into the US election campaign with just weeks to go until the November 3 poll.

The President is increasing pressure on Attorney-General Bill Barr to release the Durham report before the election, hoping it would boost his campaign by criticising the FBI’s decision to start the Russia inquiry during the 2016 election.

The wide-ranging investigation, by US attorney John Durham, has examined Australia’s role in the Russia probe, which the FBI initiated in July 2016 after learning of former Australian diplomat Alexander Downer’s meeting with then Trump adviser George Papadopoulos in London.

Mr Durham has interviewed Mr Downer who is understood to have told him that he was not part of any conspiracy to undermine the Trump campaign.

Mr Trump was hoping the report would be released before the election, but Mr Barr has told Republicans that this is now unlikely.

“If that’s the case, I’m very disappointed,” Mr Trump told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh at the weekend. “I think it’s a terrible thing and I’ll say it to his (Barr’s) face.

‘That’s a disgrace. I think it’s a disgrace. It’s an embarrassment.”

Mr Durham is supposed to be an independent investigator and Mr Barr has no power to force the attorney to speed up his investigation to suit a political cycle.

Mr Barr has been highly critical of the FBI’s behaviour in the Russia investigation, saying that the President was the victim of an “utterly false Russian collusion narrative”. But he has also said that former president Barack Obama and current Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden are not being criminally investigated in relation to the probe.

Mr Trump has long claimed that the FBI wrongly spied on his 2016 campaign for partisan political reasons. He also accuses Mr Obama and Mr Biden of seeking to frame his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, in January 2017 and, by extension, undermine the start of Trump’s presidency. “NOW DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. THE BIGGEST OF ALL POLITICAL SCANDALS (IN HISTORY),’ Mr Trump tweeted last week. “Biden, Obama and crooked Hillary led this treasonous plot!!! BIDEN SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO RUN – GOT CAUGHT!!!

Mr Trump warned at the weekend that if Mr Biden wins the election, the Durham findings may never be released.

“First of all, if we don’t win this election, that whole thing’s going to end, okay?’ he said.

“That’s another thing I’m fighting for because these people have to be brought to justice, but they should have been brought to justice before the election. But if we don’t win this election, if we don’t win, that whole thing is going to be dismissed.”

Mr Trump continues to push this issue, which he calls “Obamagate”, at his election rallies, using the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian probe to portray himself as a victim of a political hit job by the Washington “swamp.

Australia said in May last year it would co-operate fully with the Durham investigation and that it had nothing to hide.

At that time Mr Trump appeared to be open to claims that Australia was involved in a broad conspiracy to undermine his 2016 campaign. “I hope he looks at the UK, and I hope he looks at Australia, and I hope he looks at Ukraine. I hope he looks at everything because there was a hoax that was perpetrated on our country,” Mr Trump said at that time.

Mr Downer’s role has been the subject of conspiracy theories after Mr Papadopoulos and others accused him of being a pro-­Clinton spy working to establish links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The FBI began the Russia investigation after Mr Downer, who was then high commissioner to London, told the US that Mr Papadopoulos told him, in a London wine bar in May 2016, that Russia had numerous emails that could damage Mr Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton. Mr Downer reported the information to Canberra within days but it was only after WikiLeaks released a flood of Russian-hacked Democratic National Committee emails in July that Mr Downer decided to report the information directly to the US.

“I want to emphasise that (Downer) did the right thing in supplying that information; (Downer) acted at all times just as we would hope a close ally would,” Mr Barr has said. “We are grateful that we have such friends. What was subsequently done with that information by the FBI presents a separate question.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/donald-trump-pushes-for-release-of-report-into-alexander-downer-and-russia-inquiry/news-story/5063eb68a3a474876fe0e37b387ee069

Australian teacher leaves Cambodia as he protests his innocence over indecent assault charges against children - and he claims he's the victim of an extortion racket

Former Catholic school teacher Garry Mulroy has flown out of Phnom Penh, protesting his conviction for indecent assault against children and alleging he was the victim of an extortion racket.

Mulroy had spent the past week in a safe house in the Cambodian capital amid fears for his safety after he was released from prison in Siem Reap, in the northwest, where he was serving a two-year prison term for assaulting six boys.

He was initially charged with engaging in child prostitution, which carries a 15-year term.

However this was dropped after Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), an NGO that made the charge, dropped legal representation and the prosecuting police officer failed to turn up in court.

'If I had been guilty I would have killed myself without hesitation,' Mulroy said.

'It was horrible, and it's the most degrading and embarrassing thing to ever be charged with.'

The former Catholic school teacher from Lismore was found guilty of indecent assault, although all the boys testified he had never touched them and the prosecution did not give details of the alleged assaults.

The prosecution and Mulroy's defence both appealed to a provincial court in Battambang, where judges upheld the acquittal and reduced his two year sentence to one year plus one year suspended.

He had already served 15 months and was allowed to walk free.

Mulroy said there was nothing worse than being accused of being a pedophile, and vowed to appeal the indecent assault conviction.

He said that verdict was reached to save face among Cambodians who had tried to extort about $100,000 from him.

Mulroy's release was shrouded in secrecy amid fears of retribution after an independent report commissioned by the defence outlined a litany of miscarriages of justice and rivalries between NGOs that led to his arrest.

Copies of the report by Australian risk management advisor Ross Milosevic were sent to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, members of his cabinet and the Australian Federal Police.

The report also said police interviews with the boys were not conducted with any adult supervision and made 'under extreme duress, intimidation and extortion' to secure charges against Mulroy and were a bid by police, NGOs, judiciary and government officials to extort money.

Mulroy said his troubles began while working at two NGOs where he raised concerns over the misallocation of donor money, which resulted in sponsors halting their support.

He then initiated his own NGO, Education House, with six boys aged 11 to 14.

'Those boys stood up in court and said they hadn't touched me and I hadn't touched them,' Mulroy said, adding that guards and other prisoners 'knew I wasn't guilty, they knew it was a money case'.

He said police had wanted him to pay about $90,000 to a lawyer of their choice, while one NGO he had worked for had demanded $12,000. A further $15,000 he had in cash had disappeared.

Mulroy's cell was shared with 22 to 30 inmates and measured five metres by five metres.

He spent most of his 461 days behind bars searching for clean water.

'Tap water smelt like metal and if you had a sore and it got wet it would fizz-up,' he said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8829773/Former-teacher-Garry-Mulroy-leave-Phnom-Penh-protests-conviction-child-indecent-assault.html

Resignations in the news

Chris Eccles, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews' top bureaucrat, resigns after hotel quarantine inquiry requests phone records

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Premier Daniel Andrews says he was "shocked" to discover that his top bureaucrat called then-police commissioner Graham Ashton during a crucial six-minute window on the day the hotel quarantine program was set up.

Chris Eccles, the secretary of Victoria's Department of Premier and Cabinet, announced his resignation today after phone records requested by the hotel quarantine inquiry showed he made a two-minute phone call to Mr Ashton on March 27.

No-one who gave evidence to that inquiry could recall who made the decision to use private security contractors to guard returned travellers.

But a timeline provided by Victoria Police said sometime between 1:16pm and 1:22pm on March 27, Mr Ashton was called and advised that private security would be used. Mr Ashton could not remember who called him.

When he fronted the hotel quarantine inquiry in September, Mr Eccles said he could not recall calling Mr Ashton during this window, despite receiving a text message from the then-police commissioner at 1:16pm asking about the hotel quarantine plans.

On the weekend, Mr Andrews revealed the quarantine inquiry had requested the phone records of the Premier and his senior staff.

In his resignation statement today, Mr Eccles said his phone records showed he did call Mr Ashton for just over two minutes at 1:17pm.

"There has been much commentary and speculation about whether I or anyone else at [the Department of Premier and Cabinet] spoke to Mr Ashton during that narrow timeframe on 27 March," Mr Eccles said in his resignation statement.

"It is now evident I did."

Today, Mr Andrews said did not know about the March 27 phone call until Mr Eccles informed his department last night.

He also said he thought Mr Eccles "made the right choice" in resigning, and he had not spoken to Mr Eccles about their evidence to the hotel quarantine inquiry.

"I don't think it's appropriate that witnesses should be talking to each other in their capacity as witnesses," he said.

"I was shocked when I was informed last night that this call had been made, and that a detailed examination of his phone records had shown that."

However Mr Eccles said his phone call to Mr Ashton did not mean the decision to use private security came from him or the Premier's department.

(continued)

>>11034645

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Eccles 'absolutely certain' he did not make private security decision

In a written statement to the hotel quarantine inquiry, Mr Ashton said he sent a text message to Mr Eccles at 1:16pm on March 27 saying:

"Chris I am getting word from Canberra for a plan whereby arrivals from overseas are to be subjected to enforced isolation from tomorrow.

"The suggestion is Victorian arrivals are conveyed to a hotel Somewhere where they are guarded by police for 14 days.

"Are you aware of anything in this regard?? Graham."

Mr Ashton's statement said he did not receive a reply to that text message and could not recall whether anyone phoned him about the private security arrangements.

Mr Ashton's statement said he sent a text message at 1:22pm to Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw and said:

"Mate my advise [sic] is that ADF will do Passenger transfer and private security will be used."

Mr Eccles told the hotel quarantine inquiry he could not recall whether he called Mr Ashton following that 1:16pm text message.

Today, he said he did not have his full telephone records until the hotel quarantine inquiry requested them on Saturday.

But he said although the telephone records show he did call the then-chief commissioner on March 27, they did not show that he or anyone in the Premier's department made the decision to use private security.

"I am absolutely certain I did not convey to Mr Ashton any decision regarding the use of private security as I was unaware any such decision had been made, and I most certainly had not made such a decision myself," Mr Eccles said.

Mr Eccles said he was resigning because he did not want to distract from the Government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

"I do not want a focus on me to in any way undermine the extraordinary work of the public sector as it continues to respond to unprecedented challenges of 2020," he said.

The Premier said Mr Eccles advised his department about the March 27 phone call late yesterday.

"Until last night, I had understood that Mr Eccles did not know if he had telephoned Mr Ashton at that time," Mr Andrews said in a statement.

"That matter is now beyond doubt."

Responding to Mr Eccles' resignation, Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien said Mr Andrews was ultimately responsible.

"All roads lead to Daniel Andrews," he said.

"How many other careers are going to be thrown under a bus to protect this Premier? The buck stops with Daniel Andrews."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-12/premier-daniel-andrews-dept-head-chris-eccles-resigns/12753610

Trump needs to take fight up to Biden and land some punches

Joe Hockey - OCTOBER 11, 2020

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Donald Trump divides the world into winners and losers. At the moment he is losing.

A good friend told me of one meeting he had in the Oval Office with the President. They were discussing some US technology and the President didn’t like the look of the equipment. He wanted better aesthetics.

My friend responded that it might not be pretty but the thing that mattered was the lethality of the punch: “Much like Mike Tyson, Mr President.” Trump responded: “I watched Tyson lose two fights. Conversation over.”

Trump is not only losing the national vote by an average 10 per cent; in the battleground states, he is 5 per cent behind Biden. The local polls are more revealing in the key states he won in 2016 like Wisconsin (5 per cent behind), Pennsylvania (7 per cent), Michigan (7 per cent), Florida (4 per cent), Arizona (3 per cent), North Carolina (1 per cent) and Ohio (1 per cent). Yet the Republicans have pulled advertising in some of these key states. They are running out of money.

The immediate question is whether Trump is capable of a knockout punch between now and the final bell, because on points he is tracking towards a thumping loss. The foundations for a comeback are still there. Most importantly, he is still full of fight. He has driven his many critics mad with his rapid recovery from the coronavirus. It’s extraordinary. In just over one week he has gone from a hospital bed in Bethesda to a rally in Florida.

And Trump will not only claim this reaffirms his strength – “I feel better than I have in 20 years” – but will claim he knows how to defeat the virus. He declared he is going to get all Americans the miracle treatments he received.

Out of fear Trump is now speaking directly to seniors, where he has been bleeding support over the past few months. Late last week in a message from the Rose Garden, he specifically targeted Americans over 65 saying “to my favourite people in the world, the seniors. I am a senior, I know you don’t know that, nobody knows that … but I am a senior”. He went on to pledge his unqualified support for their health and wellbeing.

Trump is now moving to a Sun Belt strategy of targeted campaigning in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Arizona. This week is aimed at shoring up his weakening base. He will also have intermittent visits to Pennsylvania. He cannot afford to lose that state under any scenario.

Trump must stop talking about himself. He has to give Americans a reason to vote for him and being Donald Trump is not enough.

He must follow the lead of Mike Pence who won the debate with Kamala Harris. I knew Pence won when CNN and MSNBC commentators started criticising Harris for her performance.

The former Indiana governor is an experienced debater and he won focusing on what matters to swing voters like our Mary Milwaukee. He talked about jobs and the threat of the Green New Deal. He had Harris on the back foot on taxes, law and order, China and border protection. Harris landed a few good punches on mismanagement of the coronavirus – the Trump-Pence achilles heel – and it’s having a big impact on Mary Milwaukee’s parents, who have been solid Trump supporters but are having second thoughts.

(continued)

>>11034788

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Joe Biden and Harris have left themselves open to an attack at the suggestion they will stack the US Supreme Court if they get control of the White House and the Senate. Americans don’t like people fiddling with their institutions. If Trump lets this opportunity pass then it’s game over.

Like a good prizefighter he has to ignore the pain of the punches that hit him and focus on landing punches on his opponent. And empathy helps.

Trump rarely shows empathy. It’s not his natural instinct; he views it as a weakness. Last week Pence grieved for all those lost to coronavirus and it resonated.

Trump needs to prosecute the case that 97 per cent of Americans have not had coronavirus and of those that have, 97 per cent survived. He must grieve for the losses but get on with the battle. Like the wartime President Americans would expect, he has some good news to sell as well. The mortality rate is falling and vaccines are just around the corner.

And Trump must get back to the issues that helped in 2016 – job creation through “made in America”, secure borders, freedom of religion and the right to own a gun, a stronger military and more affordable healthcare. When did Trump last talk about infrastructure?

On taxes he can throw a knockout punch. Biden has pledged to reverse the Trump corporate tax cuts. In Australian politics that would be a knockout punch for an opponent during a recession. Instead, Trump is still tweeting about Hillary Clinton.

During my seven election campaigns in Australia, the leader always had someone who could pull them into line. Good campaign teams led by fearless advisers were essential. At times I was in the room for those frank and honest character assessments. And, yes, I copped a few myself.

Trump has no one to tell him when he is wrong, having sacked the critics and ostracised the contrarians. Almost none of the 2016 team is there. And many mainstream Republicans who were “Never Trumpers” have morphed into movements like The Lincoln Project and Republican Voters Against Trump. These well-funded groups have done unprecedented damage to his re-election campaign. Their ads are sniper shots with horrifying accuracy. What’s more, they got into Trump’s head by running the ads in Washington DC on the TV networks he watches every morning. They are experienced Republican campaigners running against an inexperienced incumbent.

Sometimes leaders can get away with an inexperienced team and little message discipline. They have usually been through hell and high water themselves and are smart enough to build a kitchen cabinet of experienced, wise advisers. Trump hasn’t held a formal cabinet meeting since May and trusts only his own judgment – and he craves regular reaffirmation like one of his predecessors, Richard Nixon.

Even the best fighter cannot win without a good support team in their corner. It’s time for Trump to forget about the aesthetics, get back in the ring and start landing some heavy blows.

Joe Hockey is a former federal treasurer and ambassador to the US. He is president of advisory firm Bondi Partners.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/trump-needs-to-take-fight-up-to-biden-and-land-some-punches/news-story/89a45c3e4407b8cec308b2327f36ab22

Democrat’s praise of strict gun law roils Kansas Senate race

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republicans on Sunday circulated a video of the Democrats’ candidate for an open U.S. Senate seat in Kansas praising strict Australian gun laws that she said “took them all away” to undercut her campaign as a political moderate in what’s been an unexpectedly tough red-state race for the GOP.

Democrat Barbara Bollier’s spokeswoman accused Republican Roger Marshall’s campaign of being “duplicitous” in highlighting the video from an Oct. 3 “lawn chair chat” at a Kansas City-area park. Bollier’s campaign released longer audio from the same event that included moments in which Bollier said she supports the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protecting gun rights and recalled hunting with her father.

The race appears to be close between Marshall, a two-term congressman for western and central Kansas, and Bollier, a Kansas City-area state senator who was a lifelong moderate Republican before switching parties late in 2018. As the GOP fights to keep its 53-47 majority in the Senate, Marshall and his supporters have attacked Bollier on issues that favor Republicans in much of the state, including gun rights.

Both a 2 1/2-minute video clip provided to The Associated Press by the Marshall campaign and longer audio from Bollier’s show that she noted that an adult daughter lives in Australia and praised a law there that in the 1990s forced owners of 700,000 guns to sell them to the government as “this amazing thing.”

“They have no guns. They don’t allow them. They just took them all away,” Bollier told her audience. “And you know what? It’s pretty darn safe.”

Bollier also noted that Australia imposes licensing and training requirements for gun owners. Kansas law allows adults to carry weapons openly, and it allows them to carry concealed firearms without a permit — a policy Bollier opposed as a legislator when it was enacted in 2015.

“Who thinks you can just go out and have a gun? Seriously,” Bollier said. “You can’t drive a car without training. You can’t basically do anything without some kind of training. This is a lethal weapon.”

As the video clip began circulating, Bollier tweeted Sunday afternoon: “I do not support gun confiscation. I never have. I never will.”

Republicans have not lost a Senate race in Kansas since 1932, but Bollier has flooded the airwaves with ads that have included testimonials from former GOP state lawmakers.

The race had seen a Kansas record of $32 million in advertising as of last week, with Marshall and his allies being outspent, according to the media advertising firm Advertising Analytics.

Bollier’s campaign had spent more than $9 million, with outside groups paying for about $8 million more. Nearly 90% of the roughly $14.5 million in ads for Marshall were covered by outside groups, with the Marshall campaign spending about $1.5 million, according to Advertising Analytics.

(continued)

>>11035007

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Bollier’s remarks on guns first were reported Sunday by The Washington Free Beacon conservative site. Marshall’s campaign manager, Eric Pahls, texted a 36-second excerpt to The Associated Press. He later provided a link to a longer video clip with Bollier’s full answer to a question from a woman who said she recently bought a handgun and was “completely disturbed” by how easy it was for her one to buy one and carry it concealed.

“This may sound good to Bollier’s donors in San Francisco, but to Kansans, this is disqualifying,” Pahls said in a later text. “Even among Democrats, forced gun confiscation is an alarming concept.”

Bollier spokeswoman Alexandra De Luca provided nearly eight minutes of audio from the event, which included comments from the Democratic candidate a few minutes before the question that led Bollier to praise Australian gun laws. Bollier said she still has one of her father’s shotguns but called gun violence a public health crisis.

“Roger Marshall and his allies in Washington want to take Barbara’s comments completely out of context for their political benefit,” De Luca said in a statement. “She knows we can protect the rights of gun owners and keep our communities safe.”

But Pahls suggested that Bollier’s comments in support of the Second Amendment represent “carefully scripted talking points” and that with off-script answers to questions, “she exposes herself for the radical leftist that she is.”

“Her true colors started shining through,” he said.

Pahls also suggested Bollier’s staff ended the event shortly afterward because “she got off her rehearsed talking points.”

De Luca called it “an outright lie,” then provided 32 minutes of audio from the event. It showed that she began wrapping up about a minute later — after answering a final question and saying she supports background checks for gun purchases.

https://www.abc27.com/news/us-world/national/democrats-praise-of-strict-gun-law-roils-kansas-senate-race/

—

Dr. Roger Marshall Tweet

Barbara Bollier caught on video supporting gun confiscation & gun bans.

She's no moderate. Watch for yourself.

freebeacon.com/2020-election/kansas-dem-backs-gun-confiscation/ #kssen

—

Dr. Barbara Bollier Tweet

One of my favorite memories growing up was hunting with my dad — he left me his shotgun when he died.

I support the 2nd Amendment and commonsense reforms we can agree all to, like expanded background checks.

I do not support gun confiscation. I never have. I never will. #KSSen

https://twitter.com/BarbaraBollier/status/1315364810775764993

Cardinal George Pell meets with Pope Francis for first time since child sexual abuse convictions quashed

Cardinal George Pell has met with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

The meeting was confirmed in the Holy See's daily bulletin.

The Vatican released a photo of the private audience showing Cardinal Pell sitting closely to the Pope inside his office while the pair were filmed by a camera crew.

No further details were provided, but Cardinal Pell told reporters in front of his residence just outside the Vatican walls that the meeting went "went very well".

Cardinal Pell returned to Rome at the end of September after a nearly three-year absence during which he faced allegations of historic child sex offences in Australia.

This was the 79-year-old's first meeting with the Pope since his child sex abuse convictions were quashed in April this year.

He had been convicted of sexually abusing two choir boys in the 1990s and served 13 months of his six-year jail sentence before the conviction was overturned by Australia's High Court.

Cardinal Pell has maintained his innocence throughout the trial and conviction.

When he left Rome in 2017, Cardinal Pell was the Vatican's Secretariat of the Economy, a powerful position in which he oversaw the Catholic Church's vast finances.

Vatican facing financial pressure

His return to the Vatican coincides with anti-money laundering evaluators visiting the city-state over a mounting financial scandal that already has cost the jobs of a half a dozen people, including one of the Holy See's most powerful cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Becciu.

Cardinal Pell and Cardinal Becciu had long clashed over the Australian's efforts to bring greater transparency and accountability to the Vatican's balance sheets.

The Council of Europe's Moneyval team will be checking the Vatican's compliance with international norms to fight money laundering and terror financing.

Moneyval has generally given the Holy See positive to mixed reviews in its periodic evaluations.

Its main criticism in recent years has been directed at the Vatican's criminal tribunal, which it faulted for failing to prosecute many cases despite receiving dozens of suspicious transaction reports from the Vatican's financial watchdog.

Vatican prosecutors last year opened a corruption investigation into the Holy See's investment in a London real estate venture, but to date no-one has been indicted.

The Vatican's secretariat of state has sunk more than 350 million euros (nearly $570 million) into the London venture, much of the money donations from the faithful.

Tens of millions of dollars were paid in fees to Italian businessmen who acted as middlemen in the real estate deal.

Last month Pope Francis fired Cardinal Becciu, who had helped to orchestrate the original deal.

Cardinal Pell congratulated the Pope after Cardinal Becciu was sacked.

"I hope the cleaning of the stables continues in both the Vatican and Victoria," Cardinal Pell said in a statement.

Members of Swiss Guard isolate after positive COVID tests

Cardinal Pell's meeting with the Pope comes as four members of the Swiss Guard, the elite and colourfully dressed corps that protects the Pope, tested positive for COVID-19

The results came in over the weekend and added to three other residents or citizens of the Vatican who have tested positive in recent weeks, according to a statement.

They are believed to be the first in the corps to test positive.

Nearly all of the guard are single men who live in a barracks just inside the Vatican gates, while the commanders and married members live in separate apartments.

All members have Swiss nationality.

The Vatican said all of those who had tested positive had mild symptoms.

They have been isolated and tracing of those they had been in direct contact with is underway.

The Vatican last week instituted prevention measures stipulating that everyone had to wear masks, even outdoors, and practice social distancing.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-12/cardinal-george-pell-meets-with-pope-francis-at-vatican/12759414

—

Daily Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office

Daily Bulletin of: 12.10.2020

Audiences, 12.10.2020

This morning, the Holy Father received in audience:

• His Excellency Mr. Francisco Javier Bautista Lara, ambassador of Nicaragua to the Holy See, on the occasion of the presentation of his credential letters;

• Archbishop Vito Rallo, titular of Alba, apostolic nuncio in Morocco;

• Bishop Heiner Wilmer, S.C.I., of Hildesheim, Federal Republic of Germany;

• His Eminence Cardinal George Pell, prefect emeritus of the Secretariat for the Economy.

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2020/10/12/201012a.html

>>11039237

Pope Francis meets Australian Cardinal Pell

Channel News Asia

Published on 12 Oct 2020

Pope Francis meets Australian Cardinal George Pell in Rome on Monday (Oct 12). Pell returned to Rome last month for the first time after he was jailed and later acquitted on child sex abuse charges.

Full story: https://cna.asia/34SN5r2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0D5ltErWNE

—

Pope meets acquitted Australian Cardinal Pell

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis met on Monday (Oct 12) with Australian Cardinal George Pell, who returned to Rome last month for the first time since being jailed - and then acquitted - on child sex abuse charges.

The Argentinian pontiff, a fierce defender of the presumption of innocence, held a private audience with Pell at the Apostolic Palace, the Vatican said, without providing any further details.

The Vatican released a brief video clip of the meeting, a clear sign both the pope and Pell wanted the reception to be seen widely.

In it, Francis is heard saying “good to see you" and “more than a year" - an apparent reference to the time Pell spent in prison.

Neither man was wearing a protective mask, despite the surge in coronavirus infections in the Lazio region surrounding the Vatican, and despite the Vatican's own admission on Monday that four Swiss Guards had tested positive for COVID-19.

"It went very well," Pell told reporters in front of his residence just outside the Vatican walls.

NOT SUMMONED BACK: SENIOR OFFICIALS

While a reunion between the head of the Roman Catholic Church and the man he once appointed as his trusted anti-corruption tsar had been expected, it was not clear whether Pell would be entrusted with a new Vatican role.

Senior officials said he had not been summoned back by Francis, but had returned on his own volition.

"It is now a given that this meeting will be crucial and in some senses dramatic," Franca Giansoldati, Vaticanist for Italy's Messaggero daily said when the news of the private audience broke.

The cardinal had been given extended leave in 2017 to return to Australia and clear his name of accusations he molested two choirboys in the 1990s.

Pell was convicted in December 2018 of sexually abusing the choirboys when he was the archbishop of Melbourne.

He strenuously denied the charges and the High Court in Australia overturned his conviction in April this year after hearing his second appeal.

The former Vatican treasurer had in the meantime spent more than a year in prison.

"LOOK HIM IN THE EYE"

Pell, 79, returned to Rome on Sep 30, and the ex-economy minister had told priest friends "he could not wait to look the pope in the eye", Giansoldati wrote.

"That obscure phrase hid the bitterness of a cardinal who had been unable to count - during that terrible time - on a word of comfort, of support, of friendship from the pope," she added.

Although Pell was supposed to observe a 14-day isolation period, the Australian "prince of the church" was photographed recently at a cafe terrace near the Vatican.

The cardinal is still facing a civil suit brought by the father of one choirboy who died in 2014.

A report released in May after a top-level Australian inquiry said Pell was aware of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Australia as far back as the 1970s and failed to seek the removal of accused priests.

RETURNING IN THE MIDST OF A SCANDAL

Pell returned to find a swirling financial corruption scandal implicating half a dozen Holy See employees, including one of his Vatican nemeses, Cardinal Angelo Becciu.

The influential Italian cardinal was forced to resign by the pope following accusations of embezzlement and nepotism.

It was not immediately clear whether the timing of Pell's return was significant, but the Australian had sent the pope a message congratulating him on ousting Becciu.

The Corriere della Sera, Italy's best-selling daily, said recently an investigation at the Vatican had unearthed suspect money transfers which allegedly pointed to Becciu being behind a plot to smear Pell.

Pell has suggested, without evidence, that his prosecution was linked to his efforts to clean up the Vatican’s finances.

For seven years, Becciu largely controlled the Vatican Secretariat of State's multi-million-euro asset portfolio and donations from the faithful.

The Corriere della Sera said that Becciu had transferred €700,000 (US$830,000) to Australia to pay for witnesses against Pell - a charge Becciu has vehemently denied.

An anonymous witness in Australia also told local media the allegation was false.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/pope-meets-acquitted-australian-cardinal-pell-13264044

Vic sex assault survivors have law win

Victorian sexual assault survivors have had a win after the state government agreed to change controversial new laws that hampered them from speaking out.

Survivors said the laws enacted in February stopped their right to speak publicly and use their real names before first seeking permission from a court.

Attorney-General Jill Hennessy on Tuesday announced amendments to the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act to allow survivors to tell their stories without seeking judicial consent.

The bill will clarify that survivors can publish their identities and allow most to be identified by consent without court involvement.

She added the changes would continue to protect the privacy of survivors who want to remain anonymous.

"Surviving sexual assault is not a source of shame - our laws will enable victim-survivors can speak publicly, on their terms," Ms Hennessy said.

"We will protect victim-survivors' rights to share their story, giving them the opportunity to heal and advocate for change so that we rid society of this violent behaviour."

Last month, three Melbourne sisters were allowed to speak out about their alleged abuse by former school principal Malka Leifer after a court overturned the privacy order.

Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper allege Leifer abused them when she was the head of Melbourne's Ultra-Orthodox Adass Israel School.

The trio has been vocal advocates in Australia's long-running bid to extradite Leifer from Israel to face 74 child sexual abuse charges.

https://www.standard.net.au/story/6965732/vic-sex-assault-survivors-have-law-win/

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Empowering Victim-Survivors To Speak On Their Terms

13 October 2020

The Victorian Government has listened and taken urgent action to ensure victim-survivors of sexual assault can share their stories.

Attorney-General Jill Hennessy today announced amendments to the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act to empower victim-survivors to tell their stories – without having to seek court permission.

The Justice Legislation Amendment (Supporting Victims and Other Matters) Bill 2020 will provide more control to victim-survivors over how, when and in what way their identity and story is published.

Importantly, the reforms will also continue to protect the privacy of victim-survivors who wish to remain anonymous.

The Bill will make it clear that victim-survivors can self-publish their identity, for example on social media, and allow most victim-survivors to be identified by consent, without court involvement.

It will also provide reassurance to survivors who have spoken out in the past, delivering immunity for a range of past publications.

The reforms were developed in close consultation with victim-survivors and those who work with them following a series of roundtables in September, including members of the ‘Let her Speak’ campaign, the Victims of Crime Consultative Committee, the Victim-Survivors’ Advisory Council and the Victorian Centres Against Sexual Assault.

A second tranche of reforms will consider related issues, including a more detailed examination of how the law should apply to the publication of details of deceased victims.

The Bill will also amend the Defamation Act 2005 and the Limitation of Actions Act 1958, implementing the 19 recommendations made by the Council of Attorneys-General Model Defamation Law Working Party – including introducing a new serious harm threshold and a new public interest test.

The changes strike a balance between the need to provide fair remedies for a person whose reputation is harmed and ensuring that these laws do not place unreasonable limits on freedom of expression, particularly regarding matters of public interest.

These changes will also ensure victim-survivors are better protected when speaking up by adding clear and fair tests to defamation cases.

Quotes attributable to Attorney-General Jill Hennessy

“Surviving sexual assault is not a source of shame—our laws will enable victim-survivors can speak publicly, on their terms.”

“We will protect victim-survivors’ rights to share their story – giving them the opportunity to heal and advocate for change so that we rid society of this violent behaviour.”

“I thank the victim-survivors and advocates who offered their experience and expertise. Your insight and courage helped shape these laws and will protect the rights of anyone who speaks out about sexual assault.”

https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-10/201013%20-%20Empowering%20Victim-Survivors%20To%20Speak%20On%20Their%20Terms.pdf

https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/empowering-victim-survivors-speak-their-terms

QAnon is tearing families apart

By Travis M. Andrews - Oct. 12, 2020

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Q.

There was a time not long ago when the letter held no special meaning for Jacob, a 24-year-old in Croatia. The 17th letter of the alphabet, usually followed by “u” in English words. What else was there to know? He certainly never expected it to end the tightknit relationship he shared with his mother.

But Jacob, who grew up in the United States, told The Washington Post that he has cut all contact with his mother now that she’s become an ardent believer of the QAnon conspiracy theories.

Though they long held different political beliefs, they had “a really, really strong relationship,” he said. “We were inseparable.” He had no reason to think anything had changed. But during the holidays in 2019, “our relationship just completely tanked.”

QAnon can be traced back to a series of 2017 posts on 4chan, the online message board known for its mixture of trolls and alt-right followers. The poster was someone named “Q,” who claimed to be a government insider with Q security clearance, the highest level in the Department of Energy. QAnon’s origin matters less than what it’s become, an umbrella term for a loose set of conspiracy theories ranging from the false claim that vaccines cause illness and are a method of controlling the masses to the bogus assertion that many pop stars and Democratic leaders are pedophiles.

The choose-your-own-adventure nature of QAnon makes it compelling to vulnerable people desperate for a sense of security and difficult for Twitter and Facebook to control, despite their efforts. It’s becoming increasingly mainstreamed as several QAnon-friendly candidates won congressional primaries. And the FBI has warned that it could “very likely motivate some domestic extremists to commit criminal, sometimes violent activity.”

As QAnon has crept into the news, it’s become a testament to our age of political disinformation, not to mention easy online comedic currency. But what’s often forgotten in stories and jokes are the people behind the scenes who are baffled at a loved one’s embrace of the “movement,” and who struggle to keep it from tearing their families apart.

According to Jacob’s recollection, his mother spent her days browsing these various theories on YouTube and Twitter. “I told her, ‘I came here to visit you,” he recalled. But she refused to stay offline.

“I finally got her to turn [her phone] off once, and it was unreal. She treated it like a chore,” he said. “It’s like she’s addicted. It feels like she’s been swallowed up by a cult."

“Finally, I realized that my relationship with her had brought me nothing but stress and unhappiness for, at that point, really years,” he said. “That smart, awesome person that I used to know just didn’t exist anymore. So I decided to cut my losses and cauterize the wound.”

Jacob hasn’t spoken to her since February, but she continues posting conspiracy theories multiple times a day to Facebook. She declined a request for comment, and to protect her privacy, The Post is using only Jacob’s first name.

“It’s devastating,” he said. “It really, really does feel like my mother abandoned me. She implicitly chose QAnon … over me.”

Jacob is one of many who have turned to makeshift online support groups, the most prominent of which is the subreddit r/qanoncasualties. “Do you have a loved one who’s been taken in by the QAnon conspiracy theory? Look here for emotional support and a place to vent,” reads the group’s description.

It had fewer than 3,500 members at the beginning of June, the earliest iteration captured by the online archival website the Way Back Machine. It now has more than 28,000. “I have been completely isolated from other friends and family members because of this cult,” one user posted recently. “You guys have definitely been a lifeline, reminding me that sanity does still exist in this world. Thank you guys, very much.”

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The loneliness of losing loved ones to QAnon is something Kerry, of Oklahoma City, knows well. “QAnon” meant nothing to him, he recalled, when he found a stockpile of water and food in his house, which his then-wife told him was “because she believed Trump was going to be declaring martial law any day in order to effectuate a mass arrest of Democrats,” something known to QAnon believers as “the storm.” (His ex-wife declined to comment, and to protect her privacy, The Post is only using Kerry’s first name.)

Kerry dug deeper, trying to understand his wife’s beliefs. They would debate. Eventually they started avoiding it “to keep peace in the house,” but she eventually grew more assertive and “what was once a taboo topic became something we were arguing about all the time.”

Still, he empathized.

“She was getting frustrated that nobody in her immediate family was buying in and supporting her,” Kerry said. “She felt like she was alone in this crusade. … And I know this was extremely frustrating and hurtful for her.”

He and their then-18-year-old son held an intervention. It failed. “We were together a very long time. We managed to get past a lot of things I’ve seen end other marriages,” he said. “But this was the thing we couldn’t get past.”

Their 20-year marriage ended.

His is one of a flood of stories. There’s the South Carolina doctor whose mother blocked him on Facebook and no longer trusts his medical knowledge. The Florida woman who thought her mother — a physician in Canada who refuses to wear masks when not seeing a patient and tried to persuade her daughter not to vaccinate her grandchild — was senile when she began hawking QAnon theories. The woman whose unemployed aunt is quarantining alone and suddenly began diving into QAnon because it “gives her life meaning.”

“I love my mother, but she sucks the life out of me with her conspiracy theories,” said one Florida woman via email. (Many interviewees spoke on the condition of anonymity, which they requested for a variety of reasons, including fear of violence from QAnon followers, pending legal action and the worry that speaking would hinder their attempts to repair relationships.)

This is not strictly a U.S. phenomenon. Users from Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, New Zealand and the Netherlands all shared similar stories.

One recurring theme is how often people who fall into QAnon aren’t digital natives. A 30-year-old Sacramento resident said his stepmother of 20 years “has always been not really an Internet person,” until the 2016 election. She soon stumbled upon radical aspects of online politics on outlets such as 4chan, “going from a zero to a 10.” Soon enough, she was seeking “Q drops” (supposedly when Q reveals new “information”), telling others how “there are children in bunkers under Central Park who are being trafficked” and telling her stepson he was “brainwashed because you went to college.”

When this person spoke to The Post last month, his mother hadn’t left the house in 16 weeks because she refused to wear a mask after watching the viral “Plandemic” conspiracy video, which made the false claim that billionaires aided in the spread of the coronavirus to further the usage of vaccines and made the baseless and dangerous assertion that wearing masks is harmful.

“This same person who told me not to believe strangers online, her entire worldview is informed by strangers online,” he said.

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Joan Donovan, the research director at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, said often people’s point of entry into a conspiracy narrative is the fear of something specific, such as illness or violent crime. Maybe they seek out answers on the Internet, only to find conspiratorial ones.

“If you have someone in your family in this mode of inquisitiveness, who is trying to figure something out, then rather than coming at them judgmentally or accusingly, there is a window of opportunity to reorient their thinking to understand why they perceive something in a certain way,” Donovan said.

That window might eventually close, though, as they find community among other online conspiracy theorists, many of whom create massive amounts of text, memes, videos — you name it — to sift through. “It’s not necessary that you convince your friends or family to join, because you have a whole separate set of friends … It’s the kind of community where you could be lost in it for hours and hours a day and still not see everything,” Donovan said.

When someone goes too far down the rabbit hole, it’s unlikely that anyone will convince them otherwise. “My main advice is not to get into a debate about, say, how many politicians are secret satanists,” Donovan said. Instead, she suggests trying to help someone “see how much of their life they’re missing out on and how much it’s impacting your relationship. … And if they can’t have a conversation about someone else, a conversation that’s mutually beneficial and interesting, then there’s a different kind of problem going on.”

“The one-on-one approach of trying to understand where someone is coming from and where their fears are … works,” Donovan said. If someone is “willing to take on the burden of trying to get one of their family members to change their mind, I hope they approach them with passion and concern.”

The situation can become increasingly difficult when a child is involved. A Florida firefighter said his ex-wife fell hard for every QAnon theory in the book, from a complicated plot connecting UFOs and the Illuminati to the (false) idea that prominent celebrities, entrepreneurs and politicians are lizard people disguised in human skin. Her obsession with conspiracy theories helped lead to their divorce.

“Her intentions are to do good, but it’s just not real,” he said. “It’s like living in a fantasy world. It’s a need to believe in something.”

Her beliefs wouldn’t matter to him much at this point if they weren’t co-parenting a son. He found out that his ex-wife told the son to avoid banks because the Federal Reserve would put microchips in him.

His father said that he and his ex “do a pretty good job of trying to raise him,” but added, “I couldn’t imagine trying to raise a child to be a functional adult while living so far outside reality.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/09/14/qanon-families-support-group/

US election: Joe Biden in the White House would be good for us

Troy Bramston - OCTOBER 12, 2020

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In assessing the consequences of the US presidential election, senior ministers, public servants and staff members in the Morrison government are entirely relaxed about, and even welcoming of, a victory by Joe Biden. Indeed, several Coalition MPs contacted for this column are secretly hoping there is a Democrat in the White House in January.

After almost four years of Donald Trump’s disastrous presidency, treating alliance partners with contempt and undermining the post-war liberal order, there is an understandable wish for a more normal, conventional and predictable presidency. Biden, for Australian policymakers, is seen as a safe, reliable choice.

Australia’s foreign policy establishment knows Biden as a former US vice-president, senator and chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee. It understands his world view and believes he will be easier to deal with. It trusts his experience. Biden presents no challenge to any significant foreign policy stance taken by a post-war Australian government.

Michael Fullilove is the executive director of Australia’s leading foreign policy think tank, the Lowy Institute. In an interview for this column, Fullilove said a Biden election victory next month presented little risk for Australia’s international interests or its defence and security relationship with the US.

“It is in Australia’s interest that the US be well governed and be led by a president who can bring the US together rather than divide it, a president who believes in a leadership role for the US, a president who is attracted to rather than repelled by alliances,” Fullilove said. “So in many ways a Biden presidency would represent a return to normality for Australia and other allies.

“We would have less of a monopoly on Biden’s attention and access to his presidency than we do under Trump. (Trump) has only hosted two state dinners in his first term and Australia was given one of them. If Biden wins, it will be a more of a contest for access to US policymakers. That is OK, we can compete against other countries and allies, and I would back our ability to do that.”

Many Coalition MPs dislike Trump’s style. As Malcolm Turnbull has argued, Trump is not a conservative. The trashing of political norms and shattering of presidential conventions grates with many in the Morrison government.

The Trump show is an anathema to those who were inspired by Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush to devote their lives to politics. Trump’s attempt to delegitimise the election with attacks on voting, claims the outcome will be “rigged” and threatening not to leave office with a peaceful transfer of power if he is defeated is unpalatable for many in the Morrison government.

These authoritarian instincts, like Trump’s claim that the media is an enemy of the state, and his praise for strongmen such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are unconscionable.

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In the US, Biden has earned more Republican endorsements than any other Democratic nominee post-war.

Indeed, Biden has more cross-party endorsements than any other candidate for president in almost 50 years. Many prominent Republicans with close links to Australia such as Colin Powell, Chuck Hagel, John Negroponte, Richard Armitage and Robert Zoellick have endorsed Biden.

Biden actually aligns better with the Morrison government’s international priorities. Australia would welcome the US returning to a lead role in global affairs and working co-operatively with other nations on combating terrorism, addressing global health issues, including COVID-19, and climate change. A Biden presidency would see the US rejoin the World Health Organisation and the Paris Accord. Biden would repair relations with Germany, France, the EU and NATO allies.

Biden sees eye-to-eye with Morrison on trade. The US would rejoin and renegotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Biden would seek to end the US trade war with China, where Australia has been collateral damage, and work cooperatively to improve the global trading system and fix dispute settlement processes. Biden has been a strong critic of China’s geopolitical ambitions and the US would likely adopt a more coherent China policy that wins the support of US allies.

There are, however, concerns with Biden’s domestic policy agenda. He is to the left of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. His support for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 would put pressure on the Morrison government to sign up to this goal. He would increase taxes and impose new regulations on business. He would be under pressure from his party’s left wing to embrace identity politics.

Yet Biden has always been moderate and centrist on policy, and can work across the divide with Republicans.

If Trump is defeated, Australia’s foreign policy, defence and security establishment would breathe a sigh of relief. It would no longer live in fear about an unhinged, unpredictable, unreliable president who makes decisions overnight via Twitter. A senior government figure told this column that they worry Trump could junk the US-Australia alliance at any moment. Trump does not have a consistent foreign policy based on values; he is instinct-driven and transactional.

Morrison has wisely declined to offer an endorsement of Trump or Biden in next month’s election. It would be a grave error of judgment for any prime minister to support a presidential candidate. The Australia-US relationship transcends political partisanship. For example, Harold Holt was close to Lyndon Johnson. Bob Hawke got on exceptionally well with the older Bush.

The reality is that Scott Morrison would get on well with a re-elected Trump or an elected Biden. Morrison has forged an effective relationship with Trump. This was evident during his state visit to Washington. But it is equally the case that Morrison would get on well with Biden. He is, after all, a pragmatist. The briefing for Morrison on a Biden presidency is being drafted now.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/joe-biden-in-the-white-house-would-be-good-for-us/news-story/006f0befb08bcb4a9d1d698dd3757456

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds Tweet

They operate in the shadows, but shed light that helps keep Australia safe. Last week I visited the @DeptDefence Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Geospatial Intelligence Organisation. Thank you for briefing me on the depth and breadth of the work you do for our nation

https://twitter.com/lindareynoldswa/status/1315119964878118913

Alarm as neo-Nazi group National Socialist Network expands to Adelaide

A Melbourne-based neo-Nazi group that has vowed to bring about a “white revolution” has raised alarm after expanding its presence into Adelaide.

The National Socialist Network, which has openly described Indigenous Australians as “subhuman and monkeys”, posted a photo of eight members performing the Hitler salute and displaying a flag in the South Australian capital.

The members were all dressed in black and wearing balaclavas over their faces.

The neo-Nazi group’s Jacob Hersant confirmed to NCA NewsWire it was active in Adelaide as well as Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth and several regional cities.

But he would not reveal how many members or associates the group had.

He said by expanding across the country members ultimately hoped to “survive as a free and distinct nation” by strengthening their community and numbers.

Human rights advocates told NCA NewsWire they were concerned the recent language from the white supremacist group was becoming more “militant”.

When asked about the group, South Australia Police said they always undertook some level of monitoring of any individual or group where information indicated there was a potential risk or harm to the safety of the South Australian community.

ASIO said extreme right-wing groups and individuals represented a serious, increasing and evolving threat to security, with the tragedy in Christchurch in 2019 a stark example.

It said the groups were increasingly radicalising numbers of young Australians – some barely in their teens – and while Islamic extremism was ASIO’s greatest concern, the extreme and violent right wing had been in its sights for many decades.

A national security agency spokesperson said it was dedicating additional resources to the evolving threat of right-wing groups.

“It represents a growing proportion of our priority counter-terrorism caseload,” they said.

“Unfortunately, extreme right-wing groups are more organised, sophisticated and security conscious than before.

“These groups are becoming increasingly ideological, more aware of and committed to specific dogmas, philosophies and views, many of which support or glorify violence.

“They draw from a diverse variety of ideas, and they are attracting a younger membership who display few overt signs of their extremist ideology.”

Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich, who first exposed the National Socialist Network, told NCA NewsWire the group’s expansion should serve as a wake-up call that racism and extremism were very much alive in Australia.

“Hate is on full-throated display, we must use every measure to stamp out these evil groups,” Dr Abramovich said.

“At any point, the ugly rhetoric that these Hitler worshippers are spewing can cross the line into real-world lethal attacks, especially since such groups glorify and are inspired by ‘heroes’ or ‘martyrs’ who have carried out massacres.

“There is no doubt that white supremacists, who are growing appreciably more agitated, angry and emboldened, are waging a national campaign of harassment, ratcheting up their intimidation in an attempt to expand their base and recruit new members to their dangerous cause.”

The Australian Federal Police said politically motivated extremism was increasing.

“It is a concern to the AFP and our law enforcement and national security partners. The AFP takes all extremist groups seriously, targeting criminals and criminal activity, not ideologies or backgrounds,” a spokeswoman said.

On its website, the National Socialist Network said it would never use or advocate violence or terrorism to further their movement.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/alarm-as-neonazi-group-national-socialist-network-expands-to-adelaide/news-story/a68c9d4aa39ce51120c7ab8e3fdf7035